G8: Kings on tour, never mind the poor

author : Rochelle Gause topic : G8 Summit

by Rochelle Gause

For three days in early June, the leaders from the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy, Russia, Japan and Germany gathered for the 33rd G8 Summit in Heilingendamm, a small German resort town on the Baltic Sea.

The G8 was created in 1974 to protect the interests of the world's most wealthy and powerful countries in the face of the oil crises and recession of that time. In the last decade the annual G8 summit has become subject to an increasing number of demonstrations. These protests are a rejection not only of the highly undemocratic nature of the 8 wealthy leaders (who represent only 13% of the total population) making decisions for all but also of their capitalist policies, which are spreading inequality and injustice worldwide. In response to the growing protest the G8 has attempted to put on a friendlier face, claiming their primary goal today is "how to shape globalization so that everyone stands a chance" and adding issues like aid to Africa and global warming to their agenda. Yet one does not have to look far to see through this rhetoric as the agreements they continue to make do little more than treat the symptoms of the problems while working hard to maintain western dominance. The growing resistance to the G8 and the current world order is helping to make this reality clear.

The alternative

The G8 demonstrations have provided the global justice movement the opportunity to bring attention to the desperate need for change from the exploitation of neoliberal globalization and an opportunity to network and try to live the alternative. The theme of this year's demonstrations that brought 80,000 people together was "Make Capitalism History." The organizers laid the groundwork for three camps that housed 15,000 demonstrators. Cooperatively run and volunteer driven, 3 meals were prepared daily of vegetarian food, there was an electricity station for recharging cell phones and batteries, an internet tent for uploading photos and indymedia news, a large circus tent for spokescouncil meetings with leaders of the affinity groups, ongoing trainings, informational points, and security, called "rabbits" who kept a 24-hour lookout for police raids. The infrastructure was incredibly well organized not only in the camps but also during the week's events which included concerts, marches, an alternative summit and action days leading up to the summit on themes of global agriculture, migration, and against militarism. The Block G8 campaign planned for the first day of the summit had been organized for a year and a half.

16 million dollar fence

Fearing the strengthening global justice movement and its power to disrupt the status quo, immense preparations were taken by the German police and military. Keeping with the recent G8 countries' trend of more walls, militarization and the erosion of civil rights, an 8 mile long steel fence was constructed with underground iron bars and topped with barbed wire, video surveillance and sensory detectors. The fence cost 16 million dollars, an exorbitant amount and yet only a small percentage of the 124 million dollars spent only on security for the summit. An exclusion zone of 10 miles was established from the shoreline of the Baltic Sea and extended 50 kilometers into the sky. A no demonstration zone was set by the police and upheld by the courts within 2.5 miles of the fence. 16,000 police officers were deployed with armored personnel carriers, helicopters, and water cannons as well as an unknown number of German soldiers, naval ships and spy jets. A few weeks before the summit police searched 40 homes and offices of various organizers and seized computers, discs and written documents throughout Germany. The raids were allowed on the basis of Germany's anti-terror laws. Samples of the odor of global justice organizers were also obtained in order to be able to identify them later through the use of police dogs.

Achievements of the resistance

On the morning of the first day of the summit, the camp was stirring at 6:30 am as people prepared for the big day of action. Permits had been received for "rallies" that served as the gathering points just outside the edge of the no demonstration zone in three locations. The strategy for the blockades was made simpler by the fact that the fence had only three entrances. The area is so rural that few roads reach these entrances. In order to get to the roads and avoid as many police as possible the plan was to walk for miles through fields and forests in a decentralized manner so it would be impossible to prevent everyone from reaching the four blockade destinations. The five finger system, developed by the anti-nuclear movement, was used for this purpose; each affinity group had chosen a color and at the start of the event, as the police lined the street to block the demonstration, one of the five colors, led by a flag, headed directly into the waist high wheat fields. The surprised cops, in full riot gear, began running into the fields, and just then a second line of activists headed off but through another part of the field, and then the third, fourth and fifth. The police clearly felt overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed as we walked right into the no demonstration zone.

During the four hour walk, we had to cross two additional roads to get to our blockading destination. In both instances the police had parked their vehicles on the road and were attempting to stand in the location where the first line of demonstrators would cross the road. But as each line began to split into several others lining the entire road the police were once again overwhelmed. Once the call was made everyone progressed at once, as the police swung their batons and attempted to stop us they could not handle the numbers. Water cannons were used to try and prevent the second crossing but many people simply sat on the road, distracting the police while the thousands of others crossed over.

Helicopters buzzed overhead quite low and brought police reinforcements but it did not matter. We were only one of three groups who numbered over 10,000 who were proceeding towards the fence. By the late afternoon all four entrances were blockaded, including the train track that was to bring in the mainstream press to cover the opening evening event. What allowed the movement to overcome the millions of dollars spent on security? The simplicity and extremely well organized plan, the determination of those who participated that enough is enough and the willingness to lay it down on the line to make this clear. And the tactics, that together, nonviolently thousands of people can take the unexpected path, walking not on the paved roads but through the fields and forest, simply sit down and cause tremendous inconvenience.

That evening, journalists and delegates were alerted to stay in their hotel rooms. The police managed to disperse with violence one of the blockades by nightfall in preparation for the morning, yet even on the second day many delegates were delayed for hours and had to be shuttled by boat. Only the eight leaders who had been flown in by helicopter were able to easily reach the summit location.

This was just one action, on the same morning the route from the airport was also blockaded. The following day 11 Greenpeace boats attempted to land on the shore of Heilingendamm to hand over a petition on global climate change. Throughout the entire week surrounding the summit spontaneous and creative actions could be spotted throughout the area. Doctors without borders leapt into the water reaching for a large bottle of medicine that was out of reach representing all those who could have access to necessary medicine at an affordable price if it wasn't for patents and the drug companies getting their cut. A large group of people dressed as pigs playing with globes surrounded by barb wire represented the G8, over 100 rebel clowns were seen everywhere, mocking the police and deescalating situations.

"Achievements" of the G8

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel has booked another success for her style of quiet but persistent diplomacy at the Group of Eight (G8) summit in the northern resort of Heiligendamm," states the mainstream media playing their usual role of ignoring demonstrations and applauding the essentially empty agreements achieved at the summit that do nothing to effect the causes of the social and economic problems facing the world. An international media center was constructed to welcome the 4,000 journalists who came to Heilingendamm to cover the story. At the opening of this center sponsored by corporations including Nike, journalists were wined, dined and entertained with roasted pig, 20 varieties of mousse and a putting green, as well as a German News service link complete with the angle to cover the summit and demonstrations. Except for the few selected to travel through the fence to the staged photo ops, the majority never had to leave the comfort of their hotel and the International Media Center where a large video screen aired all that the journalists needed to see.

The agreed upon aid to Africa was no more than had been agreed during the last summit, an empty promise of meager charity yet to be fulfilled. Meager charity in the face of unbelievable poverty and the devastating effect of AIDS Africa is facing. What is needed is the cancellation of all debt and the allowance of generic drugs, neither of which will maintain the well-established structures of global capitalism and therefore are not appropriate solutions.

The well-publicized agreement on fighting climate change involved no firm commitment, rather several of the countries are "seriously considering" reducing worldwide emissions by half by 2050 -- yes, 2050. The other agreements were little more than a continued celebration of the free market and attempts to applaud the very economic strategies that have gotten us into today's global reality where in the last ten years the number of people fighting starvation has risen from 840 million to 854 million while the tiny minority of millionaires and the super-rich were able to double their wealth from 16 trillion to 33 trillion dollars. They discussed a collective strategy against copyright piracy in developing nations, one of the few means of income for people to make money in depressed economies. They expressed concern over the North Korean and Iranian atomic programs which is quite ironic coming from nations who together currently have a total of over 26,000 nuclear weapons, 98% of the world's supply.

Make capitalism history

The greater the global injustice the larger the global resistance. The process of change is slow, but there is no shortage of fuel to spur the global justice movement. We must celebrate our accomplishments and continue to develop ways for more people to learn about and participate in them. Indymedia attempted to provide another perspective, with a half hour daily news program and podcasts, even in the face of police efforts to prevent this, like the temporary confiscation of the Amsterdam media bus. But there is incredible room for more work in this area. Overall, very little about the demonstrations was heard throughout the world.

Compared to the WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999, these demonstrations had a much stronger sense of unity, and a clearer vision of what is demanded.

There was no hesitation in claiming that the movement is first and foremost an anti-capitalist movement. The demands for an end to deportation and the "fortressing of the West" was made clear. North African immigrants were at the forefront of this voice at the demonstrations in Germany. The demand for democratic globalization, for fair relations and trade between all countries, for an economy based on solidarity, for the responsible and sustainable treatment of the environment, for peaceful and political solutions to conflicts were heard over and over again. The strength of the movement provided inspiration and the strength to not shy away from standing for the radical change required and for returning home to continue to support and create alternative structures in our own communities while drawing more and more lines connecting the various struggles.

As the week of demonstrations came to an end the police control was at its most extreme, turning the city into an occupied zone with checkpoints and constant intimidation. Over 700 people had been detained, many "preemptively" as allowed by German law for reasons as ridiculous as wearing black and having a bandana. Yet the spirit of the people who had participated in the actions was one of victory and a sense that no matter how much money and force can be mustered to maintain the world order, the people together can overcome it armed with a unified vision of equality and of a just life for all. The G8 summit in Heilingedamm gave the global justice movement a brief glimpse into their own strength which will have powerful implications for the future.

Rochelle Gause is a community activist and a member of the Olympia -- Rafah Sister City Project. She can be reached at rochelle@riseup.net