🧵 BREAKING: New data reveals Baillie Gifford holds £61million in Babcock, an arms company significantly involved in arming Israel.
@wawog_now
@NaomiAKlein
@PalFest
BREAKING:
@hayfestival
have dropped sponsor Baillie Gifford
✊This shows the power we have when we unite as workers, and remain steadfast in our solidarity with Palestine.
Our statement below 🧵 ⬇️
BIG NEWS: Edinburgh International Book Festival has dropped asset manager Baillie Gifford as a sponsor.
This welcome news follows calls from 800+ book workers demanding BG to divest from fossil fuels and from companies with links to Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
In the wake of a concerted campaign by Fossil Free Books pressuring asset manager Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels and companies profiting from Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide, the firm has announced that it is ending sponsorship of all UK book festivals.
🚨We invite book workers everywhere to join 200+ signatories and sign our open letter renewing our call for Baillie Gifford to divest from the fossil fuel industry and from companies that profit from Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
Change is Possible!🌱✊
We are pleased to hear the news that
@hayfestival
have suspended their sponsorship by Baillie Gifford.
Thank you to all the book workers who have withdrawn or are taking creative action - this has happened because of the pressure you put on Hay!
1/3
Please read about
@charlottechurch
's withdrawal from
@hayfestival
. She now joins 700+ book workers demanding Baillie Gifford divest from fossil fuels and companies with direct or indirect links to Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
There is power is in the collective.
I’m scheduled in to talk at the Hay Festival with the brilliant Mary Loudon this weekend.
However, due to the continuing sponsorship of the festival by asset manager Baillie Gifford, I will be boycotting and not attending
🍉
@fossilfreebooks
Our Baillie Gifford boycotts aren’t about tearing down the arts – they’re about building them up.
Sustainable, ethical sources of funding are not an outlandish ask – and possibilities are already emerging.
Baillie Gifford’s PR team must be rubbing their hands w/ glee after pulling-off a nifty exit from festivals w/out answering a single question. Climate justice and human rights campaigners have been thrown under the bus while Baillie Gifford slink away.
Solidarity with
@MrNishKumar
for his decision to withdraw from
@hayfestival
. He joins 700+ book workers who demand Baillie Gifford end investments in fossil fuels and companies with direct or indirect links to Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
Divestment is possible!
Sad to say that I will be pulling out of Hay to support this campaign. Love the festival and the people that work in it, but this was the right decision for me.
👏 A massive victory for the hundreds of musicians and organisers who campaigned to end the complicity of several UK music festivals in Israel's genocide. Read more here:
CONFIRMED! Live Nation has dropped Barclays as a sponsor. Barclays is no longer the sponsor of ANY festival run by Live Nation including Latitude, Isle of Wight and Bestival. Solidarity with everyone involved. Boycott Barclays. FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🍉🍉🍉🍉
We are delighted to say that we have received an email from
@hayfestival
management.
We look forward to meeting with them soon.
We commend Hay for listening to the concerns of 800+ authors and other book workers about Baillie Gifford's investments.
While we welcome
@hayfestival
's announcement to drop Baillie Gifford as a sponsor, we must ensure they go beyond words and take action.
As an update, we’ve emailed Hay management asking for a meeting and have yet to receive a response.
We call on them to meet with us. 🧵1/3
🚨Calling UK writers, illustrators, and translators! Join the May 2 EGM vote we’re bringing to
@thesocietyofauthors
, on fossil fuels divestment and the genocide in Gaza! More in comments ⬇️ and in our bio - it’s time to act collectively to make our industry take a stance 🌏🍉
Dawn Butler MP and Grace Blakeley are among over 700 authors and book workers demanding an end to Baillie Gifford's investments in fossil fuels and companies with direct or indirect links to Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
Hello
@hayfestival
we are still awaiting a response to the email sent three days ago inviting you to meet and discuss your announcement.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Fossil Free Books and the 800+ authors and book workers who have signed our statement.
"The writers who oppose Baillie Gifford are not petty, they are just doing what writers were born to do, what they are morally obliged to do, and what they should live to do." - Rosie Heptonstall, Glasgow reader letter
@TheScotsman
Trains and books are a great combination! Congratuations to Bradford Literature Festival. They announced a new partnership today with Network Rail, coinciding with their festival's 10th anniversary.
“Hay Festival is right to listen to the concerns of hundreds of book workers who are working to create fossil-free and genocide-free festivals.
Hay must now develop a fundraising policy that rules out any future sponsorship by companies that invest or profit from >
AMAZING piece by
@NoreenMasud
on her participation in this campaign, and the power of collective action!
@hayfestival
's decision to suspend funding from Baillie Gifford is a monumental step for our industry towards one that places people over profit!💛
Over the last eighteen months, research by multiple human rights NGOs has shown that Baillie Gifford holds investments worth BILLIONS in fossil fuel companies and companies with links to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
Fossil Free Books would like to share this statement following on from our historic vote at the May 2nd EGM with
@Soc_of_Authors
.
While our resolution calling for a statement to condemn genocide in Gaza did NOT pass, our resolution on fossil fuels divestment did pass.
1/7 🧵
How did we get here and what now?
Four writers with FFB talk festivals, divestment and the future w/
@guardian
. Guy Gunaratne, Jessica Gaitán Johannesson, Omar Robert Hamilton and Emma Reynolds on why they joined FFB and what they hope for now.
While we are encouraged that an institution with such problematic investments will no longer play a role in the UK literary scene our primary demand has always been for Baillie Gifford to divest from companies in fossil fuels and human rights abuses.
Baillie Gifford is not, and has never been, a sustainable or ethical source of funding for the arts.
It has responded to scrutiny by abandoning festivals and using false accusations and incendiary language to discredit campaigners.
A reminder that anyone whose labour contributes to the books industry is welcome to organise with us at Fossil Free Books. Get in touch via DMs or email if this is you! 🍉🌱
“It is entirely possible to say: we want to have literary events that aren’t funded by companies complicit in human rights abuses”
Novelist Yara Rodrigues Fowler
@yazzarf
on
@BBCRadio4
last week.
Yara also debunks inaccurate claims made about FBB - please listen & share.
“the fossil fuel industry, Israeli occupation, apartheid or genocide, and any other human rights abuses.
“This announcement shows the power we have when we unite as workers. It’s proof of the change that is possible when we remain steadfast and >
Our demand has always been that Baillie Gifford divest their stakes in companies profiting from human rights abuses so that they can continue to support literary festivals across the country.
We love our literary festivals dearly. It's a privilege to share work w/ readers, but not at the expense of lives and human rights. We believe literary festivals + events that do not accept funding from institutions complicit in human rights abuses is possible and necessary.
We call on the UK books industry to not concede to ‘culture wars’ rhetoric. Together, we can build a literary culture with human life & freedom of expression at its heart.
The first step: Baillie Gifford must divest.
.
A short statement from Fossil Free Books, please share:
Baillie Gifford has claimed that our statement is “misleading”, a claim Edinburgh International Book Festival has repeated.
We refute this absolutely.
1/3
In
@timesscotland
today: "It is not misleading - in fact it's morally imperative - to point out the links between Baillie Gifford's investments in US tech giants & the Israeli military."
As Israel assaults Rafah, we renew our call for festivals to join us & demand BG divest.
“Until they divest we continue call on authors to withdraw from or take creative action at these events.
We call on all remaining Baillie Gifford-sponsored festivals to join our call for the firm to divest.” ENDS
Guardian reports that UK Lawyers for Israel threatened legal action against the Society of Authors:
“Freeman consulted the group UK Lawyers for Israel with a view to mounting a legal challenge against the SoA…”
📢An update from Fossil Free Books📢
After the Society of Author (
@Soc_of_Authors
) vote, we're updating our trade union strategy.
We're evaluating the pros and cons of staying in the SoA, as well as considering forming a new chapter at a new union (1/3)
Over the last eighteen months, research by multiple human rights NGOs has shown that Baillie Gifford holds investments worth billions in fossil fuel companies and companies with links to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
📣 Megan Booth, writer from Edinburgh and Fossil Free Books organiser, on
@BBCScotlandNews
this morning:
“It is imperative we point out the links between the companies Baillie Gifford invests in and what is happening in Gaza right now”
Our primary demand has always been for Baillie Gifford to divest. FFB will continue to organise, alongside the wider divestment movement, until BG lives up to its claim to be a ‘responsible investor’ by divesting from fossil fuels and companies associated w/ human rights abuses.
“unafraid in our solidarity with Palestinians and all communities subjected to human rights abuses, including at the hands of fossil fuel companies.
Our primary demand remains that Baillie Gifford divest. By their own admission, Baillie Gifford >>
Two weeks after we launched our statement calling on BG to divest, it has been signed by 800+ book workers. This is a victory for authors, academics, editors, translators, publishers, festival staff and all organising as workers and for international solidarity with Palestine.
Our research into Baillie Gifford’s investments is ongoing and we expect to release some significant news regarding the firm’s problematic investments in the coming days.
As bombs continue to fall on Palestinians in Gaza, we hope this sends a clear message: we are united in our solidarity for Palestinians. We condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the recent horrifying massacre of Palestinians sheltering in Rafah by Israeli precision bombs.
We love our literary festivals dearly, and it is a privilege to share work with readers, but this cannot come at the expense of the human rights of Palestinians and communities harmed by fossil fuel companies.
Our primary demand has always been for Baillie Gifford to divest, and for festivals to use their relationships with Baillie Gifford to call on the firm to divest. Nevertheless, we are grateful to EIBF for showing leadership and listening to its authors and workers.
Our statement calling on BG to divest has been signed by 800+ authors and book workers. This is a significant step forward for authors, academics, editors, translators, publishers, journalists + festival staff organising as workers, and for international solidarity w/ Palestine.
We are however, concerned about the outpouring of abuse many authors who signed the statement are receiving online, and the misinformation being circulated regarding FFB.
“invests in fossil fuel companies, and companies with links to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine.
“Nine UK literary festivals and one prize are still sponsored by Baillie Gifford.
5. We sympathise with the struggles faced by organisers of literary festivals when it comes to accessing funding, however we disagree that the blame for EIBF’s funding situation lies with us.
It is critical that the festivals work with us to address the issues raised by our campaign - from divestment itself, to festivals’ relationship with authors, to the future of arts funding in the UK.
Norway's Storebrand asset manager showing that you actually CAN divest your holdings when your investments implement apartheid. This is precisely what bookworkers are asking Baillie Gifford to do.
BREAKING: Norway’s second largest asset manager, Storebrand, divested holdings in
@IBM_Corporation
worth $141 million due to their supply of a biometric database to Israel "used to implement apartheid" and "discrimination and segregation of Palestinians".
Hey
@hayfestival
we're still awaiting a response to the invite sent four days ago for a meeting to discuss your announcement to part ways with BG.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Fossil Free Books and the 800+ authors and book workers who have signed our statement.
"People boycott in the belief that our tiny sacrifices combine into a collective change. Our culture is always being built and re-built by us all, together."
@ORHamilton
in
@ScotNational
Solidarity and respect to
#ShamiChakrabarti
in her decision to withdrawal from
@hayfestival
. She joins 700+ book workers demanding an end to Baillie Gifford's investments in fossil fuels and companies with direct or indirect links to Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
2. We're not an anonymous campaign. We're a collective of workers, including authors, organising proudly and publicly as FFB. Authors supportive of our campaign have appeared at festivals as FFB organisers, and shown solidarity by reading statements and taking creative action.
Many authors are concerned about receiving a hostile reception at literary festivals, while some who have received threats and abuse online are worried about their physical safety - particularly women and people of colour.
🚨🚨URGENT 🚨🚨
The
@Soc_of_Authors
have just informed us that membership applications must be submitted by MIDDAY TOMORROW (Fri 26th) to be processed in time to vote in the EGM.
Please share and spread the word. If you are planning to join & vote, but haven't yet, do it NOW.
The carbon cost of rebuilding Gaza will be greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated individually by 135 countries, exacerbating the global climate emergency on top of the unprecedented death toll, new research reveals. via
@guardian
We are also concerned about the abuse reportedly directed towards festival staff. We are keen to work with all other literary festivals to create a safe space for authors, and to encourage constructive dialogue and conversation.
BREAKING: Read our new statement, signed by 100+ workers ⬇️
We call on the books industry to use its unique relationship to
@BaillieGifford
to ask them to divest from all fossil fuel companies.
Including
@CnoocSes
, minority stakeholder in the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline
3. Our engagement with authors has always been friendly and inclusive, never coercive. Our role has been to contact authors with publicly available information and ask them whether they would like to either withdraw or use their appearances to call for divestment.
Writers and FFB organisers
@AndresNOrdorica
and
@JessJohannesson
on the importance of challenging the financial institutions that sponsor our literary events, for the sake of the climate and in solidarity with Palestine 🍉
1. It is not true that we have refused EIBF’s offers to meet: we met with EIBF management last year and have a meeting scheduled for 1.30pm tomorrow (31st May) with Jenny Niven, Director of the festival where we look forward to discussing the future.
In our communication we have always made clear that we support authors' individual choices, and that they can rely on our support however they choose to respond to our approach.
🔊 Book workers appearing at Hay Festival, EIBF, or another literary festival sponsored by Baillie Gifford 🔊 we're here to support you in taking creative action at your event to call on Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels and Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
According to
@LondonCAAT
, Babcock works in partnership with Israeli arms companies and has applied to the UK government for export licences to supply weapons, components, or military technology to Israel.
There is ample evidence of this from the videos on our Instagram page, the many quotes we have given from named spokespeople, and from our correspondence with authors and EIBF, to our successful Society of Authors campaign to back fossil fuel divestment in the literary industry.
According to
@CorpWatchUK
, Babcock has worked with Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, which reportedly supplies 85% of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment.
So much solidarity to
@graceblakeley
for making this decision ✊ over 700 authors and book workers stand with Grace in calling for Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels and companies profitting from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
I've been dissatisfied with the responses of both Baillie Gifford and the Hay Festival to our open letter.
So, with a heavy heart (as I love Hay!), I've decided to join the many authors who have pulled out of the festival.
Follow
@fossilfreebooks
& DM about getting involved
Buckle in pals, we are sharing a (long) thread on the main points of our resolutions ahead of the May 2nd EGM with
@Soc_of_Authors
and the importance of our Palestine motion.
🍉🍉🍉
1/15 🧵- Read our thread on these vital points ahead of tomorrow's EGM.
#MayDay
"The singularly most sinister aspect of this whole fiasco is Baillie Gifford’s press-release citing safety concerns, coercion and the threat of disruption from activists as their principle reason for backing out. There has not been a single documented incidence of these threats."
Please amplify the work of
@hayfestival
's Writers at Work cohort. You can read their open letter.
Divestment is possible! Writers are stronger when we work and organise together.
While we, as members of this year’s Writers At Work cohort, have decided to continue our participation in the Hay Festival, we also publicly state our support for the open letter organised by
@fossilforager
, and commit to using our writing, discussion and sharing time at Hay…
Statement of support from author & translator Jen Calleja (
@niewview
).
“I hope that my fellow writers and translators will vote in support of the resolution to call for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and to urge literary organisations to divest from fossil fuel companies.”
Have you been invited to appear at Edinburgh International Book Festival or Hay Festival?
We are sharing some vital information in the hopes you will consider your involvement.
Read this thread and connect with Fossil Free Books to learn more about our organising. 🧵1/5
Since the 1950s, Shell’s oil extraction in the Niger Delta has caused devastating oil spills, harmful gas flaring, and widespread water pollution, threatening the health of millions of people and the ecosystem itself. (3/9)
Baillie Gifford’s comments to press, and Edinburgh International Book Festival’s reply to our statement, have not meaningfully engaged with this research.
We will share a longer reply breaking down and fact-checking their claims in accessible language soon.
3/3
Are you voting for Palestine & Planet?? 🇵🇸✒️🍉
Join us at the Society of Authors EGM, 2nd May 5-7pm BST.
We're asking everyone who supports the motions to share these graphics! 📨
Illustration by Sieve Bonaiuti.
1/2
“Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action with lobbying, legal threats and massive ad campaigns. And they have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies.” Antonio Guterres
We will continue organise, and turn our outrage and heartbreak into build worker power and solidarity.
A fossil free, genocide free books industry is possible ✊💚🖤❤️
E-mail fossilfreebooksuk
@gmail
.com for a link to our meeting at 12 on Monday
We call on them to confirm they are dropping BG for good.
We call on them to commit to a fundraising policy that rules out future partnerships with companies that profit from fossil fuels and Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide. 🧵2/3
Thank you
@bookworkers4pal
for standing in solidarity with us and book workers everywhere organising for a fossil free, genocide free literary industry 📚🍉✊
A statement in support of
@fossilfreebooks
and the valuable work they have been doing to push for necessary change in the literary sector by demanding that Baillie Gifford divest from fossil fuel companies and companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide.
Now is the time to continue organising and working together in support of a Free Palestine and continue to call for an end to this genocide.
Our resolution on Palestine lost by narrow margins. We must continue to educate and to raise awareness.
3/7 🧵
Reports and research by multiple NGOs detail Baillie Gifford’s investments in various companies complicit in human rights abuses - in occupied Palestine specifically and across the world through fossil fuel extraction.
2/3
Tonight, FFB members will be speaking on a panel with the wonderful Lola Olufemi at the launch of the new book from the organisers of
@PalFest
at
@southbankcentre
!
The event will also include music, poetry and a discussion of the book and solidarity with Palestine today 🍉
Book festivals are vital for giving voice to writers from many marginalised communities, including those from war zones. But if funding for cultural events has to rely on the benevolence of people that refuse to be held to account, then that’s not an ‘activist’ problem.
"Climate and human rights campaigners are not the enemy, but fear is, and as long as we are all shouting at each other, those profiting from climate catastrophe, in this case, Baillie Gifford, get to walk away untarnished and unchallenged."
Finally, we are heartened that our fossil fuel motion has passed (with over 1400 in favour), and that the demands for divestment first made by authors last summer in Edinburgh are now support by our trade union.
Please don't give up!
In solidarity, Fossil Free Books
7/7 🧵