We like to link up with other local campaigning groups and there are none more active than South Coast climate camp. They’ll be setting up a self-sufficient camp somewhere in Sussex from 23rd April to the 1st May, with the aim of learning about the state we’re in and finding solutions to those problems.

There’ll be workshops on everything from resisting the cuts to allotment keeping, a vegan food kitchen, space for kids and lots of like-minded people.

And best of all it won’t be far to travel. See their website for details of exactly where it’ll be and how to get involved.

See the poster here

If the government’s massive cuts in public spending have angered you as much as it has us, then come to the huge London march on Saturday 26/3/2011 and join in with the WDM contingent.

We’ll be getting the Stop the Cuts Coalition buses from St Peter’s Church at 8:30am – to reserve a place email brightontradescouncil@gmail.com

Alternatively some people are meeting at Brighton Station at 8:30am to travel up by train. See the main WDM site for the gathering point

See you there!

On 12th Feb 2011 we held a “hunger casino” in the centre of Brighton in collaboration with Global Xchange, a group of young people from Nigeria and all over the UK.

We asked passers-by to play blackjack against George Osborne and a bowler-hatted banker to highlight how bankers, backed by the UK government, are gambling on the future price of food, causing the price of food staples to fluctuate wildly and pushing the world’s poor into greater poverty.

Jellybeans were handed out to the winners, and people were asked to sign cards to send to their MPs or sign a letter to George Osborne demanding strict regulation of the banks and an end to secret deals.

The event was a huge success; it seems that bankers aren’t too popular in Brighton. Many thanks to all the guys from Global Xchange for lending their support and for helping to make the day go so well.

Protesters take to the roof of Churchill Square shopping centre to voice anger at Arcadia boss Phillip Green’s massive tax avoidance scheme. Arcadia owns British companies Topshop, BHS and Dorothy Perkins, amongst others, yet paid no UK income tax on £1.2 billion it earned in 2005.

Christian Aid are running a campaign, TRACE THE TAX, to end tax haven secrecy. See here

The country’s first Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has demonstrated 100% support for WDM’s climate debt campaign.

In a meeting with WDM Brighton & Hove members she said:

“I completely support WDM’s campaign to urge the government to provide sufficient resources as grants, not loans, to developing countries in order to help them adapt to climate change, especially as we in the West are the primary cause of global warming. It is absolutely wrong to saddle developing countries with more debt.”

She also confirmed that she would be taking up the issue with Andrew Mitchell the Development Secretary, as well as asking him why DfID were refusing to pass on the pound coins donated to the UN Climate Adaptation Fund.

Two vodafone stores in Brighton were closed down on Saturday 30th October by protestors angry that the company has been reported as avoiding a £6billion tax bill.

The store on Western Road was closed for Saturday afternoon as protestors chained themselves to each other outside the doors. Eight people were arrested by the police. The action coincided with 17 others across the country on the same day.

The Argus on the protest here

Private Eye’s original investigation into Vodafone here

BBC Sussex on the protest here

In October we took to the streets of Brighton armed with a World Bank ‘loan’ shark to illustrate the issue of climate debt being forced on developing countries.

The campaign highlights how the UK government has refused to grant any money to the United Nations Climate Adaptation Fund, and is instead insisting that all money to developing countries be dispersed through the World Bank, which has a history of dishing out money as loans with strings attached.

We asked passers-by to donate a pound to the Fund, which would be passed onto the Department for International Development as an indicator of how the British public feel on the issue of new debt for developing countries.

Here’s a photo from September’s action to publicise WDM’s food speculation campaign. Members of the public played Snakes & Ladders against an evil banker to highlight the need for regulation. The banker lost 25 times in a row – funnily enough that never seems to happen in real life.

Last Saturday, on the afternoon before England’s first World Cup match against the U.S.A., we took to the streets of the city offering football fans a “pub quiz” with a difference.

We invited passers-by to pick three questions from a pot – two football-related, and one development related. Anyone answering all three questions correctly won a beer mat and a badge.

The idea behind the quiz was to promote WDM website whoshouldicheerfor.com.

The website ranks any two of the World Cup countries on social justice indicators such as money given in aid, carbon emissions per person, life expectancy and so on.

We are going to continue our street quiz in Brighton on Saturdays throughout the World Cup. To compare any two World Cup teams on social justice rankings visit www.whoshouldicheerfor.com

Three of the questions were:
1. Which is the only South American team never to have qualified for the World Cup Finals?
2. Out of all the contestants, name either of the two countries with the lowest CO2 emissions.
3. Who is the only England player to win the Golden Boot for the tournament’s top scorer?

(Answers below)

Answers :
Q1: Venezuela.
Q2: Ghana or Cameroon.
Q3: Gary Lineker, six goals in 1986.

BP tar sands action

A coalition of over 30 Brighton-based campaigners, in solidarity with groups across the world, took over the BP petrol station on Lewes Road, Brighton on Saturday 10^th April 2010 to demand that the company withdraw its controversial decision to begin extracting oil from the Canadian tar sands.

Displaying banners reading “Tar Sands Oil Is Blood Oil” and “Shut Down Tar Sands”, the demonstrators peacefully occupied the petrol station forecourt with pop-up tents and explained to motorists prevented from entering why they were there.

“The tar sands are the biggest environmental crime on the planet,” said Will Cottrell, one of the campaigners. “The process of extracting oil from them is leaving a hole the size of England in the Canadian wilderness.”

“This catastrophe is largely being financed by British banks, financial institutions and corporations.”

He added, “There are toxic lakes so vast you can see them from space, the local indigenous people are being killed by poisoned water and food supplies, and that’s without the looming threat of runaway climate change.”

“Extracting oil from the tar sands produces three to five times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil,” he explained. “If the tar sands continue being exploited, there’s absolutely no way we can escape ‘tarmageddon.’”

“It’s up to BP to take the responsible decision never to extract oil from the tar sands. Otherwise its newly re-branded name of ‘Beyond Petroleum’ is nothing more than a very bitter joke.”

“We have had a very good response from passers-by and motorists cheering us on. It’s good to know the truth about BP’s involvement in the tar sands is getting out there.”

The demonstration came as part of an international day of action spearheaded by activists from the First Nation tribes of Canada, who are suffering the worst effects of poisoning and environmental degradation from the tar sands. BP forecourts were also occupied in Oxford and London.