Be it G8 or G20, activists say protests to continue

Source: Reuters

PITTSBURGH, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Group of 8 rich nations may have become the Group of 20 to be more inclusive of emerging economies, but activists vow to go on decrying capitalism no matter how many leaders attend the summits.

At its summit here, the G20 said it will become the forum for global economic management, giving rising powers such as China more clout and including countries such as Mexico, Indonesia and South Africa who are not in the G8.

About 10,000 protesters marched against capitalism and the G20's summit agenda on Friday, in what organizers called the biggest protest in this western Pennsylvania city since Vietnam war demonstrations.

Protests -- usually against some aspect of capitalism -- have often marked summits since trade talks in Seattle in 1999, when demonstrators ransacked the center of the city, targeting businesses seen as symbols of U.S. corporate power. Such summits are often held within a ring of security.

John Lipsky, the deputy managing director of the IMF, told Reuters Television, "This movement to the G20 and away from the G7 is recognizing economic realities. You can't talk about the global economy without having the major dynamic emerging economies at the table."

But the change from such summits just being for the G8 -- the world's seven richest nations (the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Canada, France, Italy) and Russia, failed to impress protesters on Pittsburgh's streets.

"Our objective does not change whether there's 8 or 20 voices, we protest for the voices that are excluded," said Noah Williams, spokesman for the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project.

"If there is 12 more it doesn't make that much of a difference. The homeless, the poor, the unemployed are the voices that don't make it in the summits no matter how many countries there are involved," he said.


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