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In
June, the leaders of the world's
wealthiest nations met at the G8 summit in
Cologne. For a few days the city was
swamped with government officials, press
teams and camera crews. But in the shadows
of the media spotlight different voices
were struggling to be heard - the voice of
the Inter-Continental
Caravan,
a group of farmers, mainly from India,
visiting Europe to protest against
economic globalisation; the voice of the
German refugee group Die
Karawane
who were on a human rights hunger strike;
the voice of campaigners against
structural adjustment policies which are
imposed on Third World debtor nations.
Across the world, people's movements are
springing up to oppose the economic
policies of 'free trade', neo-liberalism
and globalisation which have been forced
on them by Washington-based institutions.
And many of these movements were present
in Cologne along with CARF, to attend an
alternative economic summit and an anti-G8
demonstration. With hordes of extra riot
police drafted into the city to ensure the
G8 summit went undisrupted, anti-racists,
anti-imperialists and environmentalists
attempted to give voice to a different
agenda.
These
voices also need to be listened to by
anti-racists in Britain. Those struggling
against a 'Fortress Europe' system of
forced deportations and militarised
borders need to understand how, in the
Third World, economic globalisation causes
instability and, in turn, increased
migration. We need to understand how
British corporations support foreign
regimes from which political refugees are
fleeing. And we need to understand that
globalisation is now creating a xenophobic
backlash which far-right parties in Europe
are cashing in on.
Links to other sites
For
an overview of protests all over the world
see the ICC
news
bulletin
or the People's
Global
Action
websites.
For
accounts of the June 18 protests, see the
J18
website
For
more information on Die Karawane,
see the International
Human Rights
Centre
Bremen, Germany
For
protests against the arms trade, see the
Campaign
Against Arms Trade
For
more information on the Stop the WTO
campaign see the Friends
of the
Earth
or the ASeed
websites.
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In this section:
People
vs.
corporations...
A report on the visit to Britain of the
Inter-Continental Caravan
Free
trade but unfree
borders...
The German refugee group Die
Karawane makes connections between
anti-racism and
anti-globalisation
Stop
the WTO Millenium Round...
A
new 'millennium' round of negotiations of
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is set
to begin in November at
Seattle.
Close
down the UK arms supermarket...
Campaign
Against Arms Trade is planning protests at
the forthcoming government-sponsored 'arms
supermarket'.
'Silently,
relentlessly, and away from the glare of
the world's media, "free trade" is
displacing communities and destroying
their livelihoods with all the ruthless
efficiency of a civil war.'
Kevin
Watkins, Oxfam
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