G8 Gleneagles Scotland
The Celtic Heritage Trust are truly dedicated to our mission- that of the greater movement towards Sustainable Development and were determined that we would have a presence at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in Scotland. - This meeting we believed to be the make or break with regards to a genuine commitment from our world’s most powerful leader to the issues that are paramount to human survival on this planet. The potential Impacts of Climate Change! When all said and done - Our Planet and Our Future along with that of our Next Generations are in the hands of the following.
PLEASE LOOK HARD AT THE FACES IN THE PHOTOGRAPH PROVIDED BELOW
THESE PEOPLE MUST BE MADE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY ON BEHALF OF MANKIND FOR THE DECISIUONS THEY HAVE MADE and CONTINUE TO MAKE!!
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When one considers the simplest concepts of human equality the above photograph is quite startling in its content |
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The 2005 year’s G8 Summit took place at Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland on 6-8 July 2005. The main agreements reached covered development in Africa and tackling global climate change. Showing they would not be deterred by the 7 July bomb attacks in London, G8 leaders discussed other issues too, including support for peace in the Middle East, countering global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons. The challenge now is taking Gleneagles commitments forward. Much has already been achieved and work continues. G8 Leaders, the Leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa and the Heads of the International Organisations represented at the Summit released a joint statement following the attacks on London. On that day, the G8 leaders were joined by outreach leaders: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), President Hu Jintao (China), Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (India), President Vicente Fox Quesada (Mexico), President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (South Africa) and heads of international organisations to discuss climate change. |
Freedom of Speech is a paradigm that is very close to the hearts of the Celt- our very tradition is steeped in the ability to speak and be heard- it is a way of life a pathway to learn and grow. . . but what we found was confusion and chaos. Some five miles from Auterader we were stopped by the Police and questioned as to where and what we were doing- we answered honestly and were informed that we were to be escorted straight through the town. As citizens we were disturbed by this request as we had done nothing wrong – we requested that we should be allowed to stop at a café and buy breakfast as we had been travelling all night and or a shop from which we cold buy supplies. We were informed that there were NO cafes or shops in the town. However on entering the town it was evident that there were shops and indeed cafes- we stopped and exercised our citizen’s rights to which we were treated with some discourteous mannerisms but eventually left alone. We managed to place our CHT bus alongside another ‘religious bus’ in a park that had been put reserved for a meeting for those who wished to convey a message to the G8 world leaders. It was evident that earlier we were in fact being bullied along because these spaces had been organised for folk such as ourselves.
We were very unlucky in that the Metropolitan Police visited our bus every 10 - 20 minutes demanding that they search through all our belongings- until finally they came in force and removed out Marquee poles which we had on board from providing a community resource at the Anti Poverty camp in Edinburgh. We explained that this is why we had a marquee- however we were informed that we might use the poles to construct a road block. This was quite strange because the police had already built a road block of there own!! It took more than three months and a great deal of cajoling to have our property returned - the cost of which was unfortunately met by the tax payer. . .
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To be perfectley honst- the whole event was a media frenzy- we were startled at the sheer amount of cameras - TV Radio etc. . just digging for a HEADLINE!! It was a shame that their headlines did not reflect the purposes of those that had attended to make a statement. |
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The march itself was very worrying and after a short while it became obvious that the route had been changed - which left many of the marchers very agitated and this agitation was fuelled by an overly intensive media and police presence- We the Celtic Heritage Trust found that the lack of means of identification on the uniforms of the ‘security’ present caused for a reaction in the crowds - This march should have been peaceful and meaningful a demonstration to the worlds most powerful leaders that citizens were concerned about the lack of clarity with regards to the climate change agenda and third world poverty indeed these issues being so vital to the social welfare of the people. Instead the march appeared to have provided a platform for a different type of demonstration one that was based more on violence and aggression and one that was encapsulated in a framework more liken to a Police State.
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This is OUR PLANET and WE have a RESPONSIBILITY to OUR NEXT GENERATIONS
ONE SMALL STEP FOR MANKIND ONE GIANT LEAP FOR NATURE
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