- "I am the only person from 15 families in my block
who is left," says Giuliana. "This is incredible. Never has Genoa
in 3,000 years been like this. Not in the wars, not in the holidays. It
is like a bomb has gone off. The streets are empty, the shops shut, there
is nowhere to find food or drink. No one understands why."
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- By John Vidal in Genoa The Guardian - London 7-20-1
-
- When the G8 leaders arrive here today they will find
a deserted city on a war footing. "La Superba" as Genoa is known
for its architecture, has become "la Vuota" (the empty).
-
- The police and military, whose force of 18,000 now rule
the streets, estimate that some 400,000 people, or half the population,
have packed up and left. Those remaining say the figure must be nearer
80%.
-
- On Genoa's equivalent of spaghetti junction there was
no traffic at all yesterday morning: you could, really, hear a pin drop.
Almost every shop, business and cafe was boarded up and the logos of all
international companies covered with plastic.
-
- Residents who have gone want to avoid any clashes between
protesters - most of them Italian and encamped in their thousands in stadiums,
schools and an old car park - and the police.
-
- The authorities have also created a special security
area around the summit venue. This "red zone" stretches across
most of the old quarter and the port. It is cut off by 12ft high steel
barriers rooted in concrete. Access is restricted.
-
- Lucia is 70 years old and lives in the "red zone".
To leave, she must go out through one barricade checkpoint and to return
she must come back through another half a mile away. A five-minute journey
in ordinary times now takes an hour.
-
- "Yes, we are angry. The G8 is not that important.
All this for eight people. Anyone would think war has been declared. The
only people here now are the poor who cannot afford to go and the old,
like me. It is very sad. I cannot even see my family. I am a prisoner in
a ghetto." To enter the red zone requires three forms of identification,
several security checks and a search by both hand and machine of every
bag.
-
- Inside is a ghost town where the press and delegates
are entertained royally but everyone else is excluded, save residents.
-
- On Corso Andrea Podesta, usually one of the busiest thoroughfares,
are 30 water cannon, armoured personnel carriers, police buses and army
vehicles. The only people out were several hundred police, a few journalists
and delegates.
-
- One, an observer from Germany, was embarrassed. "I
remember the wall in Berlin but this is worse. We are at peace. The G8
must never meet like this again. It gives the impression that we are elite
and frightened. It is not like that."
-
- For some Genovans it is like a war zone. "Now we
know what Belfast, Bosnia, or Palestine is like. It is like a plague has
come to our city. These world leaders bring only problems. We want the
world to come here, but not like this," says Mirko, a young IT worker.
-
- His anger and sadness is not directed at the protesters
who have spent the last 36 hours arriving by train and bus until the two
stations and many roads into the town were closed yesterday morning.
-
- "We blame the G8. This is meant to be a democracy
where everyone has a say. The people who make global decisions should listen
to their critics," he said.
-
- By day many of the demonstrators go to debates and workshops:
an alternative summit is being conducted as an antidote to the official
version. By night they are entertained free by rock groups.
-
- "My son is a protester", says Filippo, who
usually works in a car showroom. "I am glad he is there. We think
their ideas are good. Most of these people are not violent, look at them,
they are just kids, but the television makes us think they all carry bombs.
So people are frightened but it is crazy. The city council and the government
have not encouraged anyone to know the truth."
-
- Susan George, an author and globalisation critic who
has been speaking at the parallel summit, said: "They would like to
separate us into the good and cooperative and the bad and non-cooptable".
-
- She believed that the protest movement was growing: "When
you look at the people who have not been able to get here, there are certainly
hundreds of thousands in Europe."
-
- One cheerful group was the campaigners for debt relief
for underdeveloped countries. They were delighted that the UN secretary
general, Kofi Annan, and the leaders of many developing countries - including
those of Bangladesh, South Africa, El Salvador and Nigeria - have been
invited.
-
- "We have been pressing for their inclusion for years",
says Lucy Clouting from Drop the Debt, which is expecting sev- eral thousand
people to join its demonstration. "Their presence is vital. They must
be involved in decisions."
-
- Back in the centre of Genoa, Mary is trying to conduct
her version of world trade. A Nigerian prostitute, she is dismayed at the
empty city. "The protesters are not interested, my clients have gone
and I cannot reach the delegates. This is apocalypse."
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- http://guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,524703,00.html
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