open Democracy News Analysis - Clearing the fence, Patricia Daniel - Comments

Tony Marone on "Clearing the fence"

Tony Marone — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:20:48 +0000

Good objective stuff from Steven Rogers who obviously has no agenda of his own. The fact is that the G8 "World Leaders" don't, or shouldn't lead the world, they rarely, if ever have a majority from their country's electorate, let alone the electorate of the world. And they often only get involved internationally after making a mess or having their hands tied in their own countries. Let's be clear, few want or expect the protestors to start running the world, but they need to be there to clearly indicate that we don't all approve of the status quo. Chavez may make mistakes - who doesn't - but he has had no involvement in the circa 70,000 body count in Iraq, neither has he pissed on middle-eastern sensibilities to the extent of becoming a recruiting Sergeant for Al-Qaeda - unlike other "World Leaders" we can all name.

Steven Rogers on "Clearing the fence"

Steven Rogers — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:13:19 +0000

This notion of "the few inside and the many outside" needs to be re-examined a bit more critically. The "few" inside are at least elected or appointed by those who are. They can lay reasonable claim to representing a constituency. They are to some degree accountable: they or those who appointed them have to face re-election. The "many" outside are not really so many at all, a few thousand, distinguished mostly by the volume of their voices. They claim to represent "the people", but they're unelected, unrepresentative, and completely unaccountable. The accountability deficit outside the fence is far greater than that within. It is entirely true that the people inside the fence have not been able to come up with convincing solutions to many pressing problems. That's because the problems are complex and not amenable to simple solution, and because the individuals concerned are accountable to constituencies with diverse priorities. They also operate under the singular disadvantage of knowing that their proposals may actually be tried. The loud crowd outside the fence is free to wallow in utopian mantra-chanting to their hearts' delight, secure in the knowledge that their proposals will never be submitted to the grim light of reality. On wonders if anyone outside the fence bothered to ask Venezuela's education minister about the use of the nation's schools to promote the cult of Hugo, or the draconian moves aimed at consolodating state power in a single person, or the closing of media outlets that ask inconvenient questions, or the dole-outs aimed not at supporting people, but keeping them dependent on government... or about the disastrous economic polices that have left market shelves empty, infrastructure crumbling, and oil production plummeting. Doesn't matter, I guess. When poor Hugo is inevitably impaled on his own ineptness, we'll blame the CIA and fete the next representative of hollow psuedo-populism that comes along. I'd have expected more balanced coverage from OD, though...

Clearing the fence, Patricia Daniel

admin — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:39:01 +0000

Heiligendamm: its English name could be rendered ‘All Saints Causeway'. But Damm can also be used figuratively to mean a barrier. For the 2007 G8 summit, the Damm in this German seaside resort took new shape with a fence: twelve kilometres of barbed wire, a security zone and 16,000 police officers with riot shields. To the anti-G8 protesters, the fence stood for divisions, exclusions and fears, for the shrinking boundaries of democracy.

Here, the powerful few were corralled inside, the many shut out. Nevertheless, thousands of people came and took opportunities to talk about alternatives beyond the summit confines. A fortress can become a prison, whose inmates play out the same old routines, formulaic conversations and ritual infighting - and are kept in the dark. EU leader José Manuel Barroso told German television: "we have no idea what's happening outside".

The G8 Summit was originally called the World Economic Summit until, according to Vandana Shiva, "they were shamed into naming how few they actually were."

I could play around all day with the metaphor and that's part of the problem. The fence is all we see. So much of the world's reporting is about it - and about the conflict and increasing inequality it maintains. Reports rarely tell of those who boldly go beyond. That's because the fence is something we carry with us when we travel. And overwhelmingly, it is by, of, and about, men - with very few exceptions. As Vandana Shiva - who led the social movement in India that defeated the World Bank's plans to privatise water - said at the close of the alternative summit: "The borders are inside us and in our everyday lives. We have to deny the G8 in our heads. They are a mere façade of democracy. Who gave them the power to make decisions for the rest of the world?"

The final report

Predictably, nothing new came out of Heiligendamm in the stack of bland documents full of empty promises - with one exception: a pledge to provide $60 billion to tackle HIV/Aids. It isn't the money that's important, because we have yet to see how and when that will materialise. But in the twenty-two-page declaration on Africa there are a few paragraphs which are truly newsworthy. For the first time in the G8 forum, a specific link has been acknowledged between HIV/Aids, violence against women, sexual and reproductive health rights, education and holistic community-based responses to the pandemic. This is a real tribute to worldwide women's campaigning on these issues.

It is also a personal success for the woman who championed them over the last six months in Germany: Bundesministerin Heidemarie Wiezcorek-Zeul. Four weeks ago, I highlighted the importance of her role as regards both Africa and gender equality so it is no surprise to me to see HWZ being reported as the only politician to have come through Germany's G8 presidency with her reputation enhanced. She has shown that a woman can make a difference from the inside.

Meanwhile in Rostock there were uplifting messages, particularly from Latin American women. Education minister Yoama Paredes talked about the participatory process used in developing Venezuela's new education system, promoting individual dignity, unity and diversity. Mexican academic Ana Esther Ceceña reminded us that "the struggle is not just against the G8, it's for our own emancipation". She recommended creating "new communities without borders, across the internet, so that we can develop a shared history - and a common future". We aimed to do this with the women's openSummit, which was in itself an act of transcendence: we didn't know if it would work, we only knew it had to - and complete strangers did come and sit under the baobab tree of our blog to share their aims and concerns.

The blockade is beautiful

Here in Heiligendamm, I've seen how the organisers of the anti-G8 action have built on the World Social Forum's work in Nairobi - as they stated, to tap into civil society's intellectual and social power, which is now recognised even by mainstream political scientists. I've seen the tactician's touch needed to mobilise large numbers of people effectively in peaceful demonstration.

In the run-up to the G8 summit, I met Mona Bricke, German coordinator of the G8 NGO Platform - the broad church of organisations opposing globalization, who were to take part in a number of rallies in Rostock. The first event turned into a "day of horrors" when a small group of violent protesters in black came out of nowhere to attack police and set fire to residents' cars. Despite this inauspicious start and the security escalation, the final twenty-four hours of civil disobedience blocking several access routes to Heiligendamm went according to plan - and protesters defied the fence by clowning, juggling, blowing bubbles, meditating, even using it as a washing line for water-cannoned wet clothing. When I called Mona on Thursday evening she was still at the fence, too tired and happy after this superwoman achievement to say anything but: "the blockade is beautiful".

Though mass internet campaigning may well become more successful than massing at physical gateways, whatever strategy is used, I don't think you can actually draw up an action plan for inspiration or for hope. It may seem paradoxical to blockade a fence in order to protest against the road blocks of the mind. But, being earthbound, we can only free ourselves by how we behave in the world. Aggression is self-defeating. Analytical balancing acts will never change the future. It's a leap of faith that's needed to clear the fence.

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