[Nettime-bold] Genoa Info from Reclaim the Streets NYC

["ricardo dominguez" <rdom@thing.net>]

Reclaim the Streets NYC - http://www.rtsnyc.org

Subject: updates from Genoa Social Forum
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 12:31:45 +0200

Now available in english in the web site of Genoa
social forum:
- a little document on legal self-defence for the
summit days
http://www.genoa-g8.org/lex-eng.htm

- NEXT STOP : GENOA: F.A.Q. for all people who
will go to Genoa
http://www.genoa-g8.org/faq-eng.htm

Laura Testoni
Web group Genoa Social forum

***************
Reclaim the Streets NYC - http://www.rtsnyc.org

 [There is some disinfo in the following articles but still worthy of
reading]

*************

Thousands of protesters await G8 leaders in Genoa

By Steve Pagani


ROME, July 15 (Reuters) - When eight of the world's most powerful leaders
gather in Genoa for their annual summit this week, thousands of protesters
will be waiting for them.

Group of Eight leaders, with President George W. Bush making his G8 debut,
will for the first time face the now familiar sight of mass protests
marking summits across the globe.

Anti-globalisation demonstrations took off with a vengeance at a World
Trade Organisation summit in Seattle in December 1999. Not even
environmentalists
Greenpeace could get near last year's G8 meeting on the southern Japanese
island of Okinawa.

This year will be very different.

Host nation Italy is mounting one of the biggest security operations the
country has seen for years, pouring in 15,000 armed police and troops to
ensure leaders from the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France,
Italy, Britain and Canada can discuss global issues in safety on July 20-22.

It will be impossible for the rich nations club not to react to the
presence of the expected 120,000 protesters purporting to speak for the
"have-nots"
around the world.

Organisations representing the environment or animal and plant
preservation, or fighting debt relief, poverty, hunger, the spread of AIDS,
cultural and
sexual equality, have been making preparations for months to make their
voice
heard.

"The concerns of quite a lot of these people are serious," U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will attend the summit, told Germany's
Suddeutsche Zeitung daily. "The politicians must explain globalisation
better."

But as at other summits since Seattle -- in Prague, Nice, Quebec City and
Gothenburg -- police are expecting a hard core of activists to light the
tinderbox. Past protests have seen clashes with police, the destruction of
property and injury.

CAN EIGHT MEN CHANGE THE WORLD?

As witnessed at the European Union summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, last
month, violence can almost totally overshadow the main event, shifting the
media
focus and grabbing the headlines.

Will it matter? Critics argue over whether annual summits of the top
industrialised nations can spur any change anyway.

"They are reactive on the political level, but pro-active on the economic
and financial level," said Franco Pavoncello, professor of political science
at
John Cabot University in Rome. "Any system where all the major currencies
and economies can get together to discuss coordination is extremely
important."

According to the Japanese government, talks on the global economic slowdown
and how to boost growth will figure large on the first day of the summit on
Friday.

The seven major economic powers were expected to exchange views on a new
round of global trade talks to start at a WTO meeting in Qatar in November,
and review progress on reducing Third World debt, a Japanese official said.

A German official in Berlin said there would be no mention of exchange
rates in the G7 communique.

After issuing the statement, the G7 will become eight when it is joined by
Russian President Vladimir Putin to review such key issues as the Kyoto
pact on climate change and combating AIDS.

The G8 was expected to make a statement on regional conflicts, perhaps on
theMiddle East peace process or Macedonia on Saturday, and then issue a
final
communique on Sunday.

CLIMATE, DEBT, POVERTY

The 1997 Kyoto protocol has assumed centre stage at key encounters since
Bush rejected it, a decision which has added fuel to environmentalist fires.

"Japan will try to come up with some kind of effort not to kill the Kyoto
accord," Japanese Professor of Political Science Kuniko Inoguchi told
ReutersTelevision in Tokyo.

To come away with a foreign policy feather in his cap at his first G8, Bush
may prefer to focus on areas where common ground is more likely, such as on
AIDS or debt relief.

Lobbied by the Vatican, Italy's new centre-right government led by Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants progress on debt cancellation. Foreign
Minister Renato Ruggiero intends to focus on improving access to Western
markets as a way to alleviate poverty in less developed countries.

To show its commitment, Rome has invited South African President Thabo
Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders of developing
nations to Genoa.

Meanwhile, Ruggiero has kept dialogue open with the protest groups, but
some are angry few of their demands have been met.

Unauthorised protests will go ahead, they say -- the biggest planned for
Friday, when some groups will try to breach the top security "Red Zone"
around the historic port, which includes the main summit venue, the 13th
century Palazzo Ducale.

Italy has hired a luxury liner to accommodate all the leaders apart from
Bush, so they can be kept under tight guard in one spot when they rest, and
far away from any street battles. No details of where Bush is staying have
yet been released.

To safeguard against any attack, the steel cordon around the city has been
reinforced with surface-to-air missiles, air force surveillance of the
skies and navy monitoring of the waters.

One Italian activist said the authorities were creating a climate of fear
to try to keep protesters away.

"After Gothenburg the situation has changed. Police shot protesters. We are
getting ready to defend ourselves," Riccardo Germani told Reuters
Television.

Additional reporting by Reuters Television Rome and Tokyo.

***************

04:13 07-15-01

FOCUS: Bush runs risk of isolation at G-8 summit
07/15: AOL News: FOCUS:
Bush runs risk of isolation at G-8 summit
.c Kyodo News Service


WASHINGTON, July 15 (Kyodo) - By: Yoichi Kosukegawa U.S. President George
W.Bush, who has shown disdain for treaties on global warming, antiballistic
missile defense and nuclear tests, faces the risk of being isolated at the
upcoming Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Genoa, Italy.

It is uncertain to what extent Bush is ready to be involved in the policy
coordination process among the G-8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- as he increasingly takes a
hard-line unilaterally on key global issues.


Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.

**********

Reclaim the Streets NYC - http://www.rtsnyc.org


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