GILL HUBBARD - spokeswoman and organiser for G8 Alternatives, an organisation including groups such as peace campaigners, environmentalists and anti-war protesters.
"The global campaign against poverty captured the imagination of everyone who mar
ched in Edinburgh and at Gleneagles in 2005. We wore white T-shirts and wristbands with a simple message - Make Poverty History.
No amount of police propaganda, portraying protesters as mindless thugs, could deter people from being part of this global phenomenon. But two years on, whilst billions are being spent on an illegal war in Iraq, 18 million people die of poverty every year.
Unfortunately, non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam have kept their criticisms of the G8 muted and subdued.
As the planet heats up and 30,000 children die of poverty every day, the eight rulers of the world meet again in Germany. I will not watch them pat each other on the back and shake hands for a job well done.
I am not alone - there are millions of us who have a different set of priorities and policies to the G8. We can start with immediately cancelling third world debt."
'THE POLICE HAVE A REAL CHALLENGE'
JOHN VINE, the chief constable of Tayside Police, was responsible for policing the 2005 G8 Summit at Gleneagles.
"I was full of apprehension and excitement. Apprehen- sive because I knew there would be mass protests from anarchist groups across Europe and the rest of the world.
The excitement was knowing this was the biggest challenge for any force in Scotland.
In the build up to the G8 various things were going through my mind - the safety and security of the world leaders, threats from terrorists, enabling those who had sincere views to have their say, and looking after the local community.
I believe by any account the planning and efforts for the G8 was judged to be a success. But the end of it was overshadowed by the London bombings on 7 July.
The police here (in Germany) have a real challenge on their hands. While we had a lot of anarchists at our G8, fewer border restrictions make it is more straightforward for them to come to Germany. It all looks very professional in Germany but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
The G8 meant a lot to me personally. People forget police officers are human beings as well."
'THERE WAS A CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE'
KAREN WHITELAW runs Whitelaw Antiques with her brother, Alan, in Auchterarder High Street, the small town invaded by protesters during the G8 in 2005.
"When I heard the G8 was coming here, my first concerns were about the troubles which had happened before at Genoa.
"But I have to say we were very lucky, and on the day of the march, a few days before the summit, there was a real carnival atmosphere. We had boards ready and were advised to board up the shop, but we stayed open until lunchtime, then put them up. Obviously, later on there was a bit of trouble in a field, but Auchterarder High Street was unaffected.
"The police were terrific, they were 'there' but not in your face," she said. "But then there was the bombing in London and to me the G8 became a nothing. A lot of the press went away and everything went flat.
"Shopkeepers did hope we would get something on the back of the G8, but we got no compensation even though people who would have visited stayed away for a week.
"Despite that, we would welcome it back, because it was a bit of excitement for a very quiet place.
"I think the whole G8 thing is a waste of money. They could make conference calls."
'LET'S HOPE LEADERS DELIVER'
MARK FRIED is an economic analyst and policy director for Oxfam.
Whenever the heads of the richest countries in the world meet to talk about the problems faced by poor countries, I grow hopeful.
The challenges of fighting HIV/AIDS, providing education, and adapting to climate change, for example, are all enormously complex. But underneath that complexity lies a simple and obvious reality which the G8 can remedy: poor countries don't have the money they need to make any headway.
The G8 have made a difference. At Gleneagles in 2005 they cancelled the debts of many African countries, and as a consequence people in Zambia now pay no fees when they get sick and need to visit rural clinics.
Unfortunately, G8 leaders don't always make good on what they promise. At Gleneagles they pledged to increase aid by £25 billion by 2010, with half of that going to Africa. Now it turns out nearly all G8 countries are failing to follow through.
Let's hope this week the leaders rise to the challenge of leadership, by bucking the tightwad advisers that surround them and delivering the money that can make such a difference in the lives of the poor."
'VALID TO MEET FACE-TO-FACE'
SHEENA NICOLSON, 63, from Archiestown, Moray, is a mathematics teacher for Voluntary Service Oversees at Lilongwe Teacher Training College in Malawi.
"I would say that in education I don't notice anything different from two years ago. Most of the big improvements there have been have come from donors such as the German charity GTZ and our own Department for International Development.
Our college has an electricity power cut almost every day. We have a computer room where the computers have been donated by various charities but we don't have a technician for when they need fixed.
I think it is valid for the G8 leaders to meet face-to-face but they should not be staying in five-star hotels with all their hangers-on. That to me is just a form of corruption.
I'm glad they'll be discussing global warming. Everyone here seems to be cutting down trees to make for charcoal for cooking. The hills which used to be covered in forests are becoming bare which will have repercussions for the future."
'HAVE WE MADE PROGRESS? YES'
HILARY BENN, Secretary of State for International Development.
"Landmark commitments were made to increase aid by $50 billion extra a year by 2010, half of which would go to Africa; to cancel crippling national debts; to make basic healthcare freely available; to work for universal access to AIDS treatment; and to ensure primary education is available to all.
Gleneagles is a byword for a ground-breaking year in the history of international development.
But have we made progress? Yes we have.
Global aid has increased since 2004 by $24.5 billion to $103.9 billion today. The debts of 22 countries have been cancelled; AIDS sufferers receiving treatment in sub-Saharan Africa have increased tenfold since 2003; funding for basic vaccines for up to 500 million people will help to save nearly ten million lives by 2015; and more children than ever before are in school. Quite simply, aid is working.
Today's G8 meeting will be another important milestone and should build on the success of Gleneagles, when we promised to make poverty history."
'MASSIVE WORLD BANK PROJECTS ARE FLAWED'
MARK JAMES is an environmental consultant from Belhaven in East Lothian.
"I have been interested in development issues for years. We entertained 25 cyclists - the Rickshaw Freedom Riders - who were en route from Southampton for the big rally in 2005, and we arranged for them to stay in a local church hall.
I just felt that I had to take part in the march because I felt so strongly about it.
I'm always a bit cynical about how much a politician will listen ... unless it's near an election. For me, the big thing is cancelling Third World debt. From the last G8 they've gone some way to do that but the whole process is painfully slow. It takes someone with political courage to stick their neck out... so I don't have great expectations. I try not to get too disappointed.
"We also need to see an overhaul of the World Bank for the massive projects that get funded but provide no benefits for local people and often jeopardise the environment.
"Over the last six months there has been so much more information about climate change ... and how it will affect the so-called developing nations.
"For the next G8 summit, that whole issue will have to come to the fore. There needs to be greater urgency and action if we are really going to alleviate poverty on their terms."
'G8 BECAME ALMOST YOUR WHOLE WORLD'
STUART SMITH is director of events and leisure at Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder, which played host to the G8 world leaders attending the 2005 summit.
He said: "We had long debates about whether we should bid for it after seeing the newspapers filled with what was going on at Genoa. But Tayside Police put our minds at rest.
"For the summit, the hotel was completely bought out for a week and it became a secure zone behind a seven-and-a-half mile steel fence. It was a very strange experience working within the fence. The G8 became almost your whole world because we were so involved in making sure it operated smoothly.
"I remember picking up on the atmosphere - on the Wednesday there was great excitement about the Olympics coming to London.
"But the atmosphere changed within the space of a minute with the London bombings. It felt like everything deflated.
"Having said that, there was still a steely resolve to do something about poverty and the Gleneagles Agreement probably went further than people expected.
"I think there has to be a way of bringing world leaders together for some form of discourse, but I wonder if G8 summits are the way to do it. The execution is the problem."
