G-8 Rattled By Fierce Anti-Globalisation Protests

THE Italian police thought they had made all arrangements to see that the G-8 summit meeting in the ancient port city Genoa would be left relatively untouched by the planned anti globalisation protests, which have come to mark such international meetings for the last two years. A draconian security cover was put in place in the city. A four metre high steel mesh was erected across the areas sorrounding the Duke's palace - the venue of the summit and the area was designated as red zone. No one, including the residents, could enter this area without valid permits issued by the authorities. Outside this red zone would be a yellow zone, open to residents but off limits to protests.

To enforce these regulations, a 15,000 strong contingent of riot police, fully armed with tear gas, water cannons, batons and rifles, was deployed in Genoa.

Ultimately all these arrangements proved futile in the face of determined bid by the over 100,000 anti-globalisation protestors to register their anger against " a few arrogant rich countries deciding the fate of vast majority people who have no say". The two day summit meeting, held from July 20-22, was completely overshadowed by the huge demonstrations and violent clashes between police and anti-globalisation protestors. The International Herald Tribune in a despatch from Genoa had this to say " the G-8 efforts to portray Genoa as an anti-poverty summit was totally eclipsed by the protests"

A 23 year old Italian protestor, Carlo Giuliani was shot through the head and run over by a police vehicle while participating in the march on the opening day of the summit. This sparked off fierce clashes on the second day and a huge procession was taken out in protest. Many of the marchers chanted 'murderers' and 'assassins' at police as they passed the spot where Carlo Giuliani was shot in the head. Small groups of demonstrators broke away from the main march and fought pitched battles with the police on the edges of restricted zone.

There was widespread international horror at the killing of the protestor and it provoked sympathetic demonstrations in Canada, Greece, Germany, Spain, England, France and Sweden.

At least 428 people were hurt in the two day clashes in Genoa, which included 73 policemen. The police raided a school which was housing the protestors and arrested 70 of them on a list of charges including attempted murder and assault.

Genoa Social Forum(GSF), an umbrella group of around 700 organisations which organised the massive street protests, and the Communist Refoundation Party of Italy have demanded the resignation of Italy's interior minister for the killing and brutal repression unleashed on the protestors by the police. They have condemned the attempts of the police to link the violent groups with the GSF and said the indiscriminate repressions were the real cause of the violence.

The resolve of the protestors, gathered from various countries and belonging to different groups, was such that even inside the red zone riot police scrambled to erect new barriers as they were afraid protestors would breach the fence. The protestors infact managed to open a narrow gap in one section of the double layered fence by repeatedly throwing themsleves against it even as the police battered them from across the fence with water cannon and tear gas. The Group of Eight leaders - the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Canada and Russia, meeting behind the iron barricades, were unnerved by these ever growing protests accompanying them wherever they went. In a sign of retreat they have decided to dramatically scale down the annual G-8 meetings. They came to the conclusion that to escape from these protests the only alternative is to hold summits in very remote places that most demonstrators would find it impossible to get to. They have also decided to reduce the size of the delegations and have a more informal type of meetings. "This one could be the last one" said prime minister of Italy Berlusconi. The prime minister of Canada Chretein, the host for next year's G-8 summit, has announced it would be held in Kananaskis, a tiny rocky mountain resort in the province of Alberta that has only 350 hotel rooms.

Nothing illustrates better the isolation of these leaders from their own people and the world than this decision to seek the protection of the mountains.

But they are sure to be disappointed if the resolve shown by these protestors in Genoa is anything to go by.

The anti-globalisation protests really took off from the "Battle in Seattle" in December 1999. The WTO negotiations were the occasion for the unprecedented gathering of anti-globalisation protestors in Seattle. The US police tried to crack them with heavy repression but was met with fierce resistance. It resulted in violent clashes on the streets of Seattle. This marked the begining of a new chapter in the anti-globalisation struggle.

The differences between Europe and US and the atmosphere outside the meetings contributed in ending the Seattle round of talks in fiasco.

From then on every major international summitry has been dogged by such protests. Many see this as an indication of global movement developing rapidly against world bodies such as G-8, IMF, WB, WTO.

In the past year it is estimated more than three million people in around 20 countries, north and south, have taken to the streets to oppose the neo-liberal policies of most governments.

Prague, venue for IMF-World Bank meeting, last October, was another major milestone in the anti-globalisation protests. Last month the European Union summit meeting at Gothenberg, Sweden witnessed huge protests and street violence. Three people were shot and wounded by the police.

And next month Washington DC is set to witness one of the largest ever demonstrations since the Vietnam war. The reason being it would be the venue for an IMF-World Bank meeting.

These tens of thousands of protestors travelling from one summit to another comprise of varied groups such as trade unionists, socialists, environmentalists, students, and many more. They come from various countries. Internet is an important medium for coordinating these protests. It is also being used for shaping a media counter-culture, which reflects the values of anti-globalisation direct action movement. They are striving to promote the influence of alternative media.

Providing debt relief to the poorer countries, cancellation of the so called "poverty reduction programmes" of the IMF, World Bank, putting a stop to efforts to force open the markets of poorer nations, full implementation of Kyoto protocol, removal of MNC's influence on health and environment policies, defence of citizens', workers' and consumer rights are some of the main themes on which the anti-globalisation movement is building up. They say that on all these issues the opinion of civil society is in open conflict with neo-liberalist dominant thought.

However differences have cropped up in this movement on the question of violence during the protests. A small fringe group of anarchists attempts to create violence which is being opposed by large number of groups.

The meeting of the world's richest nations, at Genoa, was held in the backdrop of grim economic scenario in their own countries. The US economy is in the grip of stagflation. Thousands of employees are being retrenched. The US slump has spread to Europe and Japan has been stagnating for the past one decade. It is now on the brink of recession. The G-8 leaders deliberated on how to coordinate a response to the global economic slowdown. And they hit upon the tried and tested formula - more opening up of the third world markets for further looting. In the final statement after the summit, it was stated "the leaders resolved to launch an ambitious new global round of trade talks by this year end" - clearly, a resolve to complete the unfinished agenda of Seattle.

It appears that in the wake of serious economic problems being faced, both US and Europe have settled the many rifts that undercut the Seattle talks. This leads to the assumption that a vigorous, united assault awaits the developing world in the next round of the "ambitious" WTO trade talks.

However serious differences between Europe and US over global warming continued. The statement by US president Bush, prior to the summit, that US would not implement the Kyoto agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions angered many European leaders. France’s president Chirac, in particular, pulled up the American president on this issue. The United States was completely isolated on this issue with 178 countries accepting the Kyoto treaty at the Bonn summit on July 23. The EU played a key role in getting the treaty ratified despite the US opposition. The final statement of the Genoa summit did not include any reference to the contentious issue of US plan to develop National Missile Defence system.

The G-8 summit announced a 1.2 billion dollars fund to combat AIDS and other diseases in Africa. Britain's prime minister Tony Blair called this "a very big and ambitious thing, a kind of Marshall Plan for Africa". However many others did not think likewise. The GSF has said it is chicken feed compared with the scale of modern western government spending. The United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has said that at least 7 to 10 million dollars are needed to truly make a difference.

Inspite of persistent demands from many groups, the G-8 leaders slammed doors on proposals for providing debt relief for third world countries. Except for vague talk of continuing efforts to reduce poverty, there was no concrete help from G-8. In fact after George Bush assumed power, the US development spending has been cut by 380 million dollars. As it is the US aid budget stands at 0.1 per cent of GDP, the lowest share of any country in the 22 member Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. In 1960 US gave 0.8 per cent of GDP for aid budget.

All the efforts by the rich nations to hide their real designs by sweet talk and empty rhetoric were thwarted by the determined anti-globalisation protestors. Washington, next month is going to provide yet another oppurtunity for exposing the rich nations gameplan.