G20 summit in Pittsburgh 2009

The 2009 G20 summit in Pittsburgh was the third meeting of the heads of state and government of the group of the twenty most important industrialized and emerging countries , at which the heads of state and government discussed the financial markets and the global economy.

The G20 is the main forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economic cooperation.

The summit was held on September 24, 2009 through September 25, 2009 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Announced shortly after the London G20 summit in April 2009, US President Barack Obama volunteered to host this summit, which was initially supposed to take place in New York City and was coordinated with the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. However, due to coordination problems, the Obama administration announced on May 28, 2009 that the venue would be relocated to Pittsburgh to reflect the city's economic boom after the manufacturing collapse in the second half of the 20th century in response to the recession of the late 2000s and the global credit crisis, a second G20 summit within a year was proposed shortly after the London summit in April 2009.

Among the topics discussed was a proposal for radical reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). French President Nicolas Sarkozy also suggested that there should be an evaluation of the measures already taken.

The main venue for the summit was the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, which at the time was the largest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building in the world. In the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens a working lunch was held, which was chosen to highlight the environmentally friendly features of the center, including a erdgeschütztes reception center and a Tropical Forest Conservatory, which is known as the most energy efficient in the world. Other venues in town include The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and Rosemont, and Teresa Heinz Kerry's Farm .

Preparations

In the weeks leading up to the conference, many steps were taken to prepare Pittsburgh for the conference. Many streets in downtown Pittsburgh have been paved and a preseason has been prepared for the National Hockey League. The Pittsburgh Penguins game at the nearby Mellon Arena has been postponed. During the G20 week, many roads were closed and traffic patterns adjusted. Many public schools, universities, and nearby businesses were closed, canceled classes, or worked remotely for the duration of the conference. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl also tried to alleviate the problems by meeting ahead of time with some of the groups that were expected to protest during the event.

safety

Thousands of protesters were expected in the week of the summit, which has been classified as a national special security event. Security was coordinated by the United States Intelligence Service in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Police Department. It is estimated that 4,000 police officers were called in, and the city only had 900 police officers at the time of the event. Pennsylvania State Police provided more than 1,000 officers for the downtown event, including SWAT, helicopter, horseman, undercover, bicycle, and motorcycle officers. In Allegheny County, 75 police officers had been specially trained for the event since June and integrated into the Pittsburgh Police Office. Some officers were also deployed in New York City and Baltimore, as well as in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Some Chicago officials came to assist and took vacation days from their department. All officers, regardless of their department, were under the command of the secret service on the days of the event.

Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters, armored Humvees and US Army crews , and ten 25-foot Coast Guard boats with M240 machine guns were on the scene in the event of large-scale violent protests or a terrorist attack.

Attendees

The heads of state and government of the G20 countries at the summit in Pittsburgh.

Dmitri Medvedev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan with interpreters in the foreground.

Hu Jintao and Barack Obama at the plenary session of the summit

The following participants at the Pittsburgh Summit represented the G20 member states, the 19 countries and the European Union represented by its two governing bodies, the European Council and the European Commission .

Host: United States ( Barack Obama )
Argentina ( Cristina Fernández de Kirchner )
Australia ( Kevin Rudd )
Brazil ( Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva )
Canada ( Stephen Harper )
People's Republic of China ( Hu Jintao )
Germany ( Angela Merkel )
France ( Nicolas Sarkozy )
India ( Manmohan Singh )
Indonesia ( Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono )
Italy ( Silvio Berlusconi )
Japan ( Yukio Hatoyama )
Mexico ( Felipe Calderón )
Russia ( Dmitry Medvedev )
Saudi Arabia ( Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz )
South Africa ( Jacob Zuma )
South Korea ( Lee Myung-bak )
Turkey ( Recep Tayyip Erdoğan )
United Kingdom ( Gordon Brown )
European Union ( Jose Manuel Barroso & Fredrik Reinfeldt )

In addition, various international organizations and their presidents, general directors or secretaries took part in the meeting.

The G20 heads of state and government began meeting in Pittsburgh on September 24, 2009. On the evening of September 24th, leaders attended a reception at the Phipps Conservatory in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Protesters in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh on September 24, 2009.

Protests

After numerous denials of permits for groups like Code Pink and Three Rivers Climate Convergence to organize peaceful demonstrations, the Pennsylvania ACLU successfully sued the city of Pittsburgh to force them to allow demonstrations around the G20 summit.

Participants in the protests surrounding the summit included organizations for peace, the environment, labor and social justice.

The first of the alternative events was a Summit of the Peoples with a full-day session of speakers, panels and workshops on September 19, the Saturday before the G20 summit, attended by around 500 participants, and continued on Monday and Tuesday evenings with each 100 to 200 participants. Attendees at the People's Summit included both outspoken opponents of the G20 summit (such as radical historian Howard Zinn , who spoke to the gathering on special video ) and some who hoped to influence the gathering in what they believed to be "progressive". The Pittsburgh City Council announced that "the Pittsburgh City Council hereby commends the summit of the peoples, all affiliated institutions and organizations, and the volunteer citizens who have worked tirelessly to make it a success. Your outstanding efforts will certainly be recognized To create a greater understanding of the challenges we face, the solutions we should explore, and the social dialogue needed to create a better world, and the citizens of our region are encouraged to seize the opportunity to take part in this important and historic event ". The People's Summit itself advanced some of the issues raised by the protests when the G20 actually met: "We envision a world in which fundamental rights - freedom of expression, freedom of thought and religion, freedom from fear and freedom of lack - apply to all people. That is not the reality of our world today. But in our diversity and plurality of orientations, inspired by mutual respect and the spirit of solidarity, we share the conviction that another world is possible. "

A series of tent cities, demonstrations and other summits followed. On Tuesday there was also an alternative conference entitled Freedom Conference 2009 , which emphasized conservative basic solutions and free-market approaches.

At around 10.15 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23, Greenpeace activists hung a banner warning of the dangers of increased CO ₂ emissions from the deck of the West End Bridge across from downtown Pittsburgh over the Ohio River. While traffic was held up for a while, all eight activists were arrested after peaceful abandonment.

On Thursday, September 24th, the Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project hosted a march and day of direct action in Arsenal Park in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Pittsburgh police fired pepper spray at a crowd of an estimated 500 demonstrators to disperse a protest march a few hours before the summit began.

Police also used a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to remove protesters from an area after being warned several times to disperse. This was the first time an LRAD had been used to disperse protesters across the United States, according to the city council. Since then, LRADs have been used on several occasions to peacefully disperse crowds.

Riot police exited a city bus in the Oakland neighborhood on September 24.

Later that evening, another small crowd gathered in Schenley Plaza as world leaders met for a working lunch at the nearby Phipps Conservatory that evening. Hundreds of police officers swarmed out and surrounded the peaceful crowd on Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard near the Cathedral of Learning. An estimated 300 riot police lined the sidewalk behind the William Pitt Union, and another 200 officers blocked nearby Forbes Avenue to contain the protesters. The crowd quickly grew to about 500, however, as nearby Pittsburgh University students - evidenced by shouts of " Let's Go Pitt! " - curious about the sirens and police presence joined the crowd. The police shot several loads of pepper spray into the crowd. Nearby shops along Forbes Avenue and Craig Street were also vandalized after police tried to break up the demonstration. The University of Pittsburgh SMS alerted students that "conditions in Oakland may deteriorate. Students are advised to stay close to where they live."

The March of the Peoples begins its journey towards East Allegheny after a number of speakers speak outside the City County building.

The Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project called for "Everywhere Protests" on Friday morning (September 25th) in different locations and in different companies (mostly banks and large corporations) across the city. These protests were not very large-scale. Some protesters wore black and twirled hula hoops on Forbes Avenue and Atwood Street in Oakland. There was also a small gathering of protesters over a Starbucks Coffee on Center Avenue on East Liberty.

On Friday, however, there were also massive actions by a broad coalition led by the pacifist Thomas Merton Center. As one speaker pointed out at the beginning of the action, he said: "I remind you that this is a peaceful, legal march. We are opposed to the policies of the G20, not the police". This "March of the Peoples" (which in the minds of many is linked to the issues raised at the previous People's Summit) was supported by three rallies (along the Marching Route, in Oakland, in downtown Pittsburgh on the City Hall steps and on the north side of Pittsburgh) with an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 participants. The demonstration was quite diverse, including religious and community activists, anarchists, socialists, environmentalists, human rights defenders, opponents of the war, trade unionists, veterans and others. The mood of the action tended to be uncompromisingly critical of the G20, the large corporations and capitalism as such. "We gather here just a few kilometers from the place where the corporate robber barons have settled to divide the planet, this group of bankers, financiers and political leaders who are ravaging our world," said one of the speakers, calling for the Listeners to "fight for another world, to put people before profit". The crowd roared in approval and others spoke similarly, but the gathering was completely free from violence and arrest.

Much of the news media, however, tended to minimize peaceful protests and pay more attention to the arrests. This included controversial police actions on Friday evening after the G20 summit and organized protests ended. Held at Schenley Plaza and on the nearby University of Pittsburgh campus, they included more wide-ranging arrests and more police brutality charges than the night before.

According to police, around 4,500 people took part in protests across the city, with 190 people arrested. Approximately $ 50,000 in damage was caused in the area's stores, with $ 15,000 attributable to a person, David Japenga, of California , who was accused of breaking 20 windows and doors in Oakland Thursday night.

New York City activist Elliott "Smokey" Madison used Twitter to report an order to disseminate news from the Pittsburgh police during the protests. Police searched Madison's hotel rooms, and a week later, Madison's New York home, Tortuga House, was raided by FBI agents. Police allege Madison and a co-defendant used computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then relayed that information to protesters via cell phones and the social networking site Twitter. Madison has been charged with obstructing arrest or law enforcement, criminal use of a communications facility, and possession of tools. All of the protesters arrested were taken to the State Correctional Institution in Pittsburgh.

Result

One of the first major announcements to emerge from the meeting was that the group would become the new Permanent Council on International Economic Cooperation. This means that the much larger G20 will essentially replace the smaller G8 , which will continue to meet on critical security issues but will have less influence. This decision will help important developing countries - such as China , India and Brazil - not originally in the G8.