>
> 3- Anti G8 Mobilisation
>
____________________________________________________________
>
>
> Conferences and alternative summets
>
> Under this general denomination, numerous debate,
> conference, and
> public discussion initatives will take place at
> Geneva and Annemasse,
> which will be the centers of mobilisation. Two of
> them should be of
> particular importance: - The « Summet for Another
> World », initiave
> launched by CRID, which should take place at
> Annemasse (contact
> Bernard Pinaud, b.pinaud@???).
>
> - A « Tribunal for Debt », inititave of CADTM,
> which should be taking
> place at Geneva (contact Eric Toussaint,
> cadtm@???).
>
> Several European chapters of ATTAC will organise a
> conference at
> Geneva Friday March 30th or Sunday March 31st
> (contact Alessandro
> Pellizari, alessandro@???). The other
> initiatives will be
> announced and presentatd in the coming weeks.
>
> Note the meeting in Geneva of a union forum
> organised by the European
> Confederation of Labor, Tuesday May 27th, and the
> meeting of G-World,
> organised by ATTAC Paris region, either on Wednesday
> May 28th or
> Thursday May 29th.
>
> Alternative Villages
>
> Under this heading are projects concerning not only
> the simple lodging
> of protesters (a question being handled seperately)
> but instead real
> political initiatives. The idea is to construct
> spaces where, for
> several days, particpants can experiment with
> different ways of
> self-organisation, sharing of resources, and
> communal discussion.
>
> There are two groups making plans at this level: -
> The VAAAG
> (Alternative, Aticapitalist, Antipatriarchal,
> Antiwar Village), which
> intends to retain its political purity by guarding
> its total autonomy,
> is organised by CLAAC (Convergence of
> Antiauthoritarian and
> Anticapitalist Struggles, - A European Alternative
> Village proposed by
> the network « g8-Illegal » (composed of SUD student,
> AARRG, Vamos, and
> certain individuals).
>
> The locations of these villages are not yet known
> and should be
> negotiated with authorities. The location proposed
> by activists of
> Haut-Savoy is the Annemasse airport, the only place
> with a sufficient
> surface area to host one or more villages composed
> of several thousand
> tents.
>
> Projects of non-violent blockage
>
> Such initiatives were proposed by the Geveva Social
> Forum and
> discussed at the regional coordination level among
> Swiss and French
> activist networks.
>
> The idea is not to attempt to block the arrival of
> heads of states and
> governments, which is obviously outside of the
> capacity of protesters
> given the expected police and military presence. The
> project of the
> Lemanic Social Forum is hence to disrupt the
> functionning of the G8 by
> slowing down the arrival of the tens of thousands of
> collaborators
> necessary for its day-to-day functioning. This
> disruption will be
> caused of course by the big protest itself-Geneva
> and Annemasse are
> small enough areas which will be quickly and easily
> paralysed by an
> influx of several tens or hundreds of thousands of
> people-, and by
> sit-ins and popular parties which will be organised
> Sunday afternoon
> along the roadways leaving Geneva and
> Lausanne-another town which will
> be the sleeping quarters of numerous G8 staff
> members.
>
> A disussion was held about what level of explicit
> solidarity should be
> associated with these initatives, the fear of the
> activists of the
> Geveva Social Forum being a seperation between the «
> good » protesters
> of the morning and the « bad » ones participating in
> blockage and
> perhaps setting themselves up to be victims of
> repression. A long
> debate resulted in an agreement to defend the
> openness of borders and
> the right to protest, on the agreement of all
> coalition partners for
> the Sunday morning protest, on the popularisation of
> different
> initiatives and on an affirmation of solidarity with
> those
> participaying in non-violent and peaceful blockage.
>
> « Fire on the lake » and other initiatives
>
> In addition to all the above, other initiatives have
> been announced,
> like the one known as « Put Fire to the Lake »,
> which is coordinated
> by the activists of the « Vaudois anti-G8 committee
> » and which
> consists of the orgnisation of big fires on the
> shores of lake Leman
> on May 30th, fires which will be part of picnics and
> popular
> barbecues. Already fifty municipalities and activist
> groups have
> pledged their participation in this initiative.
>
> Other initiatves will be presented in the coming
> weeks: an anti-G8
> party for the 17th of May at Cessy has already been
> announced (stands,
> conferences, debates, orchestras, etc.).
>
> Protest at Geneva and Annemasse the morning of
> Sunday, June 1st.
>
> The big protest itself was one of the most important
> topics of
> discussion of the meeting, as it is the only
> initiative common among
> the totality of activist organisations present at
> the meeting and
> participating in the mobilisation against the G8.
>
> The debate touched on the date of the
> protest-whether it should be
> Saturday or Sunday morning-as well as the place and
> the organisational
> method. Political and pratical considerations were
> mixed in with this
> discussion, such as the need to be close to the G8
> but to
> simultaneously guarantee a peaceful march, and also
> the logistics of
> coordinating the access of tens or perhaps hundreds
> of thousands of
> protestors. It is in light of these criteria that an
> agreement was
> reached to hold the big protest with two starting
> points-Geneva,
> Switzerland, and Annemasse, France-Sunday morning.
>
> These two towns are approximatley the same distance
> from Evian,
> assure the best conditions of transport, road and
> rail, and are the
> nearest large towns to Evian.
>
> The difficult-to-answer question is evidently that
> of the Franco-Swiss
> border, for which there will need to be a quick
> negociation between
> the authorities of the two countries, the strongest
> argument to
> convince them to keep borders open being the
> possible logistical
> problems of not doing so and the fact that the
> protest will be far
> enough away from the « red zone ».
>
> Swiss and French coordination groups were given a
> mandate to assume
> contact with the authorities of the two countries
> seperately but also,
> if possible, together to discuss two questions: -
> the right to
> demonstrate and the opening of the borders, first
> and foremost for the
> protest on Sunday morning, but also, in a more
> general sense, to avoid
> the detainment of protestors at the French borders
> (the Schengen
> accords risk being suspended), as happend at Nice in
> December 2000, -
> the possible means to permit the lodging of
> protesters for the night
> of Saturday May 30th and to permit the
> counter-summet and the
> alternative villages to take place.
>
> Organisational and Logistical Problems
>
> Even if numerous problems rest unresolved at this
> stage of planning,
> discussions certainly advanced at Geneva.
>
> - For lodging on the night of May 31st, requests
> will concentrate on
> the towns of Geneva and Annemasse, point of depart
> of the protests,
> but if need be, it will be possible to ask
> collectives of neighboring
> towns (Annecy, Grenoble, etc.) to provide auxiliary
> sleeping area for
> Saturday night.
>
> - Welcome and meeting centers. Here too, on account
> of incertainties
> viv-à-vis the borders, we ought to duplicate our
> plans. At Geneva, the
> «Maison des associations» , a friendly meeting place
> offering very
> good working conditions will agree to be the
> reception and
> organisational center for the counter summet and the
> protest. It could
> also be the media center. Negociations will take
> place with the local
> authorities for a meeting place that would permit
> the large-scale
> gathering of all people coming to the area for the
> various
> aforementioned initiatives. At Annemasse, things are
> a little less
> advanced, but there appear nonetheless to be several
> possible meeting
> places.
>
> - Transportation and logistical qustions that will
> arise at arrival
> will be easier to handle if the places of depart for
> the protest are
> confirmed.
>
> Activists of Haut-Savoy will see if it would be
> possible to arrange
> free train service between Annecy and Annemasse.
>
> - Transportation from far-away places will be
> handled by local
> collectives (buses, trains, etc).
>
> All help and ideas can be shared thanks to the
> electronic lists and
> web sites. Already, we also know that the
> French-language newspaper
> « Charlie » will offer a free supplement that we
> will work with them
> to write and which will be sold, the money going
> towards the financing
> of transportation.
>
> - The alternative villages will have basic needs
> (sanitation,
> transportation, etc) which will be discussed once
> their localtion is
> established.
>
> - Specific teams are in the proces of organising
> themselves to
> provide various types of assistance to protesters.
> In this manner, a
> group of lawyers is already in place.
>
> - Electonic lists and web sites. Francophone list,
> g8@???. International list (messages
> welcome in various
> langauges), g8-eu@???. Web site
> www.g8-evian2003.org is
> accessible but remains to be completed. It is a SPIP
> website, which
> means that it will be possible for every
> organisation to manage
> autonomously its own individual space on the site
> (contact: Erick
> Aubourg, erick@???). For the actions
> proposed by the Geveva
> Social Forum, there is a site www.g8deviant.org,
> www.evian- g8.org.
>
> - Permanent positions. While positions in Annemasse
> and Geneva are
> not yet in place, there exists one in Paris, at
> CICP, 21ter rue de
> Voltaire, 75012, Ashby Crowder,
> info@???
>
> Working framework and next meetings
>
> Collectives are establishing themselves in different
> towns, regions,
> and countries. At the international level, three
> types of coordination
> were put in place in Geneva.
>
> - A technical coordination, which will follow
> logistical
> negociations. Two dates have already been fixed:
> Wednesday March 19th,
> and Wednesday April 23rd in the afternoon, at
> Geneva; the place and
> precise hour will be diffused via the electronic
> list. Another meeting
> time will also be established for the month of May.
>
> - Larger informational meetings and collective
> discussion on the
> progress of the mobilisation will take place the
> weekend of April 26th
> and 27th at Angers, where there will be a series of
> activist
> initiatives against the G-8 on the question of the
> environment, and
> also at Berlin where the European Assembly for
> preparation of the
> European Social Forum of Paris/St. Denis will he
> held. Precise hours
> for meetings about the G8 will be communicated via
> the electronic
> lists.
>
> - Finally, if the poiltics of the organisational
> process require it,
> the weekend of May 10th and 11th has been reserved
> for us to meet if
> the need arises, at least for one of the two days
>
__________________________________________________
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