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| July 29 - Aug 5 |
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The sum will be used, according to a communiqué distributed following Sundays meeting of the cabinet, "for an immediate restoration of damaged infrastructures and for any damages not covered by insurance." A special administrative procedure will be needed in order to pay out these sums, which will be made available by the Ministry of the Interior and distributed by the City of Genoa in agreement with Region Liguria. According to the first estimates of the devastation, 41 stores, six supermarkets, 34 banks, 16 gas stations, and nine post offices were damaged, as well as 83 cars, 24 of which were torched. In addition, there were garbage containers set on fire, walls defaced, vegetation uprooted. Entire neighbourhoods such as Albaro or San Martino were literally thrashed. There will be public buildings to be repaired, from Villa Imperiale to the jailhouse to the Registrars Office. Genoa is a wounded city, where nothing was spared. Now the government is giving 15 billion Lira to heal the city, dealing with the most severe of the blows it suffered, but not everyone agrees on the adequacy of the sum. For instance, Confesercenti (an association of storekeepers) is openly critical: the amount destined to heal the wounds suffered by Genoa during the G8 meeting "is insufficient to indemnify the damages inflicted upon hundreds of economic activities." This is stated by the chair of the association, Marco Venturi, in a letter to Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Venturi also underscores the need for larger amounts and of course for great speed in distributing them. Meanwhile the Canadian site of the next G8 Summit is voicing its concerns. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said he chose the rugged wilderness of Kananaskis for the summit next summer because it will be easier to control the protesters. "You know, just down the road they call it a fortress," said Klein, referring to the Fortress Mountain ski area near the tiny tourist village just 100 kilometres west of Calgary. But Albertans arent that thrilled. " I dont know how we could possibly respond to massive crowds that the summit is renowned to attract," said head of the Kananaskis municipal council Craig Reid. "There is simply no room for the thousands of protestors that will most likely show up." Kananaskis Village is a large wilderness area of foothills, mountains and lakes with four hotels and a few stores. How this quiet town will house the 10,000 to 20,000 people expected at the Summit is anyones guess. The fall-out of the G8 according to John Kirton by Angelo Persichilli Everyone now recognizes that this G7-G8 has now become a veritable symbol of Globalization. According to Professor John Kirton, director of the G8 Research Group of the University of Toronto, G7-G7 has become a kind of observatory where the worlds problems are concentrated, debated, and processed. The professor says that this is true for economic issues as well as for social problems, such as the validity of democratic confrontation. It goes without saying that when the leaders of the worlds richest and most powerful countries convene, they attract and indirectly spur debates about themes that have been under the public eye for the last few years. "Of course," says prof. Kirton, "the host government, in this case the Italian government, is the one who prepared the agenda, but tens of thousands of protesters have a determining influence." Despite remarks by Italys Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Canadas PM Jean Chrètien to the effect of changing the current format of these meetings to go back to the original principles of these summits, prof. Kirton believes that next year in Ottawa there will be the same demonstrations. "Maybe less violent than those seen in Europe," and the agenda will be increasingly occupied by current social issues. In regards to the clashes that occurred last Friday and Saturday, prof. Kirton said that they should be framed in the context of the European, and in this case Italian, situation. "One should not forget that the police were confronting people who killed police officers, judges, and politicians," says Kirton. "This situation has no comparison in Canada, but in Europe is an everyday reality. Logically, during summits such as the G7-G8 thousands of people wishing to protest in a democratic way come together, and these are the majority. Maybe there is nobody who wants to kill the leaders, but there is a group of people, the most radical, who want to wreak havoc endangering other peoples lives." According to Kirton, during the clashes it is hard to make decisions when one sees himself "surrounded and someone is throwing a fire extinguisher at you." |
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