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Yet Another G8 Farce
Few expect the G8 summit taking place in Heiligendamm, Germany from June 6-8 to yield positive results. The main question is how much damage Bush will do to US international standing during these three days.
At last year's G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bush made headlines by groping German Chancellor Angela Merkl as she spoke with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
This year, demonstrators have filled the streets near Heiligendamm, a seaside resort in northern Germany, to protest the Bush administration's policies as well as the annual G8 meeting (of government heads from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy Japan, Russia and the United States). Organizers estimated that 80,000 took part in pre-summit protests on Saturday and police used water cannons when 10,000 demonstrators infiltrated the security zone close to the meeting on Wednesday.
It's a far cry from the August 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, where both Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair repositioned themselves from Iraq warmongers to anti-poverty activists by making positive noises about helping Africa.
As usual, musicians Bono and Bob Geldof (who organized the accompanying Live 8 concerts) heaped praise on both failed leaders at Gleneagles — and denied the obvious connection between war and poverty. By the summit's close, the G8 had unsurprisingly made little progress on global warming, thanks to resistance from Bush, but had pledged to write off the debts of 18 countries and double African aid to $50 billion.
Bono called the result "extremely meaningful" and Geldof proclaimed, "a great justice has been done … On aid, 10 out of 10; on debt, eight out of 10 … Mission accomplished frankly."
As if. First, the G8's supposed largesse wasn't due to kick in until years later, leaving far too much leeway for countries to wiggle out of the commitment. And as journalist George Monbiot noted, Germany and Italy soon said that "budgetary constraints" might prevent them from honoring the funding commitments they'd just made; one week later, a leaked document showed that four International Monetary Fund directors were trying to overturn the G8 debt deal. Within days, the British cabinet minister in charge of financial matters stunningly admitted that the extra funding G8 leaders had promised for aid included "the numbers for debt relief" — as Monbiot put it, "The extra money they had promised for aid and the extra money they had promised for debt relief were in fact one and the same."
So the whole 2005 summit and its accompanying hoopla ended up something of a farce, a celebrity-filled extravaganza to convince the public that positive action was being taken on Africa, when in fact the continent had once again been given the shaft.
At this year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, the war of words between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Bush over a proposed US missile "defense" system in Eastern Europe is distracting attention from other critical topics. Once again, the US is blocking progress on global warming and has rejected a proposal to strengthen compliance with new aid promises for Africa. Along with Britain, the US is also fighting proposed regulation of speculative hedge funds.
At least Bono and Geldof have finally come out and criticized G8 leaders for "not keeping their promises" on aid to Africa. That's something.
Heather Wokusch is the author of The Progressives' Handbook series (from which this article is partially excerpted) and can be reached at www.heatherwokusch.com. Watch Heather on her youtube channel or here.
14 Comments so far
Show AllRemove the wealth based currencies and replace them with labor based currencies, then you may find that Africa is already free from poverty.
The current method of producing currency is the creation of
future guarantees of value, such as stocks, bonds, notes, currency,
etc., which are guaranteed by reserves of wealth.
Such a method of producing value, or the representation of,
using guarantees which are produced only by wealth, undermines labor
which, being ultimately the creator of all supply, is the true source
of value.
The physical reality is not that it takes wealth to create
wealth, but that it takes labor to produce wealth.
In the market, future guarantees of value which represent
value that is not there are vulnerable to shorting.
In a shorting war between two players, the side with the most
economic resources will win.
Because of self-interest, there is a limit to the degree that
capitalists players will act collaboratively, but there is no limit to
the degree that socialist players will act collaboratively.
Fully united, labor and consumers can democratically shape the
market for fair wages and prices.
The control is not in their hand, the control is in ours.
We must create a democratic system where labor and consumers can act collectively and increase participation in this democratic system until it becomes a size no longer vulnerable to the larger players in the current capitalist economic system. Because of globalization, and the ability of multinational players to play the laborers of one country against the players of another, any such democratic system must be worldwide. When it becomes a size no longer vulnerable against the largest of players, this democratic system must produce a new worldwide currency based on labor, and backed by the collective labor of its members. The management of this currency must be fully democratic.
This new currency must target and destroy all "wealth-based" currencies via the principle of shorting. Begining with the smallest and most vulnerable ones, and finishing with the biggest. To be fair, such a system should be democratic, allowing for each person to vote directly on every issue, or to choose representation, but allowing that representation to be changed at any time, and for that representation to exist at any scale.
Maccendra - that will never happen. The ones with the money now also have the armies.
G-8 has become just another version of WTO and World Bank meetings. Much ado and no results. Basically photo ops. As long as Bush is the unelected president of the US, nothing will be done. He calls for more studies and kicks the can down the road for his successor.
Rich countries run by corrupt leaders lying about stuff. How unusual... We listen to them like we're all children of alcoholics - we know they are pathological liars, yet when tossed a crumb, we suck it down because maybe, just maybe, THIS TIME they were being truthful and honest. And then tomorrow - drunk again, and we pen a buncha essays lamenting yet another "surprise" bait and switch. "But they promised no more drinking! How could they?"
Good one macchendra. Our time is the only asset that is really ours. Maybe a 'depletion allowance' for our numbered days on this earth would be in order. Seems to work quite well for the oil companies.
Who's listening to anything they say?
Have you had a single conversation with a co-worker or a neighbor this week about what these idiots are saying at the G-8? No one is paying any attention.
COMarc, my friends and I are having conversations about what is happening at the G-8. Here in Germany we pay attention. But then perhaps we have much more media coverage in Europe about this event. And sofar Mr. Bush has not groped Ms. Merkel and is behaving surprisingly well :)
Well, I would think more kindly of Mr. Bush if he did grope someone.
Seriously, the federal reserve note isn't even backed by gold anymore, it is very vulnerable to shorting. All it takes is cooperation, and we have more of that then they do. ;-)
Watch the film The Girl In The Cafe, then listen to the Who sing "we won't get fooled again" so you can sit back and wonder at what we've created.
Maccendra: good suggestion for a fighting-strategy there. In principle it would work. When enough people see the need, something along those lines will grow. "Turn on, tune in, drop out" of economics instead of culture. Creating not counter-culture, but counter-economics. Start doing it for our selves who are all us, inviting in anyone willing to see to the whole first, then one's self, yet in a reasonable balance. Anarchism in action. Fighting back by being the threat of a good example – and defending it.
(kittyladyoregon - Instead of being a killjoy, say what you think will happen, if you can, and how that can be made better if you think it's something bad. Simply saying everything will get worse doesn't cut it. At all. Saying we're lost, we'll be slaves, nothing can be done, blah-blah-blah, is only reinforcing the negative tendencies we all constantly recreate and micro-influence by our continous participation in society. Only real suggestions for solutions are useful to put forward. Pulling everyone down is not a good idea, pulling upwards with good ideas is a good idea. Good ideas immediately believable in theory are even better.)
We absolutely need positive ideas formulated.
God save the nations whose moral leaders are Bono and Geldof.
macchendra June 7th, 2007 12:49 pm
If this
http://www.worldreports.org/news/63_mr_bush_sets_out_to_
is to be believed, then meltdown may well be just around the corner.
Did Bush carry a letter to G8?
The G8 is against the better interests humanity. The G8 moreover is harmful in it actions regardless of using the trump d'oeil principle to fool those of us that will not notice.