[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] Heiligendamm -- Japan

[International Newsletter]

- Ban on demonstrations up to 6 kilometres from Heiligendamm Starmarch Coalition
- how to come to the borderpoint dresden
- G8 MEETING Police arrest 11 protesters near G8 finance ministers conference
site
- Antiracist G8 action and event calendar
- Japan PM announces date for G8 summit in 2008
- Personalities Support "Block G8" Call for Mass Blockades
- The strike of Telekom and a lack of security threat communication

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G8: Ban on demonstrations up to 6 kilometres from Heiligendamm Starmarch
Coalition

Press release
20th May 2007

G8: Ban on demonstrations up to 6 kilometres from Heiligendamm.
Lawyer: "Prohibited zones are unprecendented in the history of the German
Federal Republic."
Special department "Kavala" slow to process other registered demonstrations.

During the G8 summit there will be a ten day ban on demostrations and assemblies
within as well as 200 metres around the fence in Heilgendamm.
>From the 5th to 8th of June, i.e. during the summit meetings, this zone will be
extended to a 4km area around the fence. Demonstrations are to be kept at a 6km
distance to the conference hotel.

This weekend, on behalf of the starmarch coalition, a group of lawyers lodged an
urgent law suit against the injunction at the court in Schwerin. In the appeal
the lawyers state that, although the G8 delegations have no legitimacy to do
so, they make decisions that have serious international consequences. This is
why international protest should be made visibile to them. The "sentiments of
the state guests" that the police do not want to upset, must play a secondary
role.

Excerpt from the law suit:

"Protests against international politics carry special weight - they must be
given the space to be expressed and to be taken seriously by the heads of
states of the G8 countries along with the international public. Effective
public visibility means specifically that international media must have access
to the protests. The necessary visibility of the protests can only be
guaranteed if the protests are able to generate media attention at the actual
location where events are taking place. The basic right of association is even
more important at such supranational events than at national ones."

According to the Hamburg-based solicitor Carsten Gericke, the demonstration bans
are for the most part unlawful: "The prohibition zones designated by Kavala are
unprecedented in the history of the German Federal Republic", he explains. "If
organisers wishing to obtain the permission to demonstrate cannot hold their
event, then their rigt to association is irrepairably violated. This is because
the demostration in question is irrevocably relevant to the event taking place
within the area of the ban," he further elaborates.

The police are also claiming that "extraordinary threats" to the G8 summit
exist. However, there are no indications of such a threat. In the law suit that
has been lodged it states that the German police and the German Office for the
Protection of the Constitution have been forced to admit that "sustainable
indications of serious threats or dangers have not been able to be brought
forward by the office dealing with the issue."

Furthermore, the suit criticises the police organisation Kavala: "Creating a
special department "Kavala" within the Rostock police force to process this
injunction is unlawful", Gericke writes. Equally, the creation of this special
department with hundreds of civil servants has led to a situation in which the
registration of many assemblies and demonstrations have not been processed at
all or only very slowly:

"The effect has been that the office has not acted in accordance with its
constitutionally determined duties to cooperate because this special department
had to first be made operational and is staffed by external civil servants.
Because of this, the rights of the organisers registering the demonstration
have been denied."

Other registrations have also been affected by the ban. The organisation "Jewish
Voice" has registered a protest rally with 150 activists from Palestine and
Israel on June 5th. The 5th June is the 40th anniversary of the start of the
Six Day War. The organisation has still not even received a written response to
their request.

"We are very pleased with the broad and even international media response and
sympathy with the protests against the G8 summit", say the organisers of the
star march on June 7th. International calls to demonstrate against the G8
continue.

[Starmarch Coalition]

Background:
Material und media reports about the ban of the demonstration:
http://gipfelsoli.org/Repression/Allgemeinverfuegung


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how to come to the borderpoint dresden

way description from the motorway a4

* if you drive on the motorway A4, use the departure "Dresden-Hellerau"
* now you have to drive to the direction "Zentrum", if you could see on the
right side a Aral gas station you're right
* after the gas station, at the traffic lights, you have to turn left, don't
drive straight ahead
* now you have to drive at least one kilometre straight ahead on the
"Stauffenbergallee"
* on the second crossing close by a bridge over the street you have to turn
right
* now you're on the "Rudolf-Leonhard-Straße", you have to pass one crossing and
you will find the "AZ Conni" on the right side near a park, the number is 39
* if you come from somewhere else ask for the cinema "schauburg" and the
"Rudolf-Leonhard-Straße"
* it's just a way of five minutes to go from there

directions from Prague/czech republic

* pass the border at the borderpoint Altenberg/Cinovec
* take the B170, directions "Dresden-Zentrum", go straight on
* pass the city centre and cross the river Elbe on a bridge called
"Carolabrücke"
* go straight on at the traffic lights after the bridge to a big
place/roundabout called "Albertplatz"
* at this traffic lights go straight on again (don't go left!), direction is now
"Königsbrück" or B97
* the name of the street is now "Königsbrücker Straße"
* at the second traffic lights, go left (it's a old cinema called "Schauburg" on
your left side), you're now on the "Bischofsweg"
* pass under a train bridge after about 200 metres and go into the first street
on your right
* you're now on the "Rudolf-Leonhard-Straße", drive straight up to the hill and
you'll find a park w/childrens playground on your left, the next house is the
AZ Conni, the number is 39.

directions by train

* name of the nearest train station: dresden-neustadt
* leave the train station, go left and pass one crossing after 300 m, now you
are on a small street called "Dammweg",
* on the next crossing go left (pass under the train bridge), after 200 m you
'll come to a big place/crossing, called "Bischofsplatz",
* pass this place straight on and you are now on the "Rudolf-Leonhard-Straße",
* go straight up to the hill and you'll find a park w/childrens playground on
your left side, the next house after the park is the AZ Conni, the number is
39,
* its a way of 15 or 20 minutes by walk from the train station.


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G8 MEETING Police arrest 11 protesters near G8 finance ministers conference site

POTSDAM, Germany (Thomson Financial) - Police said 11 people were arrested
yesterday near the site where G8 finance ministers are holding their weekend
meeting after they shouted anti-G8 comments. The 11 were released subsequently,
police said. Police said the 11 cycled Friday to a police outpost on the road
leading to the conference site on Schwielow Lake, near Potsdam, where they then
kicked traffic signposts and vehicles.


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Antiracist G8 action and event calendar

Saturday, 2 of June - big international demonstration in Rostock
The antiracist bloc ("flight and migration") is going to walk at the front of
the west-route of the demonstration, including own loudspeaker-car.
Meetingpoint: 11 a.m. "Hamburger Straße/Graf-Schwerin-Straße" (5 minutes from
the S-Bahn-Station "R-Bramow"). 12 a.m. beginning of the initial manifestation,
among others a refugee activist of NoLager Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is going to
hold a speech. 1 p.m. start of the demonstration

Sunday, 3 of june: Transnational network meeting on flight & migration
Time and place: 2 - 10 p.m. Ehm-Welk-School, Knud-Rasmussen-Str. 8; Rostock
(tram station "Thomas Morus Str.", lines 1, 4 and 5)
The plan for the network meeting is mainly to offer space for "horizontal
debates" (only with short inputs) and will hopefully be made up of groups of
participants that are as transnational as possible. The aim is to exchange
information and to also make further progress by developing transnational
campaigns and concrete interventions. For example, we could make plans to work
against specific repatriation programs or in favour of migrant workers' rights.
This meeting is a continuation of the migration related assemblies which took
place in the last two years during the European Social Forum and the World
Social Forum. It is also related to the conference in Rabat in July 2006 as
well as the transnational Action day on the 7th of October 2006, both of which
had global freedom of movement as central points.
2-3 p.m.: opening plenary
3-7 p.m.: Working groups: the following topics represent some of the possible
themes of these meetings: legalization and the right to stay, racist police
brutality, border regime and deportation politics, "precariousness" or
instability in your living situation and migrant labour, camps, deportation
prisons and many more
8-10 p.m.: final plenary
Apart from this on Sunday 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. a crossover-event is taking place in
the Nikolai-Kirche (Bei der Nikolaikirche 1, Rostock): "About perspectives in
and beyond Europe" with activists from various social movements. Lucille Daumas
from attac/Morocco is going to talk about activities against the EU-migration
politics in Northern Africa.

Monday, 4 of June - Action Day: Flight and Migration
Morning: actions in the City...
>From 8 a.m.: siege of the alien department ("Ausländerbehörde") in Rostock,
Werftstraße 6 (S-Bahn station Holbeinplatz): The alien department is a place
where refugees and migrants are being harassed and persecuted on a daily basis.
It is here that decisions are made regarding what status people without an EU
passport will be given, whether they are allowed to work, study or even stay in
Germany or, as the case may be, the EU. This activity continues to work on the
basis of inclusion vs. exclusion and we would like to at least succeed in
rebuffing it for a few hours.
10 - 11.30 p.m.: "3 days in august ... (and many years more)". Rally in front of
the Sunflowerhouse (Sonnenblumenhaus ) - S-Bahn station Rostock Lichtenhagen:
1992: Rostock-Lichtenhagen: With the approval of thousands of citizens neo-Nazis
attacked the central refugee reception centre as well as a hostel for Vietnamese
workers with stones and Molotov cocktails. The pogrom lasted several days. The
police did not protect the inhabitants. Shortly afterwards the SPD (Social
Democratic Party) gave up their resistance against changing Article 16 of the
German Constitution (the right to asylum). By holding this rally we want to
remember the incidents of 1992 and show how much worse the conditions for
refugees in Germany have become because of this pogrom.
10 p.m.: protest action in front of a Lidl-supermarket - with the participation
of activists from the Andalusian union of agricultural workers SOC: Lidl has
not only become known because of its lousy working conditions. Lidl (together
with other supermarket chains) also stands out due to its ruinous price
dictates. As a result of this the prices for agricultural products have gone
down dramatically. Often it is mainly migrants (without papers) who find
themselves being forced to accept the lousy conditions for wage and work in
agriculture -  be it as day labourers in the plastic sea of Almeria or as
someone cutting asparagus in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
10 am - 6. p.m: information stands, exhibitions, films and installations on
camps and borders, on the working conditions of migrant (agricultural) workers,
on the countries of origin of refugees and migrants and much more. Place:
Universitätsplatz (Kröpeliner Straße)
Afternoon: demonstration for global freedom of movement and equal rights...
1-2 p.m.: (prelude) rally and start of the demonstration at the refugee camp
Satowerstraße (tram  station 'Neuer Friedhof', lines 3 and 6)
5- 8 p.m: final rally with cultural events in the Rostock city harbour (inner
city). Musicians performing:
- "les refugiés" - African hip-hop from the Blankenburg reception and exit camp
- the kurdish female hip-hop-rapper "Dezz Deniz
- "microphone mafia", turkish-italian-german rap from Cologne
- "Onejiru" und Band, Dub/Elektro-Funk/R'n'B from Kenia/Wanne-Eikel
Evening: Discussion Event...
8 p.m.: big discussion event: global freedom of movement against global
apartheid" with guests from four continents:
- Solange Koné, CADTM (alliance against indebtedness), Ivory Coast
- Maksym Butkevich, Noborder Kiev, Ukraine
- Valery Alzaga, global SEIU (services trade union), USA/Mexico
- Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum, from Bagalore, Indien
- Sunny Omwenyeke, The Voice Africa Forum, Nigeria/Deutschland
Place: event centre "Am  Strande" ("Art Goes Heiligendamm"), Am Strande 6
(Rostock city harbour), 18055 Rostock

Wednesday, 6th of June: middle panel at the alternative summit
"We are here, because you are there..." on the structural backgrounds of flight
and migration
Time and place: The panel starts at 5 p.m. as a hearing and will then be
continued as a workshop from 8 to 10 p.m.  - it takes place at "Bühne 602,
Warnowufer 55, Rostock" (please check the place at the very day once more).
With:
- Victor Nzuzi,  Via Campesina, from Kongo: Resource wars and the destruction of
small farmer agriculture;
- Solange Koné, CADTM (alliance against indebtedness), from the Ivory Coast:
'The debt trap";
- Amadou Mbow, AMDH (human rights organisation), from Mauritania: the situation
in the fisheries on the west African coast;
- Gyeke Tanoh, Africa Trade Network, from Ghana: the (topically  negotiated)
EPA-agreement;
- Maksym Butkevich, noborder Kiev, from Ukraine: backgrounds of migration and
the border regime in the Ukraine;
- Ngongang Celestin from the Refugee Initiative Brandenburg: the living
conditions of African refugees in Europe
- Karl Kopp, speaker from Pro Asyl on European issues and on the board of the
European Refugee Council (ECRE): how the asylum and migration politics
interlink with economic as well as political policy conditions

Thursday, 7 of June - workshop at the alternative summit
"Fortress Europe: EurAfrique and the Boat People"
9 to 11 a.m. - the workshop takes place in the "Nikolaikirche" ( Bei der
Nikolaikirche 1,
Rostock - please check the place  at the very day once more). With:
- Hicham Baraka, Oujda/Marokko, Human Rights Organisation A.B.C.D.S
- José Palazón Osma, Melilla, Children Rights Organisation  PRODEIN
- Stefan Schmidt, Lübeck, former captain of the Cap Anamur
- Karl Kopp, Frankfurt, speaker from Pro Asyl on European issues and on the
board of the European Refugee Council (ECRE)

Contact: 0173/2441720. For more information: www.g8-migration.net.tf or
www.nolager.de or www.noborder.org


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Japan PM announces date for G8 summit in 2008

TOKYO, May 19 (RIA Novosti) - A summit of the Group of Eight Industrialized
Nations (G8) in 2008 will be held on the northern Japanese Island of Hokkaido
on July 7-9, Japan's prime minister said Saturday.
Japan's Cabinet of Ministers earlier decided to host the summit in the spring
resort of Toyako on Hokkaido Island, mainly due to its favorable conditions to
provide security for the high-level participants of the meeting.  "I have
become convinced that this location [city of Toyako] is suitable to discuss
climate change isues that will top the discussion agenda next year," Shinzo Abe
told a news conference after his visit to the resort.  The G8 Group is an
international forum for the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. Each year, the G8 member countries take turns
to assume the presidency of the group. The presidency holder formulates the
group's annual agenda and hosts the summit for that year.  The G8 summit in
2008 is expected to discuss measures to limit carbon dioxide emissions in the
atmosphere beyond 2012 when the Kyoto protocol on climate change expires.  In
2007, the G8 summit will take place in Heiligendamm, Germany, on June 7. The
previous summit took place in July 2006 in St. Petersburg as Russia held last
year's rotating presidency in the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

[http://en.rian.ru/world/20070519/65742929.html]


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Personalities Support "Block G8" Call for Mass Blockades

Musicians, MPs, Academics, Media and Civil Society Personalities Support "Block
G8" Call for Mass Blockades of G8 Summit

Prominent musicians (like the British pop band Chumbawamba, Tocotronic
lead-singer Dirk von Lowtzow, and electro-pop artist Bernadette La Hengst), MPs
(like Ulla Jelpke, Nele Hirsch and Heike Hänsel of DIE LINKE), academics (like
Prof. Joachim Hirsch (Frankfurt), Prof. Wolf Dieter Naar (Berlin) and Prof.
John Holloway (Mexico)), media personalities (like journalist Naomi Klein
(author, 'No Logo')), playwrights and poets (like Howard Zinn and Dennis
Brutus), and civil society personalities (like Walden Bello (Director, Focus on
the Global South), Vandana Shiva (Founder, Navdana) and Sven Giegold (attac
Coordination Committee) have all pledged their public support for the Block G8
campaign for mass blockades of the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm next month.

An ever-growing list of prominent personalities have leant their names in
support of the Block G8 campaign for mass blockades of the G8 Summit - a
coalition involving around 120 different groups, organisations and projects.
Hundreds of other individuals have also pledged to take part in the Block G8
blockades, or declared their solidarity with those who will do so. Further
signatories are sought. Sign up via the Block G8 website (www.block-g8.org)!

The following is a list of initial signatories supporting the Block G8 campaign:
*Walden Bello, Director, Focus on the Global South
*Naomi Klein, Journalist. Author, 'No Logo' (Flamingo: 2000)
*Howard Zinn, Historian, Playwright and Social Activist. Author, 'A Peoples'
History of the United States: 1492 - Present' (Longman: 2002)
*Vandana Shiva, Founder, Navdanya. Author, 'Earth Democracy: Justice,
Sustainability, and Peace' (South End Press: 2005)
*Ulla Jelpke, Member of Parliament (MP) for DIE LINKE, Germany
*Dirk von Lowtzow, Musician with the band Tocotronic
*Prof. Dr. Frieder Otto Wolf (Ex-MdEP), FU Berlin, "Radikale Philosophie"
(Münster 2002)
*Prof. Dr. Joachim Hirsch, Universität Frankfurt am Main, "Materialistische
Staatstheorie" (Hamburg 2005)
*Dr. John Holloway, Professor, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at
the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico. Author, 'Change the World Without
Taking Power: The meaning of revolution today' (Pluto Press: 2002)
*Sven Giegold, Bundesweite Koordinierungskreis Attac Deutschland
*Heike Hänsel, Member of Parliament (MP) for Linkspartei Baden-Württemberg
*Dennis Brutus, Poet and Professor Emeritus from the University of Pittsburgh,
South Africa
*Chumbawamba, Band, UK
*Nele Hirsch, Member of Parliament (MP) for DIE LINKE, Germany
*Hilary Wainwright, Editor 'Red Pepper' magazine, UK
*Raul Zelik, Author, 'Berliner Verhältnisse', 'Bastard'), Political Scientist
and member of the Berlin Columbia Campaign Against Coca Cola
*Werner Rätz, Bundesweite Koordinierungskreis Attac Deutschland
*Dr. Reinhard Gaede, Bund der Religiösen Sozialistinnen und Sozialisten
Deutschlands e.V. *Bernadette La Hengst, Musikerin
*Chris Methmann, Bundesweite Koordinierungskreis Attac Deutschland
*Valery Alzaga, Justice for Janitors Global Campaign
*Paolo Virno, Philosophy Department, University of Calabria, Italy. Author, 'A
Grammar of the Multitude: For an analysis of contemporary forms of life'
(Semiotext[e]: 2004)
*Pedram Shahyar, Bundesweite Koordinierungskreis Attac Deutschland
*Prof. Teivo Teivainen, Director, Program on Democracy and Global
Transformation, San Marcos University, Peru. Author (with Heikki Patonäki), 'A
Possible World' (Zed Books: 2004)
*Prof. Dr. Stephan Lessenich, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Jena
*Jai Sen, CACIM (Critical Action Centre in Movement). Co-editor, 'World Social
Forum: Challenging Empires' (Viveka Foundation: 2004)
*Dr. Michael Ramminger, Institute for Theology and Politics, Münster, Germany
*Sandro Mezzadra, Associate Professor at the Department of Politics,
Institutions and History of the University of Bologna, Italy
*Tony Greenstein, Secretary Brighton & Hove TUC Unemployed Workers Centre, and
Brighton & Hove UNISON
*Dr. Silke van Dyk, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Jena
*Prof. Dr. Wolf Dieter Narr (Berlin), "Weltökonomie" (Frankfurt/M. 1994) sowie
div. Veröffentlichungen im Rahmen des Komitee für Grundrechte und Demokratie
*Prof. Chandra Muzaffar, Professor of Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Author, 'Global Ethic or Global Hegemony?'
*Dr. Bernd Röttger, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Jena
*Guy Taylor, Globalise Resistance, UK
*Jennifer Whitney, Founder and Director of the Latino Health Outreach Project of
New Orleans, New Orleans, USA
*Dario Azzellini, Sozialwissenschaftler, Autor und Filmemacher
*Karen Schierhorn, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Jena
*Dr. Amory Star, Author 'Global Revolt: A Guide to Alterglobalization' (2005:
Zed Books)
*Dr. Graeme Chesters, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, International
Centre for Participation Studies, Department of Peace Studies, University of
Bradford, UK
*Dr. Julian Reid, Lecturer in International Relations, King's College London.
Author, 'The Biopolitics of the War on Terror' (Manchester University Press:
2007)
*Prof. Simon Tormey, Director, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice
(CSSGJ), School of Politics and International Relations, University of
Nottingham. Author, 'Anti-Capitalism: A Beginners Guide' (One World: 2004)
*Harry Cleaver, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas, USA
*Simon Sottsas, Dipl.Pol., Politikwissenschaftler/Doktorand, FU Berlin
*Dr. Christina Gerhardt, Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow, Freie Universität Berlin
*Dr. David Harvie, Lecturer in Finance and Political Economy, University of
Leicester, UK
*Dr. Paul Chatterton, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of
Leeds, UK
*Dr. Isabelle Fremeaux, Lecturer in Media Studies, Birkbeck College, University
of London, UK
*Prof. George Caffentzis, Professor at the University of Southern Maine,
Portland, Maine, USA. Author, 'No Blood for Oil!: Energy, Class Struggle and
War 1998-2004' (www.radicalpolytics.org")
*Dr. Tadzio Müller, Independent Researcher, Berlin, Germany
*James Rowe, Lecturer at University of California, Santa Cruz, USA and
University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
*Teaching Staff on the Master of Arts (MA) course in 'Activism and Social
Change' at Leeds University, UK
*Dr. Ulrich Brinkmann, Institut für Soziologie, Universität Jena
*Stevphen Shukaitis, Lecturer in Management, Queen Mary's College, University of
London, UK. Co-editor, 'ephemera: theory and politics in organisation'
www.ephemeraweb.org
*Dr. Sian Sullivan, Lecturer in Environment and Development, University of East
Anglia, UK. Author, 'The Elephant in the Room? Problematizing 'new'
(neoliberal) biodiversity conservation' in Forum for Development Studies,
33(1).
*Dr. Jenna M. Loyd, Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow in the Humanities, Department of
Geography, Syracuse University, USA
*Professor Immanuel Ness, City University of New York
*Dr. Laurence Cox, Lecturer in Sociology, National University of Ireland,
Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Author, 'News from nowhere: the movement of Movements in
Ireland' (Manchester University Press: 2006)
*Nina Isabella Moeller, PhD student and Research Assistant, Centre for the
Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen), Lancaster University,
England
*Prof. Leo Panitch, Senior Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political
Economy, York University, Toronto, Canada. Author, 'Globaler Kapitalismus und
amerikanisches Imperium' (Hamburg 2004) (Verfasser zusammen mit Sam Gindin)
*Prof. Sam Gindin, Packer Chair in Social Justice, York University, Toronto,
Canada. Author, 'Globaler Kapitalismus und amerikanisches Imperium' (Hamburg
2004) (Verfasser zusammen mit Leo Panitch)
*Andrej Grubacic, Researcher at the Fernand Braudel Center, SUNY Binghamton, USA
*Prof. Georgy Katsiaficas, Professor of Humanities Associate in Research,
Wentworth Institute of Technology Harvard University, USA. President, Peace
Island Foundation and Author, 'The Subversion of Politics'
*Dr. Andrew Robinson, Early Career Fellow, School of Politics, University of
Nottingham, UK. Author (with Prof. Simon Tormey) 'Horizontals and Verticals'.
*Dr Sara Gonzalez, Lecturer, School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK
*Prof. Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Geography, School of Environment and
Development, Manchester University, UK.
*Prof. Ananya Mukherjee Reed, Professorin für Politikwissenschaft, York
University, Toronto, Canada
*Dr. Henning Melber, Executive Director, The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Sweden
*Oscar Reyes, Editor 'Red Pepper' magazine, UK
*Dr Stuart Hodkinson, Research Fellow, ESRC Autonomous Geographies Research
Project, School of Geography, University of Leeds
*Jean Grossholtz, Member: Western Mass Global Action Coalition South Hadley, MA
USA and Women and Life on Earth Berlin, Germany.
*Ishani Erasmus, Administrative Officer, Iyengar Yoga Association UK
*John Jordan, Artist, UK
*Milena Placentile, Curator
*Robb Johnson, Songwriter, UK
*Greg Albo, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, York
University, Toronto, Canada.
*Chris Carlsson, President, CounterPULSE and Director, Shaping San Francisco,
USA
To add your name to this list, email: info at block-g8.org


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The strike of Telekom and a lack of security threat communication

16.05.2007 - MVregio Landesdienst red/dbr
The Telekom strikes last for days now. If one tends to believe the announcements
of ver.di [services umbrella union] the Telekom workers of the G8-Team will
start participating in the strikes today.
This could lead to problems on the summit that noone thought of so far. Some of
the Telecommunications-workers are not only worried because of the strikes. The
talk about a highspeed-cable recently laid especially for the G8 summit. It
shall transfer data, television pictures and telephone calls and runs nearly
unprotected in little depth along the road between Kühlungsborn, Heiligendamm
und Bad Doberan.
According to their information al communication that depends on wires will go
through this cable. This is exactly where experts of the telecom see the
problem arising, as it is more or less impossible to protect the newly laid
cable at a length of 30 kilometers it could become an easy target for militant
summit opponents. Additionally most of it is located on grounds free to enter.
Only a small part of the cable runs through the security zone around
Heiligendamm protected by the fence. Why the cable has not be secured better is
a miracle to the experts. However it needs a lot of efforts and money to secure
earthbound cables.
Connected to this cable will be the International Press Center in Kühlungsborn
as well as the Communications Center in Heiligendamm, being build right now. To
damage or cut the cable would more or less bring to a standstill the whole
summit, as communication than would only be possible through socalled redundant
systems and directional radio.
But this directional radio is planned to be exclusively used by the security
forces and there are little capacities for civil use. For the International
Press Center in Kühlungsborn it would be like switching off the light, say
Telekom experts. Certainly the bigger TV stations have their own
satelite-up-links to send their pictures to the editors, but the whole writing
press as well as the press agencies would be more or less knocked out by a
breakdown of the connection.
The Telekom Press Center in BOnn didn´t want to give a statement to that, but
mentioned that the summit is a question of prestige for them as well. They did
think about all situations possible and do not see risks to be realy severe.