[imc-presse] [Int-press-g8] G8 Rostock: Open letter to the Press

[int-press-g8 at lists.nadir.org]

For Immediate Release: June 5, 2007

Contact:
Lisa Fithian, Austin,TX / +49 17629799874 / fithianl at igc.org /
Logan Price, Seattle, Wa / +49 16092437902/ logan at riseup.net
Nick Simmons, Vashon,WA / technocrat.nick at gmail.com
Causten Wollerman, Denver, CO / 303.748 0922 / causten.wollerman at gmail.com
Eric Freeman,Minneapolis, MN / erriiik at riseup.net (speaks German)
Ian Markson, San Francisco, CA / IanEMarkson at yahoo.com,
Val Algarza, Denver, CO / 31610647398
Michal Asterweil, Chapel Hill, NC / 0049015774630929
David Zlutnick, CA, davidzlutnick at gmail.com
Brandon Letsinger, Seattle, WA, cascadianow at gmail.com
Luke Rodeheffer, Rodchester, MN, unspunmedia at gawab.com (speaks German)


An Open Letter to the Press
Rostock, G8 2007: There is Something Terribly Wrong Here

Here in Germany, as major protests begin against the G8, the world press 
is not looking beyond the story of the battle – a partial story at best 
– and asking how or why it is happening

Summit after summit, we have seen the same pattern in the media. The 
images of black clad protestors hurling rocks at police, the stories of 
senseless hooligans -- those whom the government says should be punished 
and locked away.

These stories and images of street fighting do nothing but spread fear, 
criminalize protests, divide social movements, and distract the public 
from the story of the G8 and their unaccountable polices that are 
spreading militarism, poverty, violence, environmental destruction and 
climate change.

It is easy to condemn those who throw a rock or burn a car, but most of 
what we are seeing in Rostock is police blatantly provoking violence, 
using that same violence to justify ever more heavy-handed repression. 
Each day we are experiencing constant harassment, searches and 
humiliation imposed on us in the streets and on bikes, trains and 
borders, with no evidence of crime.

According to an official statement 13,000 police were present in Rostock 
on Saturday – all were well-armed and wearing lots of protective gear. 
There were small bands of police running into crowds, pushing, shoving 
and encircling protestors in a legally permitted rally. We saw 
nonviolent protestors who were trying to de-escalate the situation 
bludgeoned with batons and pepper sprayed. We saw huge water cannons 
infused with toxic chemicals spraying indiscriminately. Why is the press 
not reporting these acts of violence by the police? If violence makes 
such good headlines, why does the violence of poverty created by G8 
policy go un-condemned?

Perhaps we might begin to understand if we look deeper. We may see that 
such violent confrontations have become a symptom of social and economic 
systems that values property over life, prisons over education, sprawl 
over sustainability, borders over migration, war over peace. We might 
see that it is in the interest of the police and the G8 to have such 
street fights, to justify the 90 million euros spent on security (in 
Germany alone). We might understand that repression and the violence of 
police is designed to thwart democracy and silence dissent.

But we who oppose the G8 will not be silent and we not be stopped. We 
understand that things are terribly wrong and that without such protests 
our voices will not be heard at all.

For ongoing independent coverage of events near Rostock: de.indymedia.org

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distributes on behalf of the groups or individuals  who use its service. Media
G8way is an international press service  for individuals, groups, networks and
(dis)organizations who understand themselves to be part of an independent
radical left movement against the G8.

Contact:
Alex Smith +49 16092437902
Jo Smith + 49 015774630348
g8-press-int at nadir.org
http://dissentnetzwerk.org/node/2669