The G8 Summit in Scotland ended this week with little action on Africa and climate change, despite the efforts of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who pledged to make the issues the major focus of the G8 Summit. The Summit ended with a communiqué pledging $50 billion in aid for developing countries by 2010 and providing debt relief for 18 countries, $3 billion in aid to Palestinians, and a call for further discussions on climate change.

While the reaction of Make Poverty History organizer Bob Geldof was to praise the G8 for its actions on Africa, many NGOs and activists around the world were disappointed by the G8’s final communiqué and promised actions. In Africa, many expressed skepticism regarding the G8’s announcement of more aid and emphasized that more than just money was needed to address issues facing Africans. Many African NGOs felt excluded by the Make Poverty History Campaign and charged that African voices were excluded from the G8 summit. On climate change, the G8’s statement was dismal at best—pledging only to meet later this year to discuss the issue and not taking up any substantive measures recommended before the summit (Report: The G8 and Climate Change). The climate change position was largely the result of the United States’ efforts to challenge the scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that there was still not enough information to take a strong position. The United States was successful in its effort to shift the focus from emissions created by industrialized nations to developing countries and limiting action on climate change. As a result of the limited agreements achieved, even in the corporate media has begun to question why the summits are held, citing a history of rhetoric with little progress.

Throughout the week, protests took place both in the area surrounding the G8 meeting and around the world. Despite the widespread attention the series of Live 8 concerts garnered in the corporate press, there was little discussion of why people were protesting the G8. Instead of focusing on the reasons protestors were in the streets, much of the corporate media’s coverage focused on advancing the notion that it was up to the G8 to “advance” the lives of people around the world, ignoring the role that citizens movements in Africa can have in improving their situation and instead portraying the G8 countries saviors without whom the African people are powerless. Prior to the start of the G8 meeting many activists participated in a counter-summit where they articulated a counterpoint to the vision of the world endorsed by the G8, but the corporate media ignored the event and instead chose to portray protestors as “anarchists” bent on destroying progress.