Two years ago, in the buildup to the Gleneagles G8, I started wearing a white band around my wrist. It said “Make Poverty History – 2005” on it. It signified my support for the Make Poverty History campaign, which intended to shame the leaders of the G8 nations into taking steps to alleviate global poverty. Radical steps, by any standards: cancelling debts that keep poor nations indentured; reforming and increasing how aid is delivered to nations that need it; and, most importantly, altering the way trade between rich and poor nations is allowed to proceed.
Today, that white band snapped.
I’ve got into the habit lately of taking it off before netball and basketball games, and I was wrenching it free today and it came off. Now it’s a single flat strip of flexible plastic.
I blogged a lot about the G8, two years ago, because I was right in the middle of it. I wrote about why it was important to gather and protest the meeting (because poverty is structural, which means change is possible), about what protest was for since it was so useless at actually changing policies (protest is society talking to itself and reclaiming the public discourse), about what protesting actually achieves (primarily, it offers a different public narrative), and about whether our energy might be better spent elsewhere (maybe, but I didn’t think so). There’s also some great discussion in the comments, where I am challenged on plenty of points, to many of which I still haven’t responded.
I wrote about the great march itself, about police vs. protesters in Edinburgh, and about the march on Gleneagles. And then the London tube bombings happened and that ruined all enthusiasm I had for continuing to relentlessly churn through this stuff on my blog. Too much.
Anyway, I return to the theme now. Of all the posts I made back then, to me the most important was this one, about the Make Poverty History campaign itself, and Monbiot’s criticism of it as part of the problem. I ended up expressing a longer-term view that I maintain to this day:
The Make Poverty History campaign wouldn’t bring justice even if it was entirely successful in ‘winning over’ the G8 leaders. Even so, I am convinced the concessions it seeks will make some positive difference, hopefully more than the negatives that it will legitimise. It’s not enough for real and lasting change, but I’m not comfortable with holding out for a massive restructuring of international capitalism while people are dying. The increase in aid, overall the least important of the MPH demands, is easily the most important in the short term.
There’s not just the short-term gains to think about, though. The MPH campaign has put into discourse the notion that poverty is structural. If the powerful put their seal on the message of the MPH campaign, then they may gain some legitimacy from it in the short term, but in the long term their failure to make real change will become more and more clear. They will have signed up to a demand for justice that cannot be spun away.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both wore white Make Poverty History wristbands. Today George Monbiot wore one as well. There is a battle going on for the meaning and value of the MPH campaign and the message being sent about the G8 meeting; but in the long term it’s a battle only we can win.
Have they signed up to a demand for justice that cannot be spun away? I don’t know yet. Can it be, two years after, that it is too soon to tell? Or am I just reluctant to admit to myself that my hopes were misplaced?
From No Right Turn in early April:
The G8 have betrayed the world’s poor
Two years ago at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, the G8 nations supposedly took a historic step towards helping the developing world. In the face of unprecedented public protests demanding that they make poverty history, they promised to boost aid by US$50 billion. So, what have they done to keep that promise?
Nothing.
Actually, worse than nothing. According to figures from the OECD, aid spending fell in real terms by 5.1% – the first fall since 1997. A lot has been done on debt relief, but this has come at the expense of real aid spending. So much for the G8’s promises…
Was that really 2 years ago? Heavens. Ah, how I fondly remember statements like “You’re tall, can you see anything?” as my line of sight was blocked by more riot police.
Cheers
Malc
Moruge, they can’t seem to get their foreign policies and often times domestic policies in order. You didn’t really expect that there was going to be any difference did you?
We’re heard poor starvation blah blah blah for years now. How old were we when Live Aid was launched? I know I’m horribly cynical, but I don’t see a way forward. The saddest thing is thta the environment is being screwed at the same time.
Crap.