Source: http://news.scotsman.com
MoD accuses police of keeping G8 cash needed for front-line troops
By Michael Howie
THE Ministry of Defence has intensified a row over unpaid bills for equipment used to police two international summits in Scotland, claiming the money is needed to fight conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The MoD is demanding nearly £400,000 from Tayside and Fife police forces to meet the cost of helicopters and other military facilities used during the G8 and British-Irish summits.
But the police forces have refused to pay the bills, insisting it is a matter for the Scottish Government.
However, the Scottish Government insists Scotland should not have to pick up the bill, as the summits were UK affairs.
Source: www.wombles.org.uk
G8 2005 - Confrontation and anti-media(tion)
Instead of going into a complete history, we have concentrated our discussions on two main areas relating to our experiences over the past few years, these are confrontation and anti-media(tion) which encapsulates the ideas of autonomy and self-organisation. This, as well as our G8 analysis, we think will add to the debate surrounding the anti-G8 mobilisations.
The inevitable conflict
Confrontation starts with questioning and defining your own life and what you want from it. Confrontation is refusing to accept the limits of what the state defines as acceptable in order to manage and maintain power.
How the Police see crowds and how this affects their strategies towards public order policing
Introduction:
The following article is written by an academic at a British University who specialises in the study of crowd behaviour, and has done participant observation studies into crowd behaviour from the activist perspective, giving her experience of public order policing at demos. While this is not intended to be a definitive account of the tactics the Police will use during the G8 summit at Gleneagles, it is hoped that this may be useful in showing those going how the Police see crowds in general and how their perspective can affect the way they attempt to police them. It will also be argued that this perspective is fundamentally flawed and also counter-productive in that it often causes the disorder that they claim to be there to prevent. Several references follow at the end which should be available in any University library.
G8 case collapses two years on
CHARGES against five protesters arrested during Edinburgh’s G8 demonstrations have been thrown out of court after two years. The prosecution case collapsed amid claims police failed to provide video footage said to have been taken at the protest in July 2005. The five defendants today hit out at the cost to the public purse, which is likely to be tens of thousands of pounds. The case against the four men and one woman was brought up in court on 12 separate occasions, but eventually dropped on Monday. Solidarity campaigners John Wight and Kevin Connor were arrested on July 6, 2005, with three others, following an impromptu march along Princes Street. The demonstration started after buses due to take protestors to the official G8 demonstration in Auchterarder were blocked from leaving Waterloo Place. The march reached Edinburgh’s West End, but was turned back by police. The protesters headed back towards The Mound, where four now-released coaches were leaving the city. However, because the buses were full, the marchers were not allowed to board. Police decided to invite a delegation from the demonstration to inspect the coaches to prove they were full. Mr Wight, who had organised the transport, and Scottish Socialist Party’s Nick Eardley were the first to be selected. Mr Connor and his girlfriend Vanesa Fuertes were also picked to accompany police officers. The four said they were separated from the crowd and once hidden from view, were “pounced on and arrested”. They were charged with public order offences. Raphie De Santos, an SSP member, was also arrested and faced the same charges of taking part in a public demonstration without having given notice and failing to desist when ordered to do so. Mr Wight, 39, said: “The police stopped us from taking part in a legal demonstration in Gleneagles, so we had no alternative but to protest here in Edinburgh. “I had been organising the buses from the start, so the police saw me as a leader. They wanted to take me out, so they used the excuse of the buses to get me away from the crowd.” Mr Connor, 37, a taxi driver from Meadowbank, said: “It was the first time I had been arrested, and we were really scared. “We were shocked at having been arrested simply for doing something that the police had asked us to do.” He added: “What happened since has been a complete farce and absolutely shocking. “Two years and 12 court appearances later, after spending many tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money, the case concocted against the five of us was dropped. “The two-year delay resulted from the reluctance of the police to supply relevant video footage.” Cameron Tait, Mr Connor’s defence lawyer, said today: “There was an ongoing difficulty obtaining video footage allegedly taken by police on the day. “The Crown discontinued the case by not calling it in court on Monday, May 14.” Police declined to comment on the video footage. A police spokeswoman said: “As a result of demonstrations that took place on July 6, 2005 in Princes Street a number of individuals were arrested and reported to the Procurator Fiscal in respect of public order offences. “The cases were thereafter progressed by the Procurator Fiscal service, which has responsibility for decisions around the prosecution of criminal cases.”
[http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=759312007]
Re-presented Notes on Summits & Counter Summits
Andrew X,Y,Z
There it was then. After almost two years of planning and a suggested figure of £200,000 spent by the 'anti-authoritarian' movement, the appeals to and protests against the Gleneagles G8 summit came and went in the space of a week.
200,000 people walked a caged route around Edinburgh at the Make Poverty History march, replete with Ukranian-democracy style branding; 5,000 that managed to get there, despite illegal efforts against them, took part in marches on Gleneagles; and hundreds took part in blockades. Was it all worth it?
Source: www.sourcesecurity.com
DM raid for G8 police force
The challenge
Dedicated Micros delivered two of its resilient RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) high capacity systems to Tayside Police to help support the Force's security commitments for the G8 summit, which took place from the 6th to 8th of July 2005 at the Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland.
The solution
The simple to install RAID units were used in the Tayside Police's custody suite at the Force's District Headquarters in Perth for the duration of the summit, providing extra capacity for the secure storage of CCTV images of those being held, supplementing that offered by the hard disks on the Force's existing BX2 digital recorders.
NO COMMENT
Getting arrested is no joke. It’s a serious business.
All convictions add up: eg. if you’re done three times for shoplifting, you stand a good chance of getting sent down.
If there’s a chance of you getting nicked, get your act together: know what to do in case you’re arrested.
Unless you enjoy cells, courtrooms, prisons, you owe it to yourself to wise up.
The third edition of No Comment, the Defendant’s Guide to Arrest is now available on this website. It has been updated and reprinted by former members of the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) in conjunction with the Legal Defence & Monitoring Group (LDMG).
No Comment is an invaluable guide for anyone at risk of arrest.
Download unter www.gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/Antirepression/No_Comment_3rd_Edition.pdf
Blair: We hate it (to anarchists)
G8 SUMMIT Blair says leaders ‘hate’ conducting talks behind security cordon
GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AFX) – Leaders of the world’s richest nations ‘hate’ having to conduct their talks behind a security cordon designed to keep out protestors, said Prime Minister Tony Blair. In an interview on Sky News, Blair said most leaders ‘would be happy to be in a modest little place where we can mix with lots of people in a town and be able to meet the people who’s concerns we’re talking about’. Blair was speaking after several hundred protestors broke away from a march and tried to storm the summit venue perimeter fence before being beaten back by police. ‘The problem is you get these small groups of international anarchists who just wreck the place and therefore you have to have the security,’ he said. ‘It’s a common myth that the leaders all love the fact that you’ve got to have a fence of steel around us. We hate it. Most of us would prefer to be in a situation where we could engage with people.’ ‘If you were to hold this in Edinburgh, which would have been fantastic, it would have brought the whole city to a halt,’ he added.
Trauma work is part of resistance
Activist-Trauma Support was started in 2005 in order to provide support especially during and after the G8 in Scotland. Previous experiences have shown that while self-organised medical support for victims of police violence was quite well organised, there was a serious lack of assistance on a psychological level.
Working during the G8
For some, the idea for ATS was born from experiences from the Aubonne Bridge Action against the G8 in Evian 2003 (www.aubonnebridge.net). In Aubonne one person was seriously physically injured – and got lots of support. However several others suffered from various degrees of psychological trauma but did not get the support they needed or deserved. This was when we realized the pressing need for organised awareness raising, information and support. In preparation for Gleneagles a 6-day training was organised with a professional trainer from a charity focused on trauma care called ASSIST (www.traumatic-stress.freeserve.co.uk .
Activist Trauma: Experiences, lessons learnt and conclusions (G8 2005)
After a month we had an internal weekend with the aims of debriefing and looking into group dynamics, and then evaluating our work in order to draw lessons for other people who might want to do this work.* The general consensus was that all of us enjoyed doing the work: it felt useful, appreciated and it is rewarding to feel that somebody actually feels better after talking to you.
Internal group dynamics are often complicated and this is especially true if people have been traumatised in the past, as all of the people in the working group had in some way or other. Summits are stressful situations at the best of times, they “trigger” people’s memories and remind them of previous traumatic situations. Additional factors were that a lot of the people did not really know each other beforehand and had very different personal and professional backgrounds and attitudes.
We concluded it would be better for a future trauma support group to really try and get to know each other beforehand and put effort into trust building and group bonding, since we need to be able to draw strength from the group rather than having to deal with internal conflict. It might have been a good idea to have an external supervisor on site who was independent of the group and could provide support for the supporters and group facilitation if necessary.
Globalising Resistance to Global Capitalism: The international mobilisation to Gleneagles
Alex Smith
‘We are the network, all of us who resist.’
– Subcommandante Insurgent Marcos
News that the 2005 G8 Summit would be held somewhere in the UK (at this point none of us knew where) was first discussed in a workshop at the 2003 Earth First! Summer Gathering near Ripon, North Yorkshire. A second meeting, which actually became a series of meetings, took place at the Anarchist Bookfair in London in October later that year. Amongst those who attended each of these events, there was a general feeling that the radical movement in the UK had been in decline since the hugely successful day of action in the City of London on June 18 1999, and that the G8 Summit could potentially provide an opportunity to reinvigorate, broaden and develop the movement in the UK, and allow for the development of more meaningful relations with groups and movements elsewhere.
Counter Spin Collective- beginnings of some form of analysis
This article has been written by a few individuals who spent a lot of time working within the CounterSpin Collective (CSC). As such it purports to reflect the view of ourselves as individuals, and does not claim to represent everyone’s opinion. It contains personal reflections as well as objective critique.
It would be impossible to begin this without first establishing the invaluable and essential role that people from outside Britain had in assisting us to put together a media response group. Analysis of the work done by activists in Dublin around Mayday2004, their support, sound advice and experiences shared, gave the fledgling group the confidence it needed to exist in the first place. Their workshops helped enormously in building the practical knowledge of people intending to facilitate media engagement.
Source: http://news.scotsman.com
Business leaders demand G8 payment
Business chiefs seeking compensation over the disruption to trade caused by G8 protests have criticised the Scottish Executive's "hard-nosed" refusal.
The Forum of Private Business (FPB) wrote to ministers claiming the demonstrations had been a "disaster", costing firms in Stirling alone £1.2 million.
But finance minister Tom McCabe has rejected the plea and said disruption could have been worse had it not been for the major policing operation.
Source: http://business.scotsman.com
Companies lose millions as G8 benefits fail to show
MIKE J WILSON
EXPECTED benefits from the G8 summit at Gleneagles failed to materialise, partly because tourists thought Scotland was effectively "closed" as it tackled violent demonstrations.
While tourism and leisure facilities witnessed a tail-off in trade, numerous contracts were also placed outwith Scotland, leaving contractors and service providers empty-handed.
The then Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace said on announcing Gleneagles as the G8 venue in June 2004: "We and the enterprise bodies will be working very closely with all the business organisations to secure the maximum economic benefits for Scotland from the summit."
Source: www.libertysecurity.org
UK G8 Presidency Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting, Sheffield 15th - 17th June 2005
The UK Presidency of the G8 - Justice and Home Affairs
[...]
Work on Transnational Organised Crime
After the 1995 Summit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a group of experts was brought together to look for better ways to fight international crime. In 1996, this group (later known as the «Lyon Group») produced Forty Recommendations to combat international crime that were endorsed by the G8 Heads of State at their Summit Meeting in Lyon in June 1996. «Subgroups» of the Lyon Group thereafter were formed to address specific crime-related issues (e.g., legal processes for evidence-sharing, high-tech crime, and immigrations fraud and human trafficking). In December 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno hosted the first-ever meeting of her counterparts from the G8 countries and the Ministers issued their first joint Communiqué which endorsed the work of the Lyon group. The last three Presidencies of the G8 have hosted meetings of Justice and Home Affairs ministers. The Home Secretary will host a Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting in Sheffield 15-17 June.
Changes following September 11, 2001
In October 2001, senior representative of G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministries met in Rome to discuss steps for the G8 to take to combat international terrorism and decided to combine the G8’s Lyon Group (fighting transnational organised crime) and the G8’s Roma Group (fighting international terrorism). Since that time, the Lyon/Roma Group has met three times annually in joint session. While continuing important work to combat transnational organised crime, the group uses its resources to combat terrorism through such avenues as enhancements to legal systems, transport security, and tools for investigating terrorist uses of the Internet.
Reinventing Dissent: G8 2005 Analysis
Part 1
This article examines the G8 mobilisation in 2005 from an anarchist perspective. Part 1 gives a full description of the mobilisation, the Carnival, the Black Bloc, the Ecovillage, and more...
Reinventing Dissent: The Unabridged Story of Resistance against the G8 Summit in Scotland, 2005
by Alex Trocchi, Giles Redwolf, and Petrus Alamire
Die Berliner Vernetzung G8-KO zu G8 2005, 2006 und 2007
Zu Beginn ihrer Arbeit hatte die Berliner Vernetzung G8-KO noch das Ziel formuliert, auch auf Leute außerhalb der anarchistischen, linksradikalen usw. Berliner Szene zuzugehen. Die Anti-G8 Arbeit sollte offen gestaltet werden, wir wollten einen Dialog mit Leuten aus anderen sozialen Milleus, also z.B. aus attac-, Kirchen-, Umweltgruppen oder auch aus Gewerkschaften.
GUERILLA GUIDES: The G8 protests
July 2005
Lucky enough to get time off to head to the G8? Natasha Grzincic and Stuart Hodkinson bring you Red Pepper’s indispensable guide to resisting world leaders and staying alive in Scotland
Before you set off
Come prepared for all-weather camping. Pack a sleeping bag, tent, waterproofs, good shoes, insect repellent for the Scottish midges and above all your toothbrush – activist breath can be grim after several days of cider-soaked protesting. Familiarise yourself with a map of Scotland and our G8 Bulletin Board, essential travel companions. Travel with pals so you have a ready-made affinity group. Billy no mates? Then cling on to someone who can vouch for your whereabouts at all times. Don’t get isolated – exchange mobile numbers.
Red Pepper G8 Bulletin Board
www.redpepper.org.uk | http://redpepper.blogs.com/g8
Global action days
Friday 1 July
International White Band Day www.whiteband.org
Wednesday 6 July
Global Day of Action against the G8 and Caracol Intergalactika Called by the Peoples’ Global Action European Conference to mark the opening of the summit. www.dissent.org.uk
Wednesday 6- Friday 8 July (G8 summit) Blockade the G8 Stop delegates travelling from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, etc. www.g8blockades.org.uk
Friday 8 July International Day of Action vs Real Causes of Climate Change http://cca.movingpages.org
Edinburgh
Friday 1 July Critical Mass www.g8bikeride.org.uk
Saturday 2 July
Make Poverty History march Rally at Edinburgh Meadows, 11am. Staggered starts to march at 12/1/2pm. The aim is to get 100,000 forming a white band around the city centre. More details from www.makepovertyhistory.org
Counter-summits
Sunday 3 July
G8 Corporate Dream, Global Nightmare War on Want, WDM, FoE, etc. Speakers: Walden Bello, Samir Amin. Assembly Hall, www.corporateg8.org Royal Mile, 11am-6pm; free.
Sunday 3 July Ideas to Change the World G8Alternatives. Speakers: Susan George, Ken Wiwa, Scott Ritter. Queens Hall and www.g8alternatives.org.uk Edinburgh University, 10am-9pm; £10/£5.
Sunday 3 July
Reshape the Future Dissent! Discussions, films, workshops. Teviot Student Union, all day; free. www.dissent.org.uk
Sunday 3 July
Naming the Dead ceremony
Stop the War Coalition. 6pm. www.stopwar.org.uk
Monday 4 July
Carnival for Full Enjoyment Street party visiting places responsible for our precarious work and social lives. West End, 12pm
Tuesday 5 July
Global Warming 8 Conference Working Group on Development and Climate Change. Dynamic Earth, Holyrood Road, 9.30am-12pm. vanessa.mcleod[at]iied.org
Wednesday 6 July
Long Walk to Justice Ends with a concert at Murrayfield stadium. www.live8live.com
Glasgow and surrounds
Sunday 26 June – Sunday 3 July
Cre8 Summit family festival Continuing community actions in south Glasgow against the M74 extension. 07981 954132
Sunday 3 July Make Borders History Tour Visit the institutions that lock up and deport asylum seekers. Meet at Buchanan Tube Station. www.makebordershistory.org
Sunday 3 – Friday 8 July
People & Planet Student Summer Festival Rural eco-village near Stirling. www.peopleandplanet.org/g8
Monday 4 July
Faslane ‘Big Blockade’ Trident Ploughshares and CND. Dawn blockade of Trident nuclear submarine base. Buses from Edinburgh (4am, book on 07981 713088) and Glasgow (5.30am, 0845 458 8361); £5/£3. www.faslaneg8.com
Monday 5 July
Close Dungavel Detention Centre Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees. Buses from Glasgow (George Sq, 9.30am) and Edinburgh (Waterloo Place, 9.30am, 11.30am); £5/£3/free. Tickets: 0141 946 6193
Gleneagles
Tuesday 5 July
Beacons of Dissent! Beacons will be lit on the hills south of Gleneagles. www.dissent.org.uk
Wednesday 6 July
Another World is Possible demonstration G8Alternatives. Meet at Gleneagles train station, 12pm. www.g8alternatives.org.uk
Wednesday 6 July
Blockades Call for autonomous direction action in the spirit of the Peoples’ Global Action Hallmarks. See www.g8blockades.org.uk
Thursday 7 July Peoples’ Golfing Association (PGA) Tournament Bring clubs, balls and a pair of wire cutters. wrench[at]tao.ca
Climate Alarm Action Friends of the Earth. Sound alarms outside Gleneagles Hotel at 1.45pm to wake up delegates. www.foe-scotland.org.uk
Faslane
Monday 4 July
The Faslane Blockade Shut down Britain’s number one nuclear base before the G8 meeting. Info 0845 458 8361 or www.faslaneg8.com
Cultural events
Thursday 30 June – Friday 1 July Black Sun Over Genoa Community Play at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh or call +44 (0)131 2265 425 For more info or tickets www.theatre-workshop.com
Saturday 2 July
Anti-G8 Night Potterow Club, Edinburgh Students Association. £5 entry, 9pm till late. Line up to be confirmed.
Saturday 2 July
Globaleye – Theatre against the G8 Royal Lyceum Theatre, £12.50/£9, 7.30pm onwards. 2 July. www.chickenshed.org.uk
[http://www.redpepper.org.uk/global/G8%20Events%20Diary.pdf]
Reclaim the media, be the media
July 2005
An anonymous Indymedia volunteer explains how an army of citizen reporters can even the score at the G8
As G8 leaders hide behind their security fences at Gleneagles and a policing operation indistinguishable from an anti-terrorist exercise, tens of thousands of people will be gathering in Scotland to confront them both with resistance and alternative visions of the world they want to live in.
