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News

Barclays ends food speculation that made up to £278 million in 2012
14 February 2013

Barclays, which announced an end to its speculation on food on Tuesday, made up to an estimated £278 million from the trade in 2012. The figure brings the bank’s total revenue from food speculation from 2010 to 2012 to an estimated three quarters of a billion pounds.

Barclays stops speculating on food – campaigners demand regulation
12 February 2013

Barclays chief Antony Jenkins announced today that the bank would stop speculating on food, saying the practice is “not compatible with our purpose”. It is unclear whether the bank will continue to broker speculative deals for its clients. Campaigners have renewed calls for tough regulation to prevent speculation fuelling price spikes and contributing to the global hunger crisis.

Protests prevent British mining company GCM visiting mine site in Bangladesh – director resigns
4 February 2013

Massive protests against British mining company GCM Resources prevented the company’s CEO visiting the site of its proposed open-pit coal mine in Bangladesh last week. One of the company’s directors resigned the following day.

CEO Gary Lye was due to visit Phulbari on 29 January, where GCM wants to open a mine that would displace up to 220,000 people. Mr Lye had planned to distribute blankets to people living in the area, according to the local press. Thousands of people joined protests against the mine, and Lye abandoned his visit on official advice.

Goldman Sachs made up to £250 million betting on food prices in 2012
21 January 2013

Goldman Sachs made up to an estimated £251 million (US$400 million) in 2012 from speculating on food including wheat, maize and soy, prompting campaigners to accuse the bank of contributing to a growing global food crisis.

Goldman Sachs is recognised as the leading global player in financial speculation on food and other commodities, and created the first commodity index funds which allow huge amounts of money to be gambled on prices.

Complaint filed against British coal miner GCM over Bangladesh mine
20 December 2012

Campaigners have filed a complaint against British coal miner GCM Resources over a controversial open-pit coal mine in Bangladesh, ahead of the company’s AGM in London today. 

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Events

Women, food, film and power

Saturday 2 March, Dundee

A double bill of inspirational films with a global view of food justice, a free workshop and WDM get-together.

Growing Change: building the movement for food sovereignty

Wednesday 6 March, Belfast

Free film screening of the food sovereignty documentary 'Growing Change', followed by a discussion.

Austerity is working... for the 1%

Saturday 16 March, London

Austerity is designed to hand wealth to the wealthiest and power to the powerful. And it’s working. Activist conference with international speakers.

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Blog

Campaign success: Barclays pulls out of food speculation

13 February 2013

Along with its annual results yesterday, Barclays revealed its new strategic plan to haul the bank from the pits of public disdain. As part of its new direction, Barclays – the UK’s leading commodities speculator - announced it is pulling out of food speculation. After three years of public campaigning and calling on the bank to stop betting on hunger, this is very exciting news! 

A new year's revolution

5 February 2013

At 11.34am on Tuesday 22 January, more than 260,000 of us who had campaigned for a radical Robin Hood tax had big news: we had won.

Even the EU head of tax admitted that we made "tax history". I think that's a bit like making history, but with more paperwork and probably less fun. To be honest, I don't know: as far as I'm aware I've done no "making history" to compare it to. There was that time I made a lego statue for my grandma and she said I'd truly made history, but I think she was just being nice.

Time for a food revolution

31 January 2013

A guest blog by Kate Griffin from Oxford WDM.

If the world produces enough food to feed everybody, how come hundreds of millions of people don’t get enough to eat? Last night’s film screening made it clear that the problem is with food distribution rather than production.

Vedanta: the world's most hated company?

16 January 2013

When the Independent referred to FTSE 100 company Vedanta Resources as the world’s most hated company, it wasn’t joking. Two and half years and later, the mining company is still sparking protests on several continents over its human rights abuses and environmentally destructive operations.

The Hunger Games

14 January 2013

The UK government is yet again undermining grassroots poverty alleviation by channelling UK aid towards huge agribusiness. The Hunger Games, a report recently published by War on Want, criticises the Department for International Development (DfID) for working with the ‘who’s who’ of agrochemical and GM seed companies including Monsanto, Unilever and Syngenta.

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