Financial Post, Weekly edition, Sat 17 Jun 95, page 16

Different view for alternative summit

Alan Toulin

They're now at every G-7 leaders' summit, but the peoples' alternative summit meeting has a different emphasis.

While the G-7 leaders debate exchange rates and military policy, the alternative summit stresses environmentally benign economic growth and human-centred economic development policies.

The Other Economic Summit (TOES), or the people's G-7, brings together a diverse coalition of public interest groups and non-governmental agencies aimed at cajoling and at criticizing the policy directions chosen by the leaders of the official G-7. They have been meeting in parallel sessions through the Halifax summit though their program cost just $25,000, compared with the $36 million spent to play host to the leaders of the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Britain and the European Union.

''The G-7 countries are unrepresentative,'' said David Boyle, spokesman for the London-based organization.

Throughout the Halifax summit, the organization has sponsored a series of lectures, films and workshops highlighting alternatives to the economic solutions being pursued by industrial country political leaders.

A TOES spokeswoman, Indian scientist and philosopher Vandana Shiva, said the G-7 governments are supporters of a capitalist system that ignores the needs of ordinary people.

''G-7 policies have long since ignored people in the developing countries,'' she told a press conference. ''The protection of capital at the cost of people ... is leading to total social breakdown, total social insecurity.''

	This information is provided by the Financial Post.
	Please send comments to: g8@utoronto.ca Revised: June 3, 1995

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