There is another way.
A summit of alternatives
G8-Alternative-Summit: 5th to 7th of June 2007, Rostock
The Summit of the eight richest and most powerful states of the world will take place in Heiligendamm near Rostock in 2007. The politics of the G8 provokes worldwide criticism and protest. This will also be visible in various forms at the G8 summit in Germany. The Alternative Summit from 5th to 7th of June 2007 is a forum for an intense and broad debate on concepts for a peaceful, just and sustainable world.
Although, the G8 represent only 13 percent of the world population they make decisions with global impacts. This form of globalisation produces many people who are left out and only few are benefiting. Globalisation on behalf of the majority of the people looks different. We want a democratic globalisation from below; globalisation of justice and social security. We aim at fair trade and fair relations between industrialised countries and developing countries. We stand for an economy of solidarity. The economy should serve the people, not the other way round. In our opinion it is necessary to deal in a responsible and sustainable way with our environment. We advocate peace and political conflict resolutions.
There are alternatives to the politics of the G8. We would like to present them to the public. The Alternative Summit will bring together a broad range of prominent experts and activists from all over the world. They will present their alternatives and ideas and bring them up for discussion.
An international alliance of organisations of civil society carries the Alternative Summit. We look forward to a diverse and informative Alternative Summit bringing the voice of civil society to the broad public.
Programme
Cornerstones of the Programme
The first outline of the programme of the G8 - alternative summit will be published here soon. But some main topics are already quite clear:
Opening
On Tuesday night, the 5th of June 2007, there will be a big opening event with an international plenary discussion and prominent speakers. Presumably, there will be the possibility to discuss the mentioned topics with the speakers of the opening event afterwards in special workshops more thoroughly.
Plenary discussions
On Wednesday, there will be a centrally organised plenary discussion event with the following topics (these are just working titles!):
Poverty and Justice within Industrialized States
Global Justice (North-South)
Migration /Racism
World Order/ War
Environment/ Climate/ Energy
Strategies of the Civil Society
The Future of Labour/Education
The Role of the EU in the World
Workshops
Moreover, there will be dozens of self-organised workshops on Wednesday. From now on all interested networks and organisations will have the possibility to register workshops. We accept all proposals which deal with the history and politic of the G8 and do not have a right wing extremist background. Due to the limited number of available rooms we are maybe not able to include all proposed events. But we try to integrate as many events as possible into the programme of the G8 – alternative summit. The deadline for registration of the workshops will be the 13th of April 2007. => Workshop registration
Closing
Presumably, there still will be some workshops on Thursday. At around 1.00 pm there will be a central closing event with a plenary discussion with internationally well known speakers.
Service
Accommodation
As the official G8 Summit invovles a great number of jounalists, officials and security personnel, it is important to make hotel reservations well in advance, if required. The easiest way to do this is to click on the website of the city of Rostock www.rostock.de, where you will find a window “Zimmer buchen” (unfortunately only in German). There you can book a room in a hotel in Rostock or nearby. Unfortunately, there will not be a central accommodation bureau. So everyone is asked to check hotels, bed and breakfast houses, youth hostels or camping sites on her/himself. Again, the homepage of the city of Rostock is providing most information: http://www.rostock.de/Internet/stadtverwaltung/tourismus/default.htm
Additionally, a big camp for accommodation in Rostock or nearby will be arranged during the G8 Summit. As soon as location, address and registration to the camp are confirmed, you will find all information here.
Orientation
A map of the city of Rostock and the surroundings for printing you will find on the following link: www.ViaMichelin-Rostock.de
A map of Heiligendamm and the surroundings for printing you will find on the following link: www.ViaMichelin-Heiligendamm.de
The website of the city of Rostock provides a lot of general information about Rostock: www.rostock.de
Links
www.heiligendamm2007.de Website with informations about the action conferences and the international demonstration.
www.g8-germany.info Website of the G8 NGO Platform, a pool of around 40 organisations with mainly environmental and development backgrounds. Their joint goal is to prepare mutual activities and events around the G8 summit in June 2007 in Heiligendamm.
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/Aussenpolitik/GlobaleHerausforderungen/
Institutionen/G8-Praesidentschaft.html Official website of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the G8
http://www.g-8.de/Webs/G8/EN/Homepage/home.html Official website of the German government on the German G8 presidency.
www.g8.utoronto.ca Profound website about the G8. From the G8 Information Center from the University of Toronto
http://www.g8-2007.de/index.php?lang=en Special homepage from The Interventionist Left’s
http://www.mecklenburg-vorpommern.eu/cms2/Landesportal_prod/Landesportal/
content/en/Our_State_for/index.jsp Website of the provincial government Mecklenburg-Vorpommern concerning the G8 summit.
Contact
Florian Butollo:
phone: +49 (0)30-280418-11; email: florian.butollo weed-online.org
Peter Wahl:
phone: +49 (0)30-275826-16; email: peter.wahl weed-online.org