Alex Miller
On June 27, Scottish Socialist Party activists, including parliamentarian Frances Curran, simultaneously occupied the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh and at a branch in central Glasgow. Both protests lasted 30 minutes: during which time the Royal Bank made £465,000 profit and 625 children worldwide died of poverty and preventable diseases.
In a June 27 press release, Curran explained: "In the week leading up to the G8 Summit we are absolutely determined to focus on the obscene profits being made by companies in Scotland, particularly in the financial services sector. These companies are making profits which could themselves go a long way to ending poverty and hunger in the world today ... 30 minutes of RBOS profits could have saved the lives of 2325 children. In order to make poverty history we need to make capitalism history".
Meanwhile, the corporate media stepped up a fear campaign to scare people off from the G8 protests. The June 12 Scotland on Sunday carried a front-page article with the headline "G8 protests spark blood supply crisis". The article claimed: "Health chiefs are asking Scots to donate an extra 20,000 pints of blood amid fears that next month's G8 summit could descend into violence. Plans have also been drawn up to import blood supplies from south of the Border if rioting breaks out among the huge crowds expected to descend on Edinburgh."
However, on its website on June 24, the SSP pointed out that the Scotland on Sunday story had been labelled a "misrepresentation" by the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service. SSP national convenor Colin Fox commented: "Over the past months the Edinburgh newspapers owned by the Barclay brothers and controlled by Andrew Neil have run a constant stream of stories deliberately designed to whip up fear and panic around protests against the G8 Summit at Gleneagles next week ... I urge every Scot who wishes to peacefully demonstrate their opposition to the policies of the leaders of the G8 to disregard the scare stories of the hostile Edinburgh press and join us in peaceful demonstration across Scotland at every opportunity available."
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, July 6, 2005.
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