Written by Julia Symmes Cobb    Wednesday, 03 November 2010 15:13   
Students unite to lobby G20 finance ministers
News

Originally published November 10, 2009

EDINBURGH STUDENTS voiced their displeasure with the Group of Twenty finance ministers at a protest in St. Andrews on Saturday. Several University of Edinburgh student groups, including People and Planet and Amnesty International, joined a march of about 300 people from the beach to the town center.

 


The Group of Twenty, an organisation of the world’s richest countries, comprises 85 percent of the global gross national product and 80 percent of the world’s trade. Finance ministers met on Friday and Saturday to discuss how economic growth should be regulated and encouraged as the world emerges from the current global recession. The leaders were also set to discuss climate change, ahead of the major global summit occurring in Copenhagen in December. The meeting in St. Andrews was hosted by British Treasury Chief Alistair Darling.
The march was organised by Put People First and attended by representatives from Oxfam, War on Want and SCIAF, among others. Put People First also hosted an alternative conference in St. Andrews, which featured speakers on peace, justice and the environment.
Student organisers hoped that their presence might remind the G20 leaders of what is really at stake in regards to climate change and the financial future of the globe.
“It’s really important that we have a presence with people from all over Scotland and the UK, especially since Copenhagen is coming up. We have to do as much as we can,” says third-year Edinburgh GeoScience student Stephi Walker.
“People are resigned to the way the world is - but the only way the world will stay this way is if you keep saying that this is the way things are,” Walker added, “we have to remind them that people care - it’s the democratic process!”
These feelings were echoed by Richard Atkinson, a first-year German and English Literature student who attended the rally with People and Planet: “I want G20 Finance to understand the link between finance and climate change; this is one of our last chances to sort it out.”
Some members of People and Planet’s University of Edinburgh chapter cycled from Edinburgh to St. Andrews for Saturday’s protests, in an effort to make their protest carbon neutral.
Daniel Abrahams, the co-convener for People and Planet, says that cycling was particularly important where recent financial bailouts are considered.
“They’re talking about bailing out RBS even more, when we all know that RBS invests in oil production - our money is going toward creating climate chaos! G20 leaders aren’t doing a fraction of what they should.”
Several speakers, including Ian Galloway of the Society Council of the Church of Scotland and David Moxham, the deputy general secretary of the Scottish TUC, helped rally the crowd gathered on the beach before the march.
“There are times to be comfortable. Now is not that time,” Galloway reminded the crowd, to cheers and applause. “Across the world people live in fear of what the future has in store. We cannot afford to go on as we are now, or our children will inherit a catastrophe that will make our generation look hell-bent on destruction!”
Moxham gave a succinct summary of the aims of the various groups attending the protests: “We know the answers aren’t easy, but the starting point is easy. Put people first: crack down on banks, build a low carbon economy with green jobs and decent services. Don’t just say you’re going to do it. Say what you’ll spend and when you’ll do it.”
Protesters marched from the beach to the St. Andrews University student union, waving banners and holding placards, some of which read "G20: Don’t rob us of our future".
Altercations between police and protesters were minimal throughout the day, though some protesters took umbrage at policemen along the route of the march who were filming the rally with handheld video cameras. When confronted, police assured protesters that the footage would only be used for "crime prevention purposes" and that, were no crimes committed during the protest, the footage would be destroyed within 30 days.
Mark Laing, the police press officer for Fife, said police expected a peaceful day: “Everyone that’s here is in a nice happy mood. They’re a good-natured bunch, and you can’t help but agree with what they’re saying!”
Later in the afternoon, a smaller group of protesters, shouting slogans like "They say cut back, we say fight back" attempted to the reach the hotel where the G20 meeting was being held, but were corralled by police.

 

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