The coronavirus pandemic is an issue for the whole world, much of which
will suffer more than us:
Dear friends,
We hope this finds you as well as can be expected given the pandemic.
This is changing all of our lives, and that includes for Global Justice
Sheffield.
For the time being, there will be no more monthly group meetings in
person, and most upcoming events, including May day and Peace in the
Park, have been cancelled. The only event that may still go ahead is the
Festival of Debate 'Trade as if people mattered
<http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/sheffield/2020/02/04/festival-of-debate-trade-as-if-people-matter/>'
on 20th May. However, it will be an online event if it goes ahead. We
are still in the process of seeing if this can happen, and we'll keep
you posted.
Though we are unable to meet or be at events, we can still undertake
some online campaigning! So below are the current Global Justice Now
campaigns and a debt cancellation one from Jubilee Debt Campaign. If you
haven't yet signed these, please do, and encourage others to do so!
Finally, because we will mainly have to focus on online campaigning, the
eNews list might be slightly busier than normal, but we don't expect it
to be more than 3 a month.
We wish you all the best, and we hope Covid19 stays away.
Julieanne, for Global Justice Sheffield
*_Current Actions_*
Immediately pressing is the *Make any Covid19 vaccine affordable for
all*
<https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/make-any-covid-19-vaccine-affordable-all>
campaign. Call on the UK government to ensure that any vaccine developed
with public money is made affordable to the NHS as well as lower income
countries. And urge them to work globally so that any vaccine reaches
the most vulnerable everywhere.
Post Brexit the UK government is now free to negotiate a trade deal with
Donald Trump, and this includes carving up the very NHS that we all so
desparately need right not. Please sight the petition that there should
be *No toxic trade deal with Trump*
<https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/no-toxic-trade-deal-trump >.
Following the election, Boris Johnson is thinking of merging the
Department for International Development into the Foreign Office. This
move would accelerate the hijacking of the aid budget into a tool for
the benefit of British interests, rather than a means of fighting global
poverty. It would take us back towards the ‘bad old days’ when aid was
tied to contracts with British companies. *Tell Boris Johnson to stop
hijacking the aid budget
<https://act.globaljustice.org.uk/tell-boris-johnson-stop-hijacking-aid-budget>*.
And finally, an important action from Jubilee Debt Campaign, we are
asking the chancellor Rishi Sunak, that at the IMF spring meetings, to
please push the IMF to cancel debt payments for countries suffering from
the economic impacts of coronavirus, and help countries in trouble to
restructure their debt rather than bailing out lenders. *Cancel the
debts of countries in the global south
<https://jubileedebt.org.uk/actions/stop-coronavirus-debt-disaster>*
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*Website*: http://groups.globaljustice.org.uk/sheffield/
*Twitter*: @GlobalJusticeSH <https://twitter.com/GlobalJusticeSh>
*Facebook*: https://www.facebook.com/globaljusticesheffield/
*Global Justice Sheffield Activist List*: If you would like to be more
involved in discussions and organising upcoming events, you can join our
”Activist List” for Global Justice Sheffield. Email
globaljusticesheffield@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:globaljusticesheffield@xxxxxxxxx> and ask to be added to the
‘activist list’.
*National Global Justice Now:* If you would like to receive E-news and
updates from national Global Justice Now, visit
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/stay-informed and subscribe to the
newsletter.
Unsubscribe: If you would like to unsubscribe from the Global
Justice Sheffield E-news list, please email
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