G8 Alternatives summit Edinburgh Sunday 3rd July 2005

The G8, which took place last weekend, attracted over 5,000 participants and had more than 36 workshop/seminars. The Alternatives Summit was an attempt to present a serious ideological challenge to the corrupt policies and ideology of the G8.

The day of Sunday 3 July 2005 saw Speakers, Workshops, Discussions, Seminars and Art Events from 10.00 - 21.00 at the Usher Hall, Queens Hall and Edinburgh University.

I attended a discussion at Adams building, Chambers Street which discussed the future of the occupation. Taking part were Sheikh Majeed Al-Gaood who is from Iraq and Ghada Razuki who left Iraq as a child. Also speaking were Donny Gluckstein of Stevenson College, Edinburgh and John Rees of Stop the War.

In the afternoon at Patterson’s land in Edinburgh University veteran American journalist and film maker Danny Schechter introduced his latest film `WMD weapons of mass deception` which was well received by an audience of around 55. The website for the film is www.wmdthefilm.com.
Shortly afterwards Lebanese American journalist Dahr Jamail showed a film on Fallujah. His website is: www.dahrjamailiraq.com

The evening saw a naming of the dead ceremony on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill with names of Iraqi dead read out by Majeed Al-Gaood and others including Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was killed in action in Basra last year and actress Julie Christie also reading out names. The event was well attended with somewhere in excess of 500 there.



13 labelled photos of the day are attached








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