The 2011 edition of the G(irls)20 Summit is happening this weekend!
The G(irls)20 Summit brings together one delegate from each G20 country, plus a representative from the chair country of the African Union. The delegates debate, discuss and design innovative ideas necessary to empower girls and women globally. While the agenda is the same as the G20 leaders and focuses on economic innovation – the participants are all girls, aged 18-20.
Readers of this site should be aware that the G20 came to Toronto and caused a bunch of noise. Some sad news came out of that in terms of how the police acted (the largest mass arrests in Canada’s history). As a direct reaction to the abuse that occurred that weekend some people have turned to the net.
The Faces of the G20 is a place for people who have been affected by police brutality during the G20 to share their stories.
It is always good to see communities protect one another in the face of oppression. These people are looking to educate others while changing the system so that what happened to them cannot happen to others:
We are a small group of citizens affected by the G20 weekend in a variety of ways. We want to get our stories out, and to build a knowledge base as to what exactly happened before, during and after the weekend of July 26th, 2010.
Thanks to Dave!
Teh G(irls)20 has started in Toronto, the first of many G20 related events for people by the people. The best news of all? These summits don’t $1 billion in security preparations. We’ve looked at the G(irls)20 before, but here’s more info on it:
The event, organized by the Belinda Stronach Foundation, has brought together young women from the 20 countries represented at the G20, plus one representative from the African Union. Travel and accommodation for the delegates is being covered by sponsors.
Held in downtown Toronto as the city girds itself for the large international G20 summit, the event aims to brainstorm solutions, from a young female perspective, to the world’s problems. Their ideas will then be made public, with hopes of influencing the world leaders before they begin official talks at both the G8 and G20.
The G20 are coming to Toronto and it’s costing Canadian’s more than $1 billion in security costs, plus even more in lost productivity and wages. As a contrast to that, there are a series of events happening during the G20 conference that cost a heck of a lot less that brings together leaders of the world.
These leaders are getting together to ensure that at least on some level, people’s concerns are put ahead of corporate concerns.
Take, for example, the Council of Canadians (COC) public Shout-out for Global Justice on June 25.
Relocated to Massey Hall from the University of Toronto because the latter will be shut down for security reasons, it gathers prominent international speakers such as COC chair Maude Barlow, author-activist Naomi Klein and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman who will call for climate, water, economic and social justice.
“These really are world leaders coming together — and we’re doing it for less than a billion dollars,†says Mark Calzavara, COC’s regional organizer for Ontario and Quebec.
As a bonus, these alternative summits don’t need fences!
The arrival of the G8 and G20 later this month to Ontario has a lot of Canadians upset – and those who aren’t are welcome to read some books. Canada’s largest bookstore chain has a display of books to read to learn about the complexities of what the G20 is all about.
It’s a good list of books that you should take a look at. Are there books you’d like to see on the list?
The book chain has created a reading list and series of G20 tables in its stores across Canada to “promote dialogue,†said Bahram Olfati, Chapters’ vice president for adult trade.
“You see people such as Bono talking about giving aid to Africa. We have included the book Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, which says this aid isn’t really helping,†said Olfati. “It is one of my favourite books on the tables.â€
With subheads such as “Outlaw Literature,†the tables are the product of a series of roundtable discussions among Chapters executives and staff to cover G20 issues from the left, right and centre, said Olfati.
But each store has the leeway to add to the table. And the one Chapters store inside the yellow security perimeter in downtown Toronto for the summit of 20 world leaders this month has decided to include titles by Chomsky, a long-time outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy, and a few on Guevara, including Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro.