Media G8way

May 26th 2007

G8 summit protestors harshly criticised the comments of the Federal State Prosecutor Monika Harms about the planned G8 protest camps. In different media Harms defended the raids of 40 houses and political projects that happened two weeks ago with supposed „workshops in the camps that prepare people for blockades and militant actions“ during the summit protests.

„Once again, the state is producing an escalation spiral,“ according to Jo Smith of the International Press Group Media G8way. The statements of Harms stigmatise all globalisation critics, and follow the logic of intimidation and criminalisation of the movement during the past weeks. After house raids, permanent controls and observation, she makes the people who will live in the protest camps during the next weeks appear to be suspected terrorists.

„The protest camps in Rostock, Reddelich and Wichmannsdorf are finally constructed after months of difficult negotiations with the local and police authorities. About 20,000 summit protestors are expected to live in the three camps,“ explains one of the camp organisers. „After making our life hard during the negotiations and preparations, the federal state prosecution now claims that these are training camps for terrorists. The workshops Harms is mentioning, however, are precisely designed to practice de-escalating behaviour towards the police during blockades. Her statements lack any reliable knowledge about the reality of the protests.“

Similarly misleading are the statements by the Federal Minister of Justice, Brigitte Zypries. In the daily news programme „Die Tagesschau“ (The Daily Show) she said that the previous raids of the houses of summit protestors had nothing to do with the preparations of the summit protests. „In the search orders, however, it was literally written that the searches are necessary to guarantee Germany’s reliability towards its G8 partners,“ according to organiser Jo Smith.

Also, leading officers of the federal criminal investigation department have admitted already that the reason of the searches was to know more about the anti-G8 protest scene. „Obviously, the anti-G8 mobilisation does not provide sufficient reasons for justifying the raids afterwards.“ The federal government demonstrates in this way that it does not have any interest in approaching the resistance against the G8 summit democratically nor through de-escalating measures. „This way, the government brings more damage than some burned cars ever could. It attempts to scare demonstrators and prevent them from taking to the streets,“ says Smith. „But we do not assume that this strategy will work out. All the attempts to criminalize the movement have so far led to an even stronger solidarity and mobilization against the politics of the industrialized states.

All neighbours and journalists who want to get an impression of the camps in construction are cordially invited to the Opening Day on Thursday, 31st of May, starting from 2pm in Reddelich and Wichmannsdorf, and on Friday, 1st of June in the camp at the Port of Rostock.