Anti G8 protests go online

Description: World leaders concluded talks today at the 34th G8 Summit on key topics such as global poverty, rising food and oil prices, climate change and political stability in Africa and Asia. The gathering took place on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido with overwhelming police presence to prevent anti-globalization protests that have turned violent at past summits. Nonetheless, protestors took to the blogosphere instead to express their grievances with international policies.

Tools Being Used: Blogs

What Are They Doing: In past years anti-globalization activists have complained that the mainstream media doesn't cover their protests about why they think the Group of 8 doesn't work in the best interest of the rest of the world. As a result, there have been many examples of important citizen journalism over the last couple of days documenting the "Alternative G8 Summits." Photojournalist Linus Guardian Escandor has posted his photos of Filipino protestors rallying in front of the Japanese embassy in Manila on Monday. Socialist Aotearoa and Oread Daily have posted videos, photos and testimonies of varies protests taking place in Tokyo on their blogs. The Socialist Party of Australia has been keeping readers up to date with blog reports of police violence against protestors.

“There are so many police officers, asking for your license, where you are going and what you are up to,” said Filipino activist Renato M. Reyes. “The G8 are very afraid of people criticizing them. They are afraid because they feel guilty about something.”