[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] Heiligendamm -- Genoa -- Gleneagles

[International Newsletter]

February 6th 2007: Heiligendamm -- Genoa -- Gleneagles

- What the hell is up with the 2007 G8 mobilization for Heiligendamm,
Germany?

- Germans prep for G8 summit violence

- AFRICAN STRUGGLES, GLOBAL STRUGGLES

- EU meetings

- The European Security Strategy

- Shut Em Down! Dissent Lives On... Report of UK Anti-G8 Gathering

- Genoa: the trial of 25 activists starts again

- San Francisco: Charges dropped against 2005 anti-G8 protester Gabe Meyers

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What the hell is up with the 2007 G8 mobilization for Heiligendamm, Germany?

Massive protests against the 2007 G8 summit meeting of neoliberal
globalizers and warmongers at the Baltic Sea resort Heiligendamm near
Rostock in Germany are scheduled before and during the June 6-8 meeting.
The G8 is the annual meeting of the leaders of the 8 richest nations in
the world. Every summer, these people meet behind closed doors, with no
published agenda, and no publicly available meeting minutes. For some
reason, they invariably meet near a big ass golf course. Many people in
Germany, Europe and the world are sick of the empty promises of the G8 -
saying they will help the environment or help fight African poverty and
then doing nothing, or worse. The G8 meeting is the best chance to show
a big fat middle finger to leaders who dominate the world and to show
that another world is definitely possible.
Past protests at G8 summits, EU conferences or WTO meetings have played
a central role in the deepening and broadening of the movement against
the centralization of wealth and power in a few hands, and in favor of
economic justice for workers, environmental sustainability, peace and
alternatives to corporate control. Activists are mobilizing throughout
Europe for protests and counter-summit activities.
To invite people in the USA to come to Germany for the G8 the Dissent!
Infotour will be traveling across the West Coast of the USA from
February 18 to March 30, 2007, and in New England the first week of
April 2007. Not long ago in the city of Rostock, Germany - population
200,000, about 15 miles east of G8 host town Heiligendamm - over 500
local people formed a "flash mob" and stormed the Rostock City Hall to
protest city cuts in social services while the city and regional
government were spending millions to pay for the locally controversial
G8 Summit. In Bad Doberan - population 12,000, about 5 rural miles south
of Heiligendamm - this past summer, activists moved beyond stereotypical
activist communication methods and passed out 3,000 flyers and leaflets
to locals in a mass door-knocking action that was hailed by locals as
the most successful singular political action since the wall came down
in 1989.
The anti-G8 activists also spoke to every business in the central
district to explain their concerns, as well as to talk to locals about
why there might be 100,000 protesters visiting their small town area in
2007 to protest the G8. In Kuehlungsborn, - population 4,800, about 4
miles west of Heiligendamm - the Dissent! Infotour has already made two
presentations, including one at the 4-star Morada Resort, which will be
host to 3,000-4,000 international journalists at the official 2007 G8
Press Center. Locals are not impressed by the fact that the G8 is coming
to their region, and they are getting more and more pissed off that
their regional government is spending 68 million euros of their tax
money to support a closed meeting of the leaders of the eight richest
countries at a time when 18% of locals are unemployed.
The largest European left radical mobilization in years is taking place
in Germany right now. The German military has announced that they will
cooperate on training manoeuvers with police and provide medical and
communications infrastructure. The military will also take
responsibility for air protection with AWACS and sea protection with
warships. Special top G8 cop Knut Abramowski looked nervous when he told
a crowd of local business people and politicians that he expects 100,000
activists to protest, and that he hopes disruptions will be kept to a
minimum during the G8 summit June 6-8.
Why is Knut so nervous? The truth is that he, just like any of the many
full time anti-G8 activists in Germany these days, have absolutely no
idea what to expect from protests during the G8. He knows that the first
mass protests will take place June 2, when there will be a mass liberal
demonstration in Rostock (www.g8-germany.info), and radical antifascist
activists will be on the streets to block a planned neo-nazi march. Both
could get out of control, even though up to 40 water cannon trucks plan
to be on call.
Things are actually more likely to move radically outside police
management capabilities by the 5th of June, when Bush and friends arrive
at the Laage airport on their way to the G8 summit, and the anti-G8 bike
rides and anti-war campaigners will be en masse in the region. Actually,
even though there are call-outs by over 100 German NGO's and various
groups to participate in protests in the region, many groups have
already said they support decentralized actions and plan to organize
major blockades and actions across Germany, from North to South, East to
West.
So, has your appetite been whetted? It has not been since Seattle that
large protests have shook the consciousness of the global north.
However, anti-G8 organizers from Italy (G8 2001), France (G8 2003), and
UK (G8 2005) all seem to be in agreement the German mobilization for
2007 is much larger than anyone has ever seen against the G8. We hope to
see you on tour, or even better, on the German barricades in June 2007!
For more info or to find or schedule tour dates near you, check
www.dissentnetwork.org or www.g7.utoronto.ca.
jfk,
Dissent! Infotour Group, Germany
For more info or to help host the USA Infotour, write to:
goodniteg8 at riseup.net
Written for Slingshot, January 14, 2007. @nti-copyright

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Germans prep for G8 summit violence

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- German authorities are preparing for
violence by 100,000 anti-globalization protesters at the G-8 summit in
June, following a wave of vandalism.
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Heinz Fromm, told
Focus news magazine at the weekend that authorities were on the alert
following a wave of vandalism and other attacks by leftist and anarchist
militants organizing against the summit.
Just last month, the hotel where the G-8 leaders will meet June 6-8 in
the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, just north of Berlin, was paint
bombed; and there were arson attacks on the home and car of the German
deputy finance minister, Thomas Mirow, in Hamburg to protest his role in
organizing the event.
The magazine said police have reported 37 attacks by anti-summit
militants in recent months.
One German security official not authorized to speak to the media told
United Press International that the tempo of such attacks would likely
rise in the months leading up to the summit.
"The intensity is going to rise," he said, adding that while authorities
were confident security measures could keep both protesters and
terrorists out of the event itself, "the real concern is what happens at
the perimeter, and outside it."
German authorities plan to deploy 15,000 police and soldiers to ensure
security at Heiligendamm, and anticipate up to 100,000 protesters,
German media reports say.
Authorities have also begun work on a $17 million fence, topped with
coils of razor-wire and baked with infra-red sensors and closed-circuit
TV cameras, to block the seaside resort off from the land. The fence
will run into the sea, to prevent protesters from wading past it.

[http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20070130-032120-1725r]

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AFRICAN STRUGGLES, GLOBAL STRUGGLES

Social Movements Assembly at the World Social Forum 30 Jan 2007 08:36 GMT
Nairobi, 24 January 2007
We, social movements from across Africa and across the world, have come
together here in Nairobi at the 2007 World Social Forum to highlight and
celebrate Africa and her social movements; Africa and her unbroken
history of struggle against foreign domination, colonialism and
neo-colonialism; Africa and her contributions to humanity; Africa and
her role in the quest for another world.
We are here to celebrate and reaffirm the spirit of the World Social
Forum as a space of struggle and solidarity which is open to all people
and social movements regardless of their ability to pay.
We denounce tendencies towards commercialisation, privatisation and
militarisation of the WSF space. Hundreds of our sisters and brothers
who welcomed us to Nairobi have been excluded because of high costs of
participation.
We are also deeply concerned about the presence of organisations working
against the rights of women, marginalised people, and against sexual
rights and diversity, in contradiction to the WSF Charter of Principles.
The social movements assembly has created a platform for Kenyans and
other Africans from different backgrounds and communities to present
their struggles, alternatives, cultures, talents and skills. It is also
a space for civil society organisations and social movements to interact
and share the issues and problems affecting them.
Since the first assembly in 2001, we have contributed to building and
strengthening successful international networks of civil societies and
social movements and reinforced our spirit of solidarity and our
struggles against all forms of oppression and domination.
We recognise that the diversity of movements and popular initiatives
against neo-liberalism, world hegemony of capitalism and imperial wars,
is an expression of a world resistance.
We have now to move towards a phase of effective alternatives. Many
local initiatives are already existing and should be expanded: what is
happening in Latin America and other parts of the world -- thanks to the
joint action of social movements -- shows the way to establish concrete
alternatives to world capitalist domination.
As social movements from all five continents gathering in Nairobi, we
express our solidarity with the social movements in Latin America whose
persistent and continuing struggle has led to electoral victories for
the Left in several countries.
Actions
We are calling for a broad international mobilisation against the G8 in
Rostock and Heiligendamm (Germany) 2-8 June 2007.
We will mobilise in our communities and movements for an International
Day of Action in 2008.

[http://www.indymedia.org/pt/2007/01/879374.shtml]

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EU meetings
Overview

14. - 16.January informal EU meeting of the minister of inner affairs
and law in Dresden
18.-20.January informal EU meeting for working and social aspects in Berlin
9. - 10.February EU ministers of finance meets in Essen
12. - 13.February in Berlin informal meeting culture and media
01. - 02.March in Heidelberg informal meeting education
01. - 02.March in Wiesbaden informal meeting "defence"
12. - 13.March in Bonn/Petersberg informal ministers meeting cooperation
with trikont
30. - 31.March in Bremen informal meeting of ministers of foreign
affairs ("Gymnich-Treffen")
19. - 20.April in Aachen informal meeting health
20. - 22.May in Mainz/Rheingau informal meeting of the agriculture-ministers
23. - 25.May in Leipzig informal ministers meeting about city planning
and territorial cohesion
01. - 03. June in Essen informal ministers meeting enviroment

[https://hamburg.dissentnetzwerk.org/EUmeetings/Overview]

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The European Security Strategy

Concepts and Technologies against Terrorism
The 10th European Police Congress (12 - 14 February 2007) deals with new
concepts and technologies for counterterrorism. This is one of the main
points of the upcoming EU-Presidencies of Germany, Portugal and Slowenia
in 2007 and 2008 that includes the implementation of a common European
Security Strategy against Terrorism.
At the 10th European Police Congress, the following topics will be
discussed in a main programme of two days and eight panel Sessions:
Main Programme:
* Cooperation Concepts of international Secret Services
* European Alliances and Intelligence as a Prerequisite in the Fight
against Terrorism
* The Capabilities of the "THW" for the European Security Network
* The European Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
* The new way ahead in the Fight against Terrorism
* The Security Architecture of the G8-Summit in Germany
* The transformation of the national Security Identity
* Transformation of the ESDP? Which Approaches of Member States and
Europe are Required for Optimised Counterterrorism?
* Transformation, Bundling and increased Sufficiency of the National
Security Architecture
Panel Programme:
* Counterterrorism in Europe: Financing, Detection and Reaction
* Network Europe: Information and Telecommunication Systems
* European Border Protection: Chances and Challenges of the
Schengen-Enlargement
* Security Networks: Bundling of Resources - A future Perspective?
* European Police Missions: International Missions and Concepts
* The Policeman of the Future: Equipment, Capabilities, Reuirements
The Conference is free of charge for MoP´s, Members of Embassies,
Policemen, Militaries, Blue-Light-Organisations and Administrations.

[http://www.europaeischer-polizeikongress.de]

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Shut Em Down! Dissent Lives On... Report of UK Anti-G8 Gathering

G8 2007, 1st UK Gathering (A Personal Report).
Following on from last years anti-G8 UK info-tour, organised by Cardiff
Anarchists along with Russian and German friends, this weekend saw the
first UK-based gathering discussing resistance to the 2007 G8 Summit.
Approx 35 people, from across the country and beyond, showed up to
create what must be one of the most speedy and productive gatherings in
UK history...
Kicking off an hour late (well you can't mess with tradition!), the
group quickly agreed that we were there to discuss our summer holiday to
Germany to help shut the 2007 G8 Summit down - though obviously we would
support any actions and events taking place in the UK at the same time.
Following this, we were quickly brought up to speed on the mobilisation
so far, the main networks involved, the potential convergence spaces and
actions planned, as well as hearing some stories from the 'Camp-inski'
anti-G8 camp which took place in Northern Germany in August 2006 and
reflections on the tactics, equipment and policing styles of German
cops. Comrades also noted the international character of the
mobilisation, and a few people plan to attend the next international
meeting taking place in Warsaw in February.
Getting down to practicalities, it was agreed that while we are not
organising a mobilisation in the same way as 2005, we do want to
mobilise as many people as possible to Germany. For this reason it was
agreed to set up 'info-points' around the country, as well as a new
website. Stickers will be produced in large quantities, as well as
newsletters, and distributed to the info-points and social-centre's. On
the question of transport, whilst most people seemed to favour making
their own way there, some folks liked the idea of 'mass-transportation'.
It was agreed that we would make travel-info and other useful stuff
available through the website, and that 'mass-transportation' would be
investigated and discussed again at the next gathering. Likewise, the
issue of whether to meet up as a 'UK mobilisation' once in Germany (and
if so, how) and whether to camp together as a 'UK barrio' or based on
tactics, will be looked at again at the next gathering. A media training
day should be organised nearer the time of the summit, and local
first-aid and self-defence workshops are being organised in a couple of
places, with the potential for UK wide versions being investigated.
The last discussion was dreaded by all, but passed in seconds (and 30
minutes early!) with a unanimous decision: We are the Dissent Network.
So, the website should be up at http://www.dissent.org.uk/ very soon,
decisions will be fed into the international meeting coming up in Warsaw
and the next UK gathering will take place towards the end of March, most
likely in Reading. Details will be confirmed shortly and publicised in
all the usual places, hope to see ya there!
Cheers...
RGA
e-mail: rgacollective at hotmail.co.uk
Homepage: http://www.dissentnetwork.org

[http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/361115.html]

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Genoa: the trial of 25 activists starts again

On the 16th of January, the trial against 25 activists charged with
"sacking and devastation" during the Group of 8 Summit held in Genoa in
July 2001, was opened again after a long continuance, due to the
decision to change some judges of the Court. The hearings should go on
for one month, until the 16th of February.
The first witness was the police officer Zampese, who at the time wrote
a chronology of the events surrounding the summit. He had already been
heard on the 11th of October, 2005. In his opinion, the G8 was "ravaged"
by violent activists, the police did not act against the people, nobody
was beaten, and no one hurt by policemen.
Supporto Legale is the association that is supporting all of the
activists on trial, as well as the legal proceedings against the police
officers accused of violence, torture, and abuse of power. Supporto
Legale denounces the way the hearings are held, and the use of people
like Zampese as witnesses.
Furthermore, on the 17th of January, a new development came out in the
trial against 29 police officers charged with falsification of evidence
and slander in connection with the violent military-style raid carried
out by police in the Diaz School where Genoa activsists were sleeping
and working during the G8. Two petrol bombs, which had initially been
used as evidence of violent behavior on the part of the activists who
had been in the Diaz school, but which were later discovered to in fact
have been deliberately planted there by police officers, are now
missing. The trial has been stopped now, waiting for the recovery of the
molotovs. Meanwhile, people are waiting for members of the Italian
parliament, whose request for a parlaimentary inquiry into the G8 was
stopped by the previous right-wing government, to propose the inquiry
again to the new ruling coalition.
One of the proponents of the inquiry commission is Haidi Giuliani, the
mother of Carlo Giuliani, a young man shot and killed by police during
the G8. She is now a Senator for the Italian Rifondazione party. The
call for a parliamentary inquiry represents a growing request for human
rights, against the inhumane mass detention of migrants, and against
police brutality in Italy. Another important voice still requiring an
explanation is the one of the mother of Federico Aldrovandi, a young man
beaten to death by police whose killers wererecently sent to trial.

[http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/01/879113.shtml]

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San Francisco: Charges dropped against 2005 anti-G8 protester Gabe Meyers

Charges Dropped Against Gabe Meyers
No Trial for Gabe Meyers
January 9, 2007
San Francisco Bay Area Indymedia
http://www.indybay.org/
On January 8th, Gabriel Meyers walked out of court victorious when all
charges from his arrest at a 2005 anti-G8 demonstration were formally
dismissed by a superior court judge. The SF District Attorney's Office
decided not to pursue the case because of potential witness testimony
and video footage that indicated that police had unsafely sped into a
crowd of demonstrators, which Meyers was part of. Prosecutors were
originally saying that Gabriel Meyers was arrested that night for
placing a styrofoam sign under this patrol car's wheels.
Meyers was in final stages of jury selection when the decision to drop
the charges was made. He had been awaiting trial for 15 months and had
made some 40 court appearances in that time period. He made no statement
as he left court, other than that he was glad and grateful to be free.
---
What I got to say
by Gabe Meyers
January 12, 2007
It has been four days since the offical statement by the court that I
was free and I have been very humble since then because I know that
there are many people who do not share that same freedom. I have
realized throughout this ordeal that being an opponenet of injustice can
sometimes lead to you being a victim of it. There are many people still
locked up in prisons because of their beliefs and their commitment to
ending oppression in all forms. They must not be forgotten and we must
not take our freedom for granted.
I would like to start by thanking some people who helped me along the
way. First of all my lawyer Eric Luce. Job well done! Also Henry
Dohering and everyyone else who worked on my case at the SF Public
Defenders Office. I would like to thank my legal support team from the
Midnight Special Law Collective. Paul, Greg, Sam, Scott, Dan, and Kris,
you all did a great job in your own positive contribution. I would like
to thank the people over at the National Lawyers Guild, thanks for your
support and help in revealing the truth about that night. Mark Vermulhen
and Hunter Pyle for their legal advice and I am sorry that I did not
attain you as counsel. I would like to thank California Anarchist
Prisoner Support and Prisoner Resistance Project for letting me speak at
their events. I would like to thank Bill Carpenter and the folks at
Indybay for providing media coverage and letting me post articles and
court appearances. I would like to thank Josh and Liz Wolf for their
support and I hope Josh will get out of jail soon. Hopefully my release
will lead to his. I would like to thank Manish Vadiya at Critical
Resistance. Maybe we can write an op-ed about my realase. Slingshot
newspaper for publishing an article about my case. Grand jury resisters
Nadia Winstead and Richard Brown for their courtroom support and all of
those who showed up to suppport me in the early hours of the morning at
such a cold solemn place such as 850 Bryant street. I know you didn't
want to be there as much as me; thanks for coming. If there is anyone I
missed, don't worry you are not unappreciated.
For the past 17 months the goverment has kept going throught he court
process threatning to take me trial. For that period of time, the truth
about what happened has not been made public. If I was to have gone to
trial, the truth about what happened would of come out in a court room.
This is one of the reasons why they dropped the charges and advoided trial.
But the truth still need to come out. So if you really want to know, the
truth is that I was about to go to trial for running out of the way of
out of a police car that was recklessly speeding into a crowd of
protestors on a dark unlit street, and that I inadvertently stopped
them( thank god or peole would of been run over) by dropping a large
styrofoam sign to run out of the way of the patrol car. The sign then
then fell underneath the wheels of the car.
When I ran out of the road and on to the sidewalk, I was chased to by
Officer Michael Wolf, the cop riding in the passenger seat of the car.
He takled me to the ground from behind on the sidewalk and held in me
down in a choke hold where I was asphixiated by him (as it was made
apparent by the photograh and video taken of me and largely ignored by
the courts) I never tried to lynch myself. Being arrested that night and
going through the court process, I felt that I was the one being
lynched. That police officer had no right to of first strangle me and
then charge me with a crime. It is he who is a criminal. I am very
dissapointed that nothing has been done about him, or his partner for
driving unsafely, by the internal affairs divison of the SF Police
Department or the SF District Attorneys Office.
There must not be a double standard about the investigation of this
protest. The government must acknowldge that there was criminal
misconduct by the police if they are going to say that was some from the
protestors, and they must acknowledge that the police instigated this by
driving into the crowd at a dangerous speed.
I am sorry about how unfortunate the events and the aftermath of that
night were. I don't believe that Offier Sheilds should of been hit over
the head, it could of killed him, but Officer Sheilds shouldn't of
driven into the crowd at that speed, someone could of been killed or
hurt badlly by him. He was also reported using his baton on someone,
even by his partner in his police report. These sort of actions usually
have a tendency to anger people and sometimes they respond with physical
force as they did that night.
I am wrapping up this chapter in my life, but events like these continue
on a daily basis throughout the world . We must continue to struggle for
justice until all are free. No one is free when others are oppressed.
What has happened on the 8th of July in 20005 should serve as an example
that rights and freedom to dissent can be taken at anytime suh as they
have done to Josh Wolf, threatened to do to me, and currently doing to
Cody Tarlow. It should also serve as reminder that the state will even
result to violence such as running people over, choking individuals, and
beating them with batons and clubs. I am glad that things were not as
worse than they have been from that night (as they are in other places
of this globe), but their were still crimes by the police that were
committed and they must not go unanswered. It is our duty to make sure
they don't.
Thank you everyone for your support and solidarity. I am sure I will see
you all at another protest,
Gabriel Mark Meyers

[http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20070116130502382]