Skip to content or view screen version

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

ANTI-G8 :: Practical Infos

OM | 18.04.2003 10:32

Days of resistance to the G8...and your best chance to
get Bush's autograph!

The G8 meets from Sunday 1st of June till Tuesday June 3 in Evian, France,
on the shore of Lake Leman opposite Switzerland.
This small city and 10 kilometers around it will be a militarized
"exclusion zone" (entry only with badges), however most of the some 10,000
people involved (advisors, support, journalists, technicians, translators,
etc., plus the ministers of 20 vassal countries will have to be lodged in a
radius of 40 kilometers (Geneva, Lausanne and the French mountain resorts
of Haute Savoie south of Evian. There is thus the possibility of perturbing
the summit by blocking entries and /or exits to the zone.
Most participants will normally enter and exit via ferries between Evian
and Lausanne, where two smaller exclusion zones will protect the landing
zone of the ferries and two of the larger hotels in the center of Lausanne.
Two thousand five star hotel rooms have been reserved in Geneva. These
people will normally also cross the lake to Lausanne and continue to Geneva
by the Swiss turnpike on the north side of the lake. (The hotels and
airport are all on the north side of Geneva - ie the right bank of the
river.) However, if the ferry is blocked, they would also have the option
of going west along the south side of the lake from Evian to Geneva, or if
necessary going east from Evian to the other border with Switzerland at St.
Gingolphe and from there going all around the lake with the turnpike. (see
maps www.swissgeo.ch)
Support people will be arriving in the hotels by thursday the 29th. Bush
plans to land (but may be wrong!) at Geneva airport at 16H June 1st, where
the Swiss president will kiss his… feet, then on (by helicopter) to open
the G8 in Evian at around 19H. Particpants will probably be trying to
return to their hotels from about 21H on …
Four anti-G8 coordinations (Lausanne, Geneva, Haute Savoie and Paris) are
jointly providing a political umbrella for various events of particular
organisaions and groupings :

-- Alternative villages (each for a few thousand people), all more or
less on the Strasbourg No Border camp model (self-organisation, debates,
horizontality), are being set up in Lausanne, and Geneva, plus two at
Annemasse (a French suburb of Geneva)  one anti-authoritarian
(www.vaaag.org) and one of diverse groups and individuals
. The villages open the 28th.

-- Thursday, May 29: demos:
# Lausanne around the hotels to say "Not Welcome!" to the G8 participants in
a colorful, musical way.
# Chamonix, France: demo at the Mont Blanc tunnel for liberty of movement and
against truck transport.
# Annemasse: a festive, out-reaching demo to thank the inhabitants hosting
the "villagers" and reclaim public space.

Note: The general tone of G8 demos will be determined but humorous, musical
and open. The local organizers want the G8 to be the occasion to widen the
movement and comprehension of the issues  not be seen as a "foreign invasion"!

-- Friday May 30, an instructive tour of Geneva's international
institutions: against "free" trade and for free movement of humans.

-- Friday and Saturday:
# Various countersummit events of NGOs, ATTAC,
CADTM, etc. Debates are planned in several villages and at the Univ. of
Geneva concerning "commons" as an alternative to private and state control
of education, land, culture, etc…
# Arrival of late-coming thousands, organization of affinity groups, etc.,
for the grand opening of the morrow…

-- Saturday night: "Fires on the lake"  About 50 huge fires will be lit in
localities all around the lake encircling the G8. An occasion to mix with
the locals who may or may not fancy demonstrating the next day. (Groups
invited by local communities to a particular fire might well have less
problems at the frontier. Contact www.evlan.org )

-- SUNDAY June 1st
# Mass demo: (100 thousand? Two? More?) between Annemasse and Geneva
(about 6 kilometers), starting at 9 or 10H. Part of the demo will start
from the French side (the French "villages" and campsite, the station in
Annemasse and the turnpike junction) and march towards Geneva along the
Route de Chêne. Others will leave the lakeside in Geneva to meet them along
the same route. After the junction, marchers will return to their starting
points via the Route de Malagnou parallel to it. For maps, see
. This demo and a simultaneous one in Lausanne will be in
effect blocades as they will paralyse all trafic in the area (Geneva
population = 300,000!)
# Blocades: Demos will be completed by blocades and encerclements around the
exclusion zones of Lausanne and roads leading to Geneva hotels.

-- Joker: The Swiss president announced that he wants to greet Bush at the
Geneva airport at 16H. The Geneva government is publically opposed to this
gross provocation, but if it is maintained it will obviously change a lot
of things...

KEY APPOINTMENT: As early as possible Sunday morning at the Lausanne
village and by the lake in Geneva (Parc de la Grange).

-- Monday and Tuesday: More civil disobedience, fun and games

Practical infos

Frontiers, control and repression:
Gas masks and helmets are considered arms and an excuse for immediate
expulsion.
Frontier controls will be reestablished all around France, plus controls on
accesses to the region (railway stations such as Lyon or Valence, turnpike
booths, etc…) The Swiss government admits to having "black lists" of people
present in previous demos. Frontier controls with Italy will be shifted
south of the alpine tunnels (eg Domodossola) to permit mass exclusions…

France:
Convergence: Annemasse airport: Info-point, campings, etc.
Two villages (also beside Annemasse airport): the Village Alternatif
Anticapitaliste Antiguerre and the Village InterGalactique
www.g8-illegal.org . The two villages are open to all. See websites for
objectives, principles and organisation. Access: vehicles can park at the
airport except for June 1st. There will be an info-point at the Annemasse
railway station (about 2 kils. away)
Genèva:
Convergence: l'Usine, Place des Volontaires
Info-points: Info-Bus opposite the railway station; l'Usine; University,
UNI-Bastions, Rue de Candolle; Maison des Associations, Rue des Savoises
Village ZAAGE (zaage.lautre.net): Stade du Bout du Monde, Carouge
Campings: Stade du Bout du Monde, Carouge - Parc de La Grange - Parc des
Bastions, UNI-Bastions

Lausanne:
Convergence: Village C'VILLAGE (www.squat.net/contre-attaque) et campings:
Parc de Vidy
Info-points: Maison du Peuple, Place Chaudron;Tir Groupé, Place du Chateau

In general:
Be prepared to be as autonomous and mobile as possible: camping and cooking
material, including some food  imagine shopping on Ascension weekend in a
besieged provincial city…; as many bicycles, rollers, etc., as possible;
bring a small radio, special broadcasts are planned.

CONSULT  http://squat.net/contre-attaque/ AND OTHER SITES FOR DETAILS, MAPS
AND HIGHLY PROBABLE LAST MINUTE CHANGES!!

OM
- Homepage: http://squat.net/contre-attaque/