From the April 2009 Idaho Observer:


Gang of 20 convenes global takeover conference amid protest

Compiled by Hari Heath

The G 20 met in London, England, April 2, 2009, to foster the members’ agenda of global financial dominance. The primary publicly stated theme was the world economic crisis, "which all countries must join together to resolve. A global crisis requires a global solution."

The G 20 issued a Declaration to strengthen the financial system by establishing the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) with a stronger mandate. The FSB "should collaborate with the IMF to provide early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks and the actions needed to address them; to reshape our regulatory systems so that our authorities are able to identify and take account of macro-prudential risks; to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets."

In other words, the FSB is to become the new global controller of currency and credit.

The G 20 was also encouraged by "the progress made by the IMF with its new Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and its reformed lending and conditionality framework which will enable the IMF to ensure that its facilities address effectively the underlying causes of countries’ balance of payments financing needs, particularly the withdrawal of external capital flows to the banking and corporate sectors."

Translated from G 20 gibberish, that means the tightrope small countries used to walk on to fulfill an IMF loan has been replaced with a bungee cord or "Flexible Credit Line," ensuring their failure and the ultimate conversion of their resources to IMF friendly interests.

Vowing to resist protectionism, while promoting global trade and investment, the G 20 proclaimed, "We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras" or allow the implementation of "World Trade Organization (WTO) inconsistent measures…"

To assure that the present economic crisis is monitored and proceeds as planned, the G 20 reaffirmed its "historic commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals," calling on "the UN, working with other global institutions, to establish an effective mechanism to monitor the impact of the crisis on the poorest and most vulnerable."

As Cliff Kincaid of NewsWithViews.com explained, "By embracing the ‘global plan for recovery and reform,’ which is how it was officially described, Obama explicitly endorsed International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveillance of the U.S. economy, creation of a global ‘Financial Stability Board,’ the expanded use of a new global currency called Special Drawing Rights, a new global warming treaty, and costly fulfillment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. This is in addition to the explicit and reported commitment of over $1 trillion in additional taxpayer money to the IMF and the World Bank.

"In the final analysis, the grand total of money to be looted from American taxpayers as a result of Obama’s commitments at the G 20 conference could easily surpass trillions of dollars. In a major understatement, the official conference document calls it ‘unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion.’"

Gang formation

The G 20, or Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, was established in 1999 and first met that December in Berlin. They are the outgrowth of previous gangs of corporate interests, bankers and government leaders. This global gangland activity originated with the G 6, a forum created by France in 1975. The G 7 was established in 1976, when Canada joined the seven major industrial economies of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

From here, keeping track of global gang activity becomes confusing. Russia and the European Union joined the G 7, to become the G 8—adding the majority of two "continents," but only adding one number to gang nomenclature. The G 22, also known as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) or the Willard Group, was first announced in 1997 and then met in Washington, D.C., in 1998. There are two G 33 gangs. One has 33 members of the thirty-three "leading" national economies of the world. The other G 33 is a gang of 44 "developing" countries.

It appears that the original G 6/G 7/G 8 gang was forced to include new members when the mostly Asian G 22 gang appeared. After expanding to the "leading" G 33, membership has been apparently pared down to the current G 20.

Protests

The recent London G 20 summit was met with much protest. Slogan chanting protesters overwhelmed police lines, but chants of "burn the bankers!" only went as far as burning an effigy of a banker. The Bank of England was vandalized, urinated on and graffiti such as "Built on blood" was scrawled on the walls.

Protesters smashed windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland after hours, spray-painted graffiti and threw office equipment out the windows of the bank, injuring a police officer. A week earlier in Edinburgh, protesters broke the windows of Sir Fred Goodwin’s Mercedes and house. Goodwin is the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland who received a $22 million payment after nearly collapsing the bank.

Police helicopters and mounted riot police supported a large contingent of police in riot gear who withstood a pelting of eggs, fruit, paint and other flying debris. Numerous arrests were made.

Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper vendor, was walking home from work when he was shoved violently by police. A second post-mortem concluded he was attacked from behind, suffered internal bleeding and subsequently died at the hands of the London police.

The family’s solicitor Jules Carey said, "The video footage of the unprovoked and vicious assault on Ian by the police officer would easily justify charges of assault being brought against the officer.

"The findings of Dr. Nat Cary significantly increase the likelihood that the officer will now face the more serious charge of manslaughter."

The death was originally reported as a heart attack but ample citizen video footage resulted in further inquiry and a different conclusion.

The protests stemmed from the collapsing economy, unemployment and the huge bonuses bankers took, even as their banks were failing. Protest banners proclaimed, "Banks are evil," "Make Love not Leverage," "0 percent interest in others" and "Resistance is Fertile."

Some bankers wore casual clothes to work out of fear of being targeted, while other financial workers taunted demonstrators and even exchanged punches.

The police stopped an anarchist group, the "Space Hijackers," in their Saracen, a wheeled armored personnel carrier, which had a mock machine gun turret. The Space Hijackers were dressed in helmets and overalls, which the police considered to be police uniforms. Eleven people were arrested for possessing the uniforms. The Saracen had been used previously in a publicity stunt at a 2007 arms fair. This time, the Space Hijacker’s APC had been repainted as a riot control vehicle to make a statement on police tactics.

Some protests were more humorous like the Easter bunny that hopped through police lines but failed to reach the Bank of England. Another protestor engaged police with a light-saber toy.

Anti-war demonstrators protested at the U.S. Embassy with signs using Obama’s slogan: "Quit Iraq and Afghanistan: Yes We Can!"

Police estimate crowd numbers in London at 35,000, which greatly exceeded organizers’ hopes of ten thousand.