The drive to make poverty history

Gordon Hewitt of the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network gives an analysis and local perspective on the G8 summit protests.

The day after the mobilisation of the largest ever contingent from Northern Ireland to an international anti-capitalist event was to be a day of celebration. The mood at the campsite in Edinburgh was one of elation mixed with fatigue. The months of preparation and organisation had engendered a spirit of cooperation and the feeling that not only were we part of creating a real alternative to poverty and war but the new movement we had seen elsewhere was evident in Northern Ireland.

As the news began to filter through that bombs had been detonated in London, everything that had been achieved seemed inconsequential. Few doubted the occupation of Iraq had spurred some groups or individuals in a brutal and regressive act of retribution. The bombings represented the cycle of war, terror and despair that those of us who travelled to Edinburgh were campaigning against.

G8 and poverty

In early January the impact of the Tsunami in South East Asia was uppermost on people’s minds. There was no comparison between the fantastic response by the public - a million pounds was raised in Belfast in a matter of days - and the miserly response by the US and UK governments who could not find but a tiny fraction of what they spent occupying Iraq to alleviate the suffering of the poor. Professor David Miller (co-editor of the book Arguments against G8) spoke at Queen’s University on the G8 summit due to take place in Edinburgh in July.

Miller outlined that the G8 emerged out of the oil crisis in the early 70s, initially the G4, the UK, US, France and West Germany, it had grown to the G6 in 1975 as Japan and Italy joined, then the G7 when Canada was included in 1976. It became the G8 with the inclusion of post Soviet Russia in the late 90s.

It was, according to Miller, an unaccountable grouping without a mandate or a formal agreement in international law to allow it to facilitate policies. Despite this, deals were made and decisions reached at the annual summit on future policies and priorities of the world economy. The G8 functioned like a world government, driven forward by the view that neo-liberalism was the only method that could be employed to organise the world economy. The record of neo-liberalism, Miller argued, was one of increasing the disparity between the rich and the poor in every country. While one third of the world’s population lived on less than a dollar a day and more were set to join them, there had been an increase in the number of billionaires around the world some of whom like Bill Gates owned and controlled as much wealth as a number of the poorest countries combined. Military expenditure was now over US$ 500 billion per year and, with the demands of the ‘war on terror’, ever expanding. World debt had grown from US$ 25 billion for the world’s poorest countries in 1970 to US$ 523 billion in 2002. In Africa, debt had grown from US$ 11 billion in 1970 to over US$ 295 billion in 2002. This increased the risk of disease, starvation and preventable death immeasurably. Rather than lead to a world of peace and prosperity, G8 leaders policies had led to the opposite.

People in the meeting added that while poverty here was nowhere near the absolute levels of Africa, 170,000 people survived solely on benefits and relative poverty was worsening in Northern Ireland. This was set to increase even further with civil service job cuts and the introduction of water charges. In other words the G8 agenda was being implemented here. It was also added that opposition to the war according to opinion polls and the turnout at the anti war demonstration was as high as anywhere else.

The Make Poverty History juggernaut was still in the distance and Bob Geldof’s dream of another Live Aid concert had yet to be made public and, following the meeting, two buses were booked, a poster produced and people set off to build a campaign.

The rise of Make Poverty History

A few weeks later, the Make Poverty History campaign was announced, aiming to increase awareness of debt and poverty in the Third World, particularly Africa. This was achieved through the spectacular ‘click’ campaign, which highlighted the needless death of a child in Africa every three seconds, the selling of the white band as a symbol of third world poverty (millions were sold) and various events leading up to the July summit. On 2 July, there would be a historic gathering in Edinburgh, the aim being to get the G8 to agree to the demands of the campaign, trade justice, debt cancellation and increased aid.

Aid and charity organisations formed the Northern Irish Make Poverty History committee. This included Trocaire, Oxfam, War on Want, Concern, Christian Aid, Save the Children, Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network and Street Seen (a paper promoting the issue of homelessness). The committee agreed to hold a Make Poverty History rally in Belfast on 4 June. This event, a concert and rally, was attended by over 2,000 people.

G8 Mobilisation

G8 Mobilisation was formed in Belfast and included the Greens, various socialist organisations, Queen’s Student Union, Queen’s Students against the War, members of the trades unions FBU, NIPSA and Unison as well as support from the Trades Council. With the addition of NUS/USI, it was agreed to make the war the central issue but to also support issues raised by Make Poverty History albeit critically. Racism and local poverty, particularly the implementation of policies like water charges and top up fees were also paramount to the mobilisation.

On 1 July, G8 Mobilisation, Students against Poverty (a newly formed group of students from West Belfast) and the Anti-Racism Network (whose view was that the policies of the G8 were leading to an increase in racism world wide) left in three buses to attend the Make Poverty History rally and the G8 Alternatives counter summit. No sooner had the G8 Mobilisation buses left the ferry in Stranraer that the police were searching the buses and videotaping everyone. This only served to confirm the seriousness of the project.

MPH and Gleneagles

Including the buses from Make Poverty History and NIPSA as well as the Ulsterbus services from Derry and Belfast, around 500 people travelled to Edinburgh to make their voices heard. The campsite gave a flavour of the movement with thousands arriving from Poland, Norway, Holland, Sweden, Italy, France, the US and Australia. Local people had made banners welcoming everyone.

The Make Poverty History rally was massive, colourful and lively. The march to form a white band around Edinburgh started at just after 11am, and people were still queuing at 5pm, some people having arrived but never making the march. The protests were awash with placards making the connection between the US$ 200 billion spent on the war and far smaller figure needed to alleviate world poverty. The sentiment was so strong that Gordon Brown was unable to address the huge crowd from the stage despite being on the programme of speakers.

A few days later, despite being banned by the police at least three times, around 15,000 people protested in Auchterarder, a village a few hundred metres from the Gleneagles hotel itself. Local people, just as in Edinburgh, wrote welcome messages to the protesters.

Results and prospects

The G8 leaders’ proposals painted a rosy picture of their achievements but wilted under closer scrutiny. They had responded to the desires of millions all around the globe to make poverty history by offering to increase aid to $50 billion by 2010. Even Oxfam was driven to say that this was simply not good enough, saying that 50 million children’s lives will be lost because the G8 didn’t go as far as they should have done.

There was no scrapping of farm export subsidies to US and European farmers, and the debt relief of US$ 40 billion for eighteen of the Highest Indebted Poor Countries comes at a cost of continued conditionalities, ie the rendering of neo-liberal policies. The vast majority of debt stricken countries get no relief at all. There was little movement on climate change and not even a hint of a decrease in military spending. What movement there was had already been outlined prior to the summit. Not quite the success Make Poverty History was looking for and the campaign continues.

The new movement is alive and well in Northern Ireland, from those in the Make Poverty History campaign to those, like G8 Mobilisation, concerned to make the war and local poverty as much the key issues as third world debt. People now know a lot more about the G8, about third world poverty and about the war and the connection to government policies locally. The legacy of the mobilisation will be witnessed in future campaigns.