2007-04-10

April 10th 2007, Heiligendamm

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together
booklet to form affinity groups

Hello Everybody, Dear all,
Why do we provide you with an affinity group booklet?
We don't know if you have in your context or in your country similiar experiences like we have identified in our context in Germany. We have recently got the the impression that at demonstrations and other political events there were quiet a few people on their own without a group or friends. There seems to be these people have only little information, for example, it seems that they don't know our legal support structure (EA - Ermittlungsausschuß see glossary), or they aimlessly run around and do often run away in panic.
We don't know whether you have similar experiences but we ask as what we can do to improve this situation. Our idea was to prepare a booklet with reports about experiences that we requested from our friends and some political acting groups. Our intention with this booklet is to prompt political activists and participants in demonstration and action to form infinity groups. Our motto: "Achieve More Together - Form affinity Groups" received a huge echo. First there were different voices: What do you mean by: Form affinity groups? We do this, that is clear, why should we discuss it? Others greeted the idea: We urgently need it especially in regard to the G8 summit!

We dared to work on a booklet that obviously doesn't answer all questions but hopefully will start a controverse and fruitful discussion. We hope this booklet encourages to think about doing more together and to form affinity groups.

Form affinity Groups - Achieve More Together!
We were and we are organised in different affinity groups und we are not speaking with one voice. We haven't got a definition what exactly an infinity group is and how it should act, we only point out some ideas how it could be organised and what should be taken in consideration to our point of view. In your context you might identify that your group has a different explanation and would like to act differently.
We tried to point out most of the thoughts and ideas that crossed our minds and were discussed among us and we would like to suggest to form infinity groups, to act with others if it is possible in a hierarchy free environment. There are no over all working recipes or regulations and we know that this booklet can only be a beginning.
Your actions, your plans and your positions are your decision. What are you doing where you are participating in you should decide together. In our opinion an infinity group is a good basis to be politically active together. But, as we have not always the same opinions, we hope, that a lot of you can find suggestions and give us your criticism! This booklet is for rummage, reading, leafing .... and not a textbook to work in from one chapter to the other - because this doesn't work.

In the international context we would like to ask you for your experiences in your context, in your country and we are very glad when you send us your opinions: bezugsgruppenreader@web.de

Furthermore you can find a file (pdf) for printing this booklet in German and English: www.gipfelsoli.org We wish you a lot of fun, we see us in Heiligendamm or somewhere else "on the barricades".

Your " Zusammen mehr erreichen" (Achieve More Together) - editorial group

Contents:
to form gangs
a recipe for 5-16 people or: "Is there a construction kit for affinity groups?" affinity groups
Possibilities to make a (quick) decision
preparation and debriefing
Legalteam
affinity groups within large groups
Pressure to perform
out of action - emotional support
glossary

Download: http://gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/Tools/together_engl.pdf

[bezugsgruppenreader@web.de]

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Huge "No G8" slogan visible from German summit site

Boergerende, Germany - Critics of globalization confirmed Tuesday they had painted a huge red 'No G8' slogan on a building that will be visible from the venue of this June's summit of eight leading nations in Germany.
The red letters, painted three storeys high on a 50-metre-long unused vacation boarding-house at the seaside resort of Boergerende, are visible 3 kilometres away.
A group which named itself the Easter Painting Holiday Group admitted responsibility for the graffiti, which went up over the Easter long weekend that ended in Germany Monday.
Demonstrators who oppose the policies of the G8 (Group of Eight) policies are planning to get as close as police will allow in June to the summit venue, the elegant beach resort of Heiligendamm on Germany's Baltic coast.
The painted 'No G8' slogan can be seen across a steel-mesh security fence which has been erected right around Heiligendamm.

[http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1289296.php/Huge_"No_G8"_slogan_visible_from_German_summit_site]

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Social centres towards Heilingendamm

Shut down G8 Summit!
Conflicts make Europe
Social centres towards Heilingendamm

Hundreds of us met in Venice during Global Meeting. We discussed about Europe, movements and autonomous conflicts. This discussion was extraordinary thanks to everyone's contribution and to the great participation (more than five hundred activists coming from all over Europe). We all agreed that a political Europe already exists. Multilateral Europe exists in governance and economy, in the acceptance of war and in repression. In actual Europe left wing governments violently evict social centres and the same governments oppress precarious workers' strength. At the same time, movements are well aware that Europe is crossed by social conflicts, by autonomous struggles that lead to insubordination and to radical democracy. These conclusions are an important step, which opens new fields of common struggles. We specifically refer to income, migrations / citizenship rights, social centres / autonomous lives, education / university.

A first convergence moment will be in Rostock. The German town that will host the G8 summit (the summit is to be in Heilingendamn a small town near Rostock. Around the two areas initiatives are to try blocking the summit, whereas June 2nd a demonstration will open anti G8 mobilisations in Rostock).
Today, we are to mobilise against the Earth's big powers. We are to do this after the closure of a great cycle of struggles. The ones linked to the so-called "no global" movements. To us this fact also means that we should investigate the new connections among global governance after the defeat of bushism and of unilateral war. The crisis that emerged with the coup within Empire obliges USA to accept multilateralism. But it does not mean that the situation has not embittered. There still are wars and reformism sounds even more hypocrite. Choosing to be against war and against the great eights stresses the fact that movements are autonomous. Autonomy is both a statement and a practice. Autonomy is the movements' political and confliction space.
In second place, we need to qualify movements' autonomy within Rostock's practical dimension. German brothers and sisters explained us how they managed to reach a shared proposal of counter-meeting and initiatives. This is very interesting. Because it brings together the various articulation of movements but it as well considers all different practices. And it wishes to be effective in blocking the G8 summit. At the same time, we discussed about another new challenge that movements are facing. The challenge is that one of overcoming former counter-meetings' logics, which talked the worlds of identity and representation. Today we think that we need to break such dynamics and we believe that we should define our participation from the desire of experimenting, understanding and inquiring. The fact that initiatives must be effective comes before their identity.
Just one last consideration. Ungdomshuset's struggle stands as the meaning of anti G8 mobilisations. Defending commonwealth and autonomy has been the most important element in Scandinavian and German struggles. This element is central to us as well. And it will take us to Rostock. We therefore want to be part of Rostock's counter-meeting. We will be in Rostock next week end (April 13th, 14th and 15th) in occasion of the international meeting that organises the counter-meeting itself. We also shall help preparing the G8 initiatives from and in Italy. We shall organise ourselves in order to reach Rostock during the G8 summit.

Against war and capitalism! In movement in spite of borders!

Promoters:
Esc, atelier occupato (Roma); Rete per l´autoformazione (Roma); Astra 19 (Roma); Cso Tpo (Bologna); Laboratorio Sociale Aq16 (Reggio Emilia); Laboratorio Sociale Occupato PAZ (Rimini); Centri sociali del Nord Est: Csa Bruno (Trento); Cso Rivolta (Marghera - Venezia); Cso Pedro (Padova); Laboratorio sociale Ubik (Ponzano Veneto TV); Laboratorio Fuori Controllo Monselice PD; Capannone Sociale (Vicenza); Laboratorio Morion (Venezia); Cso Clandestino (Gorizia); Casa delle Culture (Trieste); ChioggiaLab (Chioggia - Venezia); Metropolis Caffé (Verona); Cantiere (Milano), Cso Crocevia (Alessandria); Cso Insurgencia (Napoli); Orientale agitata (Napoli).

Here we are! http://www.globalproject.info/index-en.html