PolicyMic.com - Andrew Davis, 6/20/13
On Monday, leaders from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Russia met in Northern Ireland for the 39th annual G8 summit. The summit also drew in protesters from across the globe who denounce the G8 as an instrument of wealthy international elites that exploits — rather than serves — both the citizens of its member nations and the inhabitants of the world’s poorest countries. How much truth, however, really lies in this assertion? In short, the rather disappointing answer is that this assertion, in a less-sensationalized form, calls attention to some valid discrepancies between the lofty rhetoric that surrounds the G8 summit and the reality of what is being discussed there.
As a result, the G8 is fundamentally a group that is dedicated to laying the groundwork for diplomatic progress on issues important to member countries, and, because the West houses many of the world's most wealthy people and multinational corporations, the G8 tends to represent those interests more effectively than the interest of the world’s poorest inhabitants living in emerging, non-member nations. The current G8 summit presents a primary example of this reality, as its official website indicates the gathering's agenda will have a heavy focus on providing aid to emerging nations while news reports more accurately indicated that military intervention in Syria, the NSA surveillance scandal, and breaking down trade barriers in order to allow G8 nations to export more goods — rather than aid emerging nations' development — dominated the summit.
More: PolicyMic.com
