I’m writing to let you know we have postponed our 50th anniversary conference, Together We Are Powerful, planned for Saturday 28 March in London.
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Hi John,
I’m writing to let you know we have postponed our 50th anniversary conference, Together We Are Powerful, planned for Saturday 28 March in London.
With the growing spread of COVID-19 in the UK, and the beginning of the peak predicted over the next two weeks, we feel it would be irresponsible to bring large numbers of people together from around the country at this time. However, we hope that we will be postponing rather than cancelling our event, and we are currently looking at alternative dates later in the year.
We are also looking to organise an online event on 28 March, focussing on the global inequalities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. We will get back to you with more information about this as soon as we have it – if you would be interested in taking part online and have ideas for what would be useful feel free to reply to this email. Together we can still be powerful even if we’re not all in the same room!
** Coronavirus and global justice
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In the coming weeks, as well as playing our part as citizens, we need to do our utmost as campaigners to ensure that the global response to the pandemic narrows, rather than exacerbates, global inequality. This crisis shows the importance of the values and principles that we‘ve stood for over the last 50 years.
We are already demanding that any global vaccines, which are already being developed for this disease with public money, must come without patents which would make those drugs unaffordable to vast swathes of humanity. Big Pharma cannot be allowed to exploit this crisis for profit. You can see and share what we’ve done so far here:
* Big Pharma can't be trusted to solve coronavirus ([link removed]) , Al Jazeera, 10 March 2020
* Coronavirus: Will the desire for profits make the fight for a vaccine harder? ([link removed]) , BBC World News, 6 March 2020
* The race is on for a coronavirus vaccine. But who will get it? ([link removed]) , Global Justice Now, 28 February 2020
We must also call for assistance to countries in the global south which support the development of universal, good quality public health services. And call out the complex financial instruments like the World Bank’s ‘pandemic bonds’ which are more about rewarding big investors than genuinely helping countries deal with the crisis. Rather we need to support countries in taxing and regulating big finance in order to build up public provision right around the world.
In addition, we need to work to ensure that migrants and other vulnerable groups in our society are given proper rights and immediate access to medical testing and welfare provision. This crisis proves that demonisation of particular groups in society does not serve the public good. Only by realising the rights and offering support to all, can we build a world free from fear and want. Defending migrants is particularly important now.
We will get through this crisis together, but it should serve as a wake-up call. Our ‘market knows best’ global economy has left us more vulnerable to the dangers of devastating pandemics, just as it has created gross inequalities and catastrophic climate change. We need change.
Look after yourselves, your loved ones and your communities in the weeks ahead.
In solidarity,
Nick Dearden,
Director, Global Justice Now
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