But is it possible? : Blockading the g8
bento | 31.05.2003 10:35 | Evian G8 | Cambridge
Intergalactic Camp, Annemasse May 31, 2003
Last night and again this morning the question that people are all asking is the same. "What should we do to disrupt the g8?"
Last night and again this morning the question that people are all asking is the same. "What should we do to disrupt the g8?"
Last night and again this morning the question that people are all asking is the same. "What should we do to disrupt the g8?"
The two g8 protest camps at Annemasse are swelling by the hour, there are now at least five thousand people
here. Just as I write, hundreds of people have streamed in with their bags etc, after a long journey and are now holding an impromptu meeting.
This has been happening all night. In ones or twos at the bars and barrios, or in the large combined mass meeting in the VAAGE camp last night. Everyone was debating and discussing this question. "Should we go to Laussane, we may be able to block the delegates?" "Should we march from the camps to get as close as we can to Evian and blockade the road from Geneva to Evian?" "What about the bridges in Geneva?"
When I first came to Intergalactic the meetings about blockading were small and few people were discussing it. The camps for a range of logistical and political reasons are far from the sites of possible confrontation and there is a lot of meetings, fun and most importantly the ngo sponsored demostration on sunday, which many see as a march to no where; affecting nothing. Would the camps end up being a dead end where the protest would stay safe and corraled away from the g8? A barman in the VAAGE camp summed it up to me last night, "we are in a straightjacket, a padded cell".
The danger with the camps was always going to be the possibility that they would reduce rather then strengthen the possibility of action. This is part of the
explicit reason they have been tolerated and even supported by various government authorities. But now it seems this danger might be overcome, it is clear thousands will now engage in some form of blockades on Sunday. The camps
have become launch pads for an attack on the rulers of the globe.
Whether in Laussane, or on the road to Evian the lines of communication and movement to the g8 summit will be disrupted. Thousands of people have been
convinced of the importance of this. The question now is: "what will the police and military do to clear the roads tommorow?"
The two g8 protest camps at Annemasse are swelling by the hour, there are now at least five thousand people
here. Just as I write, hundreds of people have streamed in with their bags etc, after a long journey and are now holding an impromptu meeting.
This has been happening all night. In ones or twos at the bars and barrios, or in the large combined mass meeting in the VAAGE camp last night. Everyone was debating and discussing this question. "Should we go to Laussane, we may be able to block the delegates?" "Should we march from the camps to get as close as we can to Evian and blockade the road from Geneva to Evian?" "What about the bridges in Geneva?"
When I first came to Intergalactic the meetings about blockading were small and few people were discussing it. The camps for a range of logistical and political reasons are far from the sites of possible confrontation and there is a lot of meetings, fun and most importantly the ngo sponsored demostration on sunday, which many see as a march to no where; affecting nothing. Would the camps end up being a dead end where the protest would stay safe and corraled away from the g8? A barman in the VAAGE camp summed it up to me last night, "we are in a straightjacket, a padded cell".
The danger with the camps was always going to be the possibility that they would reduce rather then strengthen the possibility of action. This is part of the
explicit reason they have been tolerated and even supported by various government authorities. But now it seems this danger might be overcome, it is clear thousands will now engage in some form of blockades on Sunday. The camps
have become launch pads for an attack on the rulers of the globe.
Whether in Laussane, or on the road to Evian the lines of communication and movement to the g8 summit will be disrupted. Thousands of people have been
convinced of the importance of this. The question now is: "what will the police and military do to clear the roads tommorow?"
bento
Comments
Display the following comment