War on Want
War on Want is an anti-poverty charity based in London. War on Want works to challenge the root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice through partnership with social movements in the global South and campaigns in the UK. War on Want's slogan is "poverty is political" and its stated focus is on the root causes of poverty rather than its effects.
War on Want is a membership organisation governed by an elected council of management drawn from its membership. War on Want patrons include Naomi Klein, Owen Jones, Raj Patel and Mark Serwotka.
Praise and criticism[edit]
Solidarity[edit]
War on Want has issued numerous statements of solidarity with organisations and movements all over the world. In October 2009, War on Want issued a statement of solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo in response to attacks on the Kennedy Road informal settlement and wrote a letter to the South African High Commissioner in London.[14][15] The charity also spearheaded a campaign highlighting the forced displacement of poor South Africans in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup.[16]
Israel boycott[edit]
In 2010, War on Want's[17] campaign "Help win justice for the Palestinian people this Christmas"[18] accused Israel of "illegal Occupation," "daily human rights abuses," and "the siege on Gaza and the Apartheid Wall." As in previous years, War on Want called for holiday donations in the form of "alternative gifts," to "launch a sustained campaign against UK companies that are profiting from the Occupation" and to "secure compensation for those who have lost land due to construction of the Apartheid Wall."[18]
NGO Monitor's Dan Kosky wrote that due to War on Want's support of an Israel boycott and its stand against the British presence in Iraq, a thorough review of the organization should be conducted by the UK regarding funding, for "if not, the United Kingdom could find itself aiding an Israel boycott campaign."[19] In January 2018, War on Want was listed as one of 20 anti-Israel BDS organizations banned from entering Israel and Israeli-occupied territory. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan who formulated the list stated, "Boycott organisations need to know that Israel will act against them and will not allow [them] to enter its territory in order to harm its citizens."[20] In response, War on Want stated "For 70 years, Israel has subjected Palestinians to a range of human rights abuses including travel bans... this blacklist is a repressive tactic borrowed from the same playbook used by the apartheid regime in South Africa."[21]
In October 2018, War on Want's PayPal account was terminated after receiving a complaint from two pro-Israeli legal groups; the Lawfare Project and UK Lawyers for Israel. The groups alleged that War on Want had links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[22] The groups also lodged a complaint with the Charity Commission which, however, in July 2019 cleared the charity of any wrongdoing.[23][24]
In April 2020, "Oliver Taylor" got articles published in Arutz Sheva, The Algemeiner, The Times of Israel, and The Jerusalem Post.[25] In these, he repeated the allegations made by the pro-Israeli groups that War on Want had "ties to terrorist entities". Taylor described himself as a "24-year-old student, barista, and political activist. During the week I work on completing my masters in political science, and come the weekend you will find me engrossed in all things coffee. Whether I am brewing it or sipping it." His profile photo was that of a young brown-eyed man smiling with a light stubble. But a report by Reuters concluded that Taylor most likely did not exist. There was no record of Oliver Taylor on the University of Birmingham where he supposedly studied and the six experts interviewed by Reuters agreed that the profile photo was a deepfake. The websites were forced to take down the articles when contacted by lawyers. Who actually penned those articles remained a mystery.[26][25]