Cambridge G8 2005 Feature Archive
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Borders at the G8
G8 countries spearhead the world system of borders; a system which renders many people illegal and which leaves all of us divided. Restrictions on our movement, restrictions on our right to work, restrictions on our right to receive medical treatment or legal aid or any other social benefit are all standard. What's more these restrictions are largely based on the arbitrary notion of nationality and on its ugly twin: race.
[Groups opposing borders and/or campaigning on immigration issues: No Border Network | No one is Illegal | Make Borders History | Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers | National Coalition of Anti-Deporation Campaigns]
[Opposing borders at the G8: Make Borders History tour (July 3, Glasgow)]
Global South Debt and the G8
For over two decades many of the world's poorest countries have experienced a debt crisis which is having a crippling impact on their livelihoods, hobbling economic growth, and draining and diverting scarce resources from health, education and other vital services, which particularly effects women and children. But how did this state of affars come about? What's happening now? And what can we do about it?
A (Very) Brief History
The latest debt crisis in the global south began in the 1970s after the Bretton Woods monetary regime was scraped and financial markets were 'liberated'. The global south found that the resulting instability in the north's economic activity (fluctuating interest rates, recessions and the rising US dollar) made it increasingly dificult to repay money that had been lent to them from northern banks. This problem first came to world attention with the Mexican default on its loan in 1982, which was followed by other Latin and South American countries. African debt was also exacerbated by official "aid" programmes that were often tied to importing from the donor nation, thus creating a new kind of colonialism and imperialism.
Who are the G8? -- A week of action and discussion in Cambridge
From June 8th-10th in Sea Island, Georgia, the world's 8 most powerful governments met. Next year, they're coming here.The eight most powerful men in the world are on the run. Rocked by the scandals of third world debt, growing global inequality and violence in the service of neoliberalism, the G8 have been chased around the world since 1998, when 70,000 confronted them in Birmingham (the last time they met in the UK). Nowhere is safe for these eight global superpowers, so they find themselves forced to retreat into brutally enforced 'red zones' (as in Genoa, 2001) or inaccessible mountains (as in Canada, 2002, or Switzerland, 2003). This year, the eight prime ministers and presidents were protected from protesters by the sea, on a small island of the coast of the US. Even so, in case the sound of the sea failed to drown out the sound of dissent, a state of emergency was declared in the state of Georgia, allowing police to halt any demonstrations. And next year, the eight most powerful men in the world will be coming to the UK.
[G8 2004 in Georgia: News (official) | Maps]
[Cambridge pre-event publicity: flier 1 | flier 2 | Forum | Peoples' Golfing Association | East Anglia]
[Cambridge event reports: Anarchist golf photos | street theatre | forum | G8 explanation-leaflet | Corporate media on anarchist golf]
[Background: Debt and the G8 (WDM) | Arms Trade and the g8 (Amnesty) | Unfair Trade Rules (Oxfam) | Iraq War and the G8 | Health (MSF) | Global Policy Forum Analysis | Toronto University Background | `Better World' G8 links]