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The G8 meeting in Scotland this week has been the focus for Stop AIDS Campaign work for the last year. We have been calling for a commitment to AIDS treatment for all who need it by 2010 and the action on debt, aid and trade to allow this to happen. During the summit, many members are in Scotland for the protests and rallies. Mike Podmore, Jess Worth, Nicole Chrolavicius, and Sarah Hiddleston are reporting from Scotland, and Kirsty McNeill and Simon Wright are inside the G8 meeting on behalf of the Stop AIDS Campaign.

This weblog is their way of keeping everyone informed about progress and what they are doing on behalf of the campaign, leading up to the communiqué on Friday afternoon. Visit this page regularly to stay in touch with AIDS and the G8 Summit.

> Click here for Press release 08.07.05: Reaction to G8 Chair's statement: promise of AIDS treatment for all

> Click here for Press release 08.07.05: G8 Press Comment, Student Stop AIDS Campaign

Simon, Gleneagles - Friday 8 July, 17:00
The final communiqué is now out. Odd that this is the bit of paper we have been focussing on for such a long time. It contains a commitment to an AIDS free generation and supportfor a package of prevention, care and treatment. Explicitly this includes the aim of reaching as close as possible to universal access to treatments by 2010. Our pleasure at this is tempered of course, both by the bigger picture which shows that the aid and debt elements fall below the step-change in development that we had all campaigned for. Also this commitment will now have to be pursued by us to stop it going the way of other empty promises. But this is a great achievement for the Stop AIDS Campaign and all its members who have put so much energy into this camapign over the last two years. We can celebrate this as well as continue to grapple with the difficulties of getting focus on HIV within wider development work.

Simon, Gleneagles - Thursday 7 July, 15:45
The news of the bomb blasts has really diverted attention here - with some journalists returning to London and everyone watching the television screens. I put out a press release earlier (before the severity of the blasts was apparent) but am not expecting much coverage. The eyeballs in Edinburgh sound fantastic (I can't wait to see photos of Bush falling off his bike being chased by a giant eyeball) and if the footage and pictures do not get used it is unfortunate but unavoidable. We are starting to discuss how we respond to the communique when we see it tomorrow. Our message has to fit with the wider Make Poverty History message and this is will be an important challenge for tomorrow.

Sarah, Edinburgh - Thursday 7 July
First day of the summit and Stop AIDS campaigners were up early at the top of Carlton Hill eyeballing the G8 on universal access to care and treatment by 2010. They were joined by the Student Stop AIDS campaign and HIV Scotland to build a cast of over 70 activists. Looking out across the Firth of Forth to Gleneagles they reminded the G8 that 'the world is watching' their commitment on AIDS and poverty in Africa. Following this a mini drama of G8 leaders dressed in kilts and accompanied by a bagpipe player took place in front of one of the most recognised vistas in Edinburgh which includes the spires of churches, castle, and clock tower. Leaders antics included a highland fling showing the G8 'leading us on a merry dance', the great G8 escape run from a 10 foot giant eyeball, Bush catalpulting off his bike to escape the many burning eyes boaring down on him, and all 8 leaders cowering underneath a 20 foot telescope.

Half way through the shoot we heard the devastating news of the blasts in London. Taking a break to make urgent calls campaigners reflected on the tragic news and resolved not to allow this to be a double tragedy, one for the people of London, and one for the people of Africa affected by HIV.

Photographers from the Guardian, the Sun, Edinburgh Evening News, The Herald fought for the best shots of the eyeballs, whilst a BBC film crew made the most of the larks of the G8 leaders. Two interviews were given on Scottish radio channels. Whilst the today's events will inevitably overshadow the morning's work, the Stop AIDS and Student Stop AIDS Camapign can be confident in the power of the message and the creativity of the stunt.

Kirsty, Edinburgh - Thursday 7 July
I spent most of today reeling from the horrifying news from London. Thirty seven innocent people died today and everyone here in Gleneagles is in total shock. Everyone has been frantically trying to locate friends and family and ensure that everyone they love is safe. I got the news in a phone call just as we were doing another eyeball stunt in Edinburgh. Seeing so many people, most of them young people from the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, standing with their eyeballs, making a difference to the world, was the one thing that made me get back to work. Against a backdrop of so much pain and destruction, our activists said that we should respond to the deaths by restating the importance of human life. While terrorists deny our common humanity, our campaigners were out there a living embodiment of it. They remain, as ever, a totally awesome inspiration.

Jess - Wednesday 6 July
After the manicness of yesterday, today is a lot quieter. The media picked up the story that the 2010 target is under threat and there's a quote from Simon on the front page of the Guardian! Inviolata is travelling down to London to do a live debate with Gordon Brown this evening on ITV. I've seen her stand eye to eye with the President of Kenya, and in front of a sea of cameras demand free access to treatment and care for all Kenyans who need it, so I have no doubt that she will be amazing. There's quite a strange atmosphere here, as bits of information about all the protests filter through to us. Princes Street is blocked by protestors, Brad Pitt's arrived in town, it's raining and London just got the Olympics...

Kirsty - Wednesday 6 July
The summit proper starts today so we only have a few days before we know whether our 18 months of campaigning has persuaded the G8 to back a treatment target. This morning I met with Bono and Bob Geldof to talk through their take on the days ahead. Bono has done a huge amount to campaign on treatment in the US and it was great to know that activists on both sides of the pond want to see the AIDS emergency taken seriously in the days ahead. I'm helping prepare press statements for either eventuality- let's hope we don't need that one that says how disappointed we are leaders backed away from making AIDS history!

Simon, Gleneagles - Wednesday 6 July, 12:00
Much better news this morning as it looks as if the treatment target is back in the communiqué text. We managed to stir up a small flurry of activity including journalists calls to the UK government and NGOs in the US calling the White House. The indications we have now are much better but of course we need to find out more when more activity is taking place. Kirsty is somewhere on her way to Gleneagles from Edinburgh but the protests are disrupting the roads; the Media Centre is very quiet at the moment. The G8 leaders will be arriving by helicopter from the airport so no delays for them. Some tension here about waiting for the Olympic decision. We considered having an Anglo-French Olympic Volleyball game here in the Media Centre to show our friendly co-operation for the treatment target but the French NGOs are not here either (and they've got the ball!).

Jess, Edinburgh - Tuesday 5 July
An intense day where from London, Gleneagles and Edinburgh we called everyone we could to try to put pressure on the US government not to block the treatment target. Late in the evening we got the fantastic news that the target was back in the communique!!!! Much celebration ensued, and I managed to almost spill Geldof's pint.

Simon, Gleneagles - Tuesday 5 July, 12:30
I have settled myself inside the Media Centre which is still quiet at the moment. Have emailed out a press release urgently commenting on the rumours that the treatment target is to be dropped from the G8 Communique. After all the campaigning, this would be a huge disappointment, especially after our successes in getting this in the Africa Commission, the Labour Party manifesto and the G7 Finance Ministers' Statement. Rumours are that the US is very uncomfortable with it but the other countries are not putting up a fight. For the G8 to fail to make a commitment to access to treatments in this year of all years would be a disaster. Kirsty and I are also trying to talk to other NGOs and will try to talk to British Government representatives when we get the chance.

Sarah, Edinburgh - Tuesday 4 July
Mike and I checked out the site of Calton Hill in preparation for the press call on Thursday. Between 50 and 100 campaigners are expected to take part in eyeballing the G8 on the first day of their negotiations, possibly joined by an A list celebrity. Edinburgh City Council Park Rangers are working with us to ensure that we get the best shots available. Supporters will rally at 9.30 for the press call at 11am.

Jess, Edinburgh - Monday afternoon 4 July
I went to the People & Planet festival in a field near Stirling, to run a session on AIDS campaigning attended by about 100 students, some seasoned AIDS activists and some new to the issue. We covered a lot of ground: why 2005 is a crucial moment in the history of the AIDS epidemic; the major challenges facing us today including getting enough aid to fund the fight, how to ensure a reliable supply of cheap anti-retroviral drugs to developing countries, how it's necessary to build up countries' healthcare systems decimated by debt, structural adjustment and poverty, and how stigma, discrimination and denial is hampering political momentum. We celebrated our successes so far - getting the UK government to commit to universal access to AIDS drugs by 2010, and then getting the G7 finance ministers to agree the same with the hope that it will be agreed at the highest level by the G8 in a couple of days time. Unfortunately just before the session started we received a very depressing call from Kirsty the Stop AIDS Co-ordinator. Apparently the commitment to the 2010 target - which had been in square brackets in the draft G8 communique - is being blocked by the US and so probably won't feature as an outcome from the summit. After all our campaigning this is gutting, though maybe not too surprising given that it seems the US doesn't want to sign up to anything at all at the moment! But it just spurred on the students to campaign even harder. The session ended with Inviolata - an HIV positive Kenyan activist - giving a really powerful speech and provoking spontaneous rounds of applause as she argued passionately that Africa must not be allowed to die. She was followed by Dickens from Malawi, who revealed that he too is HIV positive, and backed up Inviolata's critique of Western policies that keep Africa poor and allow HIV to flourish. Then everyone trouped out just as the rain helpfully stopped to take part in an 'eyeball the G8' photocall.

Mike, Stirling - Monday 4 July
At the end of the HIV workshop, nearly 100 students from the Student Stop AIDS campaign took part in a photocall. Facing Gleneagles, with Stirling and the William Wallace monument in the background, up to 100 eyeballs, a 20ft telescope and other props, reminded the G8 leaders that 'The World is Watching' them. In one shot, a student dressed as George Bush, cowered in front of the watching eyes with his hands over his ears. This was in response to the depressing news that Bush is blocking the agreement of the G7 finance ministers on the target of treatment for all by 2010.

After the photoshoot, students had photos of their eyes taken and printed for them to sign. These photos will join hundreds of others that are being gathered by the Stop Aids Campaign to form a powerful campaign art work to be hosted inside the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria replenishment conference in September.

Sarah, Stirling - Monday 4 July
The Student Stop AIDS campaign came together in Stirling to let the G8 leaders know that students and young people in the Uk are standing in solidarity with their southern counterparts in holding their government to account on their election promise to press for an international agreement for universal access to care and treatment target of 2010. In response to rumours that AIDS treatment was slipping down the government's list of priorities around 100 activists from SPW, People and Planet, NUS, UNYSA and Action AID space created a tableau of eyeballs boaring down on G8 leaders, dressed in masks and kilts. Agreeing on a fully funded AIDS treatment target could be a significant step forwards for poverty in Africa. There is no real argument to counter it, especially when it is a target backed by the likes of the WHO. Lack of political will means that it is at risk of being traded away in negotiations. Lack of political will could mean 6 million people who urgently need treatment will die, many of them young people.

Jess, Edinburgh - Sunday 3 July
Nicole and I participated in a workshop at the G8 Alternatives conference, where one of ActionAid's partners in Kenya - Inviolata Mmbwane - was a speaker. It was organised jointly by the Scottish organisation ImpactAIDS and the StopAIDS Campaign. The session focused on the need to campaign for access to treatment and the challenges facing us, and also involved HIV positive speakers from Scotland, Gavin Strang MP, and Patrick Harvie MSP. It was a really interesting and productive exchange, involving breaking into smaller groups and coming up with substantive recommendations for change, particularly around the current problems with drug supplies, patents and the pharmaceutical industry, how to ensure and support women's rights, different models of treatment delivery and their effectivenes, and the debate around whether or not multilateral funding (such as the Global Fund) is better than bilateral funding (such as the US President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, which came in for some stick over the strings attached to its projects).

Mike, Stirling - Sunday 3 July
After the HIV Workshop in the G8 Alternatives Conference, we drove the Stop AIDS Campaign Van to the People & Planet Campsite in Stirling. The creator of the eyeballs, Paul Fitzgerald (AKA Polyp), took the opportunity then to make needed repairs to the props.

Kirsty, Edinburgh - Sunday 3 July, 19:30
I spent Sunday mostly in meetings with other Make Poverty History colleagues, discussing what we are hearing from the last meetings with the G8 sherpas. I also went on a recce of Gleneagles location. Security is much stronger than I usually expect to see in a small Scottish village. One police officer told me that their usual crime level is approximately one broken window a year. Make Poverty History activisits are holed up in the Premier Inn before relocating to Gleneagles. So I was disappointed and angered to learn that G8 leaders appear to be willing to gamble with millions of lives by making their treatment target a negotiable part of the G8 deal. It's a massive betrayal of the quarter of a million people who marched just 24 hours earlier. Hundreds of thousands of people had made it clear thsat they don't want the usual shabby compromise - they want real action.

Sarah, Edinburgh - Saturday 2 July
Student Stop AIDS societies turn out in force from all over the country from Sussex, to Durham, Cambridge to Bristol Southampton to Birmingham, Leeds to Durham. Playing G8 leaders and interacting with the crowds to raise awareness of HIV and encourage action they are a testiment to the power of youth as agents for change. The SPW/Student Stop AIDS campaign workshop in the Gener8ion zone also went down a storm following speakers from Africa, highlighting the acute impact of the pandemic on the youth generation and the importance of young people's role in combating its spread.

Jess, Edinburgh - Saturday 2 July
An incredible day - 225,000 people united in their determination to Make Poverty History. StopAIDS had possibly the most surreal presence. We surrounded ourselves with giant eyeballs and telescopes, to tell the government we are watching what they do about AIDS at the G8 summit, and will hold them to account on their commitment to AIDS treatment for all by 2010. People joined in a whole range of eyeball-related activities - making their own giant eyeballs to take on the march, getting an extreme close-up photo of their eyes taken and printed out for them to sign, and grabbing our 'Make AIDS History' condoms by the handful. Student StopAIDS campaigners dressed in suits and kilts and wore G8 leaders masks to go on the march with our 4 metre-wide walking eyeball and the cutest (well, probably only) walking telescope you'll ever see. Many passers-by paused for thought at the pile of 6000 empty pill bottles - each one representing a person in Africa who will die of AIDS today, many through lack of the treatment that we in the UK take for granted. Each bottle had been signed by ActionAid supporters and delivered en masse to Tony Blair (he didn't want to keep them for some reason...). We finally finished at about 9pm, completely exhausted, accidentally sunburnt, having lost Berlusconi, but happy!

Kirsty, Edinburgh - Saturday 2 July, 18:00
I and other AIDS activists joined 225,000 marching through Edinburgh calling on the G8 leaders to Make Aids History and Make Poverty History. We carried banners and the giant eyeballs to remind everyone that we're watching the G8 leaders on behalf on the 40 million people living with HIV. It was an inspiring day, especially everyone's determination to see the job through. Stop AIDS Campaign member organisations were out in force. Our stand in the meadows caught everyone's attention wth huge eyeballs and 20m telescope. Loads of people queued up to have a photo taken of their eyeball which will be in our display in the reception for the Global Fund replenishment conference in September. We really are watching them and will carry on watching them all year.

Simon, Hyde Park London - Saturday 2 July
I was detailed to cover the press office at Live8 to offer some comment from Make Poverty History. Journalists appeared to be juggling star-spotting, music reviews and gossip with some analysis of the issues, albeit very general. Security was very tight with an inner press area that I could not get to (where the stars were interviewed by broadcast media) and also restrictions from getting to the international broadcast media who were on a platform away from the main press area. I was pleased that there was quite a lot of discussion about HIV (especially the film that accompanied Annie Lennox) but disappointed that there was not much reference to the even larger turnout in Edinburgh at the same time. It would have been good if the screens had included shots of the Edinburgh march as they swept around the world. Despite accusations I was on a jolly, I promise I hardly watched any of the acts except on the TV screen in the press office.