what’s wrong? a billion people go to bed hungry richest 1% have 40% of wealth; poorest 50% have 1%...

What’s wrong?

• A billion people go to bed hungry• Richest 1% have 40% of wealth; poorest 50%

have 1% of wealth• Most of the world’s farmers are women, yet

just 1% of them own land• Poor people will be hit first and worst by

climate change• The rich lead crazy lifestyles

Are things getting better?

• 10,000 fewer children die daily than 20 years ago...• ...but most poverty reduction is in a single country• ...the top 1% got wealthier between 2007 and 2009• ...climate change is at an impasse• ... and change is SLOW

What then can we do?

•Consciousness•Co-ordination•Confrontation•Consolidation

Three campaigns

• Tax justice• Jubilee 2000• Climate Change Act

Developing countries lose 3x more to tax havens

International aid =$120 billion

Why tax justice?

98 of the FTSE 100 use tax havens

82 also work in developing countries.Almost 40% of all overseas subsidiaries are located there.Banks & extractive companies use tax havens the most.

SABMiller uses tax loopholes toshift over £100 million into tax havens each year.

Developing countries lose £20 millionin tax revenues

That’s enough to put an extra 250,000 children in school.

What we found…

“Wow. I don’t believe it.”

“Multinational brewer SABMiller will come under the close scrutiny of tax authorities in five African countries.”

PRESS

“I worked in corporate Britain and I know how companies use the complexity of the tax system to endlessly reduce their tax payments.”

I will "target tax evasion and off-shore tax havens. Everyone must pay their fair share."

"I very much hope, and I'm not going to write [Chancellor] George Osborne's budget, we can make progress on that in

the budget because we have got to make sure the tax system is fair and is seen to be fair,"

“Ed Miliband declares war on the UK's secretive offshore tax havens”

What’s interesting?

• Consciousness, confrontation or both?• Original research to create a demon• Work with partners in developing countries• Broad set of actors, but not (yet) a mass

campaign

What happened?

$90 billion of the world’s poorest countries’ unpayable debt was cancelled by 2000

... And more later....

What was interesting?

• Conviction that it wasn’t too difficult• Mass coalition and movement, on justice issue• The concept of Jubilee and the time limited

campaign

The Climate Change Act

What happened?

• Legally binding CO2 reduction targets to 2050 for the UK

• All political parties signed up to it• Independent Committee for Climate Change

produces rolling 5 year targets• Now on the 4th. Big fight, in the end accepted

by Cameron

What’s interesting?

• All party consensus• Got through by sheer weight of numbers of

back benchers• Methods often thought to be pointless

achieved something radical

“We find ourselves in one of those historical moments in which time seems to accelerate, things fall apart and everything is up for grabs.”

Paul Kingsnorth