In July 2008, heads of the states that monopolize two thirds of earth’s wealth will gather at Toya Lake in Hokkaido Japan. Although the so-called Group of Eight does not have any legitimate right for deciding planetary affairs, they have self-appointed themselves world rulers.

At a very critical moment in world capitalism during the 1970s, the G8 was established to form a consensus among the richest and most powerful nation-states. Ever since, it has become the cornerstone of neo-liberal globalisation. The ‘consensus’ signifi es nothing short of finding the most convenient means of driving global privatisation, commercialisation, and militarisation and camoufl aging these processes as being for public well-being.

In the past the G8 has expressed concerns about human rights and poverty. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the need for a human-faced globalisation. But who is it that violates human rights on the pretext of the ‘fight against terrorism’? Who is it that privatises almost all the resources left for humanity - land, water, and food - and preys on increasing global poverty? Who is it that produces and exports more than 90 per cent of the world’s weaponry?

At the 2007 summit in Heiligendamm, one of the main themes was poverty in Africa, but what they proposed as a measure to combat it was, shockingly, the deregulation of investment in Africa. From its behaviour we have learned that for the G8, even human rights and poverty are just another opportunity for capitalists’ expropriation.

At the Toya Lake summit in 2008, the main theme will be environmental problems. What a great irony! It is the G8 that ravages the natural resources of the world, even resorting to violence in some cases, whilst discharging more than 40 per cent of global carbon dioxide.

We are no longer silent. Neither do we intend to make a petition for a better G8 through conversation. By way of direct action, we will demand the termination of the 2008 Toya Lake Summit and the decomposition of the G8.

We appeal to you, the people struggling in different regions of the world, to join No! G8 Japan in July 2008. We consider our project a continuation of the planetary anti-G8 struggles, especially those coordinated by the Dissent network. We seek to add a new phase of it in the Far East. Together, let us organise the widest possible global network and create an unimaginably varied, rich, and powerful spectacle of struggle. We will show a world that is totally different from one driven by capitalist principles, a world that is based upon principles of autonomy, mutual aid, and bottom-up decision-making.