If I had 5 minutes with the G8 leaders PDF Print E-mail
David Miller, 20 June 2005

I wouldn’t want 5 minutes to talk to the G8 leaders. What would be the point? Even a month, politely offering the latest statistics and best analysis of how their policies are destroying humanity and the planet, would be no good.
The experience on Iraq, on Africa and on climate change is that the G8 leaders do not listen to wise words.  Instead they pursue the interests of big business in its drive to subject everything to the market. Talking is not going to change their minds.

If one of them did listen and started to seriously tackle the pressing issues faced by humanity, they would immediately run into conflict with entrenched power. Most obviously with the US, but also with the power of organised big business. If Tony Blair or Gordon Brown were serious about Africa they would directly take on the vested interests of Western corporations.

But there is no chance of this unless we find an effective way to change things - a way to make our voices heard. The reason that Africa is on the agenda is because campaigners have put it there. Mobilised public opinion is the only power that is capable of saving the world from the destructive power of the corporations. When opinion is mobilised and the G8 see the futility of their position, then we can talk. Or rather, we can negotiate, to end their undemocratic rule.

So if you have five minutes, and you want to change the world, the most effective thing to do is join the great movements of our time, against war and for global justice.  As July approaches, the best way to use your voice is to join with others and demonstrate against the G8 in Edinburgh on the 2nd of July and in Gleneagles on the 6th.

David Miller is Professor of Sociology at Strathclyde University and Co-Editor of Arguments Against G8 (Pluto Press).

This article was originally written for the Herald newspaper in Glasgow.  A small excerpt was run in the paper on Friday 17 June. According to Herald sources: 'It started off as a really good idea that they gave space to, then they appeared to get bored of it and started squeezing it into about half the space it needed'.
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