[g8-sheffield] council lobby on the 15th

[annieneligan]

Tell Sheffield Council what you think about the G8 meeting here

On Wednesday June 1st, 

Jillian Creasey, Green Party councillor, will be putting a motion to the meeting of the Sheffield City council questioning the decision to host the G8 meeting.

This is more likely to be heard if we are there in strength in the public gallery asking questions of our own. 

Come along at 

to the Town Hall on Pinstone Street 

and ask for the Council Chamber Public Gallery. 


We can take turns asking some of these questions - or bring your own 



.

Lack of consultation re visit

How was the decision to host the G8 in Sheffield taken?

How have city traders and businesses been informed of arrangements for the visit?

Have the churches and other faith communities been consulted about the visit?

Was the appropriate Area Panel informed or consulted re the G8 visit?

Why was hosting the G8 not discussed in Full Council?

Were all the party leaders consulted about the G8 visit?

Effects in city

Will the G8 visit put Sheffield on the map because of mass protests?

What will be the economic effect of closing down the city centre for 3 days?

What will the G8 visit do for our credentials as a Fairtrade city?

Will the city council assess the effects of diverting most of its police force into protecting the G8?

What compensation has been offered to city centre traders and businesses?

Will the buses and trams run as normal throughout the G8 visit?

Is it true that the people of NetherEdge have been issued with passes?

G8 agenda
Will the G8 discuss ways of helping Sheffield’s 300+ destitute asylum seekers?

Will the G8 discuss ways of stopping people fleeing environmental disasters?

Will the G8 discuss ways of stopping people fleeing war?

Will the G8 discuss the conditions of detainees in Guantanamo?

Will the G8 discuss control orders for people who haven’t had been tried in court?

Will the G8 discuss ID cards?

Will the G8 discuss how to police anti-war protests?

Which member of the G8 does the Council Leader most admire, and why?

If the G8 is such a good thing, why should they be afraid of Sheffield people?

When will Sheffield invite the leaders of the 8 poorest nations of the world?

What has the G8 done to close the gap internationally?

The G8 is a self selected, unelected caucus which meets outside the UN or the WTO – what kind of example does this set to national and local government?



Jillian’s Motion

That this Council :-
(a) notes that:
(i) the G8 countries are the most rich and powerful in the World but represent only one tenth of its population;
(ii) the G8 meetings are a caucus for this self-selected group to discuss strategy outside electorally accountable bodies such as the United Nations or World Trade Organisation; and
(iii) the G8 Justice and Interior Ministers are interested in supporting the war on terror on the "home front" by introducing measures which restrict our civil liberties (such as identity cards and detention and control orders), and by the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers;

(b) believes that:-
(i) the G8 visit will put Sheffield on the map as a place which welcomes undemocratic and repressive tendencies at the highest level;
(ii) the security measures being put in place for the G8 visit (secrecy, exclusion zones, issuing of passes) are themselves an indication of this style of government; and
(iii) the desire to be internationally recognised should not outweigh the rights and well- being of local people and businesses; and

(c) therefore:-
(i) regrets the lack of consultation preceding the decision to host the G8 visit;
(ii) supports the right of organisations such as Make Poverty History, Sheffield Stop the War Coalition and Sheffield Dissent Network to peacefully demonstrate their views;
(iii) undertakes to explain to the people of Sheffield exactly what the G8 Justice and Interior Ministers’ agenda is and how precisely their visit befits and benefits the City; and
(iv) in the interests of closing the gap internationally, instructs the Chief Executive to look into the possibility of hosting a meeting for the G77 – a caucus of the World’s poorest nations.


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