G8 Summit: protestors hit war & greed

Greg King

USA:On June 8-10 many businesses in Brunswick, Georgia, closed 
their doors as the city was virtually taken over by 20,000 
military personnel and police who guarded the summit meeting of 
the Group of Eight (G8).

The G8 is a loose association of the eight most powerful 
imperialist powers — the US, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Canada, 
Japan, and Russia — that shape global policy through 
institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, 
and the World Trade Organisation. It meets annually to discuss 
various policy issues.

Sea Island, where this year's meeting was held, was heavily 
guarded by the military and effectively unreachable for peace and 
anti-globalisation demonstrators, not to mention other people in 
the area.

Many Coastal Georgia businesses shut down and denied their 
workers pay during the week of the G8 meeting. Brunswick has the 
third highest unemployment rate in Georgia, and Coastal Georgia 
is also home to 12 Superfund toxic waste sites. The area has the 
highest cancer rate in the country.

The heads of eight wealthiest nations convened to advance an 
agenda of war and erosion of human rights. At this summit, the 
Bush administration launched its "Greater Middle East 
Initiative", which calls on Middle Eastern countries to adopt 
major economic and social reforms that would advance the G8 
countries' profits and power over these nations.

The talks about the Middle East plan were paralleled by anti-war 
protestors gathered in Brunswick denouncing the US war and 
occupation of Iraq. Colourful banners, costumes and chanting 
painted the street with festive resistance. When police blocked 
the demonstrators from laying flowers at a nearby war memorial, 
the marchers left flowers at an improvised cardboard memorial for 
Brunswick soldiers who have died in wars.

The police and military attempted to intimidate the marchers by 
surrounding them with police cars, closing off streets and flying 
overhead in helicopters. There were thousands of police here 
escorting a protest of about 500 people as local residents 
nervously peered out windows.

The Reverend Tim McDonald, a leader of the march, said, "We are 
here and we will not turn back." A group called Hip-Hop Against 
Racist War led the protestors in chants, including "Move Bush, 
Get out the way, get out the way Bush get out the way".

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People's Weekly World Newspaper (abridged)