The G8 consists of eight of the
most important industrial nations in the world (Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the US) who meet regularly to discuss the
world economic situation. When a meeting took place in Genoa Italy on 20 July
2001 it was disrupted by anti-globalization protesters from all over Europe.
Italian police forces carried out a series of raids on the crowds in Genoa,
culminating in a turmoil among the 15,000 demonstrators and leading to the
death of an activist, Carlo Giuliani. - Daniel Akst, correspondent for the New
York Times, has a different perspective on the protesters, which he
published in the article "In Genoa's Noise, a Trumpet for
Capitalism", August 5, 2001.
The group of 8 nations are so successful, in fact, that they can spare
their young citizens the travails of pointless war, periodic famines or
subsistence farming. Instead, capitalism offers them the balm of extended
studies lasting well into adulthood, punctuated only by public tantrums over
the failure of their imagined utopia to materialize. L. .
Of course, this luxury is only harmless while the grown-ups act grown
up. These protesters, however, have no coherent idea what they're after. In
general, there is talk of a better shake for the world's poor, yet the
demonstrators appear to be against the only thing giving the world's poorest
nations any hope at all: continued global economic growth, led by import-happy
Americans whose purchases help put food on the table from Bolivia to
Bangladesh~ This is why, young and handsome and idealistic as these protesters
so often are, it is important to crush them - figuratively, of course - if they
won't go home and find other means of exorcising their great guilt at their own
good fortune. You may not like the collection of ageing white men who, thanks
in part to the power of corporations, lead the world's richest nations. But for
all their flaws, the economic vision they represent is infinitely more
plausible and more humane than the one their critics appear to have.
How can it be bad that some of
the world's leaders meet? And what about the hundreds of millions of people
around the world who benefit from the decisions that come from these sessions?
For the world's downtrodden, the rise of global trade and investment is the
best hope not just for a better life but also for greater human rights,
political power and a more peaceful world. The other things that have been
tried so far, like collectivized agriculture and huge foreign loans, are part
of a litany of failures with side effects too vast to enumerate here.
A trumpet for: a confirmation of, a support of - travail (n.):
a difficult or unpleasant situation - periodic
famines: a situation in which a large number of people have little or no
food for a long time and many people die: this happens on a regular basis
- subsistence farming: farming
that produces just enough food for the farmer to live on. but does not produce
enough food to sell to other people - balm
(n.): here: comfort - extended studies: many years of being a student
- punctuate (v.): interrupt repeatedly
- tantrum (n.): a sudden short
period when someone, especially a child, behaves very angrily and unreasonably
- utopia (n.): an imaginary perfect
world where everyone is happy - materialize (v.): to happen or appear in
the way that you expected - coherent (adj.): clear and easy to understand
- crush (v.): (ambivalent)
defeat, to use severe methods to stop people from fighting you or opposing you,
to press something so hard that it breaks or is damaged - figuratively
(adv.): a figurative word or phrase is used in a different way from its usual
meaning, to give you a particular idea or picture in your mind - exorcise their great guilt: get rid of
their feelings of guilt - flaw
(n.): deficit, problem - plausible
(adj.): reasonable, likely to be true -
humane (adj.): treating people or animals in a way that is not
cruel and causes them as little suffering as possible - benefit from (v.): get advantages from - downtrodden
(n.): those who are treated badly and without respect, the poor -collectivized
agriculture: privately owned farms are put together so that they can be
owned by the government - loan
(n.): an amount of money that you borrow from a bank - litany (n.): a long list of problems,
excuses, etc. - vast (adj.):
enormous - enumerate (v): name a list of things one by one