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At the G7 summit, which will be held from 24 to 26 August in Biarritz, in the south-west of France, the NGOs respond, not far from there, with "Alternatives G7". About one hundred organizations launched this counter-summit in Hendaye and Irun, on both sides of the Franco-Spanish border, from August 19th to 26th.
On the program: a hundred conferences, workshops and various activities. The NGOs behind the counter-summit "Alternatives G7" intend to take advantage of the coming of the heads of state and government of the seven most industrialized countries of the planet to be heard them and their proposals.
These organizations propose " ecological, solidarity, anti-racist and anti-colonial alternatives". If the leaders of the richest countries in the world really want to reduce inequalities, because this is the theme of this G7 summit in France, they must change their politics radically, they say.
For Sébastien Bailleul, delegate general of the CRID, a collective of international solidarity associations, and spokesperson for the Alternatives G7 platform, it is first necessary to fight against all these levers that allow large fortunes or large multinationals to put the money in tax havens .
The fight against tax evasion is essential in his eyes, because "c and money there is so much money that does not serve the collective interest, whether health networks, education, etc. He recalls, while around him the anti-G7 are on the war foot and set up camp for their counter-summit.
Spotlight alternatives
Alternatives G7 also puts the spotlight on the initiatives that many citizens are already implementing, and in particular in the Basque Country, which hosts this year the G7 and its counter-summit. Sébastien Bailleul mentions " the desire to go organic farming " against intensive farming.
It is also about "being able to invest in various associations that help migrants arriving on the territory, " he adds, or to mention " the establishment of local currencies, " as we see it being created here and there, to favor a fair economic model.
" It's simple, we want to demonstrate that the alternative to a system that is crumbling, destroying the planet and increasing injustice is us who wear it. And that we must listen, not Macron, Merkel or Trump, "says Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, Attac movement.
Seeking a convergence of struggles
Claire and Jean-François take care of welcoming the activists. " We are in the process of being installed, so people who need manpower are coming here and those who want to be employed are also here, " they explain, while a little further, in the fields, already dozens of tents are installed.
Arrival of Grenoble, Noria has just planted hers. " I am here as a" yellow vest "of the first hour, " she says, installed in the space dedicated to the movement born in November 2018 in France in the camp, which is preparing to shelter between 2000 and 5,000 people during the counter-summit.
" Maybe there are actions here, I think, I do not know, we'll see. They have to hear us because the problem is not only French. It's an international problem , "she pleads. And to denounce a " system of corrupt " and President Macron, who " really takes himself for a king ".
Alternatives G7 began on August 19 and will continue until the end of the summit of Biarritz. In the camp set up for the occasion, another space is allocated to the zadists of Notre-Dames-des-Landes or youth abertzale Basque nationalist movement. Everyone here wants to join forces and bring another voice.
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Every time he's going to have a delegation, twenty minutes before the delegation passes the restaurants, the shops or whatever, who have a terrace or a window with signs or anything, they must all come back, all their terraces, all that ... Close, as if they were closed and wait twenty minutes, after the delegation was passed to come out everything. So, most traders said it's useless to open, we'll close.
[Reportage] In full tourist season, Biarritz completely turned upside down by the holding of the G7 20/08/2019 - by RFI Play