Controls increased ahead of G8
The protests against the 2008 G8 summit have begun. On Thursday a demonstration took place in Kyoto against the G8 foreign ministers meeting. There are three protests camps in Sapporo, the nearest town to Lake Toya, where the G8 summit will take place from July 7-9. Alternative media centres in Sapporo and Tokyo have been set up and a network of critical lawyers is ready to support demonstrators. Events, conferences and demonstrations are scheduled for the coming week. Many activists from around the world have travelled to Japan, amongst them anarchist and trade union groups from other Asian countries.A network of NGOs will be lobbying the G8 to alter their political course. The "G8 Action Network" rejects the G8 as illegitimate and groups from this network organised an "Anti-G8 Tokyo Sound Demonstration" on Sunday. The major international anti-capitalist conference, the "COunter-G8 International Forum" starts this week in Tokyo and Hokkaido. As has been thecase in the past, many of the groups and organisations are participating in joint mobilisations despite their different positions.
Meanwhile, the police are attempting to delegitimate and divide the movement. More than 40 people were arrested two weeks ago, and squats have been searched. Following a raid on a trade union office in the working class neighbourhood Kamagasaki in Osaka, confrontations with police ensued which lasted for a number of days.
Since Tuesday the controls at the Narita International Airport in Tokyo have been stepped up. Foreigners have been questioned and searched for up to 12 hours. Some have been asked to provide detailed plans of their activities for each day of their stay. In spring this year, the Japanese Government changed the requirements for entry into the country.
Already last August, the German Federal POlice (BKA) provided the Japanese investigation authorities with information on the networks and coalitions that participated in the anti- G8 protests in Heiligendamm in 2007. Japanese police travelled to Berlin to learn about measures against summit protests. The BKA'a president Mr Ziercke promised to continue to provide "all relevant data".
During the 2007 G8 summit protests the German police compiled an extensive database with photos and fingerprints, which presumably includes all 1.800 people who were arrested during the protests. Although only a very small number of them were actually convicted of anything this data has not been destroyed. Normally, inclusion in such a database is sufficient to be deined entry into a country during a summit meeting.
Trade unionists of the Korean "Confederation of Trade Unions" have been issued a blanket entry denial. Also the Italian philosopher and activist Toni Negri has been denied entry. Only yesterday two media activists of the Hong Kong collective "In-Media" were arrested at the airport.
The police has issued a number of posters 'warning' the Japanese public about the protests by comparing them to the LOndon 7/7 bombings in 2005. One of the posters depicts a demolished LOndon bus next to a photo of a burnt out car in Rostock. The public is being asked to report suspicious persons directly to the police. Hotels across Japan have been instructed to send photocopies of all passports of foreign guests to the police.
In the coming week there will be protests against the G8 summit worldwide, inclding in France,Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain and the Basque Country.
Background
* G8 Action Network: http://www.jca.apc.org/alt-g8/en
* No G8! Japan: http://a.sanpal.co.jp/no-g8
* Entry denial and controls: http://www.debito.org/?p=1752 und
http://watch08summit.blogspot.com/2008/06/protestation-against-tightening-of.html
* Instructions for hotels: http://www.debito.org/?p=1764
* Police poster campaign:
www.gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/38/roppongisummitpolice001.jpeg und
www.gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/38/g8-poster-1-of-1.jpeg
Contact
Mary Brookes (in Japan) +81 80-3206-5959
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Media
G8way is an international press service for individuals, groups, networks and
(dis)organizations who understand themselves to be part of an independent
radical left movement against the G8.
Media G8way Contact: g8-press-int@nadir.org
Factbox: What happened at the last five G8 summits
(Reuters) - Leaders from the world's major industrialized nations meet from Monday in Hokkaido in northern Japan, for a summit at which African development, rising food and oil prices, and climate change will be high on the agenda.
Leaders at the July 7-9 summit will discuss a goal of halving global emissions by 2050 after agreeing last year in Germany to seriously consider the target.
Here are some details on the previous five G8 summits.
* FRANCE - EVIAN - JUNE 2003:
-- The G8 nations focused on the need to press ahead with structural reforms and greater flexibility in rich economies despite resistance, highlighted by public sector strikes, in host country France.
-- They sought to draw a line under bitter transatlantic differences over the Iraq conflict, which half the G8 opposed, saying all now agreed the time had come to reconstruct Iraq.
-- The summit was marred by violent demonstrations.
* UNITED STATES - SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA - JUNE 2004:
-- The summit agreed to extend a debt relief program for poor countries, but fell short of demands for a total write-off of loans owed by African nations to multilateral lending agencies.
-- G8 leaders said they would extend the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative, under which poor states can write off some of their debt, for two years beyond its expiry in December 2004.
-- They also stressed the need to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict as part of an initiative for political and economic reform in the broader Middle East.
* UNITED KINGDOM - GLENEAGLES - JULY 2005:
-- Leaders of the G8 said they would boost aid spending on Africa. But aid agencies argued there was little new money in the pledge from the summit in Scotland and accused the leaders of delaying the increases.
-- G8 leaders announced they would more than double aid to Africa by 2010, boosting spending by $25 billion a year from then.
-- They also said G8 nations and other donors would increase total aid for all developing countries by about $50 billion a year by 2010.
-- The G8 declared global warming required urgent action, but set no measurable targets for reducing the greenhouse gases that trigger it and thus contribute to climate change.
* RUSSIA - ST PETERSBURG - JULY 2006:
-- Group of Eight leaders launched a fresh bid to pin down an elusive global trade pact, seeking a positive outcome to a summit that was riven by discord over the Middle East.
-- A formal agenda of energy security, combating infectious diseases and promoting education held little controversy and required no financial commitment by G8 members.
-- Russia had to concede to European Union concerns over its conduct in energy markets to get agreement on energy security. But it did not bow to demands to ratify the Energy Charter, an international rulebook for oil and gas market activity.
-- Assistance to Africa, put at the top of the 2005 summit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair but initially ignored by Russia for the 2006 meeting, also found its way on to the agenda.
* GERMANY - HEILIGENDAMM - JUNE 2007:
-- G8 leaders agreed to consider seriously a global goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 and pledged to negotiate a new global climate pact that would extend and broaden the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
-- For Africa, the G8 pledged $60 billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, but the declaration set out no specific timetable, nor did it break down individual countries' contributions or spell out how much of the total funds had been previously promised.
Sources: Reuters/G8 websites
President Bush Speaks About Agenda During Coming G8 Summit
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Speaking about the last G8 summit before the end of his term, President George Bush said he would ask the world's richest nations to continue their efforts to help developing nations in Africa as well as their support for U.S.-led wars in the Middle East.
"We need to show the world that the G8 can be accountable for its promises and deliver results... we need people who not only make promises, but write checks, for the sake of human rights and human dignity, and for the sake of peace," the President said from the White House, according to an official transcript.
"Accountability is really important when it comes to our work on the continent of Africa," he added. "In 2005, G8 leaders promised to double development assistance to Africa by 2010. America is on track to meet our commitments. And in Japan, I'll urge other leaders to fulfill their commitments, as well."
When asked about troop casualties in Afghanistan, which reached its highest last month with 28 American soldiers dead, President Bush said, "It has been a tough month in Afghanistan, but it's also been a tough month for the Taliban... I am confident that the strategy is going to work."
"We're going to talk about the struggle against violent extremists," he also said. "I'll, of course, talk about Afghanistan and Iraq, and ask the G8 to continue to help."
The President also emphasized his commitment to continue diplomatic pressure for Iran to end its nuclear program, saying, "I have always said that all options are on the table, but the first option for the United States is to solve this problem diplomatically. I've also make it clear -- made it clear that you can't solve a problem diplomatically unless there are other people at the table with you."
"I have made it very clear to all parties that the first option ought to be to solve this problem diplomatically. And the best way to solve it diplomatically is for the United States to work with other nations to send a focused message," he added.
Iran has received international condemnation for its nuclear proliferation program, which it has said was for non-military purposes. But the Islamic state, which is also accused of training Shiite Muslims in Iraq, recently made overtures expressing its willingness to renew talks about its uranium enrichment. It is currently in talks with the P5+1, a group of six nations, five of which are members of the G8.
The Group of Eight consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It will hold its summit on July 7-9 in Japan, where President Bush will also have talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Just a few months ago, in his first major address on foreign policy, John McCain stated his intention to kick Russia out of the G-8. In rather belligerent tones, reminiscent of the Cold War, McCain said he would not tolerate “Russia’s nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks,” and suggested Russia is not a democracy “committed to the defense of freedom.” McCain added, in case there were any ambiguities, that we “should … exclude Russia” from the G8.
The policy always seemed like a very bad idea, and the foreign policy establishment couldn’t imagine what McCain was talking about. What’s more, it wasn’t just an unscripted response at a town-hall meeting; this was McCain reading from a prepared text in a high-profile speech.
Now, however, McCain apparently no longer believes what he said he believes.
[A McCain adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity] dismissed McCain’s comment last October on Russia and the G-8 as “a holdover from an earlier period,” adding: “It doesn’t reflect where he is right now.”
I’m afraid that’s not much of an answer. First, McCain announced his position on Russia and the G8 in March, not October. Whether it was “a holdover from an earlier period” or not is irrelevant — McCain told voters this was a key component of his foreign policy vision. At some point recently, McCain decided he believes the opposite.
For that matter, his carefully-crafted worldview in March “doesn’t reflect where he is right now”? Perhaps the McCain campaign could do us a favor and list the other parts of his foreign policy from March that he no longer accepts in June. (Remember, just yesterday, McCain’s in-house blogger, Michael Goldfarb, admonished Obama for trying to “have it both ways” on issues.)
Yglesias adds a possible wrinkle: maybe the anonymous McCain adviser is wrong:
My guess is that the McCain adviser here is mistaken — [the advisor] knows this is a bad idea, so he’d like to think that McCain has flip-flopped away from it. But though McCain has changed positions on a lot of issues over the years, he’s been pretty consistent ever since 1999 or so on foreign policy questions — taking the most hawkish line on every issue, seeking to ratchet-up tensions with every potential rival, etc. But if McCain has changed his mind about this, and I hope he has, he should say so clearly rather than through an anonymous quote.
Quite right. Either McCain plans to work on kicking Russia out of the G8 or he doesn’t. We should either believe what the senator told us, or we should believe what his advisor tells the press. Maybe the “straight talking” candidate can straighten this out for us.
And while he’s at it, perhaps he can explain how he came to believe he could kick Russia out of the G8 in the first place…
John McCain dropped a little-noticed bombshell into his March foreign-policy address: Boot Russia from the G-8, the elite club of leading industrial democracies whose leaders try to coordinate economic policies.
One major problem: He can’t do it because the other G-8 nations won’t let him…. The Group of Eight, or G-8, as it’s popularly known, makes decisions by consensus, so no single nation can kick out another. Most experts say the six other countries — Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada — would never agree to toss Russia, given their close economic ties to their neighbor. A senior U.S. official who deals with Russia policy said that even Moscow would have to approve of its own ouster, given how the G-8 works.
“It’s not even a theoretical discussion. It’s an impossible discussion,” said the senior official, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. “It’s just a dumb thing.” (emphasis added)
…and why he thought it was a good idea.
Aside from that, many wonder whether McCain’s suggestion would be wise policy. They fear that if McCain is elected and follows through on an attempt to toss Russia from the group, it could anger and isolate Russia, which has been increasingly assertive on the world stage, autocratic within its borders and is the second-largest producer of the hydrocarbons that feed the world’s energy needs.
“In Europe, there’s very little support … for a policy like that,” said Stephen Larrabee, an expert on Europe and Russia at the RAND think tank. “It’s too late in the game to try and oust Russia.”
The proposal also seemed at odds with the theme of McCain’s speech, which promised a less unilateral approach to world affairs than the Bush White House has pursued. That could reflect tension between two Republican foreign-policy camps vying for influence in McCain’s campaign: the pragmatic realists and the hard-line neo-conservatives — with the neo-cons ascendant for now in Russia policy.
“There are a lot of important issues that we need Russia’s support on….What’s to be gained by tossing Russia out? We feel more self-righteous about ourselves?” said Andrew Kuchins, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, a center-right think tank.
Maybe his stated position no longer “reflects where he is right now.” I hope so. But here’s one last question: if McCain shifts with the wind, how can voters know where he’ll end up?
From The G8 leaders must keep their promises
The wave optimism from the last G8 meeting must not die away
Sir, Global leaders will travel to the G8 summit in Japan next week knowing that the promises they have made to help to end global poverty are threatening to amount to nothing more than a brief footnote in the history books. Without urgent action, the great tidal wave of optimism that was generated the last time the meeting was hosted by the Japanese, in 2000, is in danger of dying away.
Through our work with Oxfam, each of us has been involved in the continuing fight to end extreme poverty. Whether in classrooms in India, orphanages in South Africa, camps in Chad, farms in Ethiopia or health clinics in Tanzania, many of us have witnessed at first hand that aid works; that ordinary people achieve remarkable things every day but also that there is a great deal more that needs to be done.
The Millennium Development Goals that were set out in 2000 were chosen because they were ambitious, but also because they were realistic and achievable. The same is true of the promise made by G8 leaders at Gleneagles in 2005 to boost aid levels by $50 billion by 2010. The current delays in meeting these commitments are a disgrace. They are not only a letdown for the people who campaigned for them but they are a potentially fatal blow to the millions of people who live in poverty simply because of where they were born.
The food and climate change crises should have persuaded the G8 that they must raise their game. It is the world’s poor who are most vulnerable to increased food prices and it is these same people who are worst affected by the impacts of climate change. Failure to address these issues risks undermining much of the progress that has been made since Japan’s presidency of the G8 in 2000.
We look to the G8 leaders to address global economic uncertainty, but they must also look beyond their own borders and not turn their backs on the world’s poorest. Only then will the G8 lead the way to a more prosperous and safer future for us all. We expect nothing less of them.
Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Djimon Hounsou, Emmanuel Jal, Gael García Bernal, Kristin Davis, Miguel Bosé, Minnie Driver, Rahul Bose, Scarlett Johansson
Oxfam, Oxford
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