Why we should Stop the G8 - film and discussion night

bristol | protests | event notice Tuesday March 12, 2013 14:39 by BABC bristolanarchistbookfair at riseup dot net

this is a bristol indymedia story

Organised jointly by Bristol anarchist bookfair collective & Bristol Indymedia, an evening of speakers, images, film and discussion.

In 2013 Britain chairs the G8 group of powerful nations (plus the ECC), and hosts a summit of G8 leaders on 17 & 18 June in Northern Ireland. Other meetings focusing on specialities (finance, policing etc) take place throughout the year. The G8 are in effect the unelected leaders and managers of the world economy, wielding massive power, and deciding what they can get away with in terms of making the majority pay for the crisis of capitalism. But whenever or wherever they meet they face opposition, which is one reason their summits occur in out of the way places!

The G8 were last in Britain in 2005, well out of the way at the Gleneagles hotel near Stirling in Scotland. A significant movement developed in opposition to them, spread across a range of groups - liberals, reformists, NGO's and Jubilee debt campaigners called on the G8 to 'Make Poverty History'; lefty groups offered up their lefty alternatives; anti-capitalists & anarchists combined in the Dissent Network to 'Stop the G8'. Widespread protests caused disruption in and around Edinburgh & Glasgow, and closer to Gleneagles on the first day of the G8 conference there was some success in stopping delegates attending. All sides were however brought to a halt by the sick islam jihadist-motivated public transport bombings on 7 July in London that killed many innocent people. So whilst attention was brought to bear on the activities of the G8, and they were disrupted, their role continued much as before. Poverty was not made history, and 8 years on much of the populations of the industrialised nations now face real poverty too. See this Dissent 2005 review (written before undercover cops exposed).

Tonight we will look back at the work of the Bristol Dissent (anti-G8) Group in 2005; consider the role of the G8; and hear about what opposition is planned by the Stop G8 Network for 2013.

Monday 15th April from 7.45pm to 10.00pm
At The Cube Cinema, Dove Street South, Bristol BS2 8JD
Entry £3/4 but nobody turned away for lack of money.

More info:
http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org/2013-bookfair/other-events/
https://network23.org/stopg8/
Shut them down book - http://www.shutthemdown.org/  (downloads available)