G-7+1 EXTRAVAGANZAS AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS
By Ahmad Ra’fat
ROME 27 July (IPS) The last meeting of the seven worlds’ strongest
industrialised nations plus the Russia of Mr. Vladimir Putin known as the G-8,
that was held last week in the Italian port of Genoa is considered as the last
of such pompous, noise making, expensive extravaganzas, according to most of the
analysts.
After what happened in Genoa, including the violence of a minority of the protesters in the one hand and the Italian police brutality the other, it is difficult to see same kind of meetings that brings all together 14.000 people, including more than 4300 newsmen be organised again somewhere else.
There is no doubt that the 200.000 anti-globalisation demonstrators who had flocked to the city, including the 1000 Black Blocks who destroyed almost half of the city, including many banks, businesses, shops and stores played an important role in the failure of the Genoa meeting of the G-8, but the real responsible for the Genoa fiasco are the very participants, meaning the Group’s Presidents and Prime Ministers.
The G-7+1, namely the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Canada plus Russia that was supposed to find ways to solve some of the planet’s most important and vital questions ended flatly, issuing an empty communiqué and a 1.3 US billions dollars pledge to the Health Foundation of the United Nations for Africa.
At the beginning, the participants were supposed to also find proper ways to solve the burden of the poor nations and it was in that light that on the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi had invited the leaders of seven Asian, African and Latin American nations.
The first official diner with the participation of the leaders of seven of world’s wealthiest nations and an equal number representing the poorest ones was a real farce, as the rich ones, putting their hands in their pockets, told their poor mates from Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, El Salvador and Bangladesh that
If you promise to become democrat, respect human rights and fight corruption, we shall alleviate your US$ 200 billions debt by a mere 53 billions.
The G7+1 that was supposed to solve some of the burning problems the South faces, was not even able to attract the developing nations public opinion.
Out of thousands of journalists who had flocked to the city to cover the Conference, there was only one from the African state of Egypt and a few from the Latin America, mostly Argentineans and Mexicans.
The almost absence of journalists from the third world not only highlights the world’s dichotomy, but also the lack of interest of billions of world’s population for such fasts they do not understand anything about.
At the beginning, there were suggestions to expand the G-7 to G-12 in order to include some poor and developing nations as well. But President Olesogun Obasanjo of Nigeria who was invited to the Genoa party politely rejected the proposal, observing that "since the G7+1 aims at addressing the world’s most industrialised powers, it is better for them to hear us and learn from our difficulties before deciding anything".
"The poor nations have nothing against the globalisation, on the condition that the process is do not profit the interests of the industrialised nations only", he noted.
The Genoa convention of the G-7+1 was not even able to end its own internal differences on a joint defence policy, the George W. Bush’s Missile Shield, the Tokyo Protocol on the reduction of emission of Greenhouse gases in space, the international trade etc.
The question that arise from the G-7’s last meeting is why spent 200 millions Dollars to organise a conference that ends only in the destruction of half of a beautiful city like Genoa, the death of a young demonstrator, wounding of more than 600 protesters and security forces if the powerful men who take part in it can not find proper solution to any of the world’s major problems?
The demonstrations that rocked Genoa during the G-7 meeting did not reflected only the anxieties of thousands of hundreds young and not very young world-wide, but projected the attention of the entire world to the futility of conferences were 8 men, even the strongest of the planet, want to decide for billions of human beings.
What happened in Genoa rose more questions than solved, like the role of the United Nations, the European Union or other international bodies. For, if the leaders of eight nations are to decide for the whole world, what is then the use of the United Nations?
The answer to this question could be also a response to other questions, including the globalisation process. ENDS G 8 27701