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Think Global Act Locally with the World Development Movement Contents November 2013 Bexhill and Hastings WDM during Dirty Month Energy THINK GLOBAL Act locally with the World Development Movement Contents Letter from the activism team 3 Action checklist 4 Campaign update: climate justice 5 Campaign update: food sovereignty 7 Events 8 Groups 9 Partner updates 11 Current materials 12 Members of North and East London WDM and South West London WDM take action at an HSBC for Dirty Energy Month. News bites Climate justice • WDM has released a report ‘Banking while Borneo burns’ - available from WDM’s website. • On 21 November the UN, governments, global financial institutions and corporations will meet in Edinburgh for the first ‘World Forum on Natural Capital’, to plan how to put a price on nature so that it can be bought and sold as a commodity. Food sovereignty • No final decisions were taken at the October trialogue meeting, but food speculation regulation will be discussed again in November at a meeting in Brussels. Inserts • Template letters to BHP Billiton, Anglo American and the Colombian Ambassador • Jubilee debt campaign letter to George Osborne on Grenadan debt relief • Groups monthly planner 2 Letter from the activism team Dear friends, We are really pleased to welcome Katharine back to the WDM office after a year off. Katharine will be job- sharing the role of senior activism officer with James. Sarah will continue as groups officer and Ralph as events assistant. Thanks to everyone who filled in our survey about WDM’s identity and name. The responses are really useful and will provide us with guidance throughout the process. We had a staff-council away day which focused on thinking about WDM and how we can raise our profile in the coming years. This resulted, among other things, in a decision to present a proposal for a change of name to the 2014 AGM. The group consultation responses were important in influencing the staff-council meeting. There will of course be further opportunities to feed in and there will be more detail on this in the next Think Global. We are sorry to say goodbye to the Bolton WDM group who have decided to close after an impressive 38 years. It’s always sad when a group closes but I’m sure the group’s members will continue to be active in different ways. The next issue of Think Global will be a joint December/January issue and will be posted later than usual. It should be posted by 18 December. Finally, it’s been great to hear about all of the actions and events taking place across the country as part of Dirty Energy Month. Well done to everyone who took part! Happy campaigning! Sarah Reader Groups officer Who’s who in the activism team For material requests and events enquiries Ralph Allen, events assistant: [email protected] or 020 7820 4900. For group queries, advice and support • In Scotland: Jane Herbstritt, campaigns assistant (based in our Edinburgh office) [email protected] or 013 1243 2730. • In the north of England: Maya Williams, regional organiser for the north (based in Bradford) [email protected] or 079 5421 4325. • In the rest of the UK: Sarah Reader, groups officer [email protected] 020 7820 4900. Sarah can also help all groups with website queries. James O’Nions and Katharine Talbot will be job-sharing the role of senior activism officer. They will manage the team as well as leading on major national events and strategy. 3 Action checklist Groups Climate justice Collect signatures for the HSBC ‘pile on the pressure’ action card. Organise an action for Dirty Energy Month (ends 11 November). Edit and send the Cerrejon coal mine letters (see offline action of the month below) Food sovereignty Organise a ‘Whose food? Our food?’ film night if you haven’t done so already Continue lobbying your MEPs on MiFID and collecting signatures on the Bankers Anonymous action cards. At your next meeting Plan a Christmas social, it’s a chance to look back on 2013 and celebrate your group’s activities and successes. Offline action of the month Adapt the draft letters (enclosed with this issue of Think Global) to Anglo American, BHP Billiton and to the Colombian Ambassador, calling on them to stop the expansion of the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia. Jane Thewlis from Bradford WDM joins Kirklees against Climate Change for a Dirty Energy Month action outside HSBC. The action was reported in the Huddersfield Examiner. 4 Campaign update: Climate and energy justice • WDM groups, activists and staff have been setting up mining extraction sites outside HSBC branches across the country as part of Dirty Energy Month. • We have launched a new report on the financing of coal mines in Indonesia: Banking while Borneo Burns. We also made a film about this which is available on WDM’s Youtube channel. • Let us know if you would like to join in our HSBC action at Christmas to deliver the pile of coal. Actions against HSBC’s investments Delivering coal to HSBC As part of Dirty Energy Month, WDM groups and As mentioned in last month’s Think Global, we are activists have been setting up extraction sites planning to deliver a huge sack of coal to HSBC outside branches of HSBC across the country to in December corresponding to the number of demand a stop to its coal investments. In the action cards and emails that have been sent in City of London, the appearance of WDM activists by activists. Please do get as many of these cards bearing tape and builders hats prompted the bank filled in as possible to ensure that HSBC gets the manager to shut the branch down. On the global Christmas present it truly deserves. We plan to day of action on coal, we also set up an extraction make a bit of noise around the delivery, which will site outside HSBC’s head office in Canary Wharf, be made by people dressed in Father Christmas and handed in a box of coal to represent what suits the week before Christmas. If you would like people’s money is used to fund. There have been to join us for the festive delivery, please contact some great actions around the country! Many Sam. thanks to all groups who have already held HSBC coal actions and don’t forget to send us your photos and reports so we can share the full picture Carbon Capital speaker tour of WDM activities with allies around the world at At the time of writing, we are very lucky to have the end of Dirty Energy Month. our two speaker tour guests with us – Hendrik (Beggy) Siregar from Indonesia and Jazmin If you would like to hold an action in front of your Romero Epiayu from Colombia. local HSBC, please order a ‘Bring the extraction back to the banks’ action kit by contacting Sam at In addition to some great events hosted by local [email protected] or by calling us at WDM groups across the country, Beggy and the office. Jazmin met with three MPs who are serving on an inquiry into the extractives industry and held a separate meeting with a group from several all-party parliamentary groups including Jeremy Corbyn MP. Both Jazmin and Beggy explained how UK investment in coal projects in Colombia and Indonesia are causing serious health problems for local people and destroying the culture of indigenous peoples. Jazmin and Beggy also met with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and joined the London Mining Network at the AGM of the UK-listed global mining giant BHP Billiton, which is involved in coal mining in both Indonesia and Colombia. Central Lancashire WDM take action for Dirty Energy Month 5 Take Action: they had done about fracking. They presented With this Think Global we have included two copies the research as a ‘web of power’ - similar to of letters about the Cerrejon coal mine, drafted our interactive fossil fuel web of power that we by Jazmin on the train on her way back from the published online at the start of the campaign. first speaker tour event! One of these is to the Colombian Embassy, and the other for the UK We were so impressed by the piece of work that companies that co-own the coal mine. Please send we had it designed and turned into an interactive these to make sure the concern felt by people in infographic. You can find the fracking web of the UK is made loud and clear. It would be great power on our website - please share with your for as many of these letters to be sent as possible, friends. so maybe send one from each person in your group. You could also use them on stalls alongside It was really great to be able to support an the coal action card to give another tangible initiative from local activists, so do let us know if example of the devastation caused by projects you come up with ideas that would be useful for financed via HSBC. the campaign. Banking while Borneo Burns launch Nature is not for sale We have launched our new report exposing Forum on natural commons the billions of pounds UK banks like Barclays, When: Thursday 21 November, 6.30-9.30pm HSBC and Standard Chartered are pouring into Where: Augustine United Church, George IV Indonesia’s fossil fuel boom. UK banks are the Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL biggest lenders for Indonesian coal in the world and the report reveals the devastation these On 21 November the UN, governments, global companies are wreaking on communities, many of financial institutions and corporations will meet whom who have been forced to leave their homes in Edinburgh for the first ‘World Forum on Natural and face the loss of their livelihoods.
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