Although our hearts and minds are elsewhere, Red Pepper has been working hard to maintain our live coverage of the G8 summit and its aftermath. Below you will find a large number of links to statements and press releases issued by NGOs, social movements and other campaigning organisations to Friday 8 July’s controversial G8 communique. This page will be constantly updated over the next weeks - we are particular interested in responses from Southern civil society groups and the UK's African diaspora. SH
Friday
8 July. Stuart Hodkinson in Edinburgh. When the news of the bombs
hitting London broke on our campsite in Craigmillar, we all
immediately reached for our mobile phones in the hope that friends
were ok. In that moment, the G8, Africa, the protests and the police
all became irrelevant. As good news filtered through, political
minds inevitably began to drift back to the wider political implications. "This
will definitely mean ID cards,” one sighed. "Iran will be next for the neo-cons,"
said another. "And Muslims are going to be hammered." Debates and
disagreements broke out but on one thing everyone was agreed: this
was “a good time to bury bad news”. And yesterday's announcement
of the G8 deal on Africa and climate change contained a lot of bad news,
whatever those idiots Geldof and Bono say.
Oscar Reyes. Nnimmo Bassey is Secretary-Director
of Environmental Rights Action (Friends of the Earth, Nigeria) and a poet. In this interview at the Global Dreams, Corporate Nightmares conference he discusses the environmental
and economic impact of the oil industry in Nigeria and reads from his poem 'Mountains of Food, Oceans of Hunger'. You can hear a recording of the full interview here or continue reading for an edited transcript.
SpinWatch and Corporate Watch have just announced they will be putting on a guided tour of corporate Scotland in Edinburgh on Friday 1 July from 11am to 3.30pm to explore the relationship between the G8, Scotland PLC and corporate globalisation. 'SpinWalk' will visit those oil companies, banks and businesses profiteering from privatisation and PPP in Global South countries, as well as the key lobbying consultancies and PR outfits who help boost corporate power and wealth. Starting at the Usher Hall, the walk will end at the Scottish Parliament "around which the corporate lobbyists swarm to ensure that Jack McConnell and his cronies are kept sweet". Contact info@spinwatch.org to reserve a place.
by Nicola Bullard, Focus on the Global South. We hope that hundreds of thousands of people fill the streets of Edinburgh on 2 July for the "Make Poverty History" rally. We know that most of you will be wearing white. But we hope that 100,000 of you will wear red – one for every man, woman and child killed in the bloody occupation of Iraq – and to denounce those responsible for the war, George W. Bush and Tony Blair, and their willing accomplices Silvio Berlusconi and Jurichiro Koizumi.
