The Brooklyn Greens
would like to invite you
to participate in a discussion with Kellie Gasink,
former New Yorker who now lives in Savannah Georgia.
Kellie is coordinating the Savannah actions around the upcoming G-8 summit of international political leaders. She is also the Chair of the National Coalition to Repeal the USA Patriot Act and the Green Party of Chatham County, Georgia.
This meeting should be very interesting, focusing on "The G8 in Savannah: Who are the terrorists?"
Federal authorities have been telling local law enforcement that "terrorists" (i.e. thousands of people protesting the globalization of capital) will be coming to Savannah, GA on June 8-10, 2004 to protest the G8 Summit.* When asked, federal authorities have stated that these "terrorists" are the "labor unions, greens and anarchists." So, why are federal authorities attempting to discourage people from coming to the Free Speech Actions during the G8 Summit? Come join the discussion.
Date: Thursday, April 8, 2004 Time: 6:30 pm Place: The Brooklyn Greens office:
388 Atlantic Ave. (between Hoyt St. & Bond St.), 3rd floor walk-up (sorry, no elevator)
Brooklyn (right above the Yoga Center)
(Take any of the following trains -- DQB2345NR -- to Pacific St./Atlantic Ave, walk up Atlantic Ave. 4 blocks; or, R to Lawrence St.; or 2,3,4,5 to Nevins St.. Also, B63 bus goes up Atlantic Avenue from Park Slope.)
Please bring your dinner with you, and healthy (vegetarian) food and drink to SHARE!
We are building this Action for Peace and Civil Liberties in Georgia -- and a number of Brooklyn Greens will be heading down there to participate -- so that we can come away from this G8 Summit with having established several lasting institutions in our wake: a Southern Center for Dissent, a Museum of the Aftermath and an opposition party in the 5 counties in Coastal Georgia. People can participate in activities here and help us build those institutions.
Please come hear Kellie describe the exciting work that is going on. Artists, come on out and help build the Museum of the Aftermath!!!!
Mitchel Cohen, Cathryn Swan, Robert Gold for the Brooklyn Greens / Green Party of New York State
for further information, call (718) 670-3231.
********************************************************* * WHAT IS THE G-8 Basically, it's the business and political leaders of the industrial countries (trilateralists) getting together and figuring out how they are going to carve up the world, wreck the environment, and help each other out in repressing anti-globalization resistance movements.
Here's a more "official" version: from http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/what_is_g8.html
Since 1975, the heads of state or government of the major industrial democracies have been meeting annually to deal with the major economic and political issues facing their domestic societies and the international community as a whole. The six countries at the first summit, held at Rambouillet, France in November 1975, were France, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and Italy. They were joined by Canada at the San Juan Summit of 1976 in Puerto Rico, and by the European Community at the London Summit of 1977. From then on, membership in the G7 was fixed, although 15 developing countries' leaders met with the G7 leaders on the eve of the 1989 Paris Summit, and the USSR and then Russia participated in a post-summit dialogue with the G7 since 1991. Starting with the 1994 Naples Summit, the G7 met with Russia at each summit (referred to as the P8 or Political 8). The Denver Summit of the Eight was a milestone, marking full Russian participation in all but financial and certain economic discussions; and the 1998 Birmingham Summit saw full Russian participation, giving birth to the G8 (although the G7 continued to function along side the formal summits). At the Kananaskis Summit in Canada in 2002, it was announced that Russia would host the G8 Summit in 2006, thus completing its process of becoming a full member. (See <http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/index.htm>Delegations & Documents for a list of all summits since 1975.)
The G7/8 Summit has consistently dealt with macroeconomic management, international trade, and relations with developing countries. Questions of East-West economic relations, energy, and terrorism have also been of recurrent concern. From this initial foundation the summit agenda has broadened considerably to include microeconomic issues such as employment and the information highway, transnational issues such as the environment, crime and drugs, and a host of political-security issues ranging from human rights through regional security to arms control.
The responsibility of host rotates throughout the summit cycle at the end of the calendar year, as follows: France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia (as of 2006), Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. Throughout the year, the leaders' personal representatives - known as sherpas - meet regularly to discuss the agenda and monitor progress.
In addition, the G7/8 has developed a network of supporting <http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/meetings.html>ministerial meetings, which allow ministers to meet regularly throughout the year in order to continue the work set out at each summit; these include the meetings of the finance ministers, foreign ministers and environment ministers, among others. G7/8 ministers and <http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/meetings-official.html>officials also meet on an ad hoc basis to deal with pressing issues, such a terrorism, energy, and development; from time to time the leaders also create task forces or working groups to focus intensively on certain issues of concern, such as a drug-related money laundering, nuclear safety, and transnational organized crime.
The G7/8 provides an important occasion for busy leaders to discuss major, often complex international issues, and to the develop the personal relations that help them respond in effective collective fashion to sudden crises or shocks. The summit also gives direction to the international community by setting priorities, defining new issues and providing guidance to established international organizations. At times it arrives at decisions that address pressing problems or shape international order more generally.
The summit members comply modestly with the decisions and consensus generated by and codified at their annual meeting. Compliance is particularly high in regard to agreements on international trade and energy, and on the part of Britain, Canada, and Germany (for analysis of compliance, see <http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/evaluations/index.html>Analytical Studies). Summit decisions often create and build international regimes to deal with new international challenges, and catalyze, revitalize and reform existing international institutions.
In recognition of its centrality in the process of global governance, the summit has always attracted the attention of thousands of journalists at each leaders' meeting, and of a number of countries seeking admittance to this exclusive and powerful club. It has also become a prime occasion for non-governmental and civil society organizations to advocate on behalf of their concerns. The annual meeting has been an opportunity for anti-globalization demonstrations since the Birmingham Summit in 1998; the protests turned violent in 2001 at the Genoa Summit, resulting in the death of a protestor.