[g8-sheffield] The G8 in Sheffield - revised and corrected!

[Jenny Patient]

Many thanks for all your kind and helpful comments.

Below is a slightly revised/corrected version - main thing to note is that the web site was wrong - it's www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk 

Please feel absolutely free to use all/any of this for leaflets or whatever. I shall send it as a letter to the Telegraph and the Star, just as me, not on behalf of anyone.

Jennny

The G8 in Sheffield - why does it matter?

Many Sheffield people will now be aware that the G8 Interior and Justice Ministers are meeting in Sheffield on 15-17 June 2005 - but what is it all about?

The G8 is not a democratic forum - it is an exclusive meeting of the seven biggest economies in the world, plus Russia. It's rather like the big boys ganging up in a corner of the school playground.

The G8's agenda has never been to solve the problems of hunger and health experienced by three-quarters of the world's population. They meet to make the world safe for globalisation - a process that puts capitalists in control of everything, right across the world.

The G8 states support globalisation through privatisation (e.g. of water supplies in Africa, as well as your bus services) and war (e.g. in Iraq, and the threats to Iran and Cuba). This adds to insecurity in countries in the global South, such as Bolivia and Ghana. Then people migrate, as they cannot survive or prosper in countries threatened by war or environmental catastrophe. 


The Interior Ministers will be sharing ideas about combating terrorism, which they see as the worst threat. They have used terrorism as an excuse to:

  a.. lock up suspects without a trial
  b.. increase the state's control by keeping information about everyone, through ID cards for example
  c.. play on people's fear of outsiders, and people with different beliefs, appearance or cultures
When the G8 comes to Sheffield, we'll see some of their ideas in action:

  a.. residents in Nether Edge have been told they will have to carry a passport to enter and leave their homes
  a.. armed police will patrol the streets and helicopters will hang overhead for days on end
  b.. your email and phone calls may be intercepted
  c.. you will be excluded from your city centre while the G8 wine and dine there
  d.. pubs, theatres, clubs and restaurants have been asked to close, and transport will be disrupted
Your local MP and city council are, in fact, so proud of your city that they are prepared to exclude all citizens from it in order to show it off. 

If you would like to add your voice to the protest against this way of running the world, join the peaceful demonstration in the city centre at 5.30 on Weds 15th June, and see http://www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk/ for more information.
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