Global Exchange - Activities and Programs

Activities and Programs

The Community Rights Program assists communities confronted by harmful corporate projects to assert their right to make important decisions that impact them by passing binding laws that place the rights of residents (and nature) above the claimed legal "rights" of corporations. It also focuses on advancing the Rights of Nature, a paradigm shift championed by the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010, by President Evo Morales. In 2011 Global Exchange released a book called, The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, with articles by Maude Barlow, Pablo Solon, Vandana Shiva, Nnimmo Bassey and others.

The Economic Activism for Palestine project focuses on corporate accountability for human rights and international law violations from companies profiting from the occupation in Palestine. The program targets corporations that are directly involved in Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank – contributing to and perpetuating the restriction of Palestinian basic rights and in the exploitation of Palestinian resources and labor.

The Fair Trade Program works to promote Fair Trade, end child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry, as well as educate and empower children and adults to advocate for and purchase Fair Trade. Previous corporate campaign targets have included Starbucks, M&M's. Currently Global Exchange is working with Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum to go push The Hershey Company to go fair trade and end forced labor in the cocoa fields. The campaign is called Raise the Bar, Hershey.

Global Exchange was part of a coalition of groups that successfully charged US retailers, including Gap, with illegally underpaying workers in their sweatshops in Saipan.

The Mexico Program confronts the rising violence and unrest resulting from the relationship between criminal enterprises, Mexican power structures and U.S. military aid. The program develops dialogue and effective advocacy toward bi-lateral military policies, gun trafficking, drug policy and democratic reform.

The Elect Democracy campaign challenges corporate money in US politics. The campaign's strategy is to a) expose the impact of the FIRE economy (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sector) campaign contributions and b) to provide factual examples of how a political campaign dependency upon corporate campaign contributions and subsequent corporate lobbying can lead to the prioritization of corporate interests over the needs of the 99% in Washington DC. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to increase accountability through campaign finance reform and to support a healthier U.S. democracy.

The Green Economy Leadership Training (GELT) program ran from 2010-2012 to implement green economy solutions (home weatherization, establishing urban gardens, etc.) while training individuals in how to build, work and live in a new green economy/clean energy framework. GELT was based in Highland Park – a low-income community in Detroit. Dozens of full-time volunteers worked side-by-side with Highland Park community members to put energy efficiency and LEED for Neighborhood Development guidelines into practice, demonstrating what the transition to and opportunities in a clean energy economy look like.