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Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961

Africa Action Co-Hosts Media Briefing ahead of G-8 Summit

Releases Statement on "The G-8 and Global Apartheid",
Denounces Inadequate US and G-8 policies on HIV/AIDS & Africa’s debt crisis

Wednesday, June 2, 2004 (Washington, DC) - Ahead of next week’s "Group
of Eight" Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, Africa Action this morning
co-hosted a media briefing in Washington, DC entitled "President Bush’s
G-8 Summit: Priorities of a Global Minority?" Also this morning, Africa
Action released a statement on "The G-8 and Global Apartheid",
describing the G-8 as a form of global minority rule, whose policies and
actions have resulted in patterns of gross global inequality that are
clearly linked to race and place.

At this morning’s media briefing, a panel of leading analysts discussed
the inadequacy of the G-8 leaders’ policies on key global issues such as
HIV/AIDS, poverty and the debt crisis in the world’s poorest countries.
Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said at the briefing,
"There is a yawning gap between the narrow priorities of the G-8 rich
country leaders and the true priorities of the majority of global
citizens. HIV/AIDS is the greatest threat to human security in the world
today, and this should appear at the top of the G-8 agenda. But instead,
the G-8 is focused on safeguarding its own narrow economic and security
interests."

Africa Action’s statement on "The G-8 and Global Apartheid", released
today, emphasizes how the US and other rich country leaders in the
"Group of Eight" control most of the world’s resources and all of the
major global decision-making bodies. It states, "The manner in which
rich governments of the world use their power ensures that the most
privileged among their own citizens have a higher standard of living and
more access to basic human rights than all others."

Salih Booker said this morning, "Global apartheid is the practice of
international double standards. It is a system that leaves people in
Africa and throughout the global South deprived of wealth and power, and
health and security. As a result of this system, controlled by the G-8,
Africa has the largest share of poverty, and the greatest HIV/AIDS
burden in the world today. And still, the G-8 leaders refuse to take
real action to end Africa’s debt crisis, which remains the biggest
obstacle to the continent’s economic development."

Booker continued, "HIV/AIDS is by far the most apparent and deadly
consequence of this system of global apartheid, which is perpetuated by
the G-8 leaders who will meet in Georgia next week." The full text of
the Africa Action statement follows below. It is also available on the
web at http://www.africaaction.org

This morning’s briefing was co-sponsored by Jubilee USA Network, Foreign
Policy in Focus, 50 Years is Enough, Center for Economic & Policy
Research and United for Justice and Peace. These groups will also take
part in alternative events and protests in Georgia around the G-8 summit
next week.

-MORE-

"The G-8 and Global Apartheid"

Africa Action Statement on the Occasion of the G-8 Summit in Georgia, USA
June 2004

From June 8-10, US President George Bush will host this year’s "Group
of Eight" summit in Sea Island, Georgia. The agenda for this meeting of
the seven richest countries - joined by Russia to make the "G-8" - will
include issues from both sides of the global economic divide.
Preoccupied with their own economic well-being and national security,
G-8 leaders will nevertheless wish to be seen as compassionate about
global poverty and HIV/AIDS - crises at their door, which they can no
longer ignore.

Those seated around the table will represent little more than one-eighth
of the world's 6.3-billion people. But they account for almost
two-thirds of the world's annual income. Together, they have a decisive
influence over international financial institutions, including direct
control of 46% of the votes in the World Bank and 48% of the votes in
the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The G-8 members similarly control
other powerful international institutions, such as the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Security Council.

In short, the G-8 represents a sort of global ruling minority, largely
dictating the architecture of the world's political economy. The
European Union also participates in these annual meetings, giving
representation to some smaller European countries. But the rest of the
world - Africa, Asia, Latin America - is almost entirely unrepresented,
even though these regions comprise the majority of the world's
population and nearly all of the world's poor - those earning less than
$2 a day. Although six African leaders have been invited to attend part
of the summit again this year, as have several leaders from the Greater
Middle East, this is a largely symbolic gesture, intended to show a
compassionate side to the G-8. In reality, no new initiatives for the
continent are likely.

Global apartheid is the term Africa Action uses to describe the current
world order. It is a system of minority rule, where a small group of
wealthy, primarily white countries - the US and European countries -
control most of the world’s resources and all of the major global
decision-making bodies. The manner in which rich governments of the
world use their power ensures that the most privileged among their own
citizens have a higher standard of living and more access to basic human
rights than all others. The historic result is the pattern of gross
inequality in the world that is clearly linked to race, gender and
geography.

Global apartheid is the practice of international double standards. It
leaves people in Africa and throughout the global South deprived of
wealth and power, and health and security.

* Africa has the lowest life expectancies, the largest share of poverty,
and the greatest HIV/AIDS burden in the world today.

* Although Africa is home to almost 30 million people living with
HIV/AIDS (70% of the global total), less than 2% of Africans living with
HIV/AIDS have access to essential anti-retroviral medicines. In
contrast, in rich countries access to these drugs is universal, except
among the poor.

* Here in the US, African-Americans represent just under 13% of the
population, but almost 38% of HIV/AIDS cases, and more than half of all
new HIV infections. Most of these people lack access to adequate health
care services, and cannot afford essential anti-AIDS medicines.

* African countries are required to pay $15 billion each year in debt
service to the world’s richest countries and the World Bank and IMF,
whom they control. This is more money than the continent receives in
development assistance or in new loans. It is also more money than
African governments are able to spend on health care and education for
their own people.

The concept of global apartheid captures fundamental characteristics of
the current world order missed by such labels as "globalization."
Globalization is not a new phenomenon; it is a process that is now more
than 500 years old. It has simply been accelerated recently by the
increased flow of information and capital across borders. While the term
"globalization" describes this ongoing process, it fails to reflect the
nature of this process. The real question is, what kind of international
political economy has been created by this process over the past 500
years? And the answer is, a globalized world of highly unequal states
that exist in a system of global apartheid.

The system of global apartheid is represented and perpetuated by the G-8
leaders who will meet on June 8-10 in Georgia, USA. Their agenda will
reflect the narrow priorities of this elite club of rich country leaders
and will seek to safeguard their own interests at the expense of global
peace and human security. While the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the greatest
global threat of our time, should appear at the top of their agenda, it
will likely be paid only lip-service.

HIV/AIDS is by far the most apparent and deadly consequence of this
system of global apartheid. And AIDS will not be defeated until we
confront the context of global apartheid that continues to fuel the
pandemic.