Social Justice
Global South bares the brunt
Global Justice and climate justice are inherently linked as climate change devastates countries around the world but particularly in the global south. These countries have fewer resources for dealing with climate catastrophe and often have much more harsh punishments for climate activism.
Marginalised groups and people already struggling with poverty and inequality will be the first to feel the effects of the climate and ecological emergency.
The climate crisis is at least in part due to the current and historic oppression and exploitation of those most impoverished and vulnerable in our communities and around the world.
As the effects of the climate and ecological emergency worsen, resources such as water, but also money, food, healthcareand housing will become scarce. This will affect everybody but none more so than vulnerable groups such as: Low-income countries & households, people of colour, indigenous people, women, trans people, young people and disabled people. It is important that we stand together in solidarity against all injustice if we hope to tackle this crisis.
There is a whole book dedicated to Global Justice in our Rebel Toolkit, and also a separate Social Justice Action Pack with more resources.
We also invite you to take action specifically in August 2024 for a month of solidarity and direct action as part of the 2024 Actions Strategy. Though the battle doesn’t end there, these actions can be taken at any point by anyone.
Closer to home
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From the deck
- The theme of XR's Action timeline in April and August is Social Justice. How does this apply to Dirty Water? The Climate Crisis, Water Crisis and Cost-of-Living Crisis affects everyone, but not equally.
- Our lives depend on water and so does the world around us. Water is so fundamental to our daily lives that it’s considered a basic human right, with the provision of safe, sufficient and affordable water directly linked to the health, dignity and prosperity of communities across the world. The water pollution crisis fuels injustice, where poorer communities, especially in the Global South, are tasked with the polluting production of consumer goods destined for richer communities like the UK.
- And while the scourge of sewage pollution is spread evenly across the UK, one in 16 households here live in water poverty, where the cost of water makes up more than 5% of their income. We all rely on water, but not all of us can afford to pay for it.
- In England the failure of privatised water allowed so-called investors to hollow out public service companies (aka 'gearing') to return profits for themselves, while leaving the water infrastructure they inherited to rot.
- The upcoming rise in water bills, which will be well above inflation and for a service we all depend on, is a scandal which only perpetuates the extortion racket that is privatised water.
- If the cost to fix our crumbling water infrastructure is carried by the public, rather than by their private owners, then water companies must be forced to stop paying out dividends. In England approximately 20% of every water bill is used to pay dividends and interest on loans.
- Social Injustice examples in Dirty Water:
- Two thirds of Thames Water, the largest water company in Europe, is owned by pension funds. The privatised financialised system is pitching retirement investments against our natural habitat and the safe use of our rivers and seas for people all across the UK.
- In 2014 Zane, a 7-year-old child was killed and his father permanently paralysed when hydrogen cyanide emanated from a flooded toxic waste site in Surrey. Local authorities and the courts did nothing but obstruct and cover up the truth about Zane’s death. How many more toxic landfill time bombs are waiting to be flooded? [See Legal for Zane’s Law]
- The degradation and abuse of rivers, lakes and seas is a source of social and environmental injustice. Tell the Truth — Privatised Water is Failure Act Now — Use election hustings to voice your anger and amplify our Demands Decide Together — We want a Citizens’ Assembly on the future of the water industry