G8
summit: Will They Listen?
By Kumi Naidoo
23 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org
When
in Berlin last week something was playing on my mind. Wasn’t it
here in 1884 that my continent Africa was carved up so randomly by European
powers? At the Berlin Conference borders were drawn and communities
split leaving irreversible fault lines throughout Africa. Was it to
redress the errors of the past that I had been invited to join thirteen
other civil society campaigners for a meeting with Chancellor Angela
Merkel?
The German leader’s
invitation expressed a wish to hear our concerns on poverty relief and
climate change in advance of next month’s G8 summit on the Baltic
coast. As a representative of the world’s biggest anti-poverty
campaign, The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), I was there
to put to her our demands for concrete outcomes and past promises to
be honoured.
Alongside two colleagues
from the South, we put to the Chancellor that history is the common
denominator among the world’s poorest countries. Africa, like
most parts of the Southern hemisphere, is rich below the ground and
impoverished above. This is principally because of colonial actions
and the subsequent failure to redress the injustices that were done.
What we in GCAP, a coalition
spanning over 100 countries and representing millions of people from
all walks of life, are calling for now is that justice is done and a
future planned that favours everyone, not just the richest. To this
end, we need more and better aid, fairer trade conditions and renewed
efforts to lift the debt burden. We also need to hold our governments
to account, in the north and in the south, so that the promises they
make effect change in the lives of the poorest. Central to our demands
are the calls for effective, democratic governance, human rights and
the realisation of gender equality.
Two years ago, the G8 leaders
met in Gleneagles in Scotland and renewed an old promise. They dusted
down a commitment made back in the 70’s, to provide 0.7% of their
GDP in development aid. The circle of eight made a commitment that,
if met, would lead to millions of lives saved but to our disbelief they
pushed the delivery date back. With a few exceptions, there has actually
been a net decrease in aid from these countries since 2005. Citizens
have shown time and time again through petitions, rallies, symbolic
actions of solidarity, that they want this money given to the poor,
yet their leaders respond tardily.
I put to the Chancellor that
aid is not a panacea. Since the Marshall Plan to reconstruct war-torn
Europe sixty years ago, we know that it works when properly managed
and directed to the provision of essential services. It is their duty
to ensure this. When we see how rapidly money is mobilised by these
same governments when called up on to go to war then we, the people
living in the poorest places on earth, cannot understand why a fraction
of that money cannot be found now? The Chancellor appeared to nod her
head in agreement.
My colleagues and I, called
too for a better future for the poorest countries, a future in which
neither aid nor debt relief would be necessary. I explained to Ms. Merkel
that every day more and more African citizens are becoming aware of
the unbalanced and unjust way world trade rules are set. They cannot
believe European cows are subsidised to the tune of 2 Euros a day when
half the people on the planet survive on less. They ask if this is some
sort of global economic apartheid? If 6,000 white people were dying
every day of HIV Aids as is happening to the people of Africa, would
they stand idly by? Given that what we are seeing in Africa and elsewhere
in the developing world is a passive genocide or, if you like, a silent
tsunami, I really do not know what to tell them.
Agri-businesses in the US
and Europe consistently flood the markets of the poor nations with produce
so local farmers cannot even compete domestically, let alone think of
exporting on a level playing field. How can an economy grow when these
barriers exist? It is our belief that the urgency is needed to bring
the current round of trade negotiations to a just conclusion, the G8
must not push for a rushed deal in the World Trade Organisation, which
then fails to live up to the promise of the Doha Development Round on
fairer trade rules. EU-ACP negotiations also must also be turned around
to deliver pro-development outcomes. We believe that in all regional
and bilateral negotiations, development issues must not be used as concessions,
but rather as critical components of a development friendly agreement.
Poor countries need to be free to use trade and investment policies
to promote food security, rural livelihoods, and future industrial development.
Germany has an opportunity
to change the course of history. It could be remembered not as the place
where Africa’s woes began but where impoverished nations got the
chance they needed to recover, once and for all. Just as Germany benefited
from the Marshall plan, surely a global Marshall plan now makes sense.
It would ensure future generations live in a world characterised by
political, social, economic, gender and environmental justice. I left
Ms. Merkel, I hope, still nodding her head in agreement.
Kumi Naidoo is
a South African campaigner. He is a GCAP (Global Call to Action Against
Poverty) representative and Secretary General and CEO of CIVICUS (The
World Alliance for Citizen Participation).During the G8 Kumi Naidoo
will attend meetings with both government leaders of G8 countries as
with activists. Also, Kumi Naidoo will host meetings with Bono and Bob
Geldolf.
The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is an alliance of trade
unions, community groups, faith groups and campaigners working together
across more than 100 national platforms. GCAP calls for action from
the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and
inequality enable concerned citizens to join with GCAP, to put pressure
on their country’s leaders and decision makers. www.whiteband.org
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