White House Surprises Chicago’s Mayor and Moves Meeting to the Well Protected, Camp David, to Avoid Embarassment in an Election Year
By Kevin Zeese
The already too elite G8 – the group of eight countries with only 13% of the world’s population that attempts to set the agenda for the world economy – is going to have to meet in the remote location of Camp David in rural Maryland mountains because the protests against their neo-liberal concentrated capitalism were growing too severe. As Joe Losbaker, one of the organizers of the Coalition Against NATO-G-8, told the Chicago Sun Times, “They realized this would be an enormous embarrassment for the Obama administration.”
The G8 includes the United States, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. These are the countries with the most transnational corporations, largest financial centers and most billionaires. The largest economy in the world, China is not included, and Brazil, which is larger than Canada, Italy and the UK, is also not included. The legitimacy of the G8 has already been brought into question and mass protests of the Occupy Movement with a coalition of organizations would have diminished its credibility further.
The decision by the White House is a vote of ‘no confidence’ in Mayor Rahm Emanual. The Chicago Sun Times shows how Emanuel was caught by surprise reporting “Just hours before the White House stunner, Emanuel was still talking up the back-to-back summits at McCormick Place — and playing down the political risks. That lends credence the claim that the decision came from Washington.” The Chicago Tribune reported that the media firm working on the event heard about it in the news, rather than from the mayor’s office. Andy Thayer, a spokesman for the Coalition Against NATO-G-8 said the Chicago business community was upset over the growing protests and described Emanuel as “in over his head.”
The protests will go on as noted in the statement by UNAC (below), one of the lead organizing groups. Andy Thayer told the Chicago Tribune “We believe that NATO is, frankly, the de facto military arm of G-8 and anybody who’s upset with G-8 should be upset with NATO.” Protests will seek to move their permit from May 19th to the 20th to coincide with the beginning of NATO.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel forced through anti-protest laws that undermined the First Amendment in Chicago in an effort to control the protests that grew rapidly against the G8 and NATO. The measures include dramatically higher fines for resisting arrest; requirements for all signs to be pre-approved; more surveillance cameras; parks and beaches closed until 6 a.m.; sweeping parade restrictions and higher fees for those events and empowering Police Supt. Garry McCarthy to “deputize” out of state police officers. Emanuel also planned to hire military veterans along with out of town police to add to the 13,000 Chicago police.
Plans to hold NATO and G8 together in Chicago were made before the rise of the Occupy Movement. With the rise of Occupy the White House evidently concluded that in an election year where concern about an unfair economy has been heightened by the Occupy it was too risky and retreated to secluded mountains and the isolated, high security Camp David.
From the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
G8 Moving to Camp David
Protestors claim victory
Announce they will continue plans to march on May 19th
Today, the White House announced that the G8 summit, scheduled for Chicago on May 19-20, will be moved to Camp David, although the NATO summit will still take place in Chicago.
The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) and Occupy Chicago issue the following statement:
The G8 moving to Camp David represents a major victory for the people of Chicago. The leaders of the 1%are moving because of the overwhelming resistance to the NATO/G8 war and poverty agenda in Chicago. Our city is filled with tens of thousands of people who are struggling to keep their heads above water, fighting against the effects of the economic crisis caused by the leaders who would have been gathering here. The communities of Chicago are fighting to save their schools, keep healthcare available, and to defend their jobs from cutbacks that are a hallmark of the governments of the G8.
The city has carried out a campaign to intimidate and vilify protesters, claiming that protests lead to violence. In fact, the main source of violence in the world today is the wars being waged by NATO and the US.
“We will march on May 19th to deliver our message: Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Our Pensions, the Environment: Not War! We and tens of thousands will be in the streets that day for a family friendly rally and march, with cries so loud they will be heard in Camp David and across the globe. We will be in the streets that day to fight for our future, and speak out against the wars and their cutbacks are designed to benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99% of the world.”