Activists say Blair seeks crumbs

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Anti-globalization activists accused Prime Minister Tony Blair Sunday of seeking only crumbs of aid for Africa instead of trying to change the system that has impoverished the continent.

Many of those gathered at an “alternative summit” just days before Blair hosts the heads of the Group of Eight meeting of wealthy nations at the Gleneagles resort in Scotland said they did not trust the leaders to make fundamental reforms.

The activists said they disagreed with the idea of politicians from rich nations coming together to make decisions that would affect the rest of the world. Some said Blair’s involvement in the U.S.-led war in Iraq had destroyed his credibility on Africa, despite his efforts to urge the G-8 to tackle the continent’s plight when it meets on Wednesday.

“The G-8 meet as spokespeople of big business around the world,” said Gary Duke, 45, attending one of three “alternative summit” forums being held around Edinburgh. “They’re not spokespeople for ordinary people.”

Britain’s Treasury chief Gordon Brown played down the ability of the G-8 nations to provide quick solutions for African poverty, saying that solving the continent’s problems will take a lifetime of empowering local communities.

“It is not a week’s work at the G-8 that is going to determine the long-term future of Africa or the developing countries,” Brown told the British Broadcasting Corp. News 24 Sunday program.

“It is a lifetime’s work where we empower the people of Africa and the developing countries to make decisions for themselves,” he added.

Blair has said the poverty in Africa is a “scar on the conscience on the world” and is pushing for concerted international action when leaders from the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan join him for the three-day summit.