|
Home | The Socialist 19 - 25 May 2005 | Join the Socialist Party Demonstrate at the G8Make capitalism history, make socialism our future
As usual Blair has his finger right on the pulse of what young people in Britain are thinking! Sarah Sachs-EldridgeThere will be massive protests at the G8 summit in Gleneagles on 2 July. Blair thinks that saying he is concerned about poverty in Africa will win him support but he is seen as a liar. We do not trust Blair, Bush, Berlusconi or any of the G8 to sort out the world’s problems. They represent the profit system. They do the bidding of big business. They promote privatisation at home and around the world. They are incapable of making poverty history. The Observer paints a picture of Gordon Brown shedding crocodile tears: "Clasping the hand of a man dying with Aids, a disease which kills two million in Africa each year, Gordon Brown was clearly struggling to control his emotion. "We are all brothers", the Chancellor said." Yet, since 1997 Brown and the rest of New Labour have failed to increase aid to 0.7% of national income, a target set by the UN over 30 years ago. Britain currently pays 3.4%, around £3.83 billion, which according to World Vision means that Britain owes around £10 billion in aid. GuiltyBut Blair and Brown aren’t just guilty of not paying up - they also champion privatisation in the poorest countries. In South Africa, where 28% of people have been affected by HIV/AIDS, Johannesburg City Council has recently installed pre-paid water meters in a public private partnership with Northumbrian Water. Privatisation is forcing people to drink unsafe water from dirty rivers when they can’t afford to pay. Blair and Brown have no alternative to the system that presides over the death of one child every 15 seconds from lack of clean water. They and other European suppliers are also selling the South African government $4.8 billion worth of warships and military aircraft. Their hopes of sainthood will be frustrated by their dogged obedience to the fat cats. International Socialist Resistance (ISR) members and supporters of our ideas and campaigns have a serious task ahead of us at the G8. Hundreds of thousands of people will be marching against poverty. We will be marching against the capitalist system that sustains poverty and inequality. We will be marching and arguing for socialism. We cannot leave the decisions about how and where the world’s resources are used in the hands of these people. We cannot leave the future of the planet to the whims of an unplanned, chaotic system. We are going to the G8 to register our anger but also to put forward an alternative, the socialist alternative. ISR will part of the huge demo on 2 July and is co-organising an international youth camp from 1-6 July with the International Socialists, the Scottish affiliate to the Committee for Workers’ International (CWI). The CWI is an international socialist organisation with members in 40 countries around the world, including the International Socialists in Scotland and the Socialist Party in England and Wales. We will organise a coach going from the camp each day to take people to the protests and meetings which are planned for the counter-summit. There will be an opportunity to participate in political discussions with socialists from all over Europe. For more information: ISR: www.anticapitalism.org.uk 020 8558 7947, PO Box 858, London E11 1YG, International Socialists : www.cwiscotland.org Committee for a Workers’ International: www.socialistworld.net, cwi@worldsoc.co.uk
Home | The Socialist 19 - 25 May 2005 | Join the Socialist Party |
|
Print
this article
Google
search the site