<http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/resist-g8/index.htm>http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/resist-g8/index.htm
Resist the G8 // Global Action Callout //
Wednesday July 6th 2005
In 1990, the G7 held its meeting in London. It passed by quietly.
There were no protests and there were no 'red zones'.
Eight years later, 400 social movements from around the world - under
the banner of Peoples' Global Action - co-ordinated local resistance
to global problems. In the UK 50,000 people came together to resist
the G8 meeting in Birmingham.
In 2005, the G8 returns to the UK.
Since 1998, many summits and conferences have been resisted in every
country in which they have attempted to meet. This resistance has
successfully delegitimised these institutions and strengthened the
movements that attack them.
Global anti-summit mobilisations have linked diverse struggles
tackling common issues. These mobilisations have, over time, created
a global 'movement of movements', in many respects historically
unprecedented.
The Peoples' Global Action Conference in Europe, is calling for a
global day of action on Wednesday 6th July 2005 - the opening day of
the G8 Summit (to be held at Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland).
This is a call for people to converge in Scotland to disrupt the
conference, and for action to be taken simultaneously in villages,
towns and cities world-wide.
Alongside co-ordinated actions this is also a call for groups and
movements everywhere to learn from our history and our successes; a
call to assess our current strengths; a call to debate and
strategise; a call to formulate a global resistance to the heads of
the world's most powerful states meeting in Europe next year.
http://www.agp.org
See also: http://www.dissent.org.uk &
TRAPESE roadshow with a strong climatic focus:
<http://network23.nologic.org/trapese/>http://network23.nologic.org/trapese/
PS. G8 Climate Action Proposal - Draft
Written by Roadshow
Monday, 15 November 2004
Draft Call to Action
This post is a draft- for further discussion at the next gathering.
Tony Blair set the agenda for the G8 summit July 2005 in which he
claims leaders will "tackle climate change". We reject any market led
techno- fixes by an unelected global elite to this current climate of
crisis. We believe that oil fuels capitalism and that there can not
be an end to global warming without an end to the system that causes
it. The claim to tackle climate change whilst fighting wars for
control of the dwindling carbon based energy reserves of this planet
is as hypocritical as it is ridiculous. Nuclear power is not an
alternative as it too depends on a finite natural resource and the
process is massively oil intensive- not to mention the craziness of
such technology's waste and nuclear arms issues. Nuclear energy is a
by product of nuclear arms- not the other way around. Just as the oil
industry exploits people and the planet for financial greed, so could
alternative power if controlled by companies and not small scale
projects owned by communities, (for example large scale wind energy
farms and hydro-dams that destroy estuaries and river habits.) We
must recognise that our current ways of life are completely
unsustainable and reliant on the burning of fossil fuels and
exploitation of the planet. The natural world can provide us with the
resouces we need to sustain our comminuties. What is needed is a
radical rethink of our societies to drastically cut our energy
consumption.
The dodgy connections between state policy and maintaining control
over access to natural and energy resources are clear, throughout
history and in their plans for our future. We have a unique
opportunity and a global responsibility to act. Not only for our own
sakes but for the millions of repressed people, ecosystems and future
generations around the planet who can not. We believe that
anti-capitalist/state activists, environmentalists, anti war groups
and all those committed to a sustainable, socially just world, can
work together over the linked issues of oil, war, climate change and
use the moment of the G8 summit in the UK to expose the hypocrisy of
the government's green rhetoric. We can demand a stop to their plans
for new roads, wars over oil, airport expansions and support of the
oil, gas and nuclear industries with loans and grants that perpetuate
north -south north -east exploitation and neo colonialism.
We are building a network of groups and individuals around the
country and hopefully worldwide who can share their inspiration and
ideas for concrete plans for action around energy, climate change and
oil. Existing ideas for action include a critical mass to Scotland, a
mass "call in sick" day for those working in the oil industry and
calling for synchronised mass and decentralised actions on energy
profiteers in Scotland and around the globe. We see the G8 2005
mobilisation as an opportunity to move beyond symbolic protests
against a symbolic summit. We want to take action in the only way
that really makes politicians and corporations listen -economically.
And we need to take action on this issue before it is too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seminar to coincide with the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting, Derby,
17th-18th March 2005
Seminar/discussion to coincide with the G8 Environment Ministers
Meeting, Derby, 17th-18th March 2005. How to respond to Blair's
climate change rhetoric in this year of the UK G8 summit.
When Blair talks of making action on climate change a top priority
for his leadership of the G8 this year who could criticise him? How
can we respond to the government's seemingly progressive statements?
There is a risk that more radical perspectives on the action required
will become further marginalized and protest against the G8
de-legitimised. But there are real reasons to mistrust Blair's
position. Domestically his record is very bad and in an election year
the need to distance himself from Bush while being seen to broker
some international deal are surely his priorities.
We propose to hold a one-day mini-counter summit to coincide with
the G8 environment ministers meeting to develop the critique of the
government's policy and its implications. This meeting would also
give us a chance to share information, develop networks between those
working on climate change issues and to equip ourselves with up to
date scientific and campaign strategy information. The timing either
just before or after the Derby meeting would also build awareness of
the day of action on climate change called for the 8th of July, the
final day of the Gleneagles summit.
We would like to facilitate people to meet from - but not necessarily
limited to - the following groups:
Rising Tide, The Anti-Roads network, Dissent! Climate Action group,
The Airport Pledge, Carbon Trade Watch, The Climate Movement,
interested journalists, academics and students. Presentations could
include feedaback from COP-10 in Buenos Aires and the World Social
Forum, nuclear and radiation specialists, the British Wind
Association or other renewables forums, feedback from the Hadley
Scientific meeting in February, and a carbon trading update.
This is an initial proposal to ascertain if people agree that such a
meeting would be useful. No agenda has been proposed and there is
currently neither funding nor a specified time or place. We are
however willing to facilitate these things if there is positive
feedback. Please respond with your opinion/ ideas ASAP to
Thanks,
TRAPESE ('Take radical though popular education and sustainable
everything'): We are a popular education collective currently touring
the UK doing workshops and outreach to inform and mobilise around the
issues behind the G8.
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