Ninety-Nine is published three times a year by Global Justice Now
Global Justice Now campaigns for a world where resources are controlled by the many, not the few. We champion social movements and propose democratic alternatives to the rule of the 1%. Our activists and groups in towns and cities around the UK work in solidarity with those at the sharp end of poverty and injustice.
Ninety-Nine magazine, Global Justice Now 66 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS
Cover: Marchers on the Trump Not Welcome demonstration in September
Photo: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Alamy Live New Printed on 100% recycled paper.
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We must unite against the far-right everywhere
Anita
Bhadani
Media manager
The far-right is taking hold in a way it hasn’t for a generation. Daily, headlines fan the flames of division and create space for the likes of Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage to build support. This matters to us, because if the slide into far-right politics is not checked, it will mean the defeat of everything we work for. Racism and hatred can never be tolerated.
Our government, far from condemning this slippery slope to fascism, is feeding the move away from democracy – by welcoming the authoritarian bully Donald Trump into our country with open arms, by further restricting our right to protest, and by themselves pretending that migration is the source of our problems.
The majority of people do not want a country where racism and hatred thrive. We must not give up.
If we want a more just world, we need an alternate vision. Across the world, people are angry, because we have an economy which has fuelled inequality, stripped away power and control over our lives and communities, and seen declining living standards for many. Anger is a valuable political tool that can be wielded to transformative ends. Far-right politicians – from Farage to Trump to Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil – are adept at weaponising anger, but to drive division and hatred rather than building a better world.
As a global movement, we must tap into this rightful anger and direct it to its real driving cause. Because the only minorities destroying this country are the billionaire and super-rich class, who are accumulating greater and greater wealth at everyone else’s expense. Fighting for radical, global economic transformation is essential to addressing the challenges we face today, from the rise of the racist far-right, to worsening climate change and deepening inequality across the world.
In this issue we explore steps toward this, from the Budget this autumn to the months and years ahead. Faiza Shaheen (page 8) explains what a wealth tax could look like in practice. We report back from our key mass mobilisations Make Them Pay and Stop Trump this autumn (pages 3-4). We hear from activists and campaigners in Brazil on Bolsonaro's conviction, and their ongoing fight against the far-right (page 14). And we keep our eyes on the prize – exploring the full alphabet of ideas and currents that make up what we mean by global justice (page 12).
Global Justice Now
The majority of people do not want a country where racism and hatred thrive. We must not give up. When we take a united stand in our communities and as part of a global progressive movement, we hold the power to transform our world.
Thousands march to demand super-rich and polluters pay
On Saturday 20 September, Global Justice Now joined thousands of people from movements and communities across the country to march through central London behind the demand to Make Them Pay. Climate activists, trade unionists, wealth tax campaigners, migrant justice groups and more all united behind a clear message: it is billionaires and polluting corporations who are destroying our world, and they must pay to fix it.
The march went from Portland Place by the BBC to 10 Downing Street, where we heard from speakers
including new leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski, legendary musician Brian Eno, economist Gary Stevenson, activist Dominique Palmer and youth campaigner Stella Swain. Global Justice Now groups and members from across the country were in attendance – a massive thank you to everyone who joined.
Over 100 organisations and groups have now publicly supported Make Them Pay and its three core demands: to tax the super-rich, protect workers – not billionaires –and make polluters pay. At a time when internationalist concerns are
increasingly under threat amidst the continuing cost-of-living crisis, we hope this is just the beginning. We are building a broad-based movement to highlight the common causes of domestic and global problems, point the finger at those most responsible and build pressure on our government to act. The next step for the campaign is a day of local action on Saturday 15 November, mid-way through the COP30 climate summit in Brazil and just before the Autumn Budget on 26 November.
Find out more at: globaljustice.org.uk/make-them-pay
Trump kept out of London but Big Tech threat grows
Donald Trump was kept out of London and away from Parliament on his unprecedented second state-visit in September, as the threat of protests ensured the red carpet rolled out by Keir Starmer and the King remained entirely behind closed doors in Windsor and Chequers.
Tens of thousands marched through central London to say ‘Trump Not Welcome’ on the first day of the visit. But the presence of Trump’s billionaire Big Tech backers at the state banquet, and the announcement of a US-UK ‘technology pact’ during the trip, has heightened concerns that the UK government is preparing to give away control of how to tax and regulate this industry, which continues to amass monopoly power with little concern for human rights or the environment, including on artificial intelligence (AI).
During the trip Microsoft president Brad Smith welcomed the change in the UK’s “regulatory climate” as he announced new investments. But with the Trump administration known to be pushing for further changes to
the UK’s online safety rules, competition enforcement and digital services tax in trade talks, campaigners question whether investment that is dependent on lowering taxes, allowing monopolies and removing regulation is worth having. The risk is that the UK simply becomes an aircraft carrier for the US Big Tech industry – or, as former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg described it, becomes “a kind of vassal state technologically” relying on “crumbs from the Silicon Valley table”.
Our campaign to prevent a full toxic trade deal between the UK and Donald Trump continues. The tech pact was similar to the ‘trade deal’ announced in May in being a non-legally binding statement, rather than a full trade treaty, and the UK’s £5 billion digital services tax so far remains in place. But with the tech pact promising to set up a ministerial working group within six months to deepen cooperation, there will be more to resist.
Tell the UK not to sell out to US tech giants: globaljustice.org.uk/big-tech-action
Above and below: Crowds fill Parliament Square to say Trump Not Welcome.
UK sued in corporate court for halting Cumbria coal
We have long warned about fossil fuel companies suing the UK over necessary climate action – and now it’s happened. In August, the UK government was sued via corporate courts for halting the now-abandoned Cumbria coal mine. Controversial, highly polluting and opposed by environmental campaigners, the project was eventually quashed by the UK’s high court last year – ruled unlawful due to its climate impacts.
But because the UK hasn’t removed corporate courts from its trade deals, the West Cumbria Mining company is weaponising investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses in the UK-Singapore investment treaty to sue the UK government, using its chain of holding companies registered overseas in Singapore. To add to the scandal, the lawyer representing them is former attorney general Geoffrey Cox – still a sitting Conservative MP.
Our response to the case was covered in media outlets including the BBC and the Guardian, and we’re busy working with allies to raise the profile of the case. Our petition to the new trade minister demands that the UK calls time on corporate courts, and this news will help us build the momentum further.
Add your name to the petition: globaljustice.org.uk/stop-isds
Below: Global Justice Now's youth network drop a banner from Westminster Bridge.
UK failing to sanction Israel, despite recognition of Palestine
In September the UK moved to formally recognise Palestinian statehood. While this was long overdue, without concrete economic measures to hold Israel to account it will do little to interrupt its attacks on Palestinians, which continue as Ninety-Nine goes to press.
While the UK makes largely symbolic gestures, other governments are moving ahead with plans to ban Israeli settlement goods and use
sanctions to pressure Israel to stop the genocide. Scotland passed a motion in September to immediately impose a package of boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeted at Israel and at companies complicit in its military operations and its occupation of Palestine, following campaigning by Global Justice Now Scotland and others. Spain and Belgium have also announced similar economic sanctions.
Demands for sanctions on Israel are now coming from all parts of UK society, with leading lawyers, business people and artists making this demand in recent months. In Westminster, Labour MP Richard Burgon has also launched a new working group which will coordinate parliamentary action for sanctions. Join the call for sanctions at: globaljustice.org.uk/israel-sanctions
Mass protests in Brazil over threat of amnesty for Bolsonaro
Demonstrators against the amnesty bill fill Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Brazil in September to oppose the prospect of a pardon for former president Jair Bolsonaro, in the biggest pro-democracy protests in years. Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in jail earlier in September for his part in an attempted coup to overturn the re-election of President
Lula in 2022, which included a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice-president and a leading judge.
The efforts to spare Bolsonaro jail have included a bill proposed in Brazil’s congress to make it harder to prosecute elected officials. They have attracted the attention of US president Donald Trump, who has
Campaigners win $1 billion payout over Sri
A Singapore-registered shipping company was ordered to pay more than $1 billion in compensation in July for the damage caused in Sri Lanka’s worst ever environmental disaster at sea, following a legal case brought by the Colombobased Centre for Environmental Justice (Friends of the Earth Sri
Lanka) and affected fishing communities.
The ship X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka in 2021 and sank, releasing a toxic mix of industrial chemicals, plastic pellets and engine fuel into the water and onto beaches, with tonnes of marine animals killed and posing
imposed tariffs and sanctions on Brazil in an effort to support his far-right ally. Brazilians packed the streets of cities including Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and Brasília in opposition to the moves, and were addressed by leading figures from the struggle against Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ruled from 1964-85.
Lankan marine disaster
a long-term threat to the marine ecosystem. The supreme court found the company liable for the damage caused after authorities had failed to prosecute in Sri Lanka. But the struggle for justice continues after the company refused to pay the first $250 million instalment of the fine in September.
Hundreds of actions demand world leaders ‘Draw the Line’ at COP30
More than 600 actions took place in over 80 countries in mid-September calling on world leaders to ‘Draw the Line’ for climate justice. From mass rallies and marches to artistic interventions, thousands came together to demand real, decisive and urgent action from world leaders ahead of the COP30 climate summit in November.
Indonesians rise up over austerity and repression
A succession of protests have taken place in Indonesia since late August, initially in response to proposed hikes to politicians’ perks, amid a government-imposed austerity drive. The demonstrations broadened after police ran over and killed a delivery driver while repressing the protests, which have seen government buildings looted and set on fire.
African movements mobilise for debt and trade justice
Thousands marched through Ghana’s capital Accra in August for a Pan-African Rally for Debt Cancellation and Trade Justice. The rally brought together trade unionists with civil society movements, faith leaders, youth and women’s organisations from across the continent to demand “an end to unjust debt and exploitative trade systems that have bled Africa of its wealth”.
Shipping giant to stop transporting Israeli settlements goods
In June, shipping giant Maersk announced it would cut ties with companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank. The decision follows an extensive campaign led by activists in the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), who carried out research into cargo shipped from companies linked to the settlements.
Aisha Nizar from PYM said: “This sends a clear message to the global shipping industry: compliance with international law and basic human rights is not
optional. Doing business with Israel’s illegal settlements is no longer viable, and the world is watching to see who follows next.”
The group has been working to disrupt the logistics networks fuelling Israel’s genocide in Gaza and is also demanding that Maersk stop shipping military goods to Israel, including components for the F-35 fighter jets that Israel has used to bomb Gaza. They have vowed to continue the campaign until the company cuts all ties to Israel’s genocide.
Israeli government kept away from DSEI arms fair, but companies remain
In early September, hundreds of protestors came out to London’s Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in an action organised by The ‘Big One’ Coalition. Over 500 people blockaded the gate to the exhibition, where over 50 Israeli arms firms joined 1,600 exhibitors.
While public pressure ensured that no official Israeli government delegation was invited to the fair, Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for lethal F-35 jets used by Israel in Gaza and BAE
Systems, the lead sub-contractor in Britain, were in attendance, alongside Israel’s three biggest arms companies – Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries.
“This is where war starts. This is where repressive border policies start. This is where torture starts,” the coalition said. “This is where the contacts are made and the lucrative deals done that fuel genocide, war crimes and human rights abuses around the world. This is why we have to shut it down”.
Campaigners against the arms trade protest outside Excel London as delegates arrive.
A wealth tax is a moral and economic necessity, writes FAIZA SHAHEEN. Here’s how it would work.
Inequality is the crisis of our time. Those with extreme wealth, wield extreme power. They corrupt our democracy and shape our political systems, they destroy our environment and fuel militarism, they suffocate our economy and break down our society.
People are waking up to the sheer scale of wealth inequality globally and in the UK. In Britain, fifty families own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population, some 34 million people. Fortunately, people are clear-eyed about the solution. We must tax wealth, not work.
Whilst there are many taxes on wealth we do or can levy – on capital gains, on property, on investment income, and more – momentum has taken off for a wealth tax on net assets over £10 million.
A 2% wealth tax over this £10 million threshold would apply to some 20,000 people in the UK – the richest 0.04% of the population. This would raise £24 billion annually.
Those with the broadest shoulders should contribute their fair share. And the very richest have very broad shoulders. The average wealth of the top ten richest people in the UK is now £20.5 billion – up nearly 50% in five years. It can be difficult to comprehend this scale of wealth. If you earned £3,600 every hour of every day, it would take you 650 years to reach this amount.
will also enable us to restore trust with global partners by reversing the deadly cuts to international aid and to pay our fair share toward a green transition.
THE BATTLE OF IDEAS
Yet, despite backing from leading economists, unions, and 75% of the public, opposition from vested interests continues to push back on a wealth tax.
A recent report from Henley and Partners, a wealth management firm that sells “citizenship by investment” for the ultra-wealthy to avoid higher taxes, argued that over ten thousand millionaires were leaving the UK as a result of certain tax policy changes from the Labour Government. Yet the report has been found to be full of holes.
Tax Policy Associates, an independent body of tax experts, meticulously pored over the data in a forensic review and found digit patterns in the report to look made up, the report’s figures to be directly contradicted by official data, previous versions saying property was included in millionaire wealth when it wasn’t, and more inaccuracies.
As our schools and hospitals crumble and public sector workers suffer through real-terms pay cuts, and as young people cry out for investment in housing and childcare, it is clear that a wealth tax can start to transform this country away from economic stagnation. It
This was all underscored by the fact that not even government tax authorities are resourced well enough to track the wealth of the super-rich properly, let alone a small wealth protection firm.
Tax Policy Associates’ conclusion is resolute: this ‘Wealth Migration Report’ should be treated as “marketing material, not evidence”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves
will deliver a crucial Budget on 26 November. Campaigners are calling on her to make the super-rich pay to help tackle inequality (right).
And yet, much of the media sensationalised this report to create a narrative to work for the super-rich's interests. This is what we’re up against; a shameless and brazen opposition to our agenda, because wealth taxation threatens entrenched power.
In reality, the very rich are staying put. Their families, businesses, assets, and communities are here. They also appreciate the values and culture of our country that also contribute to it being a great place to live; this is also evidenced by the ‘Donald Dashers’, US nationals moving to the UK as they don’t want to live under the politics and values of Trump.
We know the rich do not migrate primarily for tax reasons. In fact, millionaires themselves are loudly saying they are happy to pay and here to stay – a Survation poll in June showed 80% of UK millionaires
support a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million, including 85% of millionaires polled who would be subject to the tax itself.
In Norway, following an increase in their wealth tax, of the country’s 236,000 millionaires and billionaires, just 30 left – with revenue being brought in rising.
A TARGETED TAX
Learning from other countries is also why a wealth tax in the UK is necessary. The proposal being put forward avoids certain difficulties that other wealth taxes have had.
Take France. It has had a wealth tax (called a solidarity tax on wealth) since the 1980s, though it was subject to some changes over time and was briefly abolished from 1986 to 1988, and was then replaced in 2017 with a similar tax on property.
The wealth tax in France was an annual wealth tax on those with assets over €1.3 million (since 2011). This is a low threshold which meant it applied to some 343,000 people in France. This was more difficult for French tax authorities to administer, so much so that many exemptions had to be applied. This opened up loopholes and has limited the potential to raise revenue.
By setting a threshold of £10 million for a UK wealth tax, HMRC – the UK tax authority – can more easily administer the tax by focusing on the far smaller number (some 20,000 people) of those eligible to contribute through it.
This means exemptions can be limited. At £10 million in net wealth, a person has a diversity of assets and so should not need to sell property to pay the tax either. It also means more money can be raised. Critics
like to say a wealth tax wouldn’t raise much money, and cite the French example for this. But the UK is the sixth richest country and is more unequal than France – the £24 billion a year a wealth tax would raise could be transformative.
Let’s consider implementation further. Similar to inheritance tax, a wealth tax would involve a selfdeclaration of asset values by the tax payer, which a compliance team in HMRC would assess.
We’re upfront that to have the capacity to properly administer a wealth tax, HMRC would need hundreds of millions invested into it. However, not only is this dwarfed by what a wealth tax could raise, it would also bolster HMRC’s ability to crack down on wider tax abuse and close the tax gap (between what is owed and what is collected), currently calculated by the government to be £47 billion annually.
HMRC could also further develop registers of assets, so they know who owns what and their true wealth.
This would also help crack down on dirty money.
GLOBAL COOPERATION
This is the direction we need to move in. And we need to do it with governments around the world. Right now, a United Nations Tax Convention is being negotiated. The UK, along with a handful of other countries including the US and Israel, voted against its terms of reference. But negotiations are moving ahead, with over 125 countries supportive.
financial system, and in future help create a global asset register necessary to facilitate a global wealth tax.
We must all refuse to accept a country and a world where poverty and destitution are so rampant whilst so few hoard so much extreme wealth.
Those with the broadest shoulders should contribute their fair share. And the very richest have very broad shoulders.
The UN Tax Convention presents an opportunity to strengthen global tax cooperation through an inclusive framework rather than just rich nations setting the rules. It could help create a more just and sustainable global
An annual wealth tax is one measure that can help us begin to create a society and planet where everyone benefits from functional public services and our communities can thrive.
Without tackling inequality, our economy, society, democracy and environment will break down further. The choice before us is clear.
Faiza Shaheen is executive director of Tax Justice UK.
Global Justice Now Supporters
Make Them Pay day of local action - 15 November
Following the London march in September, Make Them Pay is gearing up to join the global day of action during COP30 on Saturday 15 November. With the autumn budget coming just 11 days later, it’ll be another key moment for us all to come together, this time across the country, to fight for billionaires and big oil to pay for climate action and a society that works for the people who keep it running, not the rich and powerful.
There will be organised demos in London and Glasgow, and we’re encouraging Global Justice Now local groups to mobilise in their areas. It’s a brilliant chance to engage communities in Make Them Pay and its message. With the cost of living still biting, placing economic justice at the heart of climate campaigning is key to rebuilding support for it, and countering the rise of the far right. Find out what’s going on in your area –or add your own event – at: makethempay.org.uk
Double your impact with The Big Give Christmas Challenge
Your donation to Global Justice Now can be doubled from 2-9 December
Global Justice Now is again joining The Big Give Christmas Challenge in 2025. In this online fundraising event, your donation to our work can be doubled at no extra cost between 2 and 9 December, meaning your gift can have double the impact. It’s a great way to make your donation go further and help raise even more for our hardhitting campaigns.
This year we’ll be aiming to double £15,000 in donations to £30,000 for our campaigning work on a fair global green transition. To tackle the climate crisis, we need to shift to renewable energy. But rich nations and mining giants are exploiting poorer countries’ minerals, needed for some renewable technologies, for profit. We’re pushing
for a just green transition that ends this exploitative resource grab, guaranteeing community and workers’ rights and demanding a fair deal for countries of the global south.
Keep an eye out for our Christmas Challenge appeal in the run-up to December – we’ll be in touch once it’s time to get involved.
And thank you to all our incredible pledgers (including many Ninety-Nine readers) who have already committed to donating to help make the Challenge
possible – we are extremely grateful for your support. Find out more at: globaljustice.org.uk/biggive
“In the many places where there is still a very unequal distribution of land, the fight is still for the expropriation of large estates. If these collective struggles are successful, it opens up the possibility of collective or co-operative ways of owning or using the land. At the same time, because of the growth of corporate-led industrial agriculture, small-scale producers who already have access to land are ending up having to defend it from land grabbing by powerful interests, from cattle ranching to palm oil plantations.”
Nury Martínez
La Via Campesina
From reparations to energy democracy, green colonialism to agrarian reform, our new book aims to demystify the key concepts behind the ‘movement of movements’ for another world. Co-editor JAMES O’NIONS presents a taster selection.
Buen vivir
“This idea of harmony between humans and nature, based on the notion that we all come from Mother Earth, also leads to a rejection of the idea that nature can be owned. Rather than putting a price on nature in order to preserve it (the ‘natural capital’ approach), those influenced by buen vivir are likely to advocate for nature to be accorded rights.”
James O’Nions Global Justice Now
Decolonisation
“Decolonisation isn’t just a historical event. It’s an ongoing struggle – one that involves fighting the corporations that still profit from imperial structures and challenging the postcolonial elites who maintain them. Imperialism today relies on these local intermediaries as much as foreign powers.”
Mohammed Elnaiem
Decolonial Centre
Energy democracy
“In 2022, Honduras passed a landmark law to guarantee electricity as a public good and a human right. It guarantees free electricity for the lowest-income households, which should benefit 900,000 families. If companies fail to comply then the state can bring them back into public ownership.”
Lavinia Steinfort and Rowan Mataram Transnational Institute
Feminism
“Under globalised capitalism, working class women on the edges of the world face double exploitation: both as women doing unpaid household work, and as underpaid workers in global commodity chains. The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras supports Mexican sweatshop workers to organise to improve their working conditions and quality of life and contest the environmental impact of the companies that exploit them.”
“Extreme market concentration (monopoly capitalism) means that a handful of corporations dominate the energy sector, which makes them especially wealthy and especially powerful. They’re able to spend vast sums on lobbying our politicians and climate negotiations, on climate denialism and misinformation, and on under-cutting smaller competitors.”
Daisy Pearson Global Justice Now
Reparations
“The struggle for reparations is closely tied to the Pan-African movement, which united African and Caribbean leaders against colonial exploitation. Figures such as Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Kwame Nkrumah advocated for reparations as part of broader demands for African self-determination and economic justice.”
Clive Lewis MP for Norwich South
Freedom of movement
“Our starting point is that freedom of movement is a human right, but that must be accompanied by other rights, especially rights at work alongside strong trade union organising. Evidence suggests that while border regimes affect the wages and conditions of migrants, migration itself doesn’t drive down wages for other workers as some antimigrant politicians suggest. In fact it can boost the economy as a whole.”
Nick Dearden Global Justice Now
Green colonialism
“The shift away from fossil fuel-based energy systems is driving the growth of new industries. Green colonialism describes a process where the same transfer of wealth is maintained but in newer markets that are easier to greenwash given their link to low carbon technology.”
Cleodie Rickard Global Justice Now
Social movement trade unionism
“Solidaires, the most radical union in France, which represents almost 5% of the country’s employees, has practiced social movement unionism since its creation in the 1990s. It has not only mobilised to defend the employees it represents, but has supported undocumented migrants and has taken part in feminist movements and campaigns for climate justice.”
Christophe Aguiton ATTAC France
Universal Basic Income
“Most often, UBI is thought of as a radical reimagining of the benefits system: a way forward that would be more secure, dignified and solidarityenhancing than existing social welfare. More fundamentally we can see UBI as a direct and effective way to redistribute wealth.”
Laura Bannister Centre for Progressive Change
Vulture funds
“While the term ‘vulture fund’ describes particularly egregious behaviour, these companies are in reality a perfectly mainstream part of a predatory global financial system. They hold up and weaken debt relief processes, thereby ensuring the perpetuation of debt crises, and contribute to the funnelling of wealth from global south countries to the super-rich.”
Tim Jones Debt Justice
Order An A to Z of Global Justice for £15 including P&P online at: globaljustice.org.uk/az
Deadline 11 December to guarantee arrival before Christmas.
The ex-president’s sentence is a historic moment for Brazil and for global struggles for democracy, write members of the People’s Summit Towards COP30.
The Federal Supreme Court has sentenced Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup d’état after losing the 2022 elections. The ruling marks a historic moment for social movements, peoples of the territories, and democracy in Brazil, Latin America, and the world.
It is the first time a Brazilian expresident has been punished for this type of crime, despite the country’s experience of a civil-military dictatorship after the coup in its recent past. For leaders of organisations that make up our People’s Summit, the decision shows that mobilisations for democracy must continue resisting.
“Today, September 11, on the 52nd anniversary of the civil-military coup in Chile, we celebrate Bolsonaro’s conviction for his coup attempt in Brazil”, said Eduardo Giesen, Latin America and Caribbean coordinator of the Demand Climate Justice campaign and a member of the political commission of the People’s Summit.
would be more than just a legal verdict – it symbolises the importance of democratic institutions resisting attacks and reaffirming commitments to human rights, social participation, and territorial sovereignty. These are central elements of the struggles defended by the People’s Summit.
Justice Cármen Lúcia, one of the many judges who voted in favour of the conviction, put the gravity of Bolsonaro's crimes in sharp context when stating that:
“This criminal action is almost an encounter between Brazil and its past, its present, and its future in the realm of state institutions and public policies.”
Popular movements, Indigenous communities, quilombola communities, and workers’ networks see the trial not only as a legal response but also as a political opportunity to strengthen the legitimacy of historically marginalised voices.
“At a time when Latin America and the world face wars, genocide in Gaza, the threat of the far right, and the loss of democratic freedoms and human rights, the sentence handed down against Bolsonaro and his accomplices is a cause for joy and a positive sign to continue working and fighting for more just and sustainable societies.”
AN ENCOUNTER WITH BRAZIL’S PAST Bolsonaro was convicted in a trial by the Federal Supreme Court’s First Panel. We followed the trial knowing that the conviction
Vera Paoloni, president of the Unified Workers’ Central in Pará and another member of the political commission of the People’s Summit, stressed that the Supreme Court’s decision deeply resonates among social movements and working women, groups heavily attacked by Bolsonaro’s hate campaign and the dismantling of social policies, whether through the scrapping of institutions or the shutdown of programs.
“For us in the resistance movements, it is a tremendous joy to see the firmness of the Supreme majority in convicting Bolsonaro and the coup plotters who attacked democracy and the life of the country. Bolsonaro always
Left: Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest while awaiting trial.
treated women as inferior, mocked rights, cruelly attacked workers and social movements, and did not even act to secure vaccines during the terrible period of Covid-19. All this is in the memory and skin of every working woman and every fighter in Brazil.”
TO CONVICT AND REMEMBER
The conviction reinforces for our movements that initiatives from our territories – still under attack by Bolsonaro’s political group – must be recognised and incorporated into public policies. There are also high expectations that public policies will now be supported by precedents reinforcing the
accountability of those who attempt to subvert electoral processes and violate collective rights.
Democracy is sustained not only by formal rules but by broad social participation.
For now though, Paoloni states, “we can breathe a little easier and continue the struggle for social rights, for social justice, and for climate justice, knowing that democracy has been safeguarded by this firm stance of the Supreme Court.”
Democracy is sustained not only by formal rules but also by the practice of broad social participation, the use of scientific knowledge, and respect for diverse forms of knowledge. These are central banners of our People’s
Summit, which has been working to ensure that climate, environmental, and social policies respect territorial rights, promote gender justice, protect traditional peoples, and build a just, popular, and inclusive transition.
Bolsonaro’s conviction must translate into concrete measures of reparation, transparency, and participation in decision-making processes, especially in climate, environmental, and public policy arenas. We in the People’s Summit will remain mobilised to ensure that justice is complete, that accountability reaches all levels, and that no democratic setback is normalised.
The People’s Summit Towards COP30 brings together social and popular movements, coalitions, collectives, networks, and civil society organizations from Brazil to build an autonomous space parallel to the COP30 UN climate talks. It will take place from 12-16 November in Belém. cupuladospovoscop30.org
Thirst: In Search of Freshwater
A new WELLCOME COLLECTION exhibition explores humanity’s vital connection with freshwater as an essential source of life and a pillar of good health for both living beings and land masses.
Spanning times and cultures from ancient Mesopotamia to Victorian London, and extending to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, Thirst brings together art, science, history, technology and Indigenous knowledge from communities past and present, offering a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, social and cultural relationships we have with freshwater. Featuring over 125 objects, including contemporary artworks, historical artefacts, meteorological records, new discovery research and materials from Wellcome’s collection, Thirst takes visitors on a journey through five distinct conditions: Aridity, Rain, Glaciers, Surface Water and Groundwater.
Each section highlights the profound impact that access to freshwater has on the health of individuals, communities and ecosystems, and explores its life-affirming, regenerative and healing nature. They also address the consequences of water’s mismanagement around the world, from the spread of infectious diseases to exacerbating the effects of climate change. Alongside these urgent challenges, the exhibition shares moments of hope and joy through stories of resilience and innovation, showcasing community-driven, regenerative solutions to the global water crises..
Thirst: In Search of Freshwater is at Wellcome Collection in London until 1 February 2026. Admission is free. An accompanying book includes a foreword by Robert Macfarlane with contributions from Elif Shafak, Vandana Shiva, Rebecca Solnit and Ocean Vuong, celebrating myths and memories that flow through this vital resource. wellcomecollection.org
Above: Monster Soup, 1828
William Heath Etching, watercolour Courtesy of Wellcome Collection
Below: Depression, 1869 George du Maurier, for Punch, or The London Charivari Print, wood engraving Courtesy of Wellcome Collection
More than 100 organisations led by REFUGEE ACTION wrote an open letter to the new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, calling for the government to tackle the UK’s real problems.
Dear Home Secretary,
We are writing to you on behalf of over 100 organisations working across different sectors to express our deep concern about the direction taken by the Government around immigration and further hostile asylum policies. The people we help, and hear from every day, are all impacted by politics of division rather than solutions. After years of these policies the asylum system is at a breaking point, and our streets have become scenes of violence. We are asking you now to unite communities and invest in meaningful solutions to prevent further damage.
The Government wants to deliver growth and renew Britain. This requires tackling issues such as growing extreme inequality, underfunded councils, lack of investment in quality housing, a crumbling NHS, the climate emergency and polluted waters. Targeting refugees will do nothing to tackle these structural issues or improve people’s lives. It only serves as a dangerous smokescreen to scapegoat the most vulnerable and distract from the very real dangers to our society.
Anger and division will never satisfy voters in the long-term. They cause tensions in our communities, dividing us and tearing the social fabric of our society. We have seen what happens when this is allowed to escalate, such as last year’s racist riots, this year’s disturbing demonstrations outside asylum accommodation sites and the most recent far-right rally in London promoting racism and hate speech, which record numbers attended. In her review of the Windrush scandal, Wendy Williams said that migration and wider Home Office policy is about people and should be rooted in humanity. By not changing approach, the Government is in danger of repeating the same mistakes.
Before taking further action, we ask you to engage with local authorities, frontline organisations and people with lived experience. These are the people who face the reality of the hostile policies and rhetoric every day. We understand what is working and where the system is breaking down. We live the real threats to our communities.
As the new Home Secretary, you now have an opportunity to turn the tide, and to end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that only cause harm. The Government runs the risk of this country accelerating along a dangerous path, and now is the time to urgently correct this and change course. We look forward to your reply to our concerns and hearing how you will be working to unite communities, ease tensions and support solutions to improve people’s lives.
For the full list of signatories, which includes Global Justice Now, see: globaljustice.org.uk/mahmood-letter
Shabana Mahmood became home secretary in September.
Reviews
GAZA:
DOCTORS UNDER ATTACK
Karim Shah, 2025
65 mins, Channel 4
This investigation into Israel’s attacks on health workers and facilities in Gaza was aired by Channel 4, and is available online, after the BBC refused to broadcast it. It starts with footage of rescue workers coming under heavy fire from occupation forces. This attack, which killed 15 paramedics, was eventually described by Israel as the result of "professional failures" – an anomaly.
But anyone who watches this careful documentation of attacks on hospitals, doctors and ambulances will find it hard not to conclude, as many human rights and UN bodies have, that Israel has deliberately targeted Gaza’s health system and the people that sustain it.
The film is also deeply moving: there are harrowing scenes of doctors learning of and recounting the deaths of their children and close colleagues. We hear of doctors moving from one bombed out hospital to another, and then to the next. The courage and determination to keep working, even as the lights turn off and tanks surround their workplace, is at times staggering. Essential viewing.
Tim Bierley
FLEE
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, 2021
1hr 29mins, BBC iPlayer
Told primarily through animation, with brief interludes of archival footage, Flee is the true story of Amin, a gay Afghan man living in Copenhagen. Amin recounts a coming-of-age where he and his family were constantly forced to seek a safety which seemed to continually evade them. It’s a heartbreakingly infuriating account of how systems of power converge to inflict violence on those with the least.
At one point, Amin remarks upon how journalists would “get their footage of ‘poor refugees’ and go home”, yet nothing changes. It’s a sharp contrast with the storytelling of this film,
IS A RIVER ALIVE?
Robert Macfarlane
Hamish Hamilton, 2025
The notion of whether an entity such as a river could be held to have rights in a court of law has become a pressing matter in many countries – particularly in the Global South, where communities rely on them and find them under threat from external forces such as mining companies.
Robert MacFarlane visits Ecuador, south India and Quebec in Canada to meet and journey with environmentalists who are actively trying to protect river sources and challenge government policy. In between he describes the special water course near his home in Cambridge, charting its history and his experience during an extensive drought.
This is a fascinating and thought-provoking book and Mac -
where Amin’s words are given agency, and moments of life in spite of terror – the childhood crushes, his experience at a gay club for the first time – interweave. These moments that make up a life are what is erased when media and political portrayals of people seeking refuge are flattened into one-dimensional tropes. How many other stories like Amin’s are out there?
Anita Bhadani
farlane pushed himself to the limit to write it – he became ill after his trip to Ecuador and came close to drowning on the Canadian river. But he provides the full philosophical background on the movement to give rivers rights, which is being taken up by activists in Britain to protect our rivers from pollution. Reading it is an exceptional experience.
Alison Skinner
An A-Z of Global Justice
Available to order now!
Global Justice Now has just published a book!
An A-Z of Global Justice is a glossary for the fight for a better world, designed to demystify complex issues, provide a clear introduction to key concepts, and equip you with the knowledge you need to take meaningful action.
In 65 bite-sized entries, the book tackles some of the key questions for those of us who want to organise for a better world. How do the global structures of power that sustain injustice work? What are the alternatives to a world ruled by profit and who is organising to bring them about? It’s this understanding that arms
activists with the tools to challenge systems of power, craft solutions, and inspire collective action.
The book costs £15, including postage, and can be ordered online at globaljustice.org.uk/az or using the QR code below.
