The G8 summit held between the 5th and 8th June in Heiligendamm, Germany, comprised the world’s most powerful nations. This year’s G8 summit attracted more attention than previous summits due to the number of pre-summit meetings, discussions and speeches made by the representative heads of states. UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s, grand finale tour of Africa included the messages he has reiterated for the last two years of ‘putting Africa on the agenda’ ‘keep promises to Africa’ and ‘put Africa on the map’ however Britain has been at the forefront of derailing the 2005 Gleneagles deal on debt relief and aid to Africa. Germany’s Angela Merkel weighed in with her bit for Africa at a G8 preparatory meeting by criticizing China’s programme of economic support for Africa mentioning ‘the plan could bring a return of the debt woes that have plagued the continent in the past.’
What was clear from the onset that far from sincerely tackling the real issues of global poverty or world debt, each nation sought to secure their own particular interests and positions so as to lessen the need to change or compromise in any way. George W Bush effectively undermined the summit by announcing, five days before the start of the G8, his own climate change conference to be held later this year. His conference would include the 15 top polluters, summoned by the biggest of them all-the USA. He also criticised China for irresponsibly pouring money in to Africa [The US does the same with its arms supplies] as China has broken through the monopoly that the United States, Great Britain and Japan held in Africa by means of its credit policy. Over the course of the summit it was ever more evident that on the key issues there was much distance between the G8 nations due to the interests of the respective parties. But the most striking aspect that became clear was that nothing meaningful will be achieved at this summit just as in the previous five summits. Much was promised, but nothing will materialise.
The myth of African aid
The G8 Declaration on Africa was a recycling of old, unfulfilled promises to increase development aid along with the usual platitudes about promoting good governance and more effective public financial management. UK PM Blair championed the African cause prior to the summit by “putting Africa back on the map” however the agreement at the Gleneagles summit in 2005, required the G8 nations to increase overall annual aid levels by $50 billion by 2010 and doubling aid to Africa. The ‘make poverty history’ campaign demanded rich countries should boost aid to the levels they’ve been promising for the past 35 years, cancel the debt of the 62 poorest countries and set reasonable dates for the abolition of subsidies and other protectionist support to farmers in the developed world (trade justice). Official figures show all countries are behind on their targets.
Straight after the summit in Gleneagles two years ago, Germany and Italy announced budgetary constraints would mean they could not deliver on their promises. A week after the Gleneagles conference a leaked document showed four of the IMF’s European directors were trying to overturn the deal on debt. The UK government led the way in back sliding on its commitments when the UK Chancellor, four days after the conference, announced the new aid figures that he agreed included figures for debt relief. So it was not two separate amounts for both aid and debt. The extra money promised for aid and for relief was the same. It was a double-count. If this u-turn wasn’t enough some of the terms agreed at Gleneagles included the phasing in of aid increases by 2010, which commentators have described as akin to “waiting five years before responding to the tsunami”.
This year’s summit communiqué pledged $60 billion to Africa to fight aids, Malaria and TB. Once again this pledge is made up largely of money, which had already previously been announced. In fact it represents no more than a $1.5bn increase in annual expenditure. Africa has been on the agenda for the last three years with nothing materialising, the hypocrisy of the G8 is that although it pledges aid to Africa, an agreement to work towards a free trade deal that would remove tariffs on African exports to developed countries has still not materialised.
The underlying truth is that the very debt Africa is being asked to repay is a legacy of the colonial era. Africa’s debt is partly the result of the unjust transfer to them of the debts of the colonizing states, in billions of dollars, at very high interest rates. It also originates from odious debt, a phenomena whereby debt was incurred as rich countries loaned to dictators and corrupt leaders when it was known that the money would be wasted.
Deal on Climate Change: Mission impossible
The lead-up to the G8 summit focused heavily on the dispute over the proposed declaration on climate change. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted the rich countries to commit to limiting global warming to two degrees centigrade. This will involve cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 50% of their 1990 levels by 2050 and increasing energy efficiency by 50% by 2020. Merkel’s proposal drew opposition from George W. Bush who undermined any deal by calling for a separate conference of the biggest greenhouse gas polluters to deal with global warming.
The differences on climate change come down to how to decouple economic growth from energy use. In other words, economic growth needs to be protected and any agreement on emission reduction would effect economic growth as industry would be restricted on the amount it can pollute the air. Hence the largest polluter of all the US has announced its own conference in tackling climate change, which will ensure US industry is not affected and it also allows the blame to be put on to China and India to deflect attention. The US is not prepared to enter into any deal, which requires it to cut its consumption levels. For instance, instead of calling for a radical cutback in automobile use, the industrialised world accepts that the number of motor vehicles will double to 1.2 billion by 2020. It proposes to expand production and accelerate development of non-fossil fuel alternatives for future cars such as synthetic bio fuels and carbon dioxide-free hydrogen.
The G8 declaration eventually agreed to only seriously consider “at least halving global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050” and to achieve this goal together “as part of a United Nations process.” The United States and Russia were the only G8 holdouts. In reality the G8 leaders pledged to only give such a vague statement serious consideration. One environmentalist summed up the agreement as “it was barely worth the paper it was written on, as there were no firm targets.”
The G8 nations, despite the rhetoric, did not call for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions because its authors realize that maintaining a growing efficient and competitive economy while radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not technologically feasible at the moment. The solution: lower the targets and try to convince the public that this is being realistic. Merkel said she is sure that “no one can escape this declaration.” This was after knowing the agreement is not legally binding. Friends of the Earth International Climate Change campaigner Yuri Onodera said, "We have already seen many empty promises by G8 leaders over the past years but there has not been much real action.”
The final communiqué after much debate and discussion contained ambiguity and vague promises that have become a common occurrence at these summits. Many campaigners have lobbied the G8 leaders to agree on climate change and aid to Africa and have locked themselves into the process of taking the begging bowl to the rich who give with one hand and take with the other. In the final analysis, the declarations that came out from the summit were for mere public consumption. A public relations exercise to show rich nations care for the poor. The reality of the agreements and pledges shows that they do not offer anything substantial to alleviate poverty or suffering.
The irony and hypocrisy of these lavish occasions is not lost on the rest of the world including the Muslim world. The G8 demands action on climate change; yet the World Bank, controlled by the G8 nations, funds coal burning power stations and deforestation projects. The G8 requests better terms of trade for Africa; Europe and the United States use the world trade talks to make sure this doesn’t happen. The G8 leaders call for world debt to be reduced; the IMF demands that poor nations remove barriers to the capital flows that leave them enslaved to western banks and financial institutions. The G8 leaders simultaneously wring their hands and wash their hands. Such summits need to viewed from what they do rather then what they say.
It is clear that public opinion within the western world is now turning against the policies of western governments due to their exploitative practices upon Africa and the Third world. Tens of thousands of ordinary people within the West now realise the corruption and exploitation that their governments enact over the lives of millions globally. For the rest of the world, G8 leaders and their institutions lost all credibility and authority years ago amongst the stark realisation that the Third world is poor largely because and due to the developed world.
However, merely holding these governments to account or simply increasing aid percentages will not solve the problems of world debt, poverty or injustice. This is because the Capitalist economic system and its colonial tentacles such as the IMF and World Bank, led by the western world, is inherently unjust and primitive system that exploits those that are weak and needy. The children who die in Africa every year from starvation, disease and lack of basic amenities; the millions who live on under $2 a day are testimony to the ills of global capitalism and the havoc it has created around the world.