With the G8 and G20 Summits at their completion, one doesn’t have to look far for examples of anger, and frustration of what did and didn’t happen.
Of noteworthy importance are the many questions being posed now that world leaders have left Toronto and the streets have been swept clear of broken glass and trash. From all NGOs being excluded from the media center, (the one with the famous fake lake), the violence on Queen Street in Canada’s largest city, to the reluctant inclusion of topics like climate change; the G8/G20′s legitimacy as effective bodies on global affairs have been called into question.
The concept of an overly expensive summit, which has always been a popular talking point for federal opposition parties, has flourished throughout the last week making the price tag of $1 billion dollars on security a popular buzz word for taxpayers and activists alike. The price tag becomes even more of a black mark on Harper’s government and the entire G20 body when past summit’s security costs have been significantly less.
The knives have come out, whether it be from Toronto Mayor David Miller, asking why negotiations were held in such a large city center, to apparent restrictions on journalists and reporters. Even the “big-city mayors caucus “ is challenging Ottawa to pay up and compensate the businesses affected by protests and civil disobedience.
Public opinion, may heat up one more level as concerns of what The Guardian journalist John Hilary calls `skulduggery` in Toronto this weekend. International media filmed police cruisers going up in smoke while Toronto Police have since been accused of playing public relations. Cruisers were allegedly driven into crowds, and left to be enveloped by flames while TV cameras around the world captured footage of the proclaimed anarchist’s handiwork. Whether there is any legitimacy to these claims of `skullduggery` is irrelevant. The damage has in essence been done.
All of these popular media headlines do little to explain real problems that have developed within the ranks of civil society. Furthermore, they entirely neglected to share with Canadians what actually happened at the summit. Only now have we begun to hear echoes of what happened in regards to the controversial bank tax, climate change, and national debts.
Most problematic is the fact that people have lost faith in the Canadian government, corporations, law enforcement and other relevant institutions. This G8 and G20 illuminated the holes in Canadian accountability, security costs being only the tip of the iceberg in reference to broader issues.
Ideas on conceptualizing what to do to effectively change this situation appear sparse. Perhaps this is the reason why 10,000 people felt they needed to flood the streets of Toronto to yell out their frustrations to what seemed like deaf ears within the summit.
At the Copenhagen Climate Conference last December, the world saw a shift in the so called environmental movement with social justice groups like Oxfam merging with traditionally environmental organizations like Greenpeace on the issue of climate change.
Now, Canada and the global community is looking at a broader problem, one of which determines who gets the say in what direction the world takes economically and otherwise.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been dispensed on a meeting of the worlds noblesse, while small nations were excluded from discussions on how to handle the global economy. Being that economic institutions and national governments are entirely interdependent, the decisions made at the G8 and G20 will significantly effect the nations that didn’t have a voice at the negotiating table. The significance of this is made increasingly important by the fact that the G20 is a fairly recent creation originally meant for finance ministers that has now extended into a `Leader`s Summit`. The result is a ‘special club’ in which countries like Canada and the USA have a developed aversion to utilizing the far less expensive and already quality controlled United Nations that gives a voice to small countries while allowing effective debate and discussion.
As Toronto returns to normalcy, my view of the G8 and G20 Summits has shifted dramatically. If the real problems of the world are ever to be solved, a more cohesive method of dialogue and debate must be used. Now more than ever it seems necessary to try and unite advocates on the variety of causes people are currently campaigning for. The United Nations, an able body of unity and cooperation is ready for us, let’s use it.
Read it on the Commonsense Canadian, a new multimedia journal with RAFE MAIR and DAMIEN GILLIS
