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At the end of June 2010, just in time to shake off the Olympic hangover, Canada’s year in the international spotlight is set to continue. Taking its place as President of the Group of Eight, both the G8 and G20 summits are coming to Huntsville and Toronto, respectively.
Thousands of politicians, financial representatives and international delegates will descend on cottage country and our nation’s largest metropolis to weigh in on issues like the economy, health care and the environment, all of which have been coupled with the headline “Crisis” in the past year.
In honour of these meetings, The Dominion will be publishing a special issue in May 2010 focusing on the G8 and G20.
The Media Co-op and the Dominion want to know what are the critical questions we need to ask.
Add your ideas as a researcher, a resident, or a reader, and check out what others are contributing by visiting our online discussion here.
The mainstream media portrays these summits as rigid dichotomies of mask-clad protesters clashing with faceless riot police in a cloud of tear gas, all while world leaders try to right the global economic ship.
We think that there is more to be told, critical coverage that moves from the boardrooms to the global streets, clears the gas clouds, takes off the masks and confronts the forgotten and un(der)-reported issues.
Our coverage, and our ability to cover these issues depends on our you; the readers, subscribers and sustainers that make the Dominion/Media Co-op possible.
To support independent coverage of the G8/G20 summits, please donate at:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/specialissue/donate
We are also looking for people to hold issue launches in their communities and help distribute.
To get involved with the G8/G20 working group email: amy AT mediacoop DOT ca
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The G8/G20 special issue is a project of The Dominion and the Toronto Media Co-op.
The Toronto Media Co-op was founded in 2009 to provide a forum for independent media in Canada’s largest city. The Co-op is a grassroots media project taking aim at forgotten, skipped over, and poorly reported stories that reflect the reality of life in this metropolis. During the G8 and G20 summits, the Toronto Media Co-op aims to be a hub for independent, critical coverage.
Find out more and get involved here:
http://www.toronto.mediacoop.ca/
Some background information on the G8/G20:
Last spring, at the close of the G20 summit in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters that “a new world order is emerging, and with it the foundations of a new and progressive era of international co-operation.”
The Group of Eight was formed following the 1973 oil crisis and subsequent economic fallout, as a way for major world economies to work together to control markets and protect their interests. It has been called an unofficial ‘world government’ promoting neo-liberal economics, facilitating ‘international security’ initiatives, standing in the way of global action on climate change, and limiting poverty alleviation. Critics also implicate the G-8 in pharmaceutical legislation that affects global health, specifically linked to HIV/AIDS and deaths due to preventable diseases in poorer nations.
Last year in Pittsburg, it was announced that the G20 would succeed the G8 as the major international economic decision making body. The Group of Twenty, including representatives from the IMF and World Bank, represent 85% of global gross national product, and 80% of total world trade. G8 and G20 summits are the venues for the globalization of trade and culture, to the detriment of workers, farmers, Indigenous communities, and people everywhere, and for the benefit of bankers, CEOs and politicians.
These summits are also a massive payday for the security industry. At the last G8 summit on Canadian soil – Kananaskis in 2002 – security perimeters were established cordoning dissent into established ‘free-speech’ zones as far away as Calgary. F-18 fighter jets flew sorties over the region, backing up thousands of police and military personnel who outnumbered demonstrators six to one. In the end, the whole charade cost over $200 million dollars, making it the largest peacetime security operation in Canada to date, only to be outdone by the 2010 Olympics.
The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.