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Howling Coalition: the Anti-globalization Movement Sprouts Freedom and Diversity
by Shiro Yabu
(Translation: Yuzo Sakuramoto)
The 2007 G8 Summit was held in Rostock, Germany from June 6 to 8, 2007. It was a conference at which top government officials from the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan all met and confirmed their political cooperation for global domination. To oppose this, many social movements and activists from many places in Europe, Africa, the U.S., and Asia mobilized and developed a huge demonstration.
In late May, we, as members of “No! G8 Japan” went to Germany. We first stayed at a squatter house in Berlin, and obtained necessary information and materials. Many anarchists and autonomists from all over the world gathered in Berlin. Small parties were held at the squatter houses, and we militant activists vowed to fight the upcoming struggle, while enjoying drinking and music. An information center for activists was set up inside the city and a map of the Summit site, as well as the latest information about action plans and police weaponry and strategies for cracking down on demonstrators were distributed there. Also shops for militant activists were selling ‘black gear’ such as sleeping bags, parkas, hats, masks and leather gloves. After making our preparations in Berlin we headed for Rostock.
On the eve of the Summit – Riot
On June 2, the anti-G8 demonstration and rally took place in the city of Rostock. 80,000 people, who were either critical of or wanted to stop the G8 Summit, mobilized and had a big parade. Led by international participants of NGOs from outside Germany, many different social movements, labor organizations, German leftist groups, and large troops of anarchists and autonomists marched through the town with balloons, gigantic puppets, music bands, trailers equipped with sound systems, and countless numbers of red and black flags and banners…and at the center of the demonstration, a gigantic black block consisting of over 10,000 people emerged.
What is Black Bloc? It is a conglomerate of small groups consisting of two to twenty members. It is an open frame which anyone can be a part of, without requiring any qualifications. Black Bloc does not have an organized leadership, instead each group participates by acting according to their own judgment to compose the entire situation. At the meeting place where the demonstration ended, one of the groups in Black Bloc removed paving stones from the street and got ready to throw the stones at riot police. Another group attacked and destroyed police cars, while some other groups dragged trash cans out into the street and set them on fire. All the people in those groups are completely clad in black from head to toe, and they hide their faces with hoods and masks. The 10,000 members all dress in black to retain the anonymity of the main, most active troops. Anonymous small groups executed their own plans. Black Bloc thus created a small-scale insurrection. Stone throwing and water cannons were repeated and in the black smoke rising from the burning cars, heavily armed riot police and militants collided. The mass media shot this battle and the images was distributed globally; the 2007 G8 Summit was reported to the world as a fierce “urban riot.”
Dense, multi-layered coalition
The uprising in Rostock right before the opening of the Summit successfully left the impression that the G8 was an unjust ‘dirty conference.’ At the same time it also gained good global publicity for the fact that the international people’s struggle was bravely confronting the enormous ruling power at the Summit. This achievement was not accomplished solely by the contribution of Black Bloc. It was the contributions of many other social movements surrounding Black Bloc that supported and realized this insurrection.
What caught my attention at the forefront of the battle was the presence of broad array of anarchists and Autonomists from various non-violent direct action groups. Around the militants who actually engaged in stone throwing, destruction and setting fires, there were many more militants of non-violent direct action groups who were actively engaged. Those non-violent militants supported the Black Bloc: they blocked the movement of the police by using tactics such as picketing or sit-ins. It was those non-violent direct action groups that confronted the armed police the most, being beaten up or pepper sprayed. Those non-violent activists protected the rioting groups, and furthermore the members of German ATTAC who organized the entirety of the rally persistently negotiated in order to avoid any confrontation with the police. Labor unions and various leftist groups put pressure on the police by influencing public opinion against them. The densely layered collation of various activist groups led our anti-Summit movement to success this time. The Black Bloc acted independently, but they were not isolated. Despite minor discord, there were persistent negotiations and efforts among different activist groups to realize a larger coalition.
The Foundation of the Anti-Globalization Movement
It is true that some participants of the demonstration were frustrated immediately after the reports of the riot on June 2. We heard that within the German ATTAC, the group that had played a central role in organizing the demonstration, criticism of the Black Bloc came one after another. There was even a strong opinion that the violent black-clad group should be removed from the coalition. German ATTAC ultimately maintained the coalition with Black Bloc, despite making a statement criticizing them. This had great significance.
The Black Bloc has been the focus of attention as being a group that is both troublesome and awe-inspiring at the same time. They were always viewed as outsiders, but at the same time they were trusted by many activists because they were the original group who opposed the tyranny of the IMF/World Bank, and stood up against the injustice of the Davos Conference (World Economic Forum) and developed the international protest movement against the neo-liberal globalization. Their achievement is significant in the history of activism. It is not an exaggeration to say that the pioneering practices of those anarchists and Autonomists created the prelude to today’s anti-globalization movement. Moreover, their directness, spontaneity and multi-central, rhizomatic organization, as well as their tolerance of diversity and efforts to build comradeship are the basis for today’s anti-globalization movement. So how we feel about and evaluate the Black Bloc is indeed the issue of how the anti-globalization movement as a whole should be defined. Are those young people dressed in black the renegades of the movement? Are they situated at the core of the movement? ATTAC in Germany tacitly gave an answer. It was not the NGOs, labor unions or leftist parties, but those anonymous small groups gathered in Black Bloc that embodied and realized the democratic characteristic of today’s movement the best. Those uncontrollable, countless numbers of small groups constitute the ontological ground of all the social movements in terms of their unspecified democratic character. The almost unwarrantable directness of the democracy that they request and practice pertains to the potential of all the movements.
The power of those uncontrollable people has become the energy of the movement in general, so it is that the organization of the movement must make efforts to strive for supporting the diversity of those groups. What the German organizers persistently pursued and demonstrated was a general rule of what sort of coalition of movement liberates the potential of the people. In other words, instead of persisting on differences, it is a way of pursuing what is shared in common.
Variety of Anti-Summit Actions
From June 3 to 5 Rostock was crowded with many international conferences, demonstrations, street parties, and direct actions. Demonstrations against immigrant exclusion, against militarism and a demonstration for the impeachment of the global corporation, Lidl. were organized on an especially large scale.
Corresponding to these simultaneous, multiple actions, on June 4 we held a protest action at the hotel where Japanese government officials were staying. We entered the lobby and displayed an anti-Summit banner and read aloud our protest statement and chanted our slogans, voicing our discontent. A report of this protest was distributed through independent media network G8TV
within the same day, and was shown on a big TV screen installed at the activist camping site. A mysterious group from Japan became famous overnight. The energetic activities of media activists facilitated mutual understandings of different people and developed our sense of solidarity. Even though we didn’t communicate enough through words, trust was fostered through action, which helped build our relationships. Whether international conference, peaceful demonstration, or high-risk direct action, regardless of your approach, everyone was welcomed with mutual respect. This sort of tolerance facilitates spontaneous actions of people and raises their fighting morale. The camping site where the militants stayed gradually began to warm up.
Howling Coalition
On June 6 in Heiligendamm, “Block G8,” an action intent on blocking all the roads leading to the Summit site, took place. In order to block four highways and several mountain roads, ten thousand militants took different various actions. A Scandinavian anarchist troop took off before dawn to barricade the mountain roads with trees they had to chop down in the forest. Guided by German militants, we entered highways from the mountain and formed a picket line. Thousands of militants trekked along an unmarked trail on the mountain in order to elude police security. Twenty labor unions, newly aligned with us since the riot on June 2, joined us to confront the police. In the mountain roads the car carrying Russian officials was surrounded by anarchists and left stranded. A militant group from Berlin blocked the highway with their cars and stalled German Prime Minister Angela Merkel. While confronting armed police at different sites of actions, each of us was concerned about our comrades elsewhere and communicating with other points. This block action did not involve the entire 80,000 people, but gained the support and interest of various activist groups.
On the day of the block action, Susan George, who was attending International G8-alternative summit, commented at a panel discussion as follows, “I am so moved by the feeling I have had since the anti-Iraq war simultaneous world demonstration of 2003 that I am crying tears of joy. Since I am old I can’t be there in person, but people at the alternative summit are connected with the activists who are blocking Heiligendamm and we are sharing the same feeling.”
The direct action in Heiligendamm most expressed the power and excitement of the anti-G8 coalition. Different people independently took actions, but they were not isolated. Completely different people transcended mutual differences and discord and we, as a coalition of movements, howled. We were not able to stop the G8 Summit, but our coalition besieged it. If our experience in Germany can be maintained and the diversity of movement fully grows, our howling coalition will eventually succeed in stopping the G8 Summit.
The anti-globalization movement has not yet ended. Actually it has just begun. The venue for the next G8 Summit is Japan. Militants from all over the world including Asian countries will mobilize in Lake Toya, Hokkaido. We must accommodate them and make efforts so that they will be able to fight as fully as possible. Let us not judge which form of struggle is right or wrong, but let us try our best to realize all forms of struggles! We call for the coalition of movements.