Ordinary Eve
Gr8?
Why is G8 important?
It will have been difficult to avoid the subject of G8 in the last two days as Bob Geldof has just announced that he will definitely be going ahead with Live 8 and riding on the back of that has been massive amounts of publicity about the G8 summit later this year.
However, the connection between the two things may not be that obvious. What relevance does a rock concert have to the G8 summit? What for that matter is G8 anyway?
G8
Group of Eight or G8 refers to the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Canada and Russia. Formally known as the G7 before Russia officially joined in June 2002. The G8 is the most influential group of developed countries in terms of its role in the setting policy in the international financial system.
One of the reasons that their coming summit in Perthshire is so important is that the G8 countries decided in 2002 to implement a 1bn$ agreement that would lighten the debt burden forthe world's poorest countries. They can make these kind of decisions. they can implement them.
However, in real terms that sum is only equal to 50 days of repayments and would not counterbalance price falls in coffee and cotton. IN addition they promised to halve world povery by 2015. They are dismally failing to meet these targets. They need to be reminded of their promises.
And they talk about more than just cash - this year they are looking at climate change as well as aid to Africa.
This is a powerful bunch of people who are taking decisions about the future of our planet and we can influence what they think about. And on Wednesday 6th July they are meeting in Gleneagles.
So where does Live8 come in?
Live8
Live 8 is a series of free concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philidelphia on the 2nd July. There will also be a protest in Edinburgh on that day. The aim of both of these is to request the cancellation of debt and the increase of aid to countries in the south to enable them to spend more of the money they earn on better heath care and education let alone infrastructure, the arts, financial governance and so on. The concert and the protest are about highlighting the fact that the general public has a voice and wants that voice to be heard for justice. The concerts are a way of publicising the summit and the issues that surround it in a way that is enjoyable, fun or as Geldof says "a party".
So?
So what? Well you're reading this article. You already know more about the concerts and G8 than perhaps you did and all the media hype is already succeeding in raising awareness of this important meeting and the power it has to do good as well as screw things up!
But if all you do is read this article then neither the protest nor the concerts will have succeeded. So here are some facts for you:-
FACT - Every day 30,000 children die because of extreme poverty. Every day.
FACT - For every $1 that Mali spends on health, $1.60 is transferred to creditors. With the highest child mortality rate in the world, Niger spends more on debt than on health.
FACT - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James 1 v27
Find out what you can do. But do something.
