G8 2009 - Italy

At the beginning of the month I was privileged to be part of an extraordinary and inspiring journey. I traveled to Berlin to be part of the launch of the W8 in Germany, with Oxfam International. The W8 is composed of eight outstanding women from all over the world who have dedicated their lives to campaigning for health and education, as well as other social development issues.

Canada in 2010 is a date with fate. When the G8 leaders meet in Muskoka next June they come face to face with a long list of commitments – on aid, on Africa, on health and education, water and sanitation, on women and children, on AIDS, on climate change and now, on support for small farmers.

While not quite the Circus Maximus, Silvio Berlusconi’s G8 has been an amazing exercise in spin, powered by round-the-clock ‘bread’ and refreshments for the journalists reporting the event (and it should be said, NGOs as well).

Just to show it's not over 'til it's over - and underline the power of targeted advocacy - the final communiqué on food security from the G8 leaders caught everyone by surprise by boosting the pledge for support to agriculture to US$20 billion.

It may not have been our critique that moved the leaders to set a more ambitious goal but our strong message to governments - and through the media to their citizens - can't have hurt in moving the bar.

It’s past 3 pm on the final day of the Summit and I’ve just started realizing that it’s over… after almost 2 years of working, sweating, worrying about the G8 there’s nothing more I can do to squeeze out positive results out of this summit for the world’s poor. What I see instead is yet another series of big announcements, good intentions and no action.

Day Two and the focus shifts from the G8 (which in the end met as a group for only several hours) to an ever larger group of world leaders – including all the big producers of green house gases, north and south.
 
Climate change has received more attention in l'Aquila than at any previous summit. And with Obama in the White House the logjam that has blocked even the most modest progress has been broken.
 

For weeks the rumors have floated that President Obama wanted to make a major announcement at the G8 on the issue of hunger. His staff said that he wanted to focus on aid to small farmers to help them grow their way out of poverty and feed themselves. It's exciting and very welcome in the light of the news that world faces a sad milestone in 2009: This year more than 1 billion people will face hunger. That's more hungry people than ever in human history.

We've now seen what they've agreed to and it isn't pretty. On aid and Africa, there's nothing new. And on the economic crisis, well, let's just say the impact on the poor in the global South wasn't top of mind for G8 leaders.

When you speak to journalists about this stark reality they ask: "But where's the news? Every year we hear the same thing."

The real shift in power dynamics toward the G5 countries – Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa – is striking. Their leaders ride in police-escorted buses from their own buildings, their packed press conferences are now held in the main Summit site, their correspondents throng the media center and they even have their own page on the official G8 site. They are no longer the “Outreach 5”.

Pulling together the logistics for a G8 is no simple task. With an ever-growing number of world leaders, hundreds of journalists, and groups working to influence the outcome from around the world, the security, communications, transport and accommodation issues are almost endless.
 
On the eve of the Summit, the Italian hosts have done a great job on the food and facilities but such basics as internet access to the Media Center remain a problem.