Making Poverty History

If someone who'd been beating you up as part of an extortion racket for years, then stopped and said they'd give you £55 quid for nothing, you'd think, okay. If they went round telling the world they were doing it you'd think they were a bit of a wank. If they then gave you just a quid you'd be pretty angry.

Ahead of December’s World Trade Organisation summit in Hong Kong, Stuart Hodkinson explains why you don't hear so much about Make Poverty History so often nowadays: "The much lauded June G7 (G8 minus Russia) finance ministers’ ‘$55 billion’ debt deal, in which 18 countries – 14 of them African – would receive ‘100 per cent multilateral debt cancellation’, with 20 more countries soon to follow, was a similar pop star-veiled deception. In reality, the G7 had only agreed to take over the debt repayments of those countries to just three of world’s 19 multilateral creditors".

More on this this from Red Pepper:

"Remember Make Poverty History, anyone? It seems a long time ago that some 200,000 people flocked to Edinburgh on 2 July to rally G8 leaders as part of an unprecedented global justice campaign. That same day, Bob Geldof organised free music concerts in nine countries worldwide under the Live 8 banner. The demands were straightforward and reasonable: rich countries should boost overseas aid in line with 35-year-old unmet promises; cancel completely the debts of the 62 poorest countries; set binding dates for the abolition of subsidies and other protectionist support to Northern farmers; and stop forcing liberalisation and privatisation on poor countries, whether in international trade negotiations or as conditions of aid and debt deals.

Six days later, in the shadow of the 7 July bombs that ripped through central London, the Gleneagles summit ended to a chorus of rock star cheers. ‘This has been the most important summit there ever has been for Africa,’ Bob Geldof confidently stated at the post-summit press conference. ‘There are no equivocations. Africa and the poor of that continent have got more from the last three days than they have ever got at any previous summit … On aid, ten out of ten. On debt, eight out of ten. On trade … it is quite clear that this summit, uniquely, decided that enforced liberalisation must no longer take place,” he said, before finishing with a flourish. ‘That is a serious, excellent result on trade.’ Bono, voice cracking with emotion, concurred: ‘We are talking about $25 billion of new money … The world spoke and the politicians listened.’

Assembled journalists and campaigners broke into spontaneous applause; the next day’s media coverage led with Geldof’s ‘mission accomplished’ verdict. But as the millions who signed up to Make Poverty History and Live 8 no doubt rejoiced, inside the upper echelons of MPH all hell was breaking loose. ‘They’ve shafted us,’ a press officer from a UK development NGO screamed down the phone. Indeed they had. Moments earlier, Kumi Naidoo, the veteran South African anti-apartheid campaigner and current chair of MPH’s international umbrella, the Global Call to Action against Poverty (G-CAP), had delivered the coalition’s official response: ‘The people have roared but the G8 has whispered. The promise to deliver [more aid] by 2010 is like waiting five years before responding to the tsunami.’

Having pored over leaked drafts of the G8 communiqué into the early hours, MPH officials knew that the G8’s announcements on aid, trade and debt were not only grossly inadequate to help poor countries reach the UN’s millennium development goals by 2015. They were also completely bogus – and they had briefed the rock stars to that effect. More than half of the promised $50 billion in aid – which wouldn’t kick in until 2010 – wasn’t really new money at all, but a dishonest amalgam of old pledges, future aid budgets and debt relief. And despite agreeing that ‘poor countries should be free to determine their own economic policies’, only Britain had announced it would no longer tie overseas aid to free market reforms – a promise it would instantly break in the G8 debt deal. The US, in contrast, had made it immediately clear at Gleneagles that aid increases would require ‘reciprocal liberalisation’ by developing countries. Worse, as Yifat Susskind, associate director of the US-based women’s human rights organisation, Madre, explains, Bush’s ‘millennium challenge account’, specifically praised by Bono and Geldof, ‘explicitly ties aid to cooperation in the US’s “war on terror”’.

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From The Scotsman, 3 November 2005
Wanted: G8 protesters who got away

PHOTOGRAPHS of dozens of people that police believe were involved in the G8 protests that shut down the centre of Edinburgh on 4 July were released yesterday. In a move unprecedented in Scotland, Lothian and Borders Police posted images of 31 men and women on its website and asked the public to help identify them.

See photos here:
http://www.lbp.police.uk/

The release of the pictures was criticised by human rights campaigners, but police insist they have a responsibility to trace those who caused the trouble.

One of the most dramatic pictures, taken in Princes Street, shows a man with his right fist clenched, poised as if to punch an officer in riot gear standing inches in front of him. Another picture shows a man apparently about to use force to hurl a plastic bread crate at police.

Police are also particularly interested in identifying a man of Italian appearance who may have been the catalyst for the ferocious anarchist riot involving thousands of protesters in Rose Street during the so-called Carnival for Full Enjoyment.

A specialist police team has spent hundreds of hours examining CCTV footage in an attempt to identify suspects. Officers also seized media pictures of protesters who fought running battles with the police and brought the city centre to a standstill for around six hours.

Detective Inspector David Gordon, who is leading the investigation, said: "It's been a laborious process for the officers, having to view hour after hour of CCTV footage, but it shows we will not give up in our bid to find those responsible.

"These were serious disturbances in Edinburgh city centre and it is our duty to track down those responsible and bring them to court. Some of the people featured in the photographs are very clear - we just need a name to put to the face."

Willie Black, a G8 protester, said: "There is meant to be a presumption of innocence until proved guilty. The police are using the present political climate and so-called war against terrorists to ride roughshod over people's civil rights.

"As far as a number of alternative-G8 organisations are concerned, the police went out to confront the demonstrators in a very aggressive manner. The whole idea of publishing these photos on their website smacks of irresponsible policing, and is highly vindictive."

John Scott, the chairman of the Scottish Centre for Human Rights, said: "The publication of these photos is in line with Tony Blair's desire to give the police more summary power, which means taking action and justifying it later in court.

"The people in the photos have not been convicted of an offence and all we have so far is the police saying they are guilty. If cases go to trial, there is a danger of pre-trial publicity. Publicising photos like this is not something that normally happens and we need to be very careful about making assumptions."

However, Malcolm Dickson, the deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, insisted: "This is not the case of police being vindictive but concentrating on those people whose criminal activity marred an otherwise peaceful week of legitimate demonstration."

During their inquiries, police have liaised with Scotland Yard, who gained expertise in this area during London's May Day riots in 2001, Interpol, Europol and public-order specialists.

Police said those pictured had not been arrested at the time as they tended to be in the middle of a crowd and it was felt intervention would have exacerbated an already volatile situation.

The Edinburgh riot occurred two days before leaders of the world's most powerful nations met at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire to discuss development in Africa and responses to climate change.

During week-long protests to coincide with the summit, police arrested 129 people in and around Edinburgh. So far, 99 have appeared in court and 20 have been convicted.

left by Soisealach on 03 November 2005

What about a boycott / protest against the Herald?

left by Jamie on 03 November 2005