There are some things that really need to be discussed about the demos around the Strasbourg No Border Camp. Although the articles on this site are only describing property damage actions that have some logic to them e.g. the painting of lenses of cctv cameras, there was a lot of completely mindless property damage going on which surely was only serving to turn the local community against us. This included people graffitiing people's homes as the (incidentally, non-white) residents begged the spraypainters to stop, painting over bus timetables and also crushing whole flower beds in the city centre (maybe a small thing, but it really turns people against us). This kind of behaviour completely obscures the message of the camp. It allows the police and the media to pigeon-hole us as thugs with nothing relevant to say. While property damage can be a valid tool when used in a meaningful way, this kind of mindless damage does not look like a political message to the local community - it looks like vandalism. The behaviour was just macho "Look at me, I'm a revolutionary" wankiness, which will never get us anywhere.

The people who were doing this were not discussing their actions with other groups who were going to be in the same demo. So then other activists were involved (against their will) in something they had not agreed to do, and in many cases, did not support. One consequence of this was that in some situations, a few people would have a confrontation with the police, then run away, leaving the samba bands (for example) trapped in a police charge while carrying heavy drums. A lot of people got injured in this way, and also shot by rubber bullets during the heavy-handed response of the police.

The people doing this should also remember that the police use agents provocateurs for a reason, and stupid actions like this are playing straight into their hands. Instead of having to pay a policeman to start a fight, they get a bunch of so-called-activists to do it for free. Mindless vandalism gives them all the excuse they need to brutalise and oppress people, whereas a better-thought-out action could be justified politically, and that could be used as a much more robust defence against police brutality. Instead, this kind of action makes it possible for them to dehumanise us and obscure our message. Not only that, but the people who were doing these stupid actions weren't even staying around to face the consequences of their actions, they were just running away and leaving others to take the shit/rubber bullets. This kind of action will never bring us forward in our struggle. Our actions need to be intelligent and should not alienate people. Property damage must only be used when it is carefully considered and the message is clear. Otherwise it works against us, not for us.

Many many people I spoke to, who came to the camp felt angry about the behaviour of this small group of people, and many felt that they had been used as cover for this kind of vandalism in the demos and actions. A lot of people left early from the camp for this reason.

Also, I'd just like to mention that I think the indymedia coverage about strasbourg has been pretty one-sided, conveniently glossing over the negative aspect of the camp, the demos and the actions. For example the articles talk about the action on the bridge on Monday as if it was some kind of success, when really it was total chaos and again conveyed no message to the many angry drivers who were stuck on the bridge. Repeated searches for french speakers who were willing to explain the point of the whole exercise to the drivers were fruitless. Also the action was right on the doorstep of the camp, which was strategically not very wise, as far as managing the police presence at the camp went.

Indymedia contributors have to be unbiased in their coverage. Its simply dishonest to only tell the good things that were achieved at strasbourg (and elsewhere) without the other side of the story. We need to get the whole story about these events and actions, otherwise how will we ever learn from our mistakes and get better at what we do?

Tom.

Actually I think that both police actions and media coverage were extreme overreactions. I just don't think that any sane cop would think that some graffiti painting is a good reason to start throwing tear gas and baton charging, so it's a case of repression because of some hidden political reasons. This is just another sign that the repression is becoming worse. We should seriously consider the possibility of some reactionary forces influencing the police forces. In the case of Italy it's obviously Silvio Berlusconi, in USA George W. Bush, who might it be in France? Maybe local police bosses are members of Le Pen's Front National?

In the mainstream media they seemed to be reporting about "violent anti-globalisation protesters" though I didn't see any violence or anti-globalisation on the part of the protesters. So this seemed to be just another case of extreme inaccuracy, misunderstanding or even a full-blown smear campaign on the part of the media. On the other hand i think that the mediaphobia on the camp was somewhat senseless, since it becomes more difficult for journalists to write anything positive about the movement if the movement doesn't properly communicate with them.

In my mind the border-blocking action on monday was utter nonsense. You have to think what kind of actions are suitable for your political goals and how to get the message across. When a camp called "No Borders" blocks the border i think it's a case of utter mindlessness.

We need to think about strategy and tactics more carefully, folks.