So its all over- the leaders have left on their various planes, they are dismantling the 30 million dollar media centre, and we are all getting ready to go. So was it worth it? What did we get from the G8 in Japan? Why should campaigners around the world keep demanding that the G8 act?
Because this is a key moment of accountability where the eyes of the world are on the most powerful leaders, and they have to account for themselves. Because when the G8 act, millions of lives can be saved. Because if we were not constantly keeping up the pressure they would do even less than what they manage to do now.
This summit will be remembered as the G8 where leaders learned that they cannot quietly forget their commitments to the world’s poor. Without campaigners around the world and here in Japan they would have gotten away with portraying the target set for 50% cut in emissions by 2050 as a huge step forward on climate change. Instead it was clear to everyone that it was a very long way from what is needed and that they need to do much more, much sooner. (more…)
Working at the IMC (International Media Center) of the G8 Summit is a bit like being in an hamster wheel: you’re constantly on the go, but you end up where you started. Happily, it’s more interesting. Time flies. You’re up early, and suddenly it’s five PM, you haven’t had lunch, and you have another four hours to go. You’re chasing and sharing information with other NGOs and reporters, analysing and preparing reactions, doing interviews and press briefings, and trying to maintain communications with colleagues both in the IMC and across the world. It’s a bizarre setting, with ninja-like security guards riding Segways,hybrid vehicle test-drives, surreal hotel surroundings and Japanese touches added to the purpose-built, temporary installation that is an international media centre providing for all the needs of 6,000 media representatives working full-on, 24 hours a day.
We get news and information mostly from lots of different sources. The best information comes straight from contacts “on the inside”, officials we know who are willing to share the latest developments about the negotiations and official discussions. They’ll either share bits and pieces via SMS text, a quick phone conversation, or – the most precious of all – a leaked draft text. The rumour mill is always humming, with even the smallest piece of information flying around. In the hours and minutes before hard news breaks, journalists join in the game trying to sniff out from NGOs in the know what’s actually in the imminent release of official documents. The wires also get leaked documents and report “unconfirmed” news. Finally, agreed documents are released, and officials give press conferences to spin their interpretations.
I was asked to write a bit about what next. Someday, I’d like to swim with dolphins. For now, I have to check-in on-line for my flight home, eat, check for “can’t wait” e-mails, write-down media contacts and interviews from the past few days, and think-up some key points for our team evaluation tomorrow – and about a gift for my Mum’s up-coming birthday. Or just go to bed!!!
Yesterday, I had an interesting career change for a day: I was a corn on the cob in Oxfam’s biofuels performance.
As all the camera’s pointed at me, it felt like being a star, but it was a little scary at the same time. Everyone else was safely guarded from the cameras by their ‘big heads’, while I was out in the open. It was also quite tiring, because I had to squat down all the time. In the end, my picture ended up on Yahoo News and some other news channels, but unfortunately we were described as ‘anti G8’ and I didn’t want to be seen that way.
Last May I started working at Oxfam Japan as an intern, so I’ve only been working here for 2 months. It feels like a lot more though! I’ve been really busy working on the campaign and I must have made a million phonecalls for the logistical preparations for the G8.
When I came to Sapporo for our G8 actions, I had no idea what it would be like. I thought some of the performances would be impossible, because I had never seen anything like it in Japan, but everything went well: we got lots of media coverage and I’m sure we’ll get a lot more acceptance from the Japanese audience. And that’s a good thing, because in Japan the civil society doesn’t have a very strong position. Yet!
I’m still a student now, but in the future I would really like a job at an NGO, even though it’s really hard to get one. Personally, I would like to work on health issues in a campaign like the “Me Too” G8 campaign, because no health means no work, which means no income. That’s my message to the G8 leaders.
I arrived in Tokyo a few days ago, having flown in from Los Angeles where I had been operating in jack boots and a nazi uniform. So it was a bit of a relief to get into a lounge suit. I’ve been to Tokyo once before, when filming Pirates of the Carribean, acting as “Davy Jones” or “The Squid” as I’m known in Japan. On this occasion I was warmly welcomed by Oxfam representatives and felt very pleased to be here to draw attention to the important meeting ahead.
As we drove up closer to the G8 summit, I had the unusual privilege of going through not only my first but also second and third roadblocks. However, we were gently allowed through. Wearing a deeply inappropriate suit standing in the middle of a field, I did an interview with Andrew Marr from the BBC. I felt clumsy, but that’s the way I like to feel in these situations and I think it went well.
Working with Oxfam, I haven’t become an expert on international affairs, but I have done a couple films about developing countries. One was “The Constant Gardner” which was about the great modern scandal on how Africa is used as a laboratory for testing new medicines. I also acted in “The Girl in the Cafe” directed by Richard Curtis, playing a civil servant at a G8 forum in Iceland, so that’s probably why I was an obvious choice for Oxfam to ask me to be their ambassador. The film was quite similar to the real thing, they did a good job at getting the overall tone, creating a mixture of exitement and dread at the same time.
My message to the G8 leaders is and will remain: “Keep your promises”. If they don’t, the world will be facing a critical situation in which millions of lives will be lost, even though the solution is achievable, easily achievable. The people of Oxfam know that better than anyone.
Today is the last day before the G8 summit begins and I am once again faced with the eternal wisdom: “When you’re doing a public performance, do not use animals, children or balloons”. At first it seemed like a good idea to have a thousand balloons on the square in front of the Sapporo Convention Center, representing one million wishes sent from people around the world asking for an end to poverty, as part of the Japanese tanabata festival. As we soon found out: concrete and balloons don’t mix. But as campaigners always have a plan B, C and D, all turned out great in the end, as you’ll see in the video below.
A few hours later, it was time for our health performance: our big heads were dangling a check in front of healthworkers, representing the financial promises the G8 leaders made back in 2005 at Gleneagles. This is a really important issue, because G8 leaders are trying to break their aid promises. We decided to do this performance to make sure G8 leaders know we won’t let it happen.
Now I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that this is a good reason to get our message out even louder: action NOW! And if things need to get loud, one brings in Bill Nighy. He’ll be our spokesperson at the Big Letters performance (Big heads, Big letters, get it?) tomorrow, explaining why the G8 must make it clear to the rest of the world where and how they will lay out their plans to get back on track to meet those 2005 promises.
by Max Lawson, policy advisor at Oxfam.
by Kaoi Nakasa, intern at 
by Bill Nighy, Actor.
by Patrick Klerks, Online Campaigner, Oxfam Novib
