2007-03-30

Action days in Germany June 1st (Bombodrom) and 5th (Rostock-Laage)

- at the Kyritz-Ruppin Heathland, where local resistance since 1992 has prevented the German Air Force from taking over a former Soviet bombing range (the Bombodrom)

- at the civil/military airport of Rostock-Laage, where Squadron 73 is based and where the government representatives will arrive to participate in the G8-meeting.

Let's go to the Bombodrom in the heathland ...

The 142 square kilometre Bombodrom 80 km north of Berlin, between Wittstock and Neuruppin in the state of Brandenburrg, was used as a bombing range by the Soviet army for 40 years. Since 1992 the German military has been trying to take over the facility. Its aim is to establish an air-ground bombing range for German, EU and NATO forces to conduct combined operations of air and ground forces. The Bombodrom provides opportunities to excite any general: unguided bombs from low-flying aircraft, "smart" bombs from great altitudes, multinational
operations, coordination between the air force and thousands of ground troops, even the use of American nuclear weapons that are in the hands of German forces (Tornado Fighter-Bomber Wing 33 based in Büchel).
Having such a bombing range within its own borders (and the largest anywhere in continental Europe) would further strengthen Germany's military role and would enhance Germany's chances of getting a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Combined air/ground warfare is becoming increasingly important for military
commanders. The Lebanon War of 2006 showed its consequences for civilians very clearly.

Local people have been actively opposing the plans of the German military. "Not here, and nowhere else either" is the slogan of the non-violent campaign for civil use of the heathland. The FREIe HEIDe campaign (Free Heathland, FREIHEID=Freiheit=liberty) has organised more than 100 protest walks and set up signs of resistance around the Bombodrom. Many other spectacular actions have been conducted by FREIER HIMMEL (Free Skies) and people living further north in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, from where the low-level flights would approach the Bombodrom. So far successful legal action has prevented military use of the facility, yet access to the area is prohibited due to the presence of unexploded munitions. The court in Potsdam is expected to decide on the merits of the case this year.

However, because local people are very aware that the legal avenues for preventing military use may be exhausted very soon they have launched the "No Bombs - We Go In!" campaign. More than 1,500 people, the most of them from the region surrounding the Bombodrom, have signed a declaration stating: "If the German military starts military utilisation of the area, then we will enter it in order to prevent military operations through our physical presence."

The many years of local protest and the willingness to conduct nonviolent direct action if necessary show the courage, stamina and persistence of the movement. It is not easy to conduct a struggle with a powerful opponent over such a long period - to convey what the planned military training operations would actually mean for everyday life, and build sustained resistance, facing off with the military machine day in, day out.

The Bombodrom is part of the military preparations for war, and as such an issue that affects all of us. That is why we would like to stand together with the local people, in the hope that we can make connections that last long after the G8 summit has finished. We look forward to a joint campaign respecting the wishes of all involved groups and leading to lasting connections between the forces resisting the Bombodrom: alliances bearing the potential to overcome differences in a radical social process.

... and then on to Rostock-Laage Airport

The Kyritz-Ruppin Heathland is one place where war preparations are being successfully resisted. Rostock-Laage, on the other hand, is a location where such preparations are taking place. This is where Fighter-Bomber Wing 73 is based, with the first German Eurofighters. During the football World Cup stealth bombers used this base. Rostock-Laage is where President Bush landed to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the airport also plays an important role for the G8 summit because it is where many of the participants will arrive.

There is a direct relationship between the days of action on 1 June at the Bombodrom and 5 June at Rostock-Laage, when the politicians and their staff and logistics will arrive there. The planned blockade of the airport expresses a clear "NO" to the G8 states' "world order politics" based on military actions, to German militarisation and to military utilisation of the former Bombodrom. It also says "NO" to a summit where a few powerful states make decisions about the future of the world, where they make agreements about politics that will cause new wars and force thousands of people around the world to flee their homes.

From the Heathland to the Beach

Linking the Bombodrom, Rostock-Laage air base and the president's landing provides a unique opportunity to show practically how the issues are connected using the means of civil disobedience and to point out that Germany is a central pillar of the G8's policies of militarisation and war.

Day of Action 1 June 1 2007: Symbolic settlement of the Bombodrom area

Between 24 and May peace convoys and Euro-marches will arrive at the Kyritz-Wittstock-Ruppin Heathland in order to participate in the actions against the G8 beginning on 1 June, the Day of Action Against Militarism and War.

The military has put a wooden pyramid in the planned target area of the Bombodrom. Here the fighter-bombers will train for hitting their real targets, living people. The 1st of June is International Children's Day, which reminds us of the youngest victims of war. Most of the people hurt or killed by bombs are civilians, many of them children.

Replicas of the target pyramids can be used as cabins: "Every target a home".

Replicas of the target pyramids can be put anywhere: in the Bombodrom area, in the Kyritz-Wittstock-Ruppin Heathland, anywhere in the state of Brandenburg, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in the world.

We will construct a "show cabin" or a community centre to demonstrate how a possible future cabin village might look - we'll be back, that's for sure!

We can put target pyramids on our own homes or workplaces to make the message: "Wherever bombs fall it affects all of us." In this way a target pyramid can become a new symbol of antimilitarist resistance - in the original colours of red and white or ...

- in antimilitaristic pink. In 2002 activists painted a former Soviet control tower completely in pink and named it "Pink Point Tourist Center". They recognised - by observing the appaled reaction of the soldiers - that the military felt dishonoured by the "unmanly" colour. So our resistance, including many of the pyramids, will be dressed in anti-patriarchal pink.

Delegitimise the G8, strengthen the anti-militarist and anti-patriarchal movements, live alternatives - for global solidarity and a clear NO to all wars.

Alliance NoWar - NoG8

www.g8andwar.de
E-Mail: g8undkrieg@so36.net

[http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/03/366613.html]

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