Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 11:03, 7 October 2005

The 31st G8 summit was held from July 6 to July 8 2005 at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire in Scotland and hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. As host, the UK stated its intent to focus this G8 meeting on the issues of global climate change and the lack of economic development in Africa. Other announced items on the agenda were counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and reform in the Middle East. The summit was overshadowed, however, by bomb attacks in London on the first day of the conference.

Priorities

Attendees

The heads of government of the G8 member states, as well as other invited heads of state and representatives of the European Union, attended. In addition to the heads of government (see photo above), they were:

• United Kingdom — Jack Straw (partly substituting for Blair on 7/7)
• European Union — President of the European Council: Tony Blair, President of the European Commission: José Manuel Durão Barroso and President of the European Parliament: Josep Borrell.
• Others in attendance — President Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico), President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), President Hu Jintao (China), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (India), President Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), Secretary General Kofi Annan (UN), Mr Paul Wolfowitz (World Bank), Mr Rodrigo Rato (International Monetary Fund).

Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda for negotiations, which take place primarily between civil servants in the weeks before the summit itself, leading to a joint declaration which all countries can agree to sign. For the 2005 summit, the British government set the priorities of supporting Africa's economic development (by agreeing to write off debts of the poorest countries, and to significantly increase aid) and of moving forward initiatives to research and combat global warming. Tony Blair had planned to move beyond the Kyoto Protocol by looking at how to include key developing countries (India, China, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa) not included in it - principally by agreeing technology transfer of clean energy technologies in exchange for commitments on reduction of greenhouse gases. However, because of the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July, more attention may have been focused on fighting terrorism.

Aid to Africa and debt cancellation

The traditional meeting of G8 finance ministers before the summit took place in London on 10 and 11 June 2005, hosted by Chancellor Gordon Brown. On 11 June, agreement was reached to write off the entire US$40 billion debt owed by 18 Highly Indebted Poor Countries to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Fund. The annual saving in debt payments amounts to just over US$1 billion. War on Want estimates that US$45.7 billion would be required for 62 countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The ministers stated that twenty more countries, with an additional US$15 billion in debt, would be eligible for debt relief if they met targets on fighting corruption and continue to fulfill structural adjustment conditionalities that eliminate impediments to private investment. The agreement, which required weeks of intense negotiations led by Brown, must be approved by the lending institutions to take effect.

While negotiations have essentially taken place between the G8 member states, some of which are reluctant to endorse debt cancellation and aid increases, African governments, advocacy organizations and their allies have criticised the Blair-Brown plan as inadequate and argued that the continuation of structural adjustment policies outweighs the benefits of debt cancellation, while also pointing out that only a small proportion of the Third World debt will be affected by the proposal. In midJuly, objections by Belgium raised the possibility of the debt relief bill not being approved by the International Monetary Fund, a development that was harshly criticized by many activists.

Agreement was not reached on Brown's proposed International Finance Facility, partly because the United States said that its budget procedures meant it was unable to make the necessary long-term funding commitments.

Global warming

Development of a joint declaration on efforts to tackle global warming has been much less successful, principally because of the long-standing U. S. opposition to emission targets as a solution to global warming. The other seven G8 nations – France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom – have ratified the Kyoto Protocol and have committed to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. Hopes had been raised that the unprecedented joint declaration by the G8 countries' academies of sciences on the need for urgent action on global warming would help moderate the US negotiating position.

On July 6th, U. S. President Bush recognised "that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases is contributing to the problem". However, he said the Kyoto treaty was not the answer. Environment campaigners called the result of the summit "a very disappointing finale". "The G8 have delivered nothing new here and the text conveys no sense of the scale or urgency of the challenge. The action plan, without any targets or timetables, will deliver very little to reduce emissions, or to roll out renewables to the scale required", said a spokesperson for Friends of the Earth.

The U. S. also pulled out of financial pledges to fund a network of regional climate centers throughout Africa which were designed to monitor the unfolding impact of global warming. Other schemes opposed by the U. S. include the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) set up to help developing states develop economically while controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

To preempt claims that flying so many people around the world to talk about global warming actually contributes substantially to it, the summit was designed to be carbon neutral, with estimated resulting carbon emissions being offset by investment in carbon-reducing measures. One project installing solar water heaters and low-energy light-bulbs in a housing project in Cape Town will offset 5600 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, it is claimed.

Results of the summit

While many activists expressed disappointment that the agreements reached at the summit fell far short of their expectations, others noted that the 2005 summit was perhaps the most productive in the 30 year history of the G8. Some agreements were:

• US$50 billion pledged (some of it previously announced) in aid to developing countries by 2010, of which US$25 billion will go to Africa, on top of the ministerial-level agreement to forgive debt to Highly Indebted Poor Countries
• Universal access to anti-HIV drugs in Africa by 2010
• Commitment to train 20,000 peacekeeping troops for Africa in exchange for African commitments to good governance and democracy
• G8 members from the European Union commit to a collective foreign aid target of 0.56% of GDP by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015
• Stated commitment to reduce subsidies and tariffs that inhibit trade
• US$3 billion to the Palestinian Authority to build infrastructure

No agreement was reached to address global warming, largely due to U.S. opposition. The U.S. did agree to a joint communique stating that global warming exists and that human intervention may at least partially be at fault. While the U.S. had previously made such statements, this was the first time it had agreed to a multilateral announcement on the issue.

Breaking with historical practice, the British government had allowed non-governmental organizations to play a key role in deliberations, perhaps prompted by the public pressure of the Make Poverty History movement and Live 8. The summit continued the trend of including the developing world in talks. The leaders of seven African nations attended, as well as the five leading developing countries: China, India, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

Activism

As with all recent G8 summits, the meeting is the focus of many advocacy campaigns, including the Make Poverty History campaign in the United Kingdom, and the anti-globalization (a term not usually used by its supporters) movement. More than 200,000 people marched in support of Make Poverty History in Edinburgh on 2 July, the largest demonstration in Scottish history.

In addition to the Make Poverty History coalition's efforts, singer/activist Bob Geldof organised concerts in each of the G8 member states on 2 July, as well as a concert in Edinburgh on 6 July. Unlike Live Aid 20 years prior, whose primary aim was to raise money, Live 8 aimed to increase awareness among the citizens of the G8 countries, and thus force their leaders into increasing their focus on world poverty. The London concert featured acts ranging from Sting and The Who to Annie Lennox, and most notably the reformation of the classic Pink Floyd line-up.

Thousands also mobilized through the G8 Alternatives and Dissent! networks to protest the G8 and discuss alternatives to the economic and political models they represent. These mobilizations have taken a more critical line towards both economic globalization (which they reject entirely) and the G8 itself, which they generally regard as illegitimate and undemocratic.

Protest took a variety of forms:

• Construction of a non-hierarchically organized, self-governing, eco-village near Stirling
• 2 July – Make Poverty History march with 175,000 to 250,000 people
• 3 July – Make Borders History tour of Glasgow, illustrating the presence of borders and immigration control measures inside of a metropolis.
• 3 July – Counter Summit organised by G8 Alternatives alongside a smaller event called G8 Corporate Dreams Global Nightmares
• 4 July – Carnival for Full Enjoyment, roving anticapitalist street parties, 1,500 to 3,000 people
• 4 July – Mass nonviolent blockade of Faslane, a Royal Navy submarine base, 2,000 to 10,000 people
• 5 July – Demonstrations against Shell Oil, Dungavel immigrant and refugee detention center, and the limits of Gordon Brown's debt cancellation proposal
• 6 July – Blockades of roads and buses transporting ministers and support staff to Gleneagles.
• 6 July – March and rally to G8 meeting site, approximately 5000 people
• 6 July – Breach of the fence around Gleneagles Hotel by 200 people
• 6 July – Spontaneous march in Edinburgh by a few hundred protesters hoping to take coaches to the Gleneagles rally, after police falsely informed them that the march was cancelled
• 8 July – Street party in Glasgow in protest against climate change and the construction of the M74 motorway
• 8 July – various decentralised small actions against climate change as part of a global day of action
• 8 July – Small prisoner solidarity rally outside Sauchton Prison, Edinburgh by around 50 demonstrators

Security and police actions

On 19 June details of the security for the summit were leaked to the Britsh newspaper The Independent on Sunday, because of concerns by an intelligence source that ministers were being "complacent".

The security operation, involving more than 10,000 police, a reported 2,000 US Marines, a Special Air Service (SAS) team and snipers, is estimated to have cost around GB£100 million.

Police officers from all over Great Britain were called in to reinforce the local forces to maintain order in Edinburgh and other cities; even small protests were cordoned off by large numbers of police officers.

The protest legal support team estimates that at least 700 people were arrested and 350 charged. Targeted actions of London's forward intelligence teams (FIT) resulted in several of the arrests. Most people were released with strict bail conditions, having to leave the districts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and/or Stirling or even Scotland all together. Several people were rearrested for breaching their bail conditions. Section 60, a law allowing searches for weapons in designated areas, was continuously used to stop and search people.

London bombings

Because of the bombings, Blair decided to leave the G8 meeting temporarily to be present in London. He held a brief press conference, saying that the incidents were obviously terrorist attacks directed at the gathering of the G8. He also said that the meeting would continue in his absence, with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw filling in for him. Blair returned to Gleneagles by the evening of the 7th.

External links

General

• Poverty and Environment Times - current issues
• G8 Gleneagles 2005 official site
• Guardian Unlimited - Special Report: G8
• UK Indymedia Coverage reporting from the protests against the summit
• BBC News - Profile: G8
• University of Toronto - G8 Information Centre
• Dissent! A network of resistance against the G8 a network of groups connected to the anti-globalisation movement planning protests at the 2005 G8 Summit.
• G8 Alternatives a group of NGOs, political parties and others planning protests and a conference in opposition to the G8.
• In their own words compilation of responses by campaign groups to summit comunique

Development

• G8 Finance Ministers’ Conclusions on Development
• Make Poverty History global poverty relief charity collective planning mass convergance of people in Edinburgh in time for the Gleneagles 2005 G8 Summit
• The One Campaign seeks to have G8 countries donate 1% of their budgets to poverty relief, AIDS causes, etc.
• 2005 Presidencies, Africa and Climate Change UK government
• G8 debt deal under threat at IMF, BBC, 15 June 2005
• Overseas Development Institute's G8 Portal
• War on Want, G8: Massive shortfall exposed in Gleneagles deal
• World Development Movement (2005), "Suspending disbelief: The promises and actions of the G8 from 1998 – 2005", June 2005
• Center for Global Development (CGD), (Independent Research and Practical Ideas for Global Prosperity), offers easy to understand analysis of what the G8 agreement on debt relief will mean for poor people in developing countries. See The Road to Gleneagles
• New Statesman, 4 July 2005, "We are deeply concerned. Again" - G8 development concerns since 1977
• The Guardian, 23 August 2005, "How the G8 lied to the world on aid"

Climate change

• Myles Allen, 1 July 2005, "The ghost of Gleneagles" - on the potential role of legal climate liability

Template:Incumbent series

• G8
• Make Poverty History
• Protests
• Protest marches
• Category:Anti-globalization
• Law enforcement in the United Kingdom