Today in the news I saw pictures of ppl protesting against the G8 summit, and I'm just curious what their causes are.
anybody care 2 explain
occrider
Rich countries exploit poor countries blah blah blah blah ...
Shakka
Anti-globalization peeps primarily. Plus any and all other professional protesters. Your basic run-of-the-mill ultimate frisbee fanatics.
Magnetonium
So goes the denial ... I guess its NOT true then that G8 countries do not exploit poor countries and do not reap off profits off them while millions of people live in utter poverty and thousands die every day from preventable causes that are cheap to fix. A big lie, eh?
The protesters are not crazy. They want to protect their national identity. They want fair trade, they see how some big business is corrupt, greedy and selfish. And they see how some countries like USA are bent on global domination like a new British Empire pretty much.
Fir3start3r
In a nutshell...
and this is not to say that no one should be protesting, but if you're going to protest, at least have viable, alternative solutions...
quote:
G-8 Protests Show Weaknesses of Activist Movements
By Jason Steck
In what is becoming a perennial ritual, protests at the G-8 summit have erupted into violence. While the majority of protesters remain peaceful, their crowds have served as a shield behind which violent radicals attack police and destroy property.
Supposedly, this is all in the name of a better, more just world. But a closer look at the protesters reveals little more than nihilism and narcissism.
On their face, anti-globalization protesters seem to point to genuine problems. The economic prosperity that is the calling card of globalization often affects only an elite few, with the majority of the population in developing countries left to deal with lifestyles that are radically altered but left without any significant new resources.
But to criticize the status quo alone is not enough. Alternatives are necessary to make real progress. And the anti-globalization movement, like many activist movements, shows serious weakness when asked to provide concrete ideas. The overarching slogan of the G-8 protests “another world is possible” begs the question of what that alternative world would look like and how it would function. Few details are offered, and they certainly are not available for assessment and critique. They hate capitalism, but they don’t defend any alternative. They defend the poor, but give no ideas on how to feed or employ them. They idolize the environment, but they are blind to the empirical record about where environmental protections are economically and politically possible (hint: socialist countries finish a distant second place). Instead, the protesters offer little more than a mish-mash assortment of activist groups, brought together under the vaguest possible umbrella to inflate their numbers and provide the largest possible turnout.
Once these problems are exposed, it is difficult not to see these massive protests as mere exercises in narcissism and nihilism, expressions of anger and, in some cases, blind rage bereft of serious intellectual content. Indeed, protests are becoming events, party-like atmospheres where basically the same groups of people get together to “protest” different issues. Today it is globalization, tomorrow it might be the Iraq war, the next the environment, and the next nuclear weapons.
When they have concrete proposals for alternatives, as with “orange revolution” protests in the Ukraine, protesters have found themselves able to obtain significant public support and to enact substantial, even revolutionary change. But when they lack proposals and embrace only the “it’s your problem to give alternatives”, protesters relegate themselves to the political margins as political adolescents unready for the responsibility of defining policy.
I find it interesting how banks can loan money they don't even have, and get interest off it. Bankers rule us.
Sunsnail
quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium
[COLOR=FF7F50]
So goes the denial ... I guess its NOT true then that G8 countries do not exploit poor countries and do not reap off profits off them while millions of people live in utter poverty and thousands die every day from preventable causes that are cheap to fix.
any examples of problems that would be cheap and easy to fix?
Q5echo
i woke up this afternoon and turned on the news and i had just caught one of the reporters there commenting on the protest situation. she said it was mostly like "a big picnic with random incidences of people dressed like clowns being chased across cornfields by cops in full riot gear."
i giggled for like 5 minutes in the shower after that.
occrider
quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium
So goes the denial ... I guess its NOT true then that G8 countries do not exploit poor countries and do not reap off profits off them while millions of people live in utter poverty and thousands die every day from preventable causes that are cheap to fix. A big lie, eh?
The protesters are not crazy. They want to protect their national identity. They want fair trade, they see how some big business is corrupt, greedy and selfish. And they see how some countries like USA are bent on global domination like a new British Empire pretty much.
Ummm the whole concept of globalization is to maximize competitive strengths and weaknesses such that ultimately trade benefits all participants as a whole. If a country is SO inefficient that it has nothing to offer than of course it will fail. Since the vast majority of economics statistics have validated globalization I'm not quite sure what you're trying to argue other than rhetoric. Now I hate arguing rhetoric, but since this is economics and the name of the game is stastics and economic indicators, fine I'll joust, what exactly are you saying and base it on economic indicators please.
star-traveller
Can anybody explain me, why the Western media dramatized march of dissidents in Russia so much, but almost quiet about G8 summit marches?
Why no politics in the World condemns actions of German police forces?
I mean, the number of people get arrested or Human Right Abuses are comparable in both cases.
Double standards again?
Magnetonium
quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
In a nutshell...
and this is not to say that no one should be protesting, but if you're going to protest, at least have viable, alternative solutions...
Yeah, history showed that peaceful protests are far more successful than violent protests :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Those quiet peaceful protests will never achieve anything because noone gives a . Though using violence is not very nice either but come on, face it, peaceful protesters are not going to stop G8 ... ever. Why would G8 roll over and give in to some peaceful and non-violent protesters who dont threaten the hierarchy of the endless gigantic profiteers of G8 countries?
quote:
Originally posted by occrider
Ummm the whole concept of globalization is to maximize competitive strengths and weaknesses such that ultimately trade benefits all participants as a whole. If a country is SO inefficient that it has nothing to offer than of course it will fail. Since the vast majority of economics statistics have validated globalization I'm not quite sure what you're trying to argue other than rhetoric. Now I hate arguing rhetoric, but since this is economics and the name of the game is stastics and economic indicators, fine I'll joust, what exactly are you saying and base it on economic indicators please.
I like how you highlighted the word ULTIMATELY because thats what they've been talking about for how many centuries now? The economy needs cheap labour and poor countries to live off. If we paid Chinese labourers 20 bucks an hour, would you still have those Dollarama stores and EVERYTHING-MADE-IN-CHINA thing? I dont think so. I dont think Chinese would be so poor then. And I dont think Western companies are going to like that either. Face it - its always been like that. Slavery or very cheap labour. Same ol' methods.
quote:
Originally posted by Sunsnail
any examples of problems that would be cheap and easy to fix?
Its cheaper and easier not to do anything about it, you know ... cause thats what the G8 leaders are doing for most part. They dont give a rats ass about some small African nation their companies are making huge profits in. They only care about their own interests, their own profits and will support any dictator or whoemever that will guarantee that to them. Please refer to China, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia as examples.
Shakka
All of those poor exploited countries were soooo much better off when they were completely uninvolved in global commerce. Just look at the Bushmen in Africa--their standard of living is second to none!
