[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] Strasbourg/ Baden-Baden

[International Newsletter]

- We need an Independent Media Centre!
- Informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Krakow, Poland, 19-20 February 2009
- IMF warns of economic riots
- THERE'S NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE

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We need an Independent Media Centre!

Callout for the organisation of an IMC during the protests against the
NATO-Summit 2009 in Strasbourg

On the 3rd and 4th of April of 2009 the NATO is going to give it’s own birthday
party in Strasbourg/France and Baden-Baden/Germany. We shouldn’t miss this
date, of course. Already since April 2008 people in the region, in France and
Germany and in many other countries are working on the organisation of protests
against this jubilee of warmongers.

Up to now an important part of the infrastructure is still missing: an
Independent Media Centre! Could you imagine this protest without an IMC?

We don’t want to have to rely on the bourgeois press, we don’t want to “read”
about our actions only in the german tabloid paper “BILD”.

We want grasroots reporting.

We want reports and pictures coming from “the movement” and making a stand. A
stand for our visions! Who beside than us for ourselves could be able to do
this?

We as local activists are of course busy doing thousands of other things. We
neither have the know-how, nor the equipement for setting up an IMC. At the
moment there is not even a place for it


Because of this we invite all media-activists, computerfreaks,
organization-talents and all others interested in setting up an IMC for this
event, to get in contact with us, take it in their hands and just do it!

Sink NATO 2009!

with solidary greetings, resistance des deux rhives / widerstand der zwei ufer
(resistance of the two banks)

http://natogipfel2009.blogsport.de

Source: http://natogipfel2009.blogsport.de/images/CalloutIMC_01.pdf


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Informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Krakow, Poland, 19-20 February 2009

1. Information

Defence Ministers will hold informal meetings in Krakow, Poland, on Thursday 19
and Friday 20 February 2009, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary
General, Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Minister of Defence of Poland, His
Excellency Mr Bogdan Klich, will host the meetings.

2. Programme and pools

The detailed Media Programme will be available upon accreditation. All media
events will be transmitted live to the Media Centre via closed circuit TV. Via
a system of pools, a restricted number of visual media will be invited to cover
events with limited access. By accepting a pool card, cameramen and
photographers agree to share their material with colleagues who have not had
direct access to the venue. Pool cards will be available for pick-up from the
Media Centre Information Desk from 10:00 on Thursday, 19 February.

A Conference will be held on 19 and 20 February and will be open for coverage by
the media. The event to be organised by the Kracow-based Institute of Strategic
Studies, a forum on Euroatlantic Security, will focus on “NATO before the
Jubilee Summit – Does the Alliance need a New Strategic Concept?”.
Further information can be obtained from the ISS Project coordinator Tomasz Ozog
or Media Assistant Ewa Bienkowska. For details please contact :

Tomasz Ozog
Projet Coordinator
Tel : +48 12 421 97 04
Fax : +48 12 421 62 50
E-mail : t.ozog at iss.krakow.pl

Or

Ewa Bienkowska
Media Assistant
Tel : +48 12 421 97 04
Fax : +48 12 421 62 50
E-mail : e.bienkowska at iss.krakow.pl

3. Venue

The Sheraton Hotel (ul. Powiśle 7, 31-101 Krakow) will be the venue for the
ministerial meetings. The Media Centre will be located at the Auditorium Maximum
of the Jagiellonski University (ul. Krupnicza 35, 31-123 Krakow). The Media
Accreditation Office will be located in one of the designated media hotels, the
Novotel Centre Hotel (ul. Tadeusza Kościuszki 5, 30-105 Krakow).

4. Accreditation and security checks

All Media representatives wishing to cover the ministerial meetings need to
request accreditation. Applications for accreditation can only be made
electronically on-line via internet, by clicking on the following link:
https://my.hq.nato.int/jas.

The accreditation process is summarised on the NATO Website at the following
link: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-147e.html. It requires interested
media representatives to create a user name and password and to provide a
digital picture (3.5 x 4.5 cm passport-size photograph in JPEG format).
Applications for accreditation should be made no later than noon on Monday 16
February 2009. Applications received after that date may encounter delay or be
rejected. Media representatives having completed the request for accreditation
on the internet must bring a print-out of the request confirmation. Late
requests will not be considered for pools.

Access to the Media Centre requires a media pass. Media passes will not be
mailed to applicants and must be picked up in person at the Media Accreditation
Office upon presentation of a valid I.D. card or passport and a valid press card
(or letter of accreditation from a recognised media organization).

Passes must be worn visibly at all times and secondary identification may always
be asked for by security personnel. Media representatives are informed that
security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects
carried onto the site, and they are advised to arrive with sufficient lead time
to clear security checks.

Television and radio broadcasters, wire services and photo agencies bringing
bulky equipment are particularly urged to bring it into the Media Centre prior
to 12:00 on Wednesday, 18 February 2009.

5. Hours of operation

Accreditation Office
Media Centre
Wed 18 Feb 10:00 – 18:00 08:00 – 20:00
Thu 19 Feb 08:00 – 20:00 08:00 – End of operations
Fri 20 Feb 07:00 – 14:30 07:00 – End of operations
6. Broadcasting

Twelve television (each with Internet and phone) and 8 radio editing booths
(each with ISDN, Internet and phone) are located in the Media Centre. A TV
studio, a radio interview room and 2 TV stand up positions are also available.

Satellite uplink trucks and O.B. vans will be parked next to the Media Centre.

The Host Television Broadcaster, Telewizja Polska SA (TVP SA), will provide live
coverage of arrivals of delegations, the public sessions of all meetings, and
major international news conferences. If live transmission of events is not
possible, it will be broadcast as soon as possible via CCTV.

For enquiries or to book a TV studio or TV editing booth, please contact:

Piotr Lenarczyk
Telephone: +48 601 600 260
E-mail: tv_nato2009 at tvp.pl

The Host Radio Broadcaster, Polskie Radio SA (PR SA), will provide the signal
and technical assistance. For enquiries, or to book the radio studio or a radio
editing booth, please contact:

Anna Godek
Telephone: + 48 508 011 383
Fax : + 48 22 645 53 57
E-mail: anna.godek at polskieradio.pl

7. Communications

Laptop computers will need to be equipped with RJ 45 plugs in order to be able
to connect to the LAN high-speed communication network in the Media Centre.
Five ISDN lines will be available in the press working area for radio
transmissions.
Please check if you need to use a Euro ISDN standard adaptor. Electricity supply
in Poland is at 220 volts and plugs have two round pins.

8. Accommodation

Media representatives are encouraged to book their hotel rooms as soon as
possible. The two recommended hotels (see below) are next to each other, and
the Novotel will host a reception for the media on 19 February in the evening.
Hotel Novotel Center
Tadeusza Kościuszki 5
30-105 Krakow

Point of contact :
Sabina Kowal
Telephone : + 48 12 299 29 17
Fax : + 48 12 299 29 99
Email : H3372-SB1 at accord.com
Use this hotel reservation form to book your room.

Hotel Ibis Center
Syrokomli 2
30-105 Krakow

Point of contact :
Katarzyna Leszczynska
Telephone : + 48 12 299 33 00
Fax : + 48 12 299 33 33
Courriel : H3710 at accord.com
Use this hotel reservation form to book your room.

9. Transport

Transport for the media representatives will be provided from the recommended
hotel to the event sites and back. Transport from the airport to the
recommended media hotel is the responsibility of each media representative.

10. Enquiries

* Mr. Dariusz KRYSZK

Polish Media Coordinator
Telephone: +48 607 279 822
Fax: +48 22 6 879 850
E-mail: dkryszk at mon.gov.pl

* Mr. Damien ARNAUD

NATO Media Coordinator
Tel.:+32 2 707 50 38
Fax: +32 2 707 50 57
E-mail: press-at-krakow at hq.nato.int

Tel: +32 (0)2 707 50 41 - Fax: +32 (0)2 707 50 57
press at hq.nato.int - http://www.nato.int
Source: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-160e.html


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IMF warns of economic riots

Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must prep for
unrest

A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of
Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to
civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on
beleaguered banks.

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense
establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order
and human security,” said the War College report.
The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among
possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned
Wednesday of economy-related riots and unrest in various global markets if the
financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are hurt by
credit constraints and rising unemployment.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., both said
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he
pushed for the Wall Street bailout in September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs
CEO, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.

State and local police in Arizona say they have broad plans to deal with social
unrest, including trouble resulting from economic distress. The security and
police agencies declined to give specifics, but said they would employ existing
and generalized emergency responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.

“The Phoenix Police Department is not expecting any civil unrest at this time,
but we always train to prepare for any civil unrest issue. We have a Tactical
Response Unit that trains continually and has deployed on many occasions for
any potential civil unrest issue,” said Phoenix Police spokesman Andy Hill.

“We have well established plans in place for such civil unrest,” said Scottsdale
Police spokesman Mark Clark.

Clark, Hill and other local police officials said the region did plenty of
planning and emergency management training for the Super Bowl in February in
Glendale.

“We’re prepared,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dave Trombi citing
his office’s past dealings with immigration marches and major events.

Super Bowl security efforts included personnel and resources from the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military’s Northern Command, which
coordinated with Arizona officials. The Northern Command was created after 9/11
to have troops and Defense Department resources ready to respond to security
problems, terrorism and natural disasters.

Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek and Arizona Army National Guard
Major. Paul Aguirre said they are not aware of any new planning for domestic
situations related to the economy.

Nick Dranias, director of constitutional government at the libertarian Goldwater
Institute, said a declaration of marital law would be an extraordinary event and
give military control over civilian authorities and institutions. Dranias said
the Posse Comitatus Act restricts the U.S. military’s role in domestic law
enforcement. But he points to a 1994 U.S. Defense Department Directive (DODD
3025) he says allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic
situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage.

Dranias said such an emergency declaration could worsen the economic situation
and doubts extreme measures will been taken. “I don’t think it’s likely. But
it’s not impossible,” he said.

The economy is in recession. Consumer spending is down, foreclosures are up and
a host of businesses are laying off workers and struggling with tight credit
and the troubled housing and financial markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank
and U.S. Treasury Department have pumped more than $8.5 trillion into the
economy via equity purchases of bank stocks, liquidity infusions, Wall Street
and bank bailouts and taxpayer rebates. U.S. automakers are seeking more than
$14 billion in federal loans with fears they could fall into bankruptcy without
a bailout. The U.S. housing and subprime lending-induced recession also has hit
economies in Europe, Japan and China.

Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office declined comment on emergency planning and
possible civil unrest. Napolitano is president-elect Barack Obama’s pick for
secretary of Homeland Security, an agency that oversees airport security,
disaster response, border security, customs and anti-terrorism efforts.

As governor, Napolitano sent National Guard troops to Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station in 2003 in response to terrorism threats.

Glendale Police spokesman Jim Toomey said the West Valley suburb developed new
emergency plans with the approach of Y2K computer changeovers leading up to the
year 2000 and police have updated those plans several times including after
9/11. Toomey said strategies to deal with public unrest usually involve
deploying personnel and equipment to deal with specific incidents while still
providing usual services.

Source: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/12/15/daily34.html


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THERE'S NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE

The police impunity

Unfortunately, the brutal assassination of Alexis Grigoropoulos was not a bolt
out of the blue. It was a killing in cold blood, insane, unprovoked, and
constitutes a foretold death, regardless of what the assassin cop and his
'godfather' atorney say. And this, precisely because the hand of the killer was
armed by the pervasive, impune, and legalized police violence against
immigrants, drug addicts, gypsies, "restless" youth, the indiscriminate police
state, the consolidation of the policial cannibalism and the Rambo-cop figure,
who bloats about how many immigrants he's beaten up and how many "junkies" he
has humiliated.

Unfortunately, Alexis was sacrificed upon the altar of "security",  that has the
cities filled with uniform-clad assassins, that has immigrants drown in the
Aegean, that tries to convince the employed and unemployed man, the potentially
employed, the man who just got sacked, that no, he's not threatened by the rich,
the capital, the state and the multinationals, but by the poor, the hunted, the
bulies, the homeless, the other.

However utopian and paradoxical, we insist:

-Dissolve Riot Police and Special Guards.
-Disarm the police.

The looting of our lives

Neo-liberalism does not just mean  uncontrolled markets. Nor does it just
constitute greater exploitation and repression of the poor. Above all,
neo-liberalism is the rampant domination of the poor by the rich, the absolute
contempt to the individual and collective human rights, and even worse, their
daemonisation, that constitutes in that they're the reason of the poverty and
abjection, that rule the earth.

Fortunately, the myth of "the End of History" has collapsed. The ideologeme of
the "prosperity of the free markets" is ridiculed. The global economic crisis
leaves no margin for illusions in the light of the masters' lies.

The Karamanlis government took the public sector apart, let prices soar, looted
the state property, robbed the social security funds, he doomed hundreds of
thousands of people to insecurity, poverty and social disqualification. And to
succeed in this, they worshipped the omnivoracity of the Church, the
cannibalism of Justice and the Police. It is the government of looting
everything, a government that deprived itself of the right to talk about
"looting" and "protection of property".

Off with this government, that damages the environment, that sells the public
sector out, that dishonors human labor, that kill refugees and assassinates
children! Not for the purpose of having it replaced with PASOK, that killed
Kaltetzas and voted for the law against terrorism. But because we cannot stand
them, because we deserve a decent life.

The uprising

The brutal killing of Alexis triggered off the greatest uprising since the
political change-over of 1974. Broader, more massive, geographically more
dispersed and harder than 25 May '76 against Law 330, than the eighties
Polytechnic movement, the movement against the assassination of Michalis
Kaltetzas in 1985, and the explosion that followed the assassination of Nikos
Temponeras in January 1991. What stands before us is a majestic uprising
against the police.

This killing is not just the result of the brutal execution of Alexis
Grigoropoulos. It expressed the suffocation, the rage, the hate of a whole
world ("precariato" they call it),  that, on daily basis, goes through the
reality of  the virtuous world of the rich: Insecurity, employment roaming,
daily humiliation, police violence at the square, in the stadium, in the
streets, suppression of every hope for a better life.

Among the thousands of people that exchange stones (but also break anything from
banks to - wrongly so, but, unfortunately so explicably, small shops) are to be
found great parts of our youth, underemployed, unemployed, students, school
children, native and foreign, public spirited or not, that find an opportunity
to express their hate for the cops and the rich, the symbols of power, wealth
and consumerism,  but also for what they desire but do not possess in this
system of false luxury and the "prosperous hypocrisy".

To their credit, great parts of the radical Left, apart from the
anarchist-antiauthoritarian gamut, that has been taking part in the
confrontations out of principle, despite their disagreement to the damages and
the destruction, they did not line up with the order, they did not condemn the
riots, they got out in the streets, they protested together with the masked,
they screamed "they talk about profit and loss, we talk about the life of a
child lost", they understood that "practice precedes theory" and raised their
fists up high against police brutality. We hope they carry on....

When the young get shot, the Left apologizes not!

Disobedience and confrontation

>From Brixton to Los Angeles to Genova, and the riots in the suburbs of Paris, 
in reality howsoever it is proved that the paths and ways of social resistance
are determined by the general conditions of the society and the movement. What
can we do? The state of the society, the movement and the Left (and all its
constituent forces) propels us out in the streets by the thousands in rage for
the assassination of the 15 year old boy but does not suffice for the
development of a spirited movement with a coherent political plan. Would you
prefer anniversary protests? Isn't it better to consider how this social
potential that is looted and suffocated can express itself in effective ways?

We, the Network of Civil and Social Rights, unconditionally support and take
part in this uprising against the government, the rich and the police.

We salute the collective rage against the governmental looting and terrorism,
the wrath of millions of people in the light of the assassination of Alexis
Grigoropoulos, the participation of tens of thousands of teenagers and
youngsters in the assaults against police stations.

Against the prime minister's statements of power, and the oppositions' worship
of lawfulness, the "operations of virtue" by cops, "disgusted citizens" and
fascists, the worker's union bows to lawfulness and order, the
"class-inexorable" Communist Party, the perversion of reality and defamation by
the media, mainly television, we declare the there can be only one answer:

Social struggles are neither innocent nor guilty, social struggles are just.
When thousands wear hoods, they have a face!

Athens, 9 December 2008

Network for Political and Social Rights

Source: email