This gallery contains 1 photo.
We’ve got to put a stop to tax dodging. At a time when public services are being slashed and household budgets are under increasing strain, students know only too well that it’s not fair that companies aren’t paying their way. … Continue reading
The Scottish Parliament
For anyone reading a newspaper, watching TV, or even walking down the street, the debate on Scottish Independence is hard to ignore. First Minister Alex Salmond has made his position on a referendum clear, even with debate over its legality. However, this comes at a time when Scottish patriotism is at a high, the haggis, whiskey and Addresses to Haggis’s clouding Scots’ minds. I’m sure as I write this (Burns’ birthday itself) the subject will be widely debated across the country. It is the Scottish Greens’ views on the matter which interest me.
Greens appear to agree with the idea that relations between Scotland and England would be better if they were equal partners and that small countries can be more dynamic and effective, Ireland being an example… There are various issues with these statements. While it may be true that there is the odd staunch Scotsmen who genuinely believe that all Englishmen are ‘posh twats’ this is hardly a nationwide idea. In fact, many people wouldn’t even think about the Scottish English divide. Even when watching films such as ‘Braveheart’, most of us are mature enough to realise that they Hollywood version isn’t exactly historically correct.
Even if Scotland is granted independence after a referendum looking more likely there are still many who are against the idea. Perhaps independence might not only further destroy Scottish English relations but there may be further enhance disagreements within the country.
Edinburgh Castle
The SNP and Greens also believe that and that sole economic control in Edinburgh is a good thing. But where is the money for Scottish public spending coming from, in an independent state? Oil! It strikes me as odd that a party which campaigns for the environment, for renewables energies and for sustainable development can justify the route to this by exploiting the planet for its rapidly depleting supply of natural resources. Yes, the money may be poured back into making the country a leader in renewables energies. Yes this may create some new jobs (some estimate suggest this could be a grand total of 5000 for the whole of Scotland…). But does this make it right? And what will happen WHEN, not if, the oil runs out?
How will the loss of 100,000 jobs in the Scottish oil industry be balanced out by the mere 5000 created by the renewable sector and what effect will this have on the Scottish economy? As a great believer in the future of renewable energies these questions need to be answered by Scotland’s leading Green party.
What is SCOOP?
SCOOP provides organic, exploitation free or local produce at cost price to all members of the community. The co-op is not-for-profit, is run entirely by volunteers and we have a shop in one of our campus colleges, open once a week from 10-6pm. Students can benefit from the direct experience of running and managing a social enterprise. However, SCOOP is not just a simple management exercise, but an attempt to engage in co-operative living (which is great!) We are mostly a group of people who love to talk about, eat and share good food. We have monthly “Meet and Eat’s” where we cook and share homemade dishes together, make recipe books and a blog as a group and participate in a monthly campus Farmer’s Market along with local producers to get to know the community.
How did it start?
SCOOP started out in 2009 as a seed of an idea in a York People & Planet meeting. One of our members had been to visit Leeds, whose food co-op has been running since the groovy seventies, and was inspired to start one here! The idea grew a little bit at a time, with a small group of people starting out by researching and organising suppliers, local farms and food deliveries and collections from someone’s house. Our student union were pretty unhelpful, seeing it as a complex feat with lots of health and safety issues, and so we developed our own strategies working with the wonderful charity, Sustain, for a bit of extra advice.
In order for the co-op to develop to the stage of a fully functioning shop the founding members worked hard to establish the basis for volunteers to work together to share their interest in good food. We had to determine whether there was a demand for such a service, research suppliers for our stock, run meetings to manage the day-to-day tasks, raise funds to start our orders, advertise for shop and volunteers to help run it as well as working out our legal and spatial position.
Once we had established ourselves as in demand and a workable project we approached the Senior Management Committee of our University with a portfolio of everything we had achieved and our aims for the future. After a bit of convincing they gave us the space we needed to open a shop and when we applied to the York Alumni Fund for a grant we were awarded £1260 as a start-up fund for jars, scales and shelving etc.! We are now open every Wednesday from 10-6pm and have weekly meetings to discuss the running of the shop as well as our overall goals for the future.
Where next for SCOOP?
The co-op is now a student society, which our members thought gave it some long-term security, and is so popular and supported that we aim to open twice a week in the near future and would like to move to a more central position on campus with a much bigger shop space. We would love the shop to be open every day during term time like it is in Leeds so that students always have a choice about where to exercise their buying power, in an ethical co-operative where their opinions are taken into account – or in an impersonal chain supermarket?
Why do people love SCOOP so much?
The co-operative is run entirely by its members and so each person’s opinion is highly valued and listened to. Any decision is made using consensus-decision making which is a powerful way of coming to a conclusion that is supported by everybody in the group. If one person disagrees about something then they can block the decision from going ahead and a discussion is had about how the idea could be improved. This idea of sharing skills, working together for a similar aim, coming together as a community and helping each other to develop valuable skills is something which takes into account how important every single person in a group is. And SCOOP provides the most yummy, ethically-sourced food around, and that is the best thing since sliced bread!
A Fairer Education in Africa
Education is not a finite resource like drugs or energy, it’s self-perpetuating. It’s also empowering; enabling people to take control of their lives and have more say in how things are run. Education programmes are popular with charities and governments, but as with a lot of development, there’s devil in the detail.
Particular devils that are widely overlooked are the obstacles that girls face in getting to and staying in school. Money is increasingly there for building schools and improving teaching, but not enough attention is being paid to how gender remains a major factor in determining who actually gets access to it.
One organisation dedicated to rebalancing these injustices is Pathways Togo (www.pathwaystogo.org). Since its founding in 2010, Pathways Togo has been building more and more support for girls and young women to get a high school and university education through scholarships, mentoring and workshops.
The young women who have earned scholarships with Pathways Togo have overcome many of the obstacles typical of girls struggling to get an education in rural Africa. High on the list is pressure to marry young through arranged and often polygamous marriages. Furthermore early pregnancies, lack of access to sanitary products, and personal safety and health issues make attending school and studying at home impossible for many girls. Domestic duties also limit girls’ time to attend schools; many are expected to do childcare and work in family farms and businesses.
Paying for school is also a serious challenge for many students. Where boys remain priorities in families, girls will often have to depend on brewing and selling alcohol, moving away from home, and selling street food in order to support themselves and continue their education.
Others have had more support from within their communities, with many families investing a great deal in their children’s education. One young woman had narrowly escaped an arranged marriage at age 11, and with support from her sister had been able to earn enough money to continue through school, earn a scholarship from Pathways Togo and eventually progress to university.
Many of the young women Pathways Togo has worked with have felt that the presence of strong female role models has made a great difference to their lives and those around them. While these are undoubtedly signs of progress, the work still to be done is vast.
The support of volunteers who can raise funds for scholarships, and help provide training and workshops for girls and young women is what keep organisations like Pathways Togo doing what they do. Governments and international organistions are investing heavily in education, but without this crucial work to address the gender gap in education, more education investment risks exacerbating the gender gap in wider society.
On October 5th, Jubilee Scotland hosted a People’s Debt Tribunal at the Scottish Parliament, which saw Lidy Nacpil, representing Freedom from Debt Coalition Philippines and Jubilee South make the case for the cancellation of debt owed by the Philippines to the World Bank. Here an attendee of the Tribunal shares her thoughts.
‘ Debt cancellation is a call not for charity but for justice’ – Lidy Nacpil.
‘We have a very fruitful partnership with the Phillipines’, says the Worldbank. ‘The Worldbank owes us for its damaging loans’, counters Filipino campaigner Lidy Nacpil. Jubilee Scotland is campaigning for the Scottish government to set up an international debt arbitration tribunal where creditors and debtors can meet. Thorough debt audits could help solve the debt crisis that is currently keeping developing countries in a poverty trap.
Debtors meet creditors, by Emma Boyd
Third world debt seems to have disappeared from the public mind along with Jubilee 2000, Bono and Geldof. In 1998 and 2005, two initiatives pledged the one-off cancellation of the debts of 40 of the poorest countries. But, according to Jubilee Scotland, this remedy is ‘in many ways merely a sticking plaster’, offering too little too slowly: Many countries, like the Phillipines, are excluded and debt is only cancelled to what is considered a ‘sustainable’ level, based on the country’s export earnings, while ignoring its domestic spending needs. Besides, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank demanded austerity measures in turn for debt cancellation like cuts on public spending and the privatisation of basic services, which many of the 40 countries have as yet not been able to meet.
This means that in 2008, the world’s poorest 48 countries still had debts totalling US$168 billion, and the 128 poorest together owed a dazzling total of US $3.7 trillion to multilateral bodies, individual countries, private companies, banks and individuals. Over the course of 2008 alone, the developing countries paid $602 billion towards servicing these debts. This year’s figures will be even higher, as the economic crisis has led developing countries to take up more loans. As a result, despite the aid rhetoric and the Millennium Development Goals, money keeps flowing from the Global South to the North instead of vice versa.
Many of the debts still stem from the 1960s and 1970s, when banks and gouvernments in the North were eager to lend the huge amounts of money made from the rising oil prices to developing countries. Looking for Cold War allies, lending parties closed their eyes on corrupt or oppressive regimes and most of the money did not go into responsible hands and into development. In the 1970s and 1980s, the oil crisis led interest rates on the loans to soar. Additionally, falling commodity prices left countries with less hard currency to service the debts. The knock-on impact on exchange rates means that debts, which are most often counted in foreign currency, have skyrocketed in real terms for the affected countries. The debt total of US$3.7 trillion is the result.
Already since the early 1990s, campaigning organizations have called for an arbitration forum of some sort where historical cases of illegitimate or unfair debt can be lodged and solved, as well as unpayable debt relieved. With the 2010 Arbitration (Scotland) Act and the newly set up Scottish Arbitration Centre, Scotland would be a suitable host for such a tribunal. To demonstrate this, Jubilee Scotland organised a mock debt tribunal in Holyrood on the 5th of October. Here, the Phillipines and the Worldbank met. Or, better said, Lidy Nacpil met “John Smith”, an actor who played, scarily realistically, a Worldbank representative quoting solely from the Bank’s official documents. In the debt tribunal, the legal principle of ex aequo et bono (“from equity and conscience”) was applied, according to which an arbitrator or tribunal has the power to move away from the law as laid down and to consider the case in the light of arguments of natural justice such as fairness and equity.
Lidy presented her country’s case: The New Economics Foundation has calculated that the Philippines need at least 63% debt cancellation in order for the government to meet the basic needs of its citizens, such as health, education and infrastructure, without taxing those living below the ‘ethical poverty line’ of $3 a day. According to a recent study, 107 countries are burdened with an ‘unpayable debt’ like the Phillipines.
Former president Marcos, who governed the country from 1965 to 1985, left the Phillipines with more than half of its current foreign debt. Although democratically elected, Marcos turned the Phillipines into a dictatorship with martial law in 1972. When he fled the country in 1985, the country’s debt had gone from US$1 billion to of US$28 billion, most of it either stolen by Marcos or invested in failed or useless projects. The Bataan nuclear power plant is notorious in this regard. It was built by the US company Westinghouse on an earthquake fault-line at the foot of a volcano and has therefore remained unused. Westinghouse got paid generously nevertheless as the US gouvernment credit agency took over the standing debt. In 2007, the Filipino government finally completed paying off the $1.5 billion for the plant’s construction, more than 30 years after it began. As Marcos’ regime devastated the country’s economy, subsequent governments had to continue taking on loans to pay off the old ones.
During the fourteen-year dictatorship, the Worldbank granted five loans to Marcus. Now, the Phillipines still owe the Worldbank around US $3 billion out of a total foreign debt of US $47,5 billion. The original loans from the Worldbank have long since been repaid, but because the interest has compounded, 80% of the debt is still owed. If nothing changes, Filipino taxpayers will continue to pay for the illegitimate debts of Marcos until 2025, 39 years after he was overthrown. While ‘Smith’ glorified the loans as an investment in pro-poor development, Lidy Nacpil said there is little evidence that the Worldbank has had any positive impact at all. ‘Debt cancellation is a call not for charity but for justice’, Nacpil concluded.
Of course, one could argue that debt cancellation would create poor incentives by making future borrowers hope that they will have their debts waivered too. Also, developing countries are dependent on loans and if creditors would stop this flow of money due to lack of trust in return, the result could be disastrous, especially now in times of economic downturn. This, however, would relieve Northern countries of responsibility too easily. As we have seen, a major part of the third world debt is the result of the self-interested and reckless lending of first world creditors during the Cold War. Fillipino people are currently forced to pay off a loan that was not taken up in their name and went to support an undemocratic dictator. The Worldbank could have reasonably foreseen this and should thus assume responsibility. Besides, one could argue that the Fillipino people themselves never had a contractual arrangement with the World Bank.
The envisioned debt tribunal is just one step in creating a fairer lending system. Future loans should be given responsibly, on fair terms, and in a transparent way that is open to scrutiny by parliaments, media and citizens. Any loans given on unjust terms should be considered the responsibility of the creditor and thus eligible for cancellation in future. Jubilee’s mock tribunal demonstrated that debt arbitration can be done fairly and effectively. Or would it take a Bono to convince the Scottish gouvernment?
“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible” – UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Examine the Principles of Fair Trade and it quickly becomes apparent the intention of Fair Trade is to EMPOWER disadvantaged producers and their communities. The principles reflect business practices free from exploitation; are based on respect for universal human rights, women’s rights, child rights, minority and migrant rights, rights of the disabled, and labour rights; embrace gender equality; and incorporate environmentally sound practices. However, the fact remains that for many of our producers their rights are not well known; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains an abstract idea, an international convention far from their immediate reality.
When our producers are unaware of their rights, there is opportunity for exploitation. In the field of International Development, programs and projects are often designed to target root causes. One increasingly popular approach is a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) which recognizes poverty as injustice and includes marginalization, discrimination, and exploitation as central causes.
As Fair Trade supporters and advocates, it is nice to believe that we are leading the way in making ethical consumer choices a reality in the global marketplace. Admittedly, many of our producers reside in countries which are not well known for upholding those rights. However, unless we support our producers with knowledge of their rights, we fail to follow the principles of Fair Trade. Look at this from the perspective of our producers:
Fair Trade is a partnership, not a charity. As set out in our shared Principles, Fair Trade importers, wholesalers, buyers, and retailers are required to provide for the development of producer groups in order that they are empowered, self-sufficient trade partners capable of conducting international trade in ways which are beneficial to them and their community free from any form of exploitation. To integrate a Rights-Based Approach is to strengthen our trade partners not only in trade relations, but in their quality of life; to enjoy the freedoms internationally recognized as inherent to all human beings. Taking a closer look at our Shared Principles we see that our principles are based on UN Human Rights Declarations and Conventions, and the ILO Conventions. For a comprehensive analysis read Journey for Fair Trade: Human Rights Framework.
Saturday, December 10, 2011 is Human Rights Day
(http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx).
This year, let’s make it a point as a global Fair Trade movement, to not only join the celebration, but integrate a Rights-Based Approach into Fair Trade; Join together in an effort to raise awareness of Universal Human Rights with our trade partners and their communities!
Here is an idea for Fair Traders regardless of where you reside – empower your trade partners directly: the United Nations has translated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into 131 languages. Download and print a copy in the language of your trade partner, take an extra step to creatively decorate it, and mail it to them. What a great way to personalize your trade relationship:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/SearchByLang.aspx.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been translated into 58 languages and is available from UNICEF on their child-friendly page. UNICEF has made the CRC available in an easy to read English poster which is quite colorful and attractive. If you have trade partners whose first language is not English, download a copy and take the extra step to print it out in their language on a poster size paper, decorate and laminate it, and mail it to them! What a terrific way to let them know you support and care for their children:
http://www.unicef.org/magic/briefing/uncorc.html
To advocate for a Rights-Based Approach to Fair Trade it is vitally important that Fair Traders know what the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is and how it works, particularly when it impacts 51% of the global population, yet women are often considered to be in the minority. To see how this convention works to empower women, read Journey for Fair Trade: Understanding CEDAW. The national UNIFEM offices have translations of CEDAW in printed locally available – they have a budget for printed materials, so don’t hesitate to make a request!
For those who have trade partners in developing nations, I encourage you to do some online research of Women’s Rights Organizations, to include Rights-Based Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in their country and put them in touch with your trade partner. Contact the UNIFEM national office if you need a referral to a local NGO which conducts workshops in women’s rights. It is important that as Fair Traders we unite with the Rights-Based Organizations in their efforts to make change happen and put an end to gender inequality and social http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm
To integrate a Rights-Based Approach to Fair Trade begins by raising awareness of the rights we are all entitled to enjoy; the rights which form the very foundation of our Shared Principles. Take a stand for human rights and begin raising awareness with a celebration on Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2011. For ideas and information read Journey for Fair Trade: Fair Trade Celebrates Human Rights Day.
Mitch Teberg, MA
WFTO Associate Member
Sustainable Development / Fair Trade / Women’s Rights and Gender
Researcher / Trainer / Consultant
Philippa de Boissiere was one of 8 students who took part in People & Planet’s tar sands solidarity exchange this summer:
“Our trip to Alberta, Canada marked the start for us of an ongoing commitment to take on the most destructive oil project on Earth. Our visit was in response to an invitation from the former Beaver Lake Cree Nation (BLCN) Chief, Al Lameman, whose community is being directly threatened by the expansion of tar sands.
There was a lot to take in from our experience of this dirty oil extraction industry. We were treated to a full PR assault from Suncor representatives, harassed by industry workers whilst surveying the destruction of the boreal forest and left choking by the fumes emitted from toxic waste ponds.
More importantly however, we developed links of solidarity with indigenous people from Beaver Lake. Over campfires, meals and some dancing at their annual Pow-Wow we learnt of a wise and loving culture. We were able to send a powerful message on behalf of the People & Planet network that the Beaver Lake Cree Nation do not stand alone in taking on the most powerful oil companies on the planet.
Rosie is 17, from the Cardigan area. She has just finished her GCSE’s at college and is going on to study dance, art (her two favourite things) and world development (inspired by Project Mongolia!) at Llanelli College as soon as she returns.
Some final thoughts on the Trans Siberian by our Rosie
I felt a bit emotional on our last day of the Trans-Mongolia. Beginning our journey on Saturday 27th August traveling here to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, required 7 train changes and moving the clocks forward 7 hours. Living for five nights on the same train I think we had all became quite attached to it. The clunking of the wheels 24/7 and the random jerks, jolts, and halts all seemed so familiar and friendly by the time we left it’s hard to imagine how very strange it feels to be sat here in the ‘Golden Gobi’ guest house, not rocking too and fro.
I mistakenly imagined spending 5 nights on a train as boring and dull – wrong!
As well as having a group of 10 amazing people with me, to share skills and stories with, there was also the other really cool passengers who kindly gave their time telling us their individual stories, about why they were on Trans-Mongolian, through interviews using our newly acquired camera and audio skills!
Of course, there was also the absolutely spectacular and often unusual scenery:
I doubt any of us will miss that ‘creepy Russian guy’ (that’s another story..), the rancid toilets and the flying inches out of bed in the night. I think that most of us will miss our fellow passengers mainly.
There was an older man named Jeff, from Denmark, who I first met when he nearly fell over me when I was collecting footage of the sound of the train (it’s really noisy where the trains attach to each other). He asked me if I made movies – I wish! He let me interview him and told me all about his job – he travels with his daughter (who I was pleased to meet) to make movies about the world – was became inspired by his daughter who has downs. The movies are at a pace that suits people like his daughter and introduce the different ways that people can live, etc. he also went on to tell me about the environment in Denmark and how people and the environment affect each other. He was a fascinating person to interview as he has an obvious passion for what he does and about the environment/climate change.
We also all met a young man named Tim from Thailand. He was traveling from London, England, back to his home country after 5 years of studying English at University. We also interviewed him. He even played us tunes on Twm’s ukelele. The evening before we all parted he produced 11 friendship bracelets – hand-made, one for each of us!
I (almost) can’t wait for the train journey home!
Rosa X
We are 8 young people from Wales traveling by train to Mongolia. We’ve created a project educating young people at home in Wales and out in Mongolia. When we get there we will be helping a group of young Mongolians kick start a youth environmental movement as well as experiencing the best of Mongolian culture. We’ll be blogging, vlogging and leading peer education workshops when we get back, so keep in touch and follow our progress! www.dyfodol.org
Each week we will feature a blog from this amazing journey, which includes People & Planet students.
Who are we?
We are a team of Welsh & Mongolian young people who are passionate and optimistic about our future. 8 of us are young people from all over Wales, we have 3 fantastic youth workers and the rest of the team we will meet when we get out there.
What are we up to?
We are embarking on a journey to Mongolia by train, brought together by a shared passion for positive youth action whatever our backgrounds.
Why?
By taking on issues head on we believe that outbursts of frustration, like the riots we have just seen, can be avoided and empower young people to feel more able to participate in decision making and in their community.
How?
In Mongolia we will be sharing our collective skills with the Mongolians keen to start a youth environmental movement in a country already affected by climate change.
Us Welsh lot will have a unique opportunity to see the effects climate change first hand which we will use when we get home to inspire others to take action and get involved in the sustainable development projects of Dyfodol (our parent organisation).
Also, we are an organisation core funded by the Welsh Assembly Government so we are trying to use our contact with the Welsh Environment Minister to benefit the young Mongolians relationship with their Government and Environment Minister…..we’ll see!
We’ll be blogging individually, some in Welsh some in English, and if you want more info on Dyfodol or our other projects check out www.dyfodol.org
Isabel, Anna, Kyle, Rosie, Melody, Sannan, Twm, Kirsti, Robin, Taliesin and Anthony
People & Planet’s Buy Right campaign puts the spotlight on the sweatshop conditions and unfair pay faced across the world by workers in university supply chains. But you don’t even have to leave campus to find examples of workers struggling to get by on poverty wages. FairPensions’ Juliette Daigre explains the work they’re doing on Living Wages in the UK.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Living Wage campaigning in the UK, and it will come as no surprise to P&Pers that students have been at the forefront of this campaign. Ten of London’s leading universities are or have committed to become Living Wage employers, paying all their staff – including cleaners on contracts – a wage of £8.30/hour, over £2 more than the national minimum wage. And with this month’s announcement of – for the first time ever – a national Living Wage rate for outside London, it’s to be hoped that many more universities will soon be following suit.
But even with these great wins, that doesn’t mean that poverty has been eradicated from university campuses. Look around you, and what do you see? Almost certainly, a bank branch: perhaps RBS/Natwest, targeted by People & Planet as UK’s biggest backer of tar sands companies, or Barclays, whose massive bonuses and a “greed is good” mantra has seen them hit the headlines.
What you don’t see so often in the headlines is how much these banks’ lowest paid employees earn. In many cases, those at the bottom of the pay scale earn less in a year than the chief executives of the very same companies earn in a week. And at a time when Britain is facing massive public service cuts and inflation is on the rise, it is becoming ever more difficult for low paid workers to get by. Despite working multiple jobs – keeping them away from their family and communities and often at cost to their health – these workers still struggle to meet costs for housing, food and other basic needs.
FairPensions is trying to curb the shocking pay gap and to lift people out of the grim reality of working poverty by pushing for the adoption of Living Wages by some of the UK’s biggest and best known companies – starting with the banks.
You might feel like a cash-strapped student, but the money – no matter how little! – you hold in your bank account gives you real power to influence companies’ behaviour. Banks want you – they want your student overdraft, and most importantly they want your loyalty. And so as their customer, when you speak, they will listen. If together we organise our money by asking banks to pay their employees a Living Wage, we have a real chance to lift families across Britain out of working poverty.
Ask your bank to pay Living Wages at: www.activateyourmoney.org