Guardian Utd (July 3): G8 targeted at counter-summit

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Sunday July 3

G8 targeted at counter-summit
By Simon Jeffrey and Matthew Tempest

A succession of speakers at a "G8 counter-summit" today questioned Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's commitment to ending poverty and tackling climate change.

As the leaders of the world's richest countries prepare for this week's meeting at Gleneagles, delegates gathered in Edinburgh for the G8 Alternatives summit.

The one-day event is the work of a coalition of unions and campaign groups who believe the G8 has taken too much power for itself and who decry what they see as the rich nations' legacy of "war, occupation, neoliberal corporate globalisation, poverty and environmental devastation".

Speakers include Nigerian activist Ken Wiwa, Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who was recalled after complaining of human rights abuses, and ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

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