Cologne Summit

Cologne Summit refers to the large gathering of unemployed (and ?disadvantaged) people in Europe a few years back. The French TV series "Gobal Village" said over thirty thousand people from various interest groups participated to draw attention of their needs to policy makers in EU countries.

When did this happen? Has anyone got more information whether the gathering resulted in any longlasting changes, such as policy shifts? Are there any other organized grassroots movements of a similar nature since then?

There was a large gathering, or rather several gatherings, in Cologne in 1999. There is an annual meeting of world leaders called the G8 Summit which meets in different countries each year. For those who want more background, here is a reference: http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/what_is_g8.html .

In 1998, the meeting was in Birmingham, England, (UK) and many people working under the banner Jubilee 2000 attended in Birmingham to ask the world leaders to pay more attention to the needs of poorer people in the world. See for example, http://www.jubileeresearch.org/jubilee2000/G898.html.

In 1999, the G8 meeting was in Cologne, Germany and people did the same. On each occasion the people formed a human chain around the centre where the talks were taking place.

So the first writer was correct to say there was a meeting. The gathering was not of unemployed (and ?disadvantaged) people , rather of people concerned to argue for a fairer world.

-- JohnFletcher

CategoryEmployment