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<P>Many thanks for all your kind and helpful comments.</P>
<P>Below is a slightly revised/corrected version - main thing to note is
that the web site was wrong - it's <A
href="http://www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk">www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk</A> </P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>Jennny</P>
<P><STRONG>The G8 in Sheffield – why does it matter?</STRONG></P>
<P>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?</P><B></B>
<P>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.</P><B></B>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman">
<BR></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">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:</P>
<UL>
<LI>lock up suspects without a trial</LI>
<LI>increase the state’s control by keeping information about everyone,
through ID cards for example</LI>
<LI>play on people’s fear of outsiders, and people with different beliefs,
appearance or cultures</LI></UL>
<P>When the G8 comes to Sheffield, we’ll see some of their ideas in action:</P>
<UL>
<LI>residents in Nether Edge have been told they will have to carry a passport
to enter and leave their homes</LI></UL>
<UL>
<LI>armed police will patrol the streets and helicopters will hang overhead
for days on end</LI>
<LI>your email and phone calls may be intercepted</LI>
<LI>you will be excluded from your city centre while the G8 wine and dine
there</LI>
<LI>pubs, theatres, clubs and restaurants have been asked to close, and
transport will be disrupted</LI></UL>
<P>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. </P>
<P>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 15<SUP>th</SUP> June, and see </FONT><A
href="http://www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk/"><FONT
face="Trebuchet MS">http://www.sheffield.dissent.org.uk/</FONT></A><FONT
face="Trebuchet MS"> for more information.</P></FONT></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>