SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 01/06/05

MSP invites Bob Geldof to join demonstration at Gleneagles

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Frances Curran has today written to Bob
Geldof inviting him to attend the demonstration at Gleneagles on
Wednesday 6th July organised by G8 Alternatives.
[see notes below]

Frances has also lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament
entitled `Don't stop at Edinburgh' welcoming Bob Geldof's call for a
million people to march against global poverty but calling on them
to continue the journey 40 miles north to Gleneagles.
[see notes below]

Frances will be having a meeting with Tayside police on Thursday 2nd
June as preparations continue for the G8 Alternatives demonstration
at Gleneagles which starts at 12 noon, Wednesday 6th July.

Frances said;
"Wednesday 6th July is an opportunity for millions of people to be a
part of history, to make their voices heard to the leaders of the G8.
"We welcome Bob Geldof's call for a million people to demonstrate
against global poverty but we ask them to continue their journey to
Gleneagles and join us in our mass rally on the doorstep of the G8
conference.
"I call on the people of Scotland to open their hearts and their
homes to protestors who will come from all over the world to protest
against poverty and inequality.
"Together we can change the world."
[ends]


Notes
Letter to Bob Geldof

Dear Bob,

One million people coming to Scotland for the start of the G8 Summit
on Wednesday 6 July! That would be fantastic, and an event that
those taking part would never forget. I think the people of
Scotland will open our doors and our hearts to accommodate those who
want to change the world.

I have taken part in a million person protest on the streets of
Florence and it was an inspiration made all the more memorable by
the warmth of the local people who were passing food and drinks out
of their kitchen windows and by the offer o a bed for the night for
5 of us from a complete stranger.

As one of the organisers of the G8 demonstration at Gleneagles on
Wednesday 6 July, an event that has been months in the planning with
the police and local authorities, I would like to invite you to come
a few miles further North and take part in this peaceful protest. G8
Alternatives is an umbrella of local grass roots organisations
including the Scottish Trades Union Council who have permission for
a mass rally on the doorstep of the world leaders at Gleneagles. Our
voices will be heard on the opening day of the Summit.

If a music event is part of the plan, there is a nearby venue in
Balado which is used for the music festival "T in the Park", which
protestors could make their way to after the rally.

This is once in a lifetime opportunity for ordinary people to make a
difference, to have our voices heard by the 8 leaders of the world,
please don't stop at Edinburgh let's take the message right up to
Gleneagles.

Frances Curran MSP
Scottish Parliament

The following motion has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament by SSP MSP Frances Curran.

Scottish Parliament - Business Bulletin: "*S2M-2897 Frances Curran: Don’t Stop at Edinburgh—That the Parliament welcomes the call by Bob Geldof for a million people to take a day off work or study to come to Edinburgh on Wednesday 6 July 2005, the opening day of the G8 summit in Gleneagles; calls on them, however, not to stop at Edinburgh, but to continue a few miles north to Gleneagles to take part in the mass demonstration called by G8 Alternatives against global poverty, climate change and fair trade; notes that G8 Alternatives is an umbrella for many of the Scottish grassroots organisations protesting at the summit and is already supporting the call for people to take to the streets of Edinburgh on 2 July for the Make Poverty History demonstration, and calls on all those coming to Scotland on 6 July to come to Gleneagles to let their voice be heard and extends that invitation to Bob Geldof and Midge Ure."

Scotsman

A group of youngsters are to hold a protest – over fears of a ban on “hoodies” and baseball caps in a city shopping centre.

Members of the Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY) will meet outside the Eastgate shopping centre in Inverness on Saturday to protest at Tony Blair’s “hats off” policy, which is being backed by Northern Constabulary.

...

Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader Colin Fox described the measures as an attack on young people.

He said: “It is time that young people were treated with respect instead of being criminalised.

“The SSP and the SSY have no time for loutish, threatening or anti-social behaviour, but the real solutions to these problems lie in offering a real future to our young people – not exploiting them as workers, ripping them off as consumers, or scapegoating them “en masse” for society’s ills.”

The Scotsman

Socialist Kane to give Castro Scots 'support'

SCOTTISH Socialist MSP Rosie Kane will travel to Cuba this week - where she hopes to meet President Fidel Castro "to deliver a message of solidarity and unity from the Scottish Socialist Party to the people of Cuba against the US blockade".

She is to address an international conference urging the US to extradite two men with alleged links to the bombing of a Cuban airliner that claimed 73 lives three decades ago.

"I am going in the spirit of international solidarity for truth and justice," said the Glasgow MSP, "taking the message that the people of Scotland stand alongside the people of Cuba in opposition to the warmongers in the White House.

"The brutality and greed of capitalism can be seen easily with the naked eye. The same speeches can be translated from community to community, from motorway to blockade; same problem and same solution."