They troop in by the thousands, many with colourful clothing and loud music, and announce their message: the rich countries of the world are hogging the goods of the earth, ignoring the needs of impoverished millions.
At this year’s Group of Eight summit in France, those rich countries showed they are listening a little more closely.
The meeting of G-8 nations — seven industrial powers and Russia — made unprecedented moves to more fully include the concerns of developing nations, and some point to the protesters and critics who throng the meeting every year as having a key role in the shift.
”In preparing the summit, we have had very close links,” French President Jacques Chirac said of the pressure groups. ”I met with them myself on several occasions. We also provided close cooperation … vis-a-vis the summit proposals.”
The demonstrators on the edge of the G-8 summit represent a hodgepodge of interests, ranging from poverty to protection of the environment and Aids research. They are united in their view, however, that the current global system favors the rich.
Their influence is limited, and the world’s economic heavyweights aren’t about to scrap capitalism or stop the spread of globalisation. The demands of the more radical demonstrators, such as anarchists, carry no political weight with government leaders.
But while many protesters express dissatisfaction at the pace of change, the G-8 is showing in some ways — by including leaders of developing nations in their talks and by discussing issues they bring up — that this most exclusive of clubs can also be flexible.
The most high-profile departure this year was Chirac’s decision to invite about a dozen non G-8 members from around the world, including China, Mexico and Nigeria, to attend as guests and air their concerns with the rich and powerful.
That move — which some urged next year’s host, the United States, to repeat — opened up a whole range of ideas for discussion. Brazil’s president proposed a global fund for fighting famine, and Mexico called for the banding together of middle income countries to help the poorest nations.
It is too soon to tell whether such ideas will ever get very far with the G-8 or whether the group will follow through on pledges to consider the needs of other countries. Many critics say the moves could end up being more public relations than substance.
Whatever the outcome, however, it was clear that the opening-up process at the G-8 was inspired at least in part by the message coming out of the protest camp.
Gathered by the thousands in Annemasse, France, 40 kilometres west of Evian, the G-8 critics held a counter meeting, called a ”Summit for Another World,” and put together a list of proposals and handed them over to a top Chirac adviser.
Among the proposals were calls for an independent study of the impact of liberalising markets, full debt relief for the world’s poorest nations, the creation of an international tax on the movement of capital and better distribution of generic Aids drugsto developing nations.
Much of the protesters’ rhetoric, however, is unlikely to make an impression on G-8 nations.
”We want these countries to break with their neo-liberal, military and warlike policies, give poor countries the means they need to develop and fight job insecurity,” declared Christophe Aguiton, a delegate for the catchall activist group Attac.
The protesters have their own image problems. While the more serious among them have coherent arguments, that is often overshadowed by the violence of small bands of rabble-rousers who infiltrate their ranks, turning demonstrations into riots.
That was on vivid display this year, when protesters and rock-throwers clashed repeatedly with riot police in Geneva and elsewhere, turning whole blocks into lanes of broken glass and looted shops.
Violence aside, many point out that dissent may be necessary for the global system to function to the satisfaction of larger numbers of people.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former labour leader and one of the non-G-8 members invited, said he grew more convinced about the idea of an expanded dialogue at the summit during the meetings.
”I believe we have to have conversations. I believe these social movements have to put pressure on us” leaders, he told reporters.
”I don’t believe a politician can work well if society doesn’t pressure him or her.” – Sapa-AP