2009-11-03

3.11.2009 Pittsburgh -- Strasbourg/ Baden-Baden -- London -- Heiligendamm -- Kopenhagen

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Out of Control!

Activist meeting against the “European security architecture”

* in deutsch: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7769.html
* en francais: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7770.html
* in serbian: http://antifabgd.net/?p=1600

European security politics of the last twenty years has increased the potency of social and state control in a prodigious manner. New technologies, legislations, techniques and doctrines were established in the middle of the judicial, police and military apparatuses. The forces of control are merging, while the fronts of struggle are multiplicated.

Conflicts did not miss of course. From popular neighbourhoods to video surveillance, “border management” and "e-borders“, databases, control of telecommunication, new DNA or biometric technologies, satellites and flying cameras, blocking of websites, repression of militants, migrants, “crowd control” at summit protests or alternative cultures as the free parties, the hold of state control stretched.

But resistance is too punctual, located and specific to succeed. Very rare are the initiatives which managed, from demonstrations to direct actions, from meetings to judicial procedures, from speech to riots, to find a long-lasting echo among the population and to really prevent the march towards the control society.

More: http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/7768.html

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Tortuga House Update: Pennsylvania Drops All Charges Against Madison & Wallschlager for Twittering

In the face of a PR nightmare, Pennsylvania authorities have withdrawn all charges against two members of Tortuga accused of using Twitter to aid protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. At a hearing today, instead of oral arguments regarding a defense motion to unseal the secret 18-page affidavit authorizing the arrests of Elliott Madison and Michael Wallschlager at a motel just outside of Pittsburgh, the prosecution immediately moved to withdraw all charges against the two before the defense had a chance to argue its case. Although clear from the beginning that these charges were absurd based on the State’s very own laws, our housemates were incarcerated for 36 hours, had their van towed and belongings confiscated, and one house member was given $30,000 in straight bail.

More: http://friendsoftortuga.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/tortuga-house-update-pennsylvania-drops-all-charges-against-madison-wallschlager-for-twittering/

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Case against alleged G-20 protest coordinators dropped

Allegheny County prosecutors withdrew criminal charges today against two New York men accused of using cell phones and the Internet messaging service Twitter to direct the movement of protestors during the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Police arrested Elliot M. Madison, 41, and Michael Wallschlaeger, 46, both of Jackson Heights, N.Y., after they found them Sept. 24 in a Kennedy hotel room full of computers, police scanners and Pittsburgh-area maps, according to a state police criminal complaint.

Prosecutors withdrew the charges after an attorney for the men asked Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman to unseal police affidavits that backed search warrants used in their case. Cashman previously sealed the warrants.

More: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_651135.html

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Policing Dissent in the Information Age

The Twitterest Pill

By JACK Z. BRATICH

Ahh, remember the Summer of Tweet-Love? Those heady days in June 09, when pundits and cable news anchors sang the praises of their beloved social media platform Twitter? Remember how we changed our Facebook profile pics to Green in solidarity with Iranian protestors?

Perhaps Eliot Madison was feeling that techno-optimism in late September, when he was arrested in Pittsburgh during the G20 protests. Police stormed his motel room, where Madison and others had set up a communications node (as part of the Tin Can Comms Collective) to gather and distribute information about the demonstrations. This hub contained hardware like police scanners, phones, computers and involved, yes, tweeting. Madison was charged with criminal use of a communication facility, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and possession of instruments of crime. The following week, police raided his home in Jackson Heights, Queens and he and his roommates were detained while the premises were searched for sixteen hours.

More: http://www.counterpunch.org/bratich10092009.html

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G20 Mobilization: Preliminary Assessment

The reports are coming in, and many participants are describing the G20 protests in Pittsburgh as a success. This is exciting news; the US anarchist movement hasn’t pulled off an unequivocally successful nationwide mobilization in half a decade or more. At the same time, success entails risks of its own: we may overlook the things we didn’t do well, take credit for things outside our actual influence, or fixate on attempting to repeat ourselves. Meanwhile the authorities, who often exaggerate our effectiveness to justify repressing us, appear to be understating the extent of anarchist damage and disruption in Pittsburgh, perhaps to downplay the possibility of militant anticapitalism regaining momentum.

This appraisal explores the triumphs and shortcomings of the G20 mobilization, in hopes that these lessons can be applied soon on a variety of other battlefields.

For a description of the context of the G20 and an account of the events of Thursday, September 24, read this. For a discussion of policing at the G20 and a report on the events of Friday evening, read this.

More: http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/recentfeatures/g202.php

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Strasbourg mecklenburgisch: Exempel im Nordosten

Der nächste NATO-Gipfel kommt bestimmt und auch die Vorbereitungen der Friedensbewegung. Dabei ist der vergangene für einige noch sehr schmerzlich gegenwärtig: Gefangene sitzen immer noch, und in einem entfernten Bundesland versuchen Polizei und Staatsanwaltschaft ein eigenes Verfahren zu konstruieren.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ist ein Boomland für die NATO: Nach der „Wende“ deindustrialisiert und entvölkert, bietet es unendliche Weiten für Militärstützpunkte (K130-Korvetten, Eurofighter mit bundesweitem Trainingszentrum, Patriot-Raketen), Satellitenstationen, EADS-Filialen, immer mehr Rüstungsforschung und Landesregierungen, die die entsprechenden Abkommen schließen, so mit dem Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt.

More: http://de.indymedia.org/2009/10/264608.shtml

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Berufungsgericht mildert Strafe für deutschen NATO-Gegner ab

Colmar — Im Berufungsprozess um einen deutschen Teilnehmer der Proteste gegen den NATO-Gipfel in Straßburg hat ein Gericht im elsässischen Colmar die Strafe abgemildert. Die Richter verurteilten den 25 Jahre alten Berliner Mathematik-Studenten zu einer zweimonatigen Bewährungsstrafe. In erster Instanz war er kurz nach dem Gipfeltreffen Anfang April zu sechs Monaten Haft verurteilt worden. Davon saß er fast vier Monate ab, bevor er im August vorläufig auf freien Fuß gesetzt wurde.

More: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h2wAXwjUUSi0kI5kPCgpjOTK-VLQ

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Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'

Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databases
Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases.

The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor “domestic extremists”, the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime.

Senior officers say domestic extremism, a term coined by police that has no legal basis, can include activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-domestic-extremists-database

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Anklage gegen Entlastungszeugen aufgehoben

Mit Schreiben vom 06.10.2009 hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Rostock die Anklage wegen “falscher uneidlicher Aussage” gegen meine Entlastungszeugen aufgehoben!

Eine Begründung oder gar Rechtsgrundlage wird in dem Schreiben leider nicht genannt und der von mir erwartete Blumengruß samt offiziellem Entschuldigungsschreiben blieb auch aus.

Zu klären ist noch die Frage, ob die Kosten für den anwaltlichen Beistand der beiden vom Gericht getragen werden. Außerdem warte ich auf den Brief aus Rostock, der mir die endgültige Einstellung meines Verfahrens bescheinigt.

More: http://www.antischokke.de/2009/10/12/anklage-gegen-entlastungszeugen-aufgehoben/

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Copenhagen: Danish government will adopt "riot law"

The Danish government is presently preparing a proposal turmoil/riot law package in order to change the legislation which – if it is passed by the parliament – will have serious consequences for people participating in the actions during the COP15.
The content of this law package was announced Sunday the 18^th October, less than two month before COP 15, and will be tabled for the Parliament within the next couple of weeks. It is obviously ready before the COP.

The idea is not to scare anyone with this article as it is not even sure that this law will be adopted. Even if it is adopted, its hardly realistic that it will be used against big groups of people. But it is important for all of you to be updated on the Danish situation and because it is necessary to establish international pressure and attention in the media on the issue. It is crucial to bring forward that its not only danish activists who is against this legislation but also international community groups and social movements whom are fighting for a fair and just climate agreement.

More: http://de.indymedia.org/2009/10/263838.shtml

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UN-Konferenz in Kopenhagen: Dänemark droht Demonstranten

Vor der UN-Konferenz im Dezember in Kopenhagen will die dänische Regierung das Demonstrationsrecht verschärfen – auch gegen friedliche Protestierende. VON REINHARD WOLFF

Für Straßenblockaden drohen Freiheitsstrafen von 40 Tagen ohne Bewährung. Bußgelder für die Störung der “öffentlichen Ordnung” sollen verfünffacht werden – und die Polizei soll DemonstrantInnen bei bloßem Verdacht ordnungswidriger Absichten vorab für zwölf Stunden in Vorbeugehaft nehmen können. Mit diesen Maßnahmen will die dänische Regierung gegen Proteste vorgehen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem UN-Klimagipfel im Dezember in Kopenhagen erwartet werden.

“Wir stehen vor einer Veranstaltung, zu der Hardcore-Unruhestifter anreisen werden, die nur Sachschäden und Gewalttaten zum Ziel haben”, begründete der rechtspolitische Sprecher der regierenden rechtsliberalen Venstre, Kim Andersen, das geplante “Lømmelpakke” (“Lümmelpaket”).

More: http://www.taz.de/1/politik/europa/artikel/1/klima-demos-unerwuenscht/