STOP G8
! YA BASTA! Despite police repression and political propaganda, the summit will face one of the biggest mobilisations ever to shut down the G8.
IMPORTANT
Legal Team Telephone Number
The telephone number of Legal Team during the G8 summit: 0049 - (0)3820 - 4768111
For any legal help during the summit you can contact this number. The lawyers will be informed of your case. Please publicise the number.
Contact Points: The Convergence-Centers in Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock
Latest infos, local maps, legal hints and similar things will be available
To enlarge image, click
here.Protest Line UpFriday 1st June:Temporary re-settlement of the "Bombodrom" - Area
(
Call and infos |
Dissent!)
Saturday 2nd June:
International Demonstration in Rostock (
Call) ::
Stop the nazi demonstration in Schwerin (
Infos) ::
6pm:
Move Against G8 ConcertSunday 3rd June:Action Day on Agriculture (
Dissent!)
Monday 4th June:Action Day on Flight & Migration Morning: Decentralized activities in and around Rostock
1pm: Demonstration to the center of Rostock,
5pm: Concert at the place of the final gathering of the demonstration,
7.30pm: Panel discussion
In general: Activities at refugee camps, deportation authorities, etc.
(
g8-migration.net.tf |
no-racism.net |
No Lager |
Dissent!)
Tuesday 5th June:Action Day against militarism and war
Blockade of the airport Rostock-Laage (Attention: Most likely this will be changed to June 6th, when the state representatives arrive)
(
Call |
Freie Heide)
Wednesday 6th June:
Mass blockades against the G8 Summit (
Call |
Block G8)
Thursday 7th June:Demonstration from Nienhagen, Kühlungsborn, Bad Doberan, Kröpelin
Get There
There are many
buses from several german cities and from Belgium, Austria, and the Netherlands going to Rostock.
(Overview of ALB) Furthermore Attac has organized three
special trains to Rostock. They start in Salzburg (AUT), Basel (CH) and in Bonn (GER).
There are Convergence-Centers in
Berlin and
Hamburg, where you can try to organize your journey to Rostock, moreover people are planning to make car parades to Rostock, Schwerin or Heiligendamm to be more protected against repression.
The
local train operator announced to offer a special Ticket for the time around the summit. It can be used for the public transportation system (2nd to 9th of june, 15 Euros). Tickets can be bought in the ticket selling counters, in regional busses and trains.
Accommodation
The
Camp Working Group is trying to organize accommodation for those who come to protest around Heiligendamm. The actual situation is that there will be three camps, one in
Rostock, one in
Reddelich, and one in
Wichmannsdorf. The camp in Rostock is closer to the activities of the first days, the others are closer to the place where the summit takes place.
Map of camps around Heiligendamm (camping-07.de)The camps have serious financial problems! Please support them with
donations if you can.
Donate
The protests against the g8-summit really cost a lot of money and all sectors rely on donations. For this purpose are numerous possibilities and can be found on the single sites of the sectors. The
Camp and the Independent Media Centre badly need donations.
This will be updated frequently whenever updates are received. STOP G8!
Technorati Tags: G8, Heiligendamm, Rostock and Mobilization.
Labels: G8, Heiligendamm, Mobilization, Rostock
German Police Use Stasi Scent Profiling on G8 Protestors
This is getting more and more absurd
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Stasi scent-tracking methods are being used to keep a check on selected protesters planning to demonstrate at next month's G8 summit.
Scent traces collected directly from everything from people's palm sweat to their vests and cigarette lighters have been made available to investigators so that sniffer dogs can detect potentially violent protesters, federal prosecutors confirmed yesterday following reports in the German media.
"This has happened to several suspects," said Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for the prosecutors. It is believed that most samples were collected during recent early-morning raids across Germany.
The revelations have immediately led to comparisons with the methods of the former East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, who habitually collected the scents of dissidents to identify suspects at a later date. It was thought that such chilling espionage techniques had been consigned to history.
But the news that similar methods are to be deployed at the upcoming summit in a democratic Germany has further angered activists already fuming over the construction of a 7.5-mile barbed-wire fence around the venue, at Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast.
"[This is] another step away from a democratic state of law towards a preventive security state," said Petra Pau, a member of the opposition Left party. "A state that adopts the methods of the East German Stasi robs itself of every legitimacy."
But according to experts it is as legal as collecting fingerprints. Scientists looking to expand the use of smell banks say it is possible to determine someone's age, their sex and any illnesses they might have through traces of their body odour.
A 68-year-old atomic energy protester from Hamburg, identified by police as a possible danger to the G8 summit, reported how investigators knocked on his door at 8am and demanded scent samples from him.
The man said he was made to hold metal pipes in his hands - as palms give off an immediate scent - which were then sealed and marked with his name before being taken away.
The police have responded to the reports by saying that they are trying to find out the sender of letters confessing to 14 arson attacks in the Hamburg and Berlin areas which are believed to be connected to the anti-G8 movement. They hope that a scent register will help them to do so. Police say they suspect that the same people are planning fire bombs and other attacks on the June 6-8 meeting.
Summit opponents are trying through the courts to lift a ban on a so-called "star march" planned at Heiligendamm on June 7, introduced after an interior ministry decision to prevent protesters coming within five miles of the resort.
The number of car burnings in Berlin has risen considerably over the past fortnight as tension rises, as have incidences of anti-G8 graffiti.
Technorati Tags: G8, Germany, Stasi, Profile, Protest and Protestor.
Labels: G8, Germany, Profile, Protest, Protestor, Stasi
Urgent Appeal Against G8 Demo Ban
Last year, the World Bank and IMF chose Singapore as the venue for the meetings knowing that the country has little tolerance for demonstrations. This time, Germany follows suit.
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- G8: Urgent appeal lodged against demonstration ban. If necessary, the ’star-march’ coalition plan to take matters all the way to the federal courts.
- G8 countries’ foreign policies are given as the reason for the “police emergency”.
Press Release May 18th 2007 [Gipfelsoli Infogruppe | International Press Group]
All demonstrations in the vicinity of Heiligendamm have been prohibited under a General Ban issued by the German Office for Association. The grounds behind the fence and a 4 kilometre area around the perimetre of the fence fall under the ban. With this ban, the protests are to be held at a 6 kilometre distance.The planned ’star march’ is one of the initiatives that is affected by these measures. With the motto, ‘taking the protest to Heiligendamm’, the star march is intended to end with a closing rally in Heiligendamm. Today, the star march coalition is lodging an urgent appeal against the ruling. A decision is expected at the end of next week. “If necessary, we will have our right to protest confirmed by the federal courts”, a speaker for the star march coalition said. The prohibited area stretches from the camp in Reddelich almost all the way to the camp in Wichmannsdorf. A speaker of the BAO “Kavala” has declared that a congregation of 3 people within this area is illegal under the ruling. “This means that we can’t even leave the camp in groups of 3 and walk next to one another without the police breaking us up”, says a camp participant of the WomenLesbianTransgender Network. The rationale for the ban, according to “Kavala”, lies with the foreign policies of the G8 countries. A “latent threat situation” exists for the representatives of the G8 countries because of the wars in “Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine”. Even the German Government is perceived as endangered, because of its “increasing engagement in conflict regions”. What is meant is the war in Afghanistan.
Hanne Jobst of the Gipfelsoli Infogruppe finds this reasoning absurd: “Protest is forbidden because it would have negative effects for foreign decision-makers. The G8 makes decisions that affect the lives of millions of people every day, without the legitimacy to do so, yet inthe opinion of the police, the G8 should not have to be subjected to these people’s anger”.
Even popstar Herbert Groenemeyer has to admit this: “There is real anger”, he explained in the German newspaper ‘taz’ the day before yesterday.
Conicidentally, this week in Scotland, charges against five activists who were arrested and detained on their way to a closing demonstration at the conference hotel in Gleneagles during the 2005 G8 summit, were dropped. “As always during summit protests the police use arbitrary and often illegal measures to prevent protest from reaching those it seeks to criticise”, Gerda Achterhuis of the Dutch Dissent network argues.
“The move to ban the demonstration does not surprise us. However, we will not let ourselves be intimidated and will continue to mobilise for the star march and all other actions against the G8 meeting.”
Gipfelsoli Infogruppe: +49 0160 95314023
International Press Group: +49 160 92437902
Background:
Public statement of the police department Rostock (detailed justification for the ban, 23 pages)
Technorati Tags: G8, Appeal, Protest, Ban, Dissent and Oppress.
Labels: Appeal, Dissent, G8, Oppress, Protest, World Bank
Wolfowitz Quits
A very accurate article, Wolfowitz simplified. Good riddance.
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Paul Wolfowitz, master mind of the Iraq War, left his post as U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary, after he got the destruction of Iraq that he and his Ziocon conspirators wanted. Bush then handed him the job of president of the World Bank where he and others thought he would advance the bank's debt and exploitation of the third world. But a man who cannot control his own sex urges cannot be expected manage the coffers of the Global Corporate Empire. His "resignation" and the chaotic struggle within the World Bank comes as one more piece of evidence that the empire is in crisis.
The hatred his World Bank colleagues quickly developed for him turned into an internicine, capitalist battle that left Wolfowitz vulnerable. When he was first trapped with his corruption, he pouted, a pathetic sullen figure - complaining that a "smear campaign" was being executed against him. Then he turned rabid against his colleagues at the World Bank, "If they fuck with me or Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too." Finally, today, he was cornered and this Bush-backed rat caved in and resigned. Bush was quoted in the news today saying, "I'm sorry it turned out this way".
Tonight, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson attempted to defend him on the PBS Jim Lehrer show. A stumbling, fumbling Paulson side-stepped every question asked him by Jim Lehrer, knowing full-well that Wolfowitz stood naked and without a credible defense. In a last desperate attempt to salvage something-Wolfowitz, Paulson told Lehrer that Wolfowitz "planted seeds" in Africa that will bear fruit in the future, attempting to depict him as a humanitarian. If Paul Wolfowitz planted any seeds in Africa during his brief tenure, they will only produce more enslaving third-world debt for which the Bank is now well-known.
In his career death-throes, Wolfowitz used the U.S. government to leverage a few face-saving words on his behalf and no doubt he will leave with money in his pocket. But Paul Wolfowitz will always be known for the millions of lives he has destroyed in Iraq and the destruction he has wrought in the Middle East and throughout the world. He thought his escape from the Iraqi War was clean, leaving the failure in the lap of George Walker Bush. But oh how the mighty are fallen. We share the knowledge with millions of others that the natural order of things and the new world revolution has brought down this enemy of the people. But the real reason Wolfowitz was canned is much deeper than his tawdry sex life. One has to look at the corruption and international exploitation of the World Bank to understand.
Technorati Tags: WorldBank, Wolfowitz and Quits.
Labels: Paul Wolfowitz, Quits, World Bank
Raids in Germany for G8 = Aimless?
International Press Group Campinskicontact: g8-press-int 'AT' nadir.org
To all editorials
Raids against G8 opponents: "Operation Aimless" by Federal Supreme Court prosecutors triggers even more mobilization capacity for G8 protests. Press release by the persons concerned
Yesterday, a nationwide search of left projects and individuals was taking place in Germany. The Federal Supreme Court prosecutor Monika Harms used these searches to criminalize and split the broad resistance against the G8. The raids proved to be a total failure.
The intended intimidation of the left scene and the entire G8 protest movement did not succeed. Yesterday evening, more than 10,000 people in several German and European cities took to the streets to express spontaneously their solidarity. The wave of repression has triggered an even larger mobilization against the G8 summit that will take place from 6-8 of June in Northern Germany.
Comparison of the different raids in 40 places reveals an uncoordinated and aimless operation on the part of the investigation authorities. Some examples: at least two of the accused persons have not been searched at all. Others have been searched carefully, while some just superficially. Some persons have been subjected to lengthy identification procedures and have been forced to make a DNA test, but not all of them.
Many search orders were justified by claims that the authors of the book "Autonome in Bewegung" (English: Autonomous in Movement) are members of a terrorist group. This book, which is already published in its third edition, was used to justify the searches of bookshops, editorials, archives and other left projects. The book is available in any bookshop for €20, and has never previously been an object of criminal prosecution.
The alternative Internet platform "so36.net" was searched as well. Thereby, the complete content of the mailbox of a lawyer and a lawyer's office was confiscated.
The search of another person was motivated by alleged participation in an arson attack on the Dussmann Company. The accused person was observed with Internet surveillance. According to the search order he is accused of having done extensive Internet research about the Dussman Company. This is the only evidence that should prove his participation in the attack.
If this is supposed to be the juridicial practice of the future, the doors are opened for arbitrariness: anyone visiting an Internet portal risks being subjected to criminal prosecution.
Yet another accused person is suspected of participation in an arson attack on the base of being present at a public event.
All accused persons are active in the preparations of the protests against the G8 summit: the preparation of the action day about global agriculture, the day of action about migration, the day of action against militarism, and the blockades of the military airport Rostock Laage, as well as many other planned activities.
"We will mobilize even more now for the protests and we are glad that the Federal Supreme Court prosecutor’s actions gave us additional momentum", the accused persons explained this morning.
Technorati Tags: G8, Heiligendamm and Raid.
Labels: G8, Heiligendamm, Raid
Day of Oppression in Germany
Over 800 policemen were involved in raiding 40 left-wing political objects with the support of 20 public prosecutors.
Whilst German television channels reported live from the razzias in the big cities, according to the populist press farms in Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg and Niedersachsen were also affected.
Several reasons were given so far for the raids, which nevertheless seemed to centre on and affect mainly infrastructure and logistics around the protests against the G8 summit.
Raids have taken place in:
Berlin (at least 8 places):
- Bethanien, two offices (Mariannenplatz)
- Mehringhof, bookshop Schwarze Risse (Gneisenaustr.)
- Umbruch Bildarchiv (Lausitzer str.)
- Fusion Laden (Skalitzer Str.)
- SO36.net (with the servers being raided)
as well as flats in Adalbertstraße, Manteuffelstr. and Wissmannstr
Hamburg (at leat 5 raids):
- Rote Flora ( G8 convergence centre and social centre)
- various housing coos (in Ludwigsstr, Talstr, Julius-Leber-Str. and Seilerstr)
A spontaneous demonstration in Hamburg lead to 16 temporary "arrests" (or whatever it is now legally called when you are not charged but taken by away by police) and injuries were caused by police crawing batons.
Bremen:
- housing project AllaHopp (in Hardenbergstr)
Some affected groups have already released press statements critisising the raids as state oppression in order to criminalise dissent against the G8.
Technorati Tags: G8, Germany and Raid.
Labels: G8, Germany, Raid
Democrats Urge Bush to End World Bank Crisis
Senior U.S. Democrats urged President George W. Bush to step in to end the "historic crisis" over Paul Wolfowitz's World Bank leadership as pressure mounted for him to resign to avoid a possible divisive vote.
The World Bank's 24-nation board of member countries is set to meet on Friday to decide Wolfowitz's fate over a controversial pay and promotion deal that he approved in 2005 for his companion, bank Middle East expert Shaha Riza.
The board is divided. European countries are pushing for Wolfowitz to step down and the United States is shoring up support for him among a clutch of allies like Canada and a few Asian and African countries.
In a letter to Bush, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer warned that the crisis was damaging the institution and undermining U.S. interests, especially its traditional role in choosing the bank's president.
"We urge you to take decisive action quickly to bring this crisis to a close," they told Bush, echoing concerns expressed by other prominent Democrats, including presidential candidates Bill Richardson and John Edwards.
The Democratic senators said the bank's board may be compelled to take an unprecedented step and vote on Wolfowitz's fate.
There are no rules for the dismissal of a World Bank chief because it has never happened in the bank's 62-year history and could either be put to a vote or decided by consensus.
"We do not believe the bank's mission or U.S. interests would be advanced by such a vote," the senators wrote.
They questioned the manner in which the crisis had been handled and in part blamed Wolfowitz, who has always been controversial because of his leading role in the Iraq war.
"The current situation is complex and unfortunately may be fueled in part by views toward Mr Wolfowitz unrelated to his tenure at the bank," the senators said.
"At the same time, it is likely that, at least by adding to confusion about the facts, Mr Wolfowitz played a role in aggravating the crisis."
The furore has paralysed the World Bank for more than a month since leaked documents emerged over Wolfowitz's handling of Riza's high-paying promotion. That unleashed widespread anger among bank staff and prompted an inquiry.
The bank's employee association said the institution's credibility depended on how the crisis was resolved.
The White House, which had previously deferred questions over the Wolfowitz matter to the U.S. Treasury, insisted on Wednesday it was not "hanging Paul Wolfowitz out to dry" and that he had the Bush administration's strong support.
"We still support him fully," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters on board Air Force One as he flew with Bush to visit parts of Kansas devastated by tornadoes last week.
The Treasury is officially responsible for U.S. World Bank policy, but Wolfowitz is strongly identified with the White House as an architect of the American-led invasion of Iraq.
Both the White House and the Treasury have urged that Wolfowitz be given time to properly explain his actions.
Wolfowitz had until the close of business Wednesday to respond to findings in a 600-page report by a bank panel that concluded his conduct over the promotion broke rules and represented a conflict of interest.
Meanwhile, Germany, which heads the World Bank board, said it had called for Wolfowitz to step down.
Karin Kortmann, a state secretary for German development ministry, said Minister Heidemarie Wiezorek-Zeul told Wolfowitz during meetings of the World Bank in April she was worried about the bank and urged him to quit.
"She made it clear to (Wolfowitz) that his voluntary resignation was the best solution for the bank and its goals," Kortmann told lawmakers in the German parliament.
Kortmann said Germany was not looking for a confrontation with the United States and that pushing through any solution against Washington's wishes would be difficult.
"The United States should rather be given room to react to the current leadership crisis in the bank," Kortmann added.
Technorati Tags: Democrats, Bush, WorldBank and Wolfowitz.
Labels: Bush, Democrats, Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank
Venezuela says NO to IMF and WB
The
best May Day present ever
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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez has announced Venezuela will quit the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The practical impact of the move is unclear. But withdrawing from the world's two premier financial institutions, which have been associated since World War II with US economic policies, would send a powerful political statement.
It also might embolden activists throughout the world who are opposed to privatisation and fiscal austerity, two courses that the institutions often require of economically troubled nations.
It was unclear how much money the World Bank and the IMF would have to hand over to Caracas.
Venezuela's share of the IMF is worth $US3.9 billion, though it wasn't known whether the IMF would be expected to pay Venezuela that much when its membership is terminated.
In a defiant speech yesterday, Mr Chavez demanded that the World Bank pay oil-rich Venezuela its contributions. "Now it is they that owe us," he said.
There was no reaction from either organisation today, but the US State Department said Mr Chavez was only digging a deeper hole for his people.
"Look, you can't take the shovel out of the man's hand," said spokesman Sean McCormack. "He just keeps on digging. So, and sadly, it's the Venezuelan people who are victimized by this."
The World Bank and the IMF were established near the end of World War II to help rebuild war damage.
The World Bank helps countries finance development projects, while the IMF tries to ensure orderly world trade by regulating exchange rates and providing assistance to countries unable to pay their debts.
Traditionally, the World Bank is led by an American, and the IMF head is a European.
In recent years, both organisations have refrained from criticising Mr Chavez's economic policies, including re-nationalisations of the oil and telecommunications industry, in hopes of quietly persuading his government to stick with more market-friendly policies.
The latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF's assessment of the world economy, barely mentioned Venezuela when it was issued a month ago.
No IMF mission has visited Venezuela since 2004, though Anoop Singh, the IMF's top Latin American official, told reporters last month that the IMF hoped to send a mission to Caracas to discuss inflation control later this year.
Nations rarely walk away from the IMF or the World Bank. One of the last to do so was Cuba, in 1964.
Liliana Rojas-Suarez, a former IMF official now with the Washington-based Center for Global Development think tank, said Chavez's move is consistent with his vision of creating a system independent of US influence.
"This is definitely political and consistent with Chavez's strategy," she said, pointing out that Mr Chavez is founding a new Bank for the South, which would play a role similar to the World Bank but under Latin American control.
Venezuela has bought more than $US3 billion in Argentine bonds, allowing Argentina to pay off the IMF.
Mr Chavez also has pledged money to Ecuador so that the Andean nation can reduce its debt to both institutions.
Last month, Venezuela finished paying off its debts, and the IMF closed its office in Caracas last year.
Technorati Tags: Venezuela, IMF and WB.
Labels: IMF, Venezuela, World Bank
To enlarge image, click here.
