our group is through with another days action and none of us are arrested. There are rumours substantiated by a few foreign corporate media sources that the fence has been broken. I don't think the masses are in yet and I don't know if they will, because I think the group that successfully reached and cut the fence was the group blending into the liberal group 'block g8' and they're having trouble getting the sheep into their pen. Oh wells, I need to sleep bad.
the police state is in full force. Checkpoints everywhere, arrests and detentions that don't even make any sense.
toodles
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
yeah, so...
I wasn't going to post because I'm not feeling so hot emotionally at the moment. All the stress is wearing on me, and tomorrow the delegates fly in. Today is like my vacation day. Nothing to do today except maybe some jail support. But I'm going to post briefly just to make sure I have something to go back to so I can remember roughly what happened and fill in the blanks.
The day after the riots there was a protest against GMO food and factory farming. It was really a good chance to get to meet the kind of activists I'm most familiar with... those at least a little on the hippie end of the spectrum. There weren't too many black bloc'ers (by in large "hippie" issues don't mix with anarchism here. The march was more like what I know of marches i.e. We were flanked by the police the whole time. All the different black bloc dressed people were exchanging glances with one another wondering what was going to happen. As soon as we arrived saed got searched and id'd and I only avoided a similar fate because saed's search left the officer bored with searching. We walked through the march route, and then the march ended and people were gathered around a stage in a square. From there we had a list of 8 places put out by the march organizers that they would like targeted... they published a map with a second route (a 15 km route) that hit up everything from McDonalds to GMO fields to an animal testing facility. Unfortunately people were heading to the first target in quite small groups and many were getting stopped, handcuffed, id'ed and searched. In order to search people police have clarified a law that exists here that you cannot be masked. Historically the legal case has been vague and weak on what counts as masking up, so usually people don't wear bandanas, but they wear a scarf around their face and a hat and sunglasses. I've been using sunglasses and have had a scrap of cloth around my neck in case I need it. So anyway, anyone carrying more than one of this three-thing list of apparal is in violation of the law, and gets their ID taken and is forced to pose for pictures wearing their masks to see if it lines up with any helicopter survielance. So, Saed was tired and I reluctantly agreed to leave, but was later glad that I did because everybody was getting stopped and searched and id'ed and nothing was able to happen. Some clowns who did make it to the McDonalds were arrested.
So, that seems like just about the whole of the post. I am feeling quite nervous which is making way for homesickness, so do write me an email. Same for the others, I think they feel the same way.
The day after the riots there was a protest against GMO food and factory farming. It was really a good chance to get to meet the kind of activists I'm most familiar with... those at least a little on the hippie end of the spectrum. There weren't too many black bloc'ers (by in large "hippie" issues don't mix with anarchism here. The march was more like what I know of marches i.e. We were flanked by the police the whole time. All the different black bloc dressed people were exchanging glances with one another wondering what was going to happen. As soon as we arrived saed got searched and id'd and I only avoided a similar fate because saed's search left the officer bored with searching. We walked through the march route, and then the march ended and people were gathered around a stage in a square. From there we had a list of 8 places put out by the march organizers that they would like targeted... they published a map with a second route (a 15 km route) that hit up everything from McDonalds to GMO fields to an animal testing facility. Unfortunately people were heading to the first target in quite small groups and many were getting stopped, handcuffed, id'ed and searched. In order to search people police have clarified a law that exists here that you cannot be masked. Historically the legal case has been vague and weak on what counts as masking up, so usually people don't wear bandanas, but they wear a scarf around their face and a hat and sunglasses. I've been using sunglasses and have had a scrap of cloth around my neck in case I need it. So anyway, anyone carrying more than one of this three-thing list of apparal is in violation of the law, and gets their ID taken and is forced to pose for pictures wearing their masks to see if it lines up with any helicopter survielance. So, Saed was tired and I reluctantly agreed to leave, but was later glad that I did because everybody was getting stopped and searched and id'ed and nothing was able to happen. Some clowns who did make it to the McDonalds were arrested.
So, that seems like just about the whole of the post. I am feeling quite nervous which is making way for homesickness, so do write me an email. Same for the others, I think they feel the same way.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
holy sheißa
So, we went to the anti-capitalist demo today. It was pretty much off the hook. There isn't actually much to tell despite the fact that it was off the hook. Rocks were thrown, bottles were thrown, flares were launched at pigs (bullen in german) and buildings. Then when the pigs tried to snatch squad a few people, the people in the vehicle that was travelling with the black bloc made an announcement over their PA and everyone came over and busted up a cobblestone sidewalk to make stones to throw at the police, and there was a dance of retreat-attack for several hours. For about an hour of that Säed and the guy who was with us who speaks german natively went missing and were presumed captured. They were not captured, only lost. I'm not sure what to say right now so here's some statistics from the media
over 100 cops injured
18 cops seriously injured
1 cop stabbed
hundreds of thousands of euro of damage to buildings
around 10 demonstrators arrested (my estimate)
5000 black bloc (my estimate)
30000 protesters in general.
There were a lot of commie black bloc groups, and they all fetishize latin ameria (che, castro, etc.).
The demos are likely still going on. I'd like to be there but one of us was uncomfortable. Actually it might be done by now, I'm not sure.
Their chants were kinda stupid, but kinda cute too, when they'd speak in English with the german accent. There was something sort of endearing about it.
Oh yeah, the anti-nazi demo was a flop, I'm glad we went to this one. The police were tied up with this demo, so they made it illegal, and the nazis decided not to march there, they stayed in a few major cities like Berlin where there were enough pigs to protect them. The few antifa hanging around the area where they were supposed to march (20 or 30) were arrested but have already been released. No nazi skulls were bashed in at all from what it looks like now.
Again, not sure what to say. I'm sure this would be better with my emphatic gesturing and if you have questions, ask and I'll answer em on here.
Here's a news article with some photos in the meantime http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-g82jun02,1,2682627.story?coll=la-headlines-world&track=crosspromo
that link didn't seem to work so I changed it. This has a rad photo album... much better anyway.
over 100 cops injured
18 cops seriously injured
1 cop stabbed
hundreds of thousands of euro of damage to buildings
around 10 demonstrators arrested (my estimate)
5000 black bloc (my estimate)
30000 protesters in general.
There were a lot of commie black bloc groups, and they all fetishize latin ameria (che, castro, etc.).
The demos are likely still going on. I'd like to be there but one of us was uncomfortable. Actually it might be done by now, I'm not sure.
Their chants were kinda stupid, but kinda cute too, when they'd speak in English with the german accent. There was something sort of endearing about it.
Oh yeah, the anti-nazi demo was a flop, I'm glad we went to this one. The police were tied up with this demo, so they made it illegal, and the nazis decided not to march there, they stayed in a few major cities like Berlin where there were enough pigs to protect them. The few antifa hanging around the area where they were supposed to march (20 or 30) were arrested but have already been released. No nazi skulls were bashed in at all from what it looks like now.
Again, not sure what to say. I'm sure this would be better with my emphatic gesturing and if you have questions, ask and I'll answer em on here.
Here's a news article with some photos in the meantime http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-g82jun02,1,2682627.story?coll=la-headlines-world&track=crosspromo
that link didn't seem to work so I changed it. This has a rad photo album... much better anyway.
Friday, June 1, 2007
bittersweet cynicism
Indeed, well where was I?
So the next day we woke up, tired from staying up till 3 watching riot porn and began to pack our stuff. We got a ride into Camp Rostock, the closest place to the city actions...
When we got there they were just starting a meeting, which we joined and it seemed like tons of shit was needing to get done. There were only like 30 people there at this point. There wasn't even drinkable water apart from the sparkling mineral water being sold at the bar. They had a bloody bar set up stocked with beer and constantly staffed, but they didn't have drinking water! So after the meeting I decided to go where people had said they needed help, while the others set up camp. I started going up to people asking what they needed help with and they looked at me strange and would usually send me looking for some tool. When I'd ask people where that tool was they would nonchalantly tell me they didn't know or care. As our camp started getting set up others in our brigade would join me in my quests, but they all ended the same way, us deciding that no such tool existed or was able to be found. It was sparatically raining throughout all of this, getting my feet soaked. Eventually we got the task to make rubbish bins for recycling and trash.. and decided to just do that ourselves with no more asking for info. We found pallets already being formed into crates and decided we'd finish those up and turn them into rubbish bins. Somewhere along the way a British woman named Ana joined us.
We spent most of the day making a rubbish bin, and decided we'd go to the meeting and maybe spend tomorrow doing something more than busy work. So we got to the meeting that night and it was the worst meeting I've ever been to bar none. Worse than the Cascadia meetings... worse than any of the various 'process meetings' i've been to. Worse even than the World Can't Wait meeting after they snitched us out. The facilitator stopped facilitating midway through the meeting. There was nobody taking stack, so people would just shout as loud as they could and whoever shouted loudest got heard. Women were interrupted more often than they were not interrupted. So throughout all of this I was remaining silent and curling up into a tighter and tighter ball, until I snapped, and I stood up, and I yelled that this meeting was fucking bullshit and every single one of them needed to just shut the fuck up for a minute. Then I explained stack to them and they asked if I would keep stack to show them. We continued the meeting with stack and it went much more smoothly, excepting once when they started talking over each other again and I had to again yell at them, telling them to shut the fuck up. I was wet and cold and aggravated. In all honesty I haven't a damn clue what was said at the meeting. I spoke once or twice about the meeting topics, and I think Seda spoke once. Vanc and Säed didn't speak, and it seemed to wholly be a failure.
We went back to our tent to find there had been a leak. There was a puddle in the tent but the spot I put my sleeping bag in was immune. I fell asleep to the slow humm of vanc and saed complaining.
The next day I started off by helping with one of the big structures that was being built. From there I seemed to be of little help so I went to make another rubbish bin with the other mckinley brigaders plus ana. We built another rubbish bin as we slowly realized that we were in the middle of a commie barrio. To explain, the 3 large camping spaces were being planned to be split into barrios for like-minded individuals and safer spaces for womyn, queers, and tranny folx, but some NGOs thought it would be a good idea to make their own barrios. So during this day we slowly recognized that everything from the tools that we borrowed, to the drinks we bought, to the building we built belonged to the commies. They had trucked in tons of rich commie dollars to make their camp the bougiest. Shießa commies. They controlled the means of production. Throughout that day porta-potties showed up in droves, till there were around a hundred. That was pretty weird. This day was the day we realized we were in the liberal and commie camp. The commies kept putting red flags on everything. Every building they built had a big red flag on it. Or a Che flag. Or a hammer and sickle... until more than half the camp was showing red flags. That evening we turned a trash bag into a huge black flag and hung it from our tent. We also put huge circle a's on our rubbish bins, which were fabulous fyi.
Later that night we formed a line to dig the water out of the puddles with buckets, and while we did that, the commie barrio built a second bar for the camp... a bar from which funds would be funneled into their organization.
I went to sleep that night, and was so feeling so bad about camp that I hardly woke up. I woke up briefly but I took two long naps that day. More and more people showed up, mostly commies, also liberals and ravers. The ravers are going to have a rave at that camp from saturday evening until monday evening. The ravers set up a huge disco ball and a huge stereo system that they played techno from. The commies were apparantly two groups and one set up another huge sound system to play other music from. They mostly played linkin park and gangsta rap. The two sound systems were approximately 30 yards from one another. The other commie camp set up a projector and a sound system to go with that. They played a german war movie late into the night while the ravers played techno and shined their disco ball and the other commie tent played christian rock.
The situation had reached critical suck.
The next day I was well rested and up to getting some work done around camp. I did some work at the greeting tent as people poured in, more than a person a minute this day. I did a lot of cooking in the cooking tent and did a security shift at the parking spaces, while the rest sat around the tent shießa-talking. The shit-talking is understandable but I didn't feel like it was making anything better. I was more into making my presence known and connecting with others like us. There were, after all, a few like us, just not many. When I came back to the tent they were discussing leaving camp early, in the next day or two after the action. That sounded good to me until it was discussed that we could leave sooner. Today, and get back to the convergence center, go to the first major action the next day, and then pick a new camp after that. We went to the train station and rode to the CC and more people piled into that camp. I wish those people luck. Which brings us to now. We only have one person's size of sleeping space here, so I'm not sure what we're going to do, but whatever it is, it will work better i.m.o.
Tomorrow is the first major action. Actions are split between an antifa demo against some nazis who are protesting the g8, and a more general anti-g8 anti-capitalism protest in the city. I'll tell you which one we went to after it's done, but in the meantime I'm curious as to which you think we would be most likely to go to.
Gute Nacht, Fruends!
So the next day we woke up, tired from staying up till 3 watching riot porn and began to pack our stuff. We got a ride into Camp Rostock, the closest place to the city actions...
When we got there they were just starting a meeting, which we joined and it seemed like tons of shit was needing to get done. There were only like 30 people there at this point. There wasn't even drinkable water apart from the sparkling mineral water being sold at the bar. They had a bloody bar set up stocked with beer and constantly staffed, but they didn't have drinking water! So after the meeting I decided to go where people had said they needed help, while the others set up camp. I started going up to people asking what they needed help with and they looked at me strange and would usually send me looking for some tool. When I'd ask people where that tool was they would nonchalantly tell me they didn't know or care. As our camp started getting set up others in our brigade would join me in my quests, but they all ended the same way, us deciding that no such tool existed or was able to be found. It was sparatically raining throughout all of this, getting my feet soaked. Eventually we got the task to make rubbish bins for recycling and trash.. and decided to just do that ourselves with no more asking for info. We found pallets already being formed into crates and decided we'd finish those up and turn them into rubbish bins. Somewhere along the way a British woman named Ana joined us.
We spent most of the day making a rubbish bin, and decided we'd go to the meeting and maybe spend tomorrow doing something more than busy work. So we got to the meeting that night and it was the worst meeting I've ever been to bar none. Worse than the Cascadia meetings... worse than any of the various 'process meetings' i've been to. Worse even than the World Can't Wait meeting after they snitched us out. The facilitator stopped facilitating midway through the meeting. There was nobody taking stack, so people would just shout as loud as they could and whoever shouted loudest got heard. Women were interrupted more often than they were not interrupted. So throughout all of this I was remaining silent and curling up into a tighter and tighter ball, until I snapped, and I stood up, and I yelled that this meeting was fucking bullshit and every single one of them needed to just shut the fuck up for a minute. Then I explained stack to them and they asked if I would keep stack to show them. We continued the meeting with stack and it went much more smoothly, excepting once when they started talking over each other again and I had to again yell at them, telling them to shut the fuck up. I was wet and cold and aggravated. In all honesty I haven't a damn clue what was said at the meeting. I spoke once or twice about the meeting topics, and I think Seda spoke once. Vanc and Säed didn't speak, and it seemed to wholly be a failure.
We went back to our tent to find there had been a leak. There was a puddle in the tent but the spot I put my sleeping bag in was immune. I fell asleep to the slow humm of vanc and saed complaining.
The next day I started off by helping with one of the big structures that was being built. From there I seemed to be of little help so I went to make another rubbish bin with the other mckinley brigaders plus ana. We built another rubbish bin as we slowly realized that we were in the middle of a commie barrio. To explain, the 3 large camping spaces were being planned to be split into barrios for like-minded individuals and safer spaces for womyn, queers, and tranny folx, but some NGOs thought it would be a good idea to make their own barrios. So during this day we slowly recognized that everything from the tools that we borrowed, to the drinks we bought, to the building we built belonged to the commies. They had trucked in tons of rich commie dollars to make their camp the bougiest. Shießa commies. They controlled the means of production. Throughout that day porta-potties showed up in droves, till there were around a hundred. That was pretty weird. This day was the day we realized we were in the liberal and commie camp. The commies kept putting red flags on everything. Every building they built had a big red flag on it. Or a Che flag. Or a hammer and sickle... until more than half the camp was showing red flags. That evening we turned a trash bag into a huge black flag and hung it from our tent. We also put huge circle a's on our rubbish bins, which were fabulous fyi.
Later that night we formed a line to dig the water out of the puddles with buckets, and while we did that, the commie barrio built a second bar for the camp... a bar from which funds would be funneled into their organization.
I went to sleep that night, and was so feeling so bad about camp that I hardly woke up. I woke up briefly but I took two long naps that day. More and more people showed up, mostly commies, also liberals and ravers. The ravers are going to have a rave at that camp from saturday evening until monday evening. The ravers set up a huge disco ball and a huge stereo system that they played techno from. The commies were apparantly two groups and one set up another huge sound system to play other music from. They mostly played linkin park and gangsta rap. The two sound systems were approximately 30 yards from one another. The other commie camp set up a projector and a sound system to go with that. They played a german war movie late into the night while the ravers played techno and shined their disco ball and the other commie tent played christian rock.
The situation had reached critical suck.
The next day I was well rested and up to getting some work done around camp. I did some work at the greeting tent as people poured in, more than a person a minute this day. I did a lot of cooking in the cooking tent and did a security shift at the parking spaces, while the rest sat around the tent shießa-talking. The shit-talking is understandable but I didn't feel like it was making anything better. I was more into making my presence known and connecting with others like us. There were, after all, a few like us, just not many. When I came back to the tent they were discussing leaving camp early, in the next day or two after the action. That sounded good to me until it was discussed that we could leave sooner. Today, and get back to the convergence center, go to the first major action the next day, and then pick a new camp after that. We went to the train station and rode to the CC and more people piled into that camp. I wish those people luck. Which brings us to now. We only have one person's size of sleeping space here, so I'm not sure what we're going to do, but whatever it is, it will work better i.m.o.
Tomorrow is the first major action. Actions are split between an antifa demo against some nazis who are protesting the g8, and a more general anti-g8 anti-capitalism protest in the city. I'll tell you which one we went to after it's done, but in the meantime I'm curious as to which you think we would be most likely to go to.
Gute Nacht, Fruends!
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