[Imc-uk-features] G8 feature proposal

Sat Jan 1 20:51:49 PST 2005

Planet Mail wrote:

> feature proposal on the uk taking overr g8 presidency 1st jan 2005:

add and up but needs a little more work not sure how those links should 
be done and was second bit for body.
Also more links to add.

now added as:

<a href="/images/2004/10/298448.jpg"><img 
src="/icon/2004/10/298448.jpg" align="right" border="0" hspace="5" 
vspace="5" alt="detourned logo"></a>
As 2005 begins, the UK takes over the Presidency of the G8 in a flurry 
of media coverage about Aid, Trade, Debt and Climate Change, in advance 
of the G8 Summit scheduled for July 2005 in Scotland. Jan 1st was also 
the official launch of the <a 
href="http://www.makepovertyhistory.org">Make Poverty History 
coalition</a> campaign, which is part of a wider campaign - the <a 
href="http://www.whiteband.org">Global Call to Action against 
Poverty</a> (see also the <a 
href="http://www.un-ngls.org/MDG/civilsocietyaction.htm#2">UN listed 
initiatives around the Millennium Development Goals</a>).
The UK Government has recently launched it's <a 
href="http://www.g8.gov.uk">official G8 website</a> complete with the 
much criticised <a 
href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/298444.html">'thistle' 
logo</a> and <a 
href="http://www.g8.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1078995903270&a=KArticle&aid=1101393695827">a 
special message from Prime Minister Tony Blair</a> (see <a 
href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302846.html">alternative 
message from the PM</a>).

Tony Blair recently rejected the request from Italian Prime Minister 
Silio Berlusconi to convene a special G8 ministers meeting about aid for 
the Tsunami disaster (link to come), however several meetings in the UK 
are planned before the G8 Summit, including a meeting of G8 Finance 
Ministers in London in February and another of <a 
href="/en/2004/10/300275.html">G8 Justice and Home Affairs ministers in 
sheffield in June</a>.

The Assembly of the Social Movements at the <a 
href="/en/actions/2004/esf/">European Social Forum</a> in London Oct 04 
stated in <a 
href="http://www.fse-esf.org/en/esf.shtml?x=2234&als[SSECTION]=Home">their 
declaration</a>: "We oppose the G8’s self-assumed task of global 
government and neo-liberal policies, and therefore we pledge to mobilise 
massively on the occasion of the G8 summit in Scotland in July 2005".


other links:


<a 
href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302184.html">Anti-Capitalist 
Symbols 'Hijacked' for G8 2005</a> (J18 and Ya Basta!)


<a href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302677.html">Media War 
Against G8 Protestors Begins (secret anarchist training camps)</a>


<a href="http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1471302004">Bono 
praises Brown - Clinton praises Blair - global poverty love in!</a>
<a href="http://www.enrager.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3502">ID Cards 
for G8 Locals</a>
<a href="/en/2004/12/302990.html">International Dissent!/Anti-G8 
Meeting in Feb 2005</a>

<a href="http://www.bandaid.dissent.org.uk">Alternative Versions of Band 
Aid 20 - Do they know it's christmas</a>


<a href="http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1477602004">Tsunami</a>


As the various mobilisations against the summit gear up for 2005 it's 
clear there's going to be a massive security operation in scotland - so 
far estimates put the security cost alone at £150M. Hundreds of local 
residents will have to register with police for photographic ID cards in 
order to remain in their homes and to pass through checkpoints and 
roadblocks.


UK prime minister Blair, together with Gordon Brown are pushing the 
public agenda in advance of the G8 saying they will focus on aid, trade 
and debt with special attention paid to africa, as well as climate 
change. A massive governemnt PR operation is now underway, making the 
most of the support that's coming from celebrities like Bono and Bob 
Geldolf, who are heading the publicity campaign around the Make Poverty 
History Coalition - a large coalition of NGOs, churches, unions and 
other organisations. The make poverty history coalition aims to 
encourage the governemnt in its stance over poverty but to also try to 
push it to go a little further and to try and hold it to account the 
previous promises it has made.


Other mobilisations are not so focussed on supporting the UK government. 
Groups involved in both the Dissent Network and the G8 Alternatives 
Network have both pledged to disrupt the summit as well as promoting 
practical alternatives in a series of awareness raising events, counter 
conferences and local community projects. Yet more mobilisations include 
anti-war activists, anti-nuclear campaigners and environmentalists who 
are planning on blockading faslance nuclear submarine base as well as 
taking action to highlight climate change.


Protests are planned in several cities, with Edinburgh expected to play 
host to some of the larger demonstrations with well over 100,000 people 
expected from just one of the mobilisations alone.

The UK took over the presidency of the G8 in on January 1st. On New 
Year's Eve the Make Poverty History coalition will screen a film on the 
giant video screens in Trafalger square in London and also in 
Edinburgh... immediatly after midnight and Auld Lang Syne. The video 
will feature a montage of world leaders making promises about ending 
global poverty, contrasted with images of children scavaging at a 
rubbish dump in the Philippines - it will highlight the fact that every 
day 30,000 children die from starvation and malnutrition which is 
preventable.
Britain also takes over the six-monthly presidency of the European 
Union on July 1st 2005

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