Business as usual

     In the run-up to the G8 summit a lot was announced, demanded and said. Famous people such as Bono from the Irish rock band  U2 sallied out to raise people’s awareness about the problems and conditions in Third World countries, especially in Africa. Organisations such as Attac, Interventionistische Linke, or Greenpeace stated that they would try anything to carry the demands on the G8 summit to Heiligendamm.     

     100,000 demonstrators from all around the world were expected and the whole city of Rostock prepared itself for excesses and riots like the ones that took place in Genua in 2001. But what really happend remained far behind the expectations. Camps which where supposed to accomodate 15,000 recorded only 60 people, during the biggest demonstration only 30,000 to 50,000 people were counted and feared struggles between the police and militant protesters were less severe than they had been expected. Regrettably, riots started after the demonstration on Saturday. Radical leftists of the so called ‘Black Block’ started to throw stones, bottles and other projectiles at the police and burned down one car.     

     But all this happened near the harbour in a particular area and not all over downtown as it was stated in the news. The media used the pictures of these excesses to make up a scenario which should make the viewers/listeners believe that Rostock was in a state of emergency. And sure it was but not as much as the media wanted it to be. Therefore they showed the same pictures over and over again and came up with stories. However, there was nothing reported about the peaceful and creative demonstrators who represented the vast majority. Even during the following day the media tried to report as much about riots as possible and so again the amicable activities such as the “Alternativgipfel”, the “J8″ or information events paled into insignificance.    

     Fortunately, Rostock was spared further riots and violent excesses throughout the remaining time of the G8 summit. Protestors were even able to succeed when they reached the fence around the venue. All things considered it has been business as usual during a G8 summit and the peaceful activities and demonstrations outweighted the violent struggles.  

written by J.M.S., 10.06.2007    

One world

      Last week 80 000 people could get a feeling of our increasing need for responsible actions and decisions in the world.

     During the concert the visitors gave their voice against global poverty. But if people think a pop concert is able to solve global problems they waste their time on an illusion. Music, however, is a useful means to bring topics into the public.

      One of the topics on G8 summits is the development aid for Africa. At Heiligendamm the industrial countries declared their agreement on a 60-billion-dollar programme for the fight against infectious diseases and they gave their promise to realize the “millennium aims” until 2010. But in how far are declarations like that really useful? There are critical voices which say that development aid is senseless in corrupt and undemocratic countries. Or in other words: Support by the first world promotes corruption because money flows into the wrong hands.

      I think this argumentation corresponds with a true and sometimes resigned point of view. In my opinion development aid must be a help for the majority of the poor African population which does not profit from the increasing economic growth. Especially not in Angola with 27 percent, the highest growth in the world (!).

      I want to repeat that the key out of this misery is support for a fair education system. Unfortunately, the present problem is that 25% of Africans are permanently undernourished. People with an empty stomach are not able to get a basic schooling.

written by F.T., 12.06.2007

Eyewitness reports

     After a week filled with the excitement and the anxiety of being at the centre of the world’s attention, everyone seemed to enjoy their return to the chores and pleasures of everyday life. We have also been busy catching up on our routine so that you can finally read our eyewitness reports.

 

Your G8-blog team!

The special role of the USA

     A very important topic of the G8 summit will be the climate change. An unparalleled heating-up threatens the earth with a rise of droughts and heat waves, enormous storms and a strongly- rising sea level in this century. According to the ICPP (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the temperatures will rise approximately around 1.8 to 4 degrees around the globe until the year 2100.

     The warming-up process, clearly caused by humans, is irreversible in the long term (world climate report): greenhouse gases which are already stored in the atmosphere will contribute “more than over one millennium” to the heating-up. The sea level will also be raised by melting glaciers and ice sheets by around 18 to 59 centimeters. Heat waves, cyclones and precipitation would appear more often and stronger.

     The role of the USA concerning measures against the climate change is quite an important one being the leading emitter of CO₂. 7068 million tonnes of greenhouse gases were emitted into the atmosphere by the USA in 2004. That is in fact over 60% more than the 4288 million tonnes emitted by the EU.

     But for the USA the climate change plays only a subordinate role. That’s why the negotiators of the USA have so far denied any concrete commitment to the protection of the climate at various international climate summits. The US Government opposes concrete G8 decisions concerning climate protection. The resistance is also directed against new, already weakened suggestions of the German G8-presidency for the agenda of the summit in Heiligendamm (The Washington Post and Süddeutsche Zeitung). “The treatment of climate change runs counter to our overall position and crosses multiple ‘red lines’ in terms of what we simply cannot agree to,” quotes the Washington Post from a document written by US negotiators.

 

     Minister for the Environment Sigmar Gabriel reproaches the US government with immovability. The Washington Post writes that the delegations have already come to an agreement concerning all the other G8 issues, but the topic of climate change remains still unanswered. The resistance of the US Government is directed against four central points in the German draft resolution. These points are: the global rise of temperatures which should not exceed two degrees, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 50% until 2050 (compared to the conditions of 1990 negotiating an increase of the energy efficiency around 20% until 2020), an increase of energy efficiency around 20% till 2020 and the point that “the UN climate process is the appropriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change” (G8 Summit Declaration, June 6^th 2007). Concerning this issue, the USA is in opposition to the German position. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel tries to find a compromise because this topic concerns many countries, even the whole world. The fight against the climate change should be “an obligation, not a choice” to everyone.

 

 

written by F.H., 22.05.2007

 

 

 

 

 

A general overview of the present situation in Latin America

      Latin America has been in a struggle between imperialistic militarism, neo-liberalistic efforts and organized crime since the 1950ties. This struggle was exacerbated by the endeavours of the USA to assemble regimes sympathising with them, which led to civil wars and ethnic conflicts, e.g. in Guatemala where approximately 200.000 people were killed during the civil war and its consequences. The aftermath is still effecting the situation in Latin America and the problems are yet to be solved but since each Latin American country has its specific circumstances with regard to economic, ethnic and social issues and geological factors there is no general solution. However, there have been a lot of trials on socio-scientific and politico-economic levels of which the most common one is the Neoliberalism.

      Neoliberalism spread fast around Latin American countries such as Peru, Colombia and Mexico and refers to an intellectual and political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty. But since its advocated policies implement global capitalism through government/military interventionism it has encountered resistance. Thus, the present situation in Latin America is still difficult and a new debate has risen about the question how to progress from the positive advances of the past, how to learn from the mistakes of the present and how to build new coalitions in order to go beyond protest toward the politics of social transformation.

     Despite all these facts there is still the same pattern: Presidents win elections, pact with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the multi-nationals and banks and lose the streets – as the great majority of the people turn against the “elected” president mostly motivated and led by the US. The latter are said to intend the colonization and militarization of Latin America through the treaty of “Free Trade Area of the Americas”. This has to be seen as the primary danger since Bush’s militarization strategy has already been implemented by local presidents such as the president of Bolivia Sanchez de Losada. His regime has caused the death of over 60 workers and peasants since 2003 and also several activists and rural workers in Brazil and in Guatemala have been assassinated by para-military forces linked to big landowners, a lot of them coming from the USA, who possess two-thirds of the whole land in Guatemala.

      But Latin America also demonstrates that US imperialism can be defeated. Cuba was able to dismantle US-financed terrorist networks, Venezuela defeated two US-sponsored coups and in Bolivia the left is the dominant political force in the streets and a powerful opposition in the parlament today. The present situation promises to be a period of growing social and political polarization in Latin America. It is likely that we are about to see a new alignment of political and social forces from below and perhaps some “regime changes” from above or from below.

      Now it is up to the G8 Summit to find solutions to support the endeavours to assemble democratic administrations. But increasing the amount of money for developing aid cannot be the right answer and one can only hope that the G8 States will pass effective resolutions.

The USA and the climate change

      The climate change is one of the main topics of the G8 summit taking place in Heiligendamm this year. Because of this and of the fact that the USA is the biggest source of greenhouse gases worldwide, I have decided to write about some campaigns that are meant to reduce the emissions of the USA.

     The USA’s share of the complete output of greenhouse gases is 25 percent. So the Bush administration has conducted various campaigns to reduce this output, as for example in 2005 when they signed a contract with Australia, China, India, South Korea and Japan. It is a separate contract and independent of the Kyoto Protocol. Because of having a 40% proportion of the worldwide output of greenhouse gases, India, China, Australia and the USA came to the conclusion that there is a need to make such a move for climate protection. President Bush called it “a result-oriented partnership”. However, this contract was not binding at all.

     Since the USA do not consider the Kyoto Protocol as a right approach they are trying to find their own answer to the climate change in a technological way. On  September 20^th 2006 a three billion dollar project that conducts research in the field of technological answers to global warming was launched. The main approaches of this new strategy were and still are voluntary partnerships with the industry, highly-developed scientific research in the field of climate change and, finally, international collaboration. The bigger part of research capital is deployed in the areas hydrogen, biorefinery, clean coal, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.

     However, an improved energy efficiency, which plays a big role in the climate change strategy of the EU, is not affiliated to the programme of the USA.

     In conclusion, I have to say that there are some good ideas in the US programme but also some deficiencies. The arrangements made are to be followed voluntarily because there are no binding rules. So I think that this is not a right approach to fight against the climate change. 

 

written by S.St., 22.05.2007

Do not forget them!

     Helpful development policies could be so easy. For bridging the gap between global poverty and rich countries it is necessary to enable people in developing countries to have access to education. Only three percent of the budget of the global armaments industry are needed to guarantee education for the 150 million children without a chance to go to school.

 

     Development policies in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe or Darfur, two of the most forgotten countries, has nothing to do with blind good-natured attitudes of industrial countries. It must be the aim of the rich part of the world to support the poor states because we live in one world. Third-world countries like Zimbabwe are dependent on foreign support. If the eight richest countries and governments do not believe in this increasing duty, poverty-states will be alone in their hopeless hell, as for example the citizens of Zimbabwe.

 

      Since 1980 Robert Mugabe, the aged “democratic president” of Zimbabwe, has commited crimes against humanity to Zimbabwe’s people. “Zimbabwe – Africa´s Paradise” – this slogan is history. In Zimbabwe there is a high rate of “death by starvation”, an unemployment rate of nearly 70 % and an inflation rate of 1700 (!) percent. It means that a majority of the country’s population is not able to buy products for daily life in a bankrupt and corrupt state. The fact that it is an ominous police state is another reason for Zimbabwe’s miserable situation. Zimbabwe is nearly completely isolated from global flows of money, contacts and information, despite the considerable harvests of cereal. Mugabe has created a police state. Every tenth citizen works for the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), in which people observe their own neighbours. Mugabe is a tyrant who also uses violence to destroy political opposition in order to secure his position.

 

      People in Africa are dependent on foreign support like never before: “Unterstützt uns, damit wir wieder zu Kräften kommen, um für die Demokratie zu kämpfen!” (Mrs. Stevenson – courageous member of Zimbabwe’s political opposition). In my opinion, education is an essential precondition for a successful independent future of Third World countries. What the G8 have to do is to support courageous members of political and non-political organisations instead of governments which finance terrorism against their own people.

 

(sources: “Beten für den Tod” in: Zeit, 03.05.2007, S.10; Unicef report 1/2007)

 

written by F.T., 22.05.2007

Here we are!

It’s only some days to go until the G8 summit starts in Heiligendamm. But people have been busy preparing for this special occasion weeks and months before. So have we. Here are the first articles that have been written by pupils of the advanced course English 3 in year 12 on different aspects of this event.

Have a look and feel free to ask questions and to tell us your opinion.

 

Your G8-Blog team!

Coming soon…

This blog will provide some articels with information and news during the G8 summit. This is a student’s project of the Innerstädtisches Gymnasiums Rostock.

Please be patient till the first item is released online.

Your G8-Blog team.