Edinburgh — At the time of what may be thelargest protests Scotland has ever seen, we, the ACT for the Earthcontingent from Canada, find ourselves staying in — of all places — the OrwellLodge. George Orwell’s 1984 is not just a critical book to read, norjust an excellent song; it is the time we live in.

George Orwell brilliantly portrayed how an unjust system works, proppedup by sophisticated propaganda, techniques for controlling the generalpublic and a complacent population. But with hundreds of thousands ofpeople in the streets of Edinburgh, many from around the world,complacency is increasingly hard to come by.

And it is no coincidence that government leaders are keen to try toco-opt the “Make Poverty History” banner for their own purposes. It isno coincidence that Tony Blair wants to “help” Africa.

On the weekend, the G8 Alternative Summit, Scotland’s largestpolitical meeting ever, became home for a day to over 5,000 activistsfrom around the world. Many of the speakers at the multiple plenarieshammered the point home that as much as Africa is in need of justice,the G8 motivations for focusing on only one of seven continents is highlycynical.

They can’t focus on Latin America because country after country thereis rising up against the U.S. empire. They can’t talk about the MiddleEast, especially Iraq, because the Bush and Blair regimes are in acrisis as the global peace movement has pushed them to the wall.

And make no mistake — this week in Scotland is historic not just for theUK, but for the world. All eyes will be on Gleneagles on Wednesday,July 6, as thousands march to within 500 metres of the summit of theG8 — the self-appointed, and in some cases unelected (i.e. Bush) “leaders” of the world.

For anyone who thinks marching can’t make a difference, never forgetthat marching in combination with direct action changed civil rights inAmerica. Never forget that the Salt March in India played a criticalrole in kicking out the British Empire’s brutal occupation. OnWednesday, thousands will help to kick the empire out of Britain.