What's wrong with...
Wherever you are on this planet, I am sure there are groups near you mobalizing against the G8, G7, World Economic Forum (WEF) - currently taking place in Davos - and/or policies by the Unholy Trinity (WTO, World Bank, IMF).
Now, in this entry I want to focus on the G8. Most of you probably know, that this years' G8 gathering will take place in Heiligendamm, a tiny town consisting of 280(!) human souls. Heiligendamm is a health resort located in north-eastern Germany and it is part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MWP). MWP is one of the poorest states in Germany, with high unemployment rates (25% in some areas). The next biggest city is Rostock with a population of nearly 200,000.
Now, the purpose of this entry is to try to explain what all the protest-fuss is about. Why do so many individuals and groups oppose the G8?!
Let me start with a short introduction of the WTO:
- it was founded in 1995
- aim: liberalisation of markets around the world
- introduction of: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs), Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)
- Within the WTO one country has one vote (unlike member states within the IMF or Worldbank, where one dollar equals one vote), but since most countries highly depend on trade with the E.U. or the U.$. of A. one can hardly call this organisation democratic.
- The WTO serves economic interests, read corporate interests - proverty or social and environmental issues don't seem to matter.
- Influence of the WTO on a global scale is huge, but limited; so it needs the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its impact on the financial markets everywhere.
- The WTO constantly tries to expand its influence in countries and markets around the globe and also works together with the United Nations (U.N.).
Its policy consequences:
- The WTO also functions as an adviser for national economies (mainly in developing countries, but policies in so-called 'industrialised countries' are not that different), usually telling states to cut taxes and custom duties, invest in cash-crops, open-up their local markets for foreign imports and generally create an attractive environment for foreign investors; all just to become 'competitive on the world market'.
- liberalisation of markets around the world, in exchange for loans and credits (the same goes for the IMF and World Bank)
'developing countries' are usually highly indebted and need the credits to pay back at least a fraction of their debts (although in total they might have paid back their initial debt long ago, but due to increasing interest rates, most are still highly indebted) - Those countries (often ruled by corrupt Elites, that don't care about the population and are being supported by 'Western' governments) that accept to take up loans or credits are forced to privatise certain public sectors and cut-back spendings on social services. (see Structual Adjustment Policies (SAPs))
- By doing so the WTO clearly interferes in internal affairs of 'developming countries' and actively shapes their policies.
- an increasing inequality among humans on this planet
- an increasing number of so-called 'working poor'
less and less people actually benefit from economic growth
Note:
- Over 900 treaties focussing on environmental protection have been passed by the U.N., but the IMF and WB are not bound to any of them.
- The WTO, IMF or World Bank often like to emphasize how they are committed to fighting poverty (since they have to legitimise their existance somehow), but the only thing they are committed to is spreading neoliberal reforms, which usually benefit just a small Elite within the effected country or foreign investors and corporate Elites from 'the West'.
- Last but not least it is vital to note, that these powerful institutions are dominated by 'western' countries, especially the U.$. of A. and the E.U.. Therefore it is not surprising that these totally undemocratic organisations just serve these countries interests.
By the way, the effects and coherences described above are not the work of some window-smashing activist who doesn't know what he/she's talking about, but they have been confirmed by Heiner Flassbeck (Chief of Macroeconomics and Development; Director of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)) who recently held a talk at the university here.
If you want to read more about the WTO and its policies, you can check out one of the previous entries: WTO for Dummies.
The same states that dominate these vital institutions now come together during the G8 (Group of Eight) summit to discuss their future policies on a global scale and how they shall rule the world for the coming year.
The G8 consists of representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States of America. If you imagine (with a lot of fantasy) that these are actually democratically elected presidents and chancellors (just ignoring the fact, that not even the majority in any of these countries elected them!), then these individuals represent 13.5 percent of the world's population. Of course, that doesn't matter, since these eight happen to be the most powerful nations on this planet. And why? Well, because they are representing the interests of the most powerful industries and corporate enterprises on this planet. At least according to the World Development Report (2006) published by the World Bank.
This year the G8 kicks off in Heiligendamm (Germany) on 6th June.
Here are a few reasons why so many people oppose the G8:
- G8 spreads poverty:
Extreme Poverty kills more than 18 million people every single year, 50,000 a day, 2,055 every hour and 35 individuals every single minute. At the same time productivity rates around the world have never been as high as today - tons of food and goods are being destroyed or simply thrown away each day. Remember the Make Poverty History campaign and Live8 concerts during the G8 in Gleneagles (Scotland)?! And at the end of it our dear 'leaders' happily shaked hands as if they have just changed the world for the better and proudly announcing that a few countries will have their debts dropped?
But did anything really change for the better?
Just a fraction of the dept was dropped for a few countries who are highly indebted. While dropping some of the debt the World Bank simply deducts the money from the development aid budget provided by the so-called 'industrialised' nations and usually used to promote their economic interests overseas.
- G8 promotes war:
One of the most important components of capitalism is competition. Competition leads to war. The G8 are perfect examples. In many parts of the world - be it in Africa or the Middle East - they either send their own armies or pay others (e.g. warlords) to fight for their economic or geo-strategic interests. The so-called 'War on Terror' also serves this purpose, besides it being a great source for brainwashing the masses within their 'own' states.
Where do all the weapons, that are being used to murder around the world, come from? Exactly! The G8 members are responsible for over 80 percent of weaponry exports on this planet. Last year (2006) alone spendings for weaponry exceeded 700 billion US-dollars. Just 346 billion would be enough to eradicate the worst proverty everywhere.
- G8 promotes environmental destruction:
The G8 members are the planets' biggest polluters. They are responsible for over 43 percent of the world's CO2 emissions. One climate conference after another passes without much progress due to the economic interests of each nation, especially the biggest polluters sitting in the G8. At the same time the G8 members do very little to shut-down nuclear energy plants (unless a 'non conformist' dares to use the technology) or push forward a global disarmament plan for nuclear bombs. By not doing so they clearly act against the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). But who cares?! Nobody wants to lose out in the rat race, so we ruin the planet and die all together.
- G8 hampers the fight against AIDS and other illnesses:
You often hear from people like our dear chancellor Merkel how they are committed to help people in Africa struggling with HIV/AIDS. At the same time there seems to be nothing more important, than the protection of 'intellectual property' and 'copyrights'. It is understandable that the huge pharmaceutical corporates don't like it when poor people can purchase drugs at a reasonable price, since it cuts into their profit margin. But I doubt this helps any poor person suffering and dying from curable diseases.
- G8 promotes neoliberal reforms:
Part of their agenda is to promote the liberalisation of all sort of markets. Consequently public services like the health and education sector are being privatised and subjected to free market forces. This often leads to a more restricted access to such services for the masses, since only those that can afford it will be able to make use of certain basic services.
- G8 is responsible for 'Fortress Europe':
First the G8 states exploit resources in 'developing countries' and support wars, corrupt governments and unfair trade agreements and then they isolate themselves from the rest of the world and let the refugees - who, in the hope for a better life, leave their hometowns - die (usually drown) right in front of the rich nations boarders. (Alright, it's not the whole of G8, but its EU members also dominate EU policies.)
- G8 is undemocratic:
If we just imagine that these people representing 'their' country at the G8 have actually been truly democratically elected, then they represent 13.5 percent of the world population. But their policies have major impacts around the world. Well, the same actually goes for the World Economic Forum (WEF), where the Elites in politics, economics and finances meet up and plan how they shall rule the world in the future. Their gathering is even less democratic. But who cares, really?! Nowadays most people believe that Democracy is just a myth anyway. And sadly enough they are right.
Talking about Democracy, here's a little interesting piece of news for you:
"In Munich different places were raided by the police. Named as a reason was the call to blockade the airport Rostock-Laage published in several brochures. (...)
Raided were several places: The Cafe Marat, a bookshop, a printshop, where the incriminated brochures were thought to be produced, a community centre, as well as the people (we know of three) who own the domain of some websites, where the call for blockades have been published - namely http://www.no-nato.de and http://www.indynews.net. (...)
The raids clearly are meant as a blow towards the mobilization against the G8, but also against the left as a whole." - to read the full story go here.
Now, if you have read the above you might understand why so many people are outraged and demand for things to change.
So join us in Heiligendamm (or Rostock) or organize/take part in protests against the G8 in your hometown!
The following links might help you to get organized:
Resist.Org.UK - Preparing for Rostock
DissidentNetzwerk - International mobalization against the G8 summit
Wombles.Org.UK - Anarchist platform mobalizing against the G8 summit
2007-G8.tk - Mobalization website in Greek (Greece)
Resistance2003.Gr (Greece)
Athens.Indymedia.Org (Greece)
Freewebs.Com/AutonomousAction (in Greek/Spanish/English/German)
ContraG8.Revolt.Org (Mexico)
Camp06.dissentNetwork.Org - Platform for networking and organising the protests
Vision07.Net - multilingual platform
G8-Germany.Info - NGO platform
G8-2007.De - mobalization website
FreedomFight.Net (Serbia)
Kontra-Punkt.Info (Serbia)
NoG8Romania.WordPress.Com (Romania)
France.Attac.Org (France)
Intergalactique.Lautre.Net (France)
Anti-G8.effraie.Org (France)
AntiG8.wbs.CZ (Czech Republic)
NoDo50.Org (Spain)
Info-G82007.tk (Spain)
"It has to start somewhere
It has to start sometime
What better place than here
What better time than now
All hell can't stop us now"
RATM - Guerilla Radio
(click here for the music video)
~GlobalPeace&Solidarity~
tags: world trade organisation g8 2007 heiligendamm mobalization imf worldbank wto
links: digg this del.icio.us technorati reddit
