“I’d rather go naked than wear Gap,” chanted about forty protesters as they stripped off their clothes.

Surrounded by hundreds of supporters (who were a bit more reluctant to bare it all), scores of media and a good number of curious Calgarians, the protesters said the Gap exploits poor workers — mostly women — employed in three hundred sweatshops in fifty-five countries in the global South.

The protesters say the Gap is a concrete example of how corporations use free-market policies promoted by the G8 to make money — at any cost.

Don Fisher, chair of the board of Gap, is a foe to both workers and the environment, they say. The protesters said Fisher was instrumental in drafting textile rules in international trade agreements for the World Trade Organization and for the North American Free Trade Agreement — rules that laid the groundwork for the proliferation of sweatshops.

This group wasn’t the only one exposing the consequences of the G8 agenda. The critique of the G8’s plans for Africa continued with a teach-in organized by KAIROS and the Council of Canadians.

Brian Kagoro of Crisis in Zimbabwe explained that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, in concert with the G8, is largely responsible for much of the poverty and injustice in Africa today.

Kagoro spoke specifically about South Africa and Zimbabwe, countries that became independent in 1996 and 1980 respectively. He explained that after the hard-won struggles for independence, people expected justice, equality and an improved standard of living. But when the IMF came on the scene, the newly independent nations were directed to reduce public spending in favour of developing free markets.

“The notions of education for all, of health care for all, were what people fought for. And now they were being told by the IMF such things were unsustainable,” said Kagoro. He reminded the audience that the G8 and the IMF are inextricably linked.

Kagoro pointed the finger directly at the free-market agenda championed by the G8. “The health care crisis in Africa is because people do not have access to essential health care and medicine. The food crisis in Africa is because of the removal of agricultural subsidies.” He further argued that the lack of public spending on health care and the failure to provide necessary subsidies is a result of the directives of the likes of the G8.

While the police and government have done their best to scare those critical of the G8 away, they have failed. Protesters are making a powerful case against the G8 and its global agenda.

As the G8 leaders arrived in Calgary yesterday, protesters gathered for a loud street festival billed the Showdown at the Hoedown.

The mood in Calgary is upbeat and determined. There has been much discussion amongst protesters about tactics and strategies, including many heated debates about what is meant by “diversity of tactics” and what constitutes militance. The outcomes of these conversations will be most clearly demonstrated today when protesters plan to conduct a “snake march” through the city.