Genoa Report

Report from G8 Summit in Genoa

The G8 summit is over and the dust has almost settled in Genoa. One Italian protester killed by police and 38,000 children killed by third world debt over the weekend. Yet nothing was acheived in terms of debt relief. The G8 leaders came out with a new plan for Africa, including the re-launch of a billion-dollar global health fund to tackle HIV-Aids and other infections. The fact that the USA now plans to spend about 300 times as much as it contributed on the so-called 'son of Star Wars' missile defence shield makes this offering look derisory. The health fund has been described as "a sticky plaster covering one of the worst pandemics ever experienced."

The Drop the Debt service and the events surrounding it will remain for me the most vivid memory of Genoa. The Church was packed with enthusiastic campaigners. The service was beautifully arranged with brilliant speakers from Drop the Debt, Cafod and Christian aid and there was music from Ghanaian drummers. From the refuge of the Church we could hear angry protesters marching past outside, chanting and shouting. Among them was a peaceful group called Jubilee South who we had marched with the day before. They were campaigners from the southern continents: Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. These are people whose countries, whose lives and whose children are affected by the debt situation. They were clearly more passionate about the debt campaign declaring "Don't owe, won't pay".

Despite the dangers, unlike Drop the Debt, Jubilee South did choose to march that day, willingly risking their safety for the campaign. Some couldn't walk without support, yet they still marched on through the anarchy and into the inevitable clouds of stinging, suffocating CS gas. After the service, walking along the strangely calm seafront past the church where the march had gone, we saw a trail of destruction, cars burnt out, blood stains on the road and water pipes smashed open.

The commitment of Jubilee south was a great inspiration to me and to many others to continue with the debt campaign. If we believe that Jesus is present in the poor and repressed, the anawim of the world, then debt must represent for us a nail in the body of christ. As Christians, part of our work is to take that nail out by campaigning for a debt free world.

"Were you there when they crucified my lord?"
Oh yes,.... and we continue to be....

By Alex JK Wilkinson, Chair CJDC