THECONIEXT
This section contains listings for GB related events taking place in Edinburgh and Glasgow this fortnight. Several events were being confirmed as we went to press. Listings can also be found throughout the magazine. Compiled by Allan Radcliffe.
in Edinburgh
Thursday 23
ACTIVITIES & EVENTS
Columblan Trade Unionist Tour CWU Club. Brunswick Street. 7.30pm. Free. Meet Juan Carlos Galvis. Coca Cola worker and leading member of Colombian Food & Drinks workers union SINALTRAINAL. Galvis has survived assassination attempts by the right wing paramilitary groups which are trying to smash the union through violence and intimidation. Rosie Kane MSP and Andy Higginbottom of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign are also speaking.
Sambaza The Hub. Castlehill. 473 2000. 10am—4pm. Free (limited number of tickets, only in advance). One-day conference focusing on the experiences of women in Africa. chaired by journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch. THEATRE
Globaleyes Royal Lyceum Theatre. Grindlay Street. 248 4848. 7.30pm. SIS—12.50. Chicken Shed's intense piece of physical theatre is concerned with poverty and propaganda. Where’s the Power? Roxy Art House. 2 Roxburgh Place. 0871 750 0077. 7.30pm. £7 (25). Rap opera incorporating hip hop and Bollywood dancing from Elements World Theahe.
VISUAL ART
Looking Both Ways City Art Centre. 2 Market Street. 529 3993. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm. Sun noon—5pm. Free. Exhibition of the work of 12 artists who live in the West, exploring their African background and their new environment.
Friday 24
THEATRE
Globaleyes Royal Lyceum Theatre. Grindlay Street. 248 4848. 7.30pm. 25—1250. See Thursday 23.
Where's the Power? Roxy Art House. 2 Roxburgh Place. 0871 750 0077. 7.30pm. £7 (£5). See Thursday 23.
VISUAL ART
Looking Both Ways See Thursday 23.
Saturday 25
THEATRE Globaleyes Royal Lyceum Theatre. Grindlay Street. 248 4848. 7.30pm & 2.30pm. 25—1250. 2.30pm & 7.30pm. See Thursday 23.
Where’s the Power? Roxy Art House. 2 Roxburgh Place. 0871 750 0077. 7.30pm. £7 (£5). See Thu 23.
VISUAL ART
Looking Both Ways See Thursday 23.
16 THE LIST 9—23 Jun 2005
Power brokers (left to rightiijglacqueb Gliir Gerhard Schroeder, Bertie Altern, Romano. Tony filair, Paul Martin, Junichiro Koizglmi a
Geode wipush at the 2004 GB summit in heergia
Te "main
For all the noise in Edinburgh, the big decisions will be taken by eight politicians in Gleneagles. Brian Donaldson asks how the (38 was made.
mid all the talk of a million people descending upon Edinburgh. white bands
and whether Midge Ure and Bob Geldof
are preaching from the same page. a letter and a digit remain the focus of everyone‘s fury. frustration and downright confusion. G8. What is it‘.’ Who are they‘.’ And what do they want?
The unimaginatively named Group of 8 is a coalition of the world's leading industrialised nations (France. Germany. Italy. Britain. USA. Japan. Russia and Canada) plus representatives of the European Union. with most press focus geared towards the annual summer summit. though numerous subsidiary meetings continue throughout the year. The group first met as a response to the oil crises of the early 70s and at that time were the Go. minus Canada and Russia.
President Ford instigated the inclusion of
Canada. who joined up in 1976. and Russia was
eventually invited to the party by Bill Clinton as
a gesture of good faith for the reforms made by Boris Yeltsin. They were only allowed ftill access
to the group at the Birmingham bash in 1998. ; their
There remains some resistance to membership. however. and this February. two US senators called for Russia to be suspended until Vladimir Putin promised further democratic and political reforms.
As if the numerical business wasn‘t confusing enough. the G7 still convenes. with the finance ministers of the G8 minus Russia meeting up. while there is also a brief gathering of GX+4. which brings China. India. Brazil and South Africa along for a chat. The very first meeting was held in Rambouillet in I975. headed tip by French president Valer Giscard d'Iistaing. and from then on the venue has rotated between the various members with locations such as Bonn. Okinawa. Venice and Halifax (Nova Scotia. not
Yorkshire) hosting.
Among the main items on the agenda at the Gleneagles conference are climate change and economic development in Africa but there are also plans to discuss counter-terrorism and reforms in the Middle East. Quite a lot to pack in between 6 and 8 July. Of course. many fears have arisen over potential bother on the streets of Edinburgh and in the area surrounding the summit. with people pointing to the anti— globalisation trouble of Seattle in 1999 (at a World Trade Organisation meeting) and the riots of Genoa two years later when several hundred protesters were hospitalised. Twenty-three-year— old Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by Italian police who claimed he was about to hurl a fire extinguisher into their vehicle.
The fall-out from that event has rumbled on in Italy with police raiding media centres, union buildings and law offices across the country. To counter that. judges have sought to investigate some police officers in the light of admissions that Molotov cocktails were planted to justify one raid on a school building housing demonstrators and press. The operation left Mark Covell. a British journalist with Indymedia. in a coma. while a stabbing of a police officer was faked in order to frame activists. No one really believes that such tactics will be employed this time around. and the last three summits in Alberta. Iivian-Ies-Bains and Georgia have passed off with little incident.
‘MANY FEARS HAVE ARISEN OVER POTENTIAL BOTHER IN EDINBURGH'