People who just go to demonstrations to fight the police, throw molotovs around, and smash up shops are not going for the movement's sake. All they are doing is giving the right wing press ammuntion to denouce every anti-capitalist protester as such.

And before the vitriol goes my way, I am fully aware that NOT all anti-capitalists or anarchists are like that, if you can really call the above that at all. These people are as supporting of the anti-capitalist movement as the racist thugs at football matches are supporters of the football team.

I agree.

You could in fact argue that such arseholes like Attac are deeply reactionary and are in fact counter-revolutionary, because the only thing they will ever achieve is put thousands of people off progressive political action, tar all lefties with the "mindless rioter" smear and increase police and state repression.

Well done lads, hope the macho sex thrill was worth it.

Myself, I'll support people who actually understand what anarchism means (clue: Its NOT just "the right to free cider.")

MM

An article on their site about the riots.


This night, a group of cagoulés young people equipped in black broke windows throughout a course in the center of Geneva. In the neighbourhoods of midnight in this anti-G8 demonstration day before we saw a group of young people of about fifty people, equipped with sweat shirt to hood black, to cross the place of Lime pit Palate without running. With calms and determination, making move back certain cars to ensure the passage, breaking avoid-break them others, breaking the window of the food chain of distribution Migros, they then engulfed themselves in a long ribbon in a small street. There, they set fire to the service station of Elf and two cars to slow down the police force which continued them. It will be necessary to await good fifteen minutes to see the firemen arriving. The police force, it also, intervened rather tardily on the spot. According to the conversations heard with the microphone of the police officers irritated parked along a pavement, the police force would have been concentrated around the airport what left the relatively empty city itself. The passage of the group of breakers was done in front of a prohibited and relatively amazed public. The badauds did not show hostility or a particular concern. After their passage in commercial main street, the windows of many stores are broken or broken. Nothing very systematic, just a blow by pane. Two hours after their passage, many people in the street to see the spectacle of the cords of police officers who block the passage on unquestionable section. The public of badauds is calm. No store seems to have been the subject of plundering. The police officers do not add any and let themselves photograph without stumbling. If the police officers are calm, the glaziers them are agitated already. They are already making the cutting of new windows.




 http://www.attac.info/g8evian/?NAVI=1023-113839-14fr

Yes, I hate people who just think "anti-capitalist = mindless rioter", but for what I gathered from the article all Attac were doing were to condemn those who do just want to riot, which I think is fair enough. Could you clarify what you had to say?

Yes sorry about that, got my lines crosses somewhere along the way.

It's Sunday - not at my best on Sundays.

Anyway yes, what you said about Attac, definitely.
Although the wider point about mindless rioter types still stands.

Soz for the confusion.

MM

I have just returned from the protest march which set out from Geneva and it was 99.9% peaceful with many people of all age groups and nationalities. The atmosphere was empowering, peaceful and wonderful. I agree it is a total shame about the extreme minority groups who have no idea of what an 'anti-war' and 'anti-capitalist' march is about i.e. we are against violence and we are against intimidation - this is what the police are experts at, lets not lower ourselves to their level please!! The press have a field day with these violent and destructive actions, I just watched CNN and they only reported the violence and showed pictures of these youths in masks smashing up a petrol station - no sign of the other tens of thousands of peaceful protesters. This movement is huge and growing but it has to be a 'non-violent' movement or people will be afraid to become involved. Love and peace. Jules

I have just returned from the protest march which set out from Geneva and it was 99.9% peaceful with many people of all age groups and nationalities. The atmosphere was empowering, peaceful and wonderful. I agree it is a total shame about the extreme minority groups who have no idea of what an 'anti-war' and 'anti-capitalist' march is about i.e. we are against violence and we are against intimidation - this is what the police are experts at, lets not lower ourselves to their level please!! The press have a field day with these violent and destructive actions, I just watched CNN and they only reported the violence and showed pictures of these youths in masks smashing up a petrol station - no sign of the other tens of thousands of peaceful protesters. This movement is huge and growing but it has to be a 'non-violent' movement or people will be afraid to become involved. Love and peace. Jules

Violence as spectacle serves the anti-capitalist movement well. It's the only time our concerns are ever listened to. The people who dismiss us will always disagree with us, but rioting has been the ONLY way our agendas have ever been taken seriously, even if they are regarded as "disparate". I wish that my voice can be expressed without having to resort to the farce of smashing windows. But smashing windows is the way we draw attention to the hypocrisy of a system that claims to be democratic and just, but causes starvation and war. Smashing windows and burning barricades is a better alternative to remaining marginalised and silenced while our planet is being dessicated by the ruling classes. And it is hardly on the scale of violence unleashed by the British and Americans in Iraq.

Attacking property for a just cause is a moral act.

Attac´s like granny´s x-mas parcel - you´ll find some usefull things in it - and you chuck bureaucrats like Engelmann out!

It's pretty sad that spokespeople for Attac have resorted to dishonesty in their recent interviews with the press. It also sucks that they are once again falling into the trap of divisiveness that the cops and media set for us at every major summit protest. The Attac spokespeople are under no obligation to answer questions about other protest groups and it is really stupid if they start lying about the movement being "peaceful." Yes, many parts of the movement are nonviolent, but some of us use violence and engage in property destruction. Many times that distinction is blurred when "nonviolent" protesters fight back against the police and so-called "violent" protesters engage in civil disobedience. I know people who have done black bloc who have also done Nonviolent CD. The boundaries are pretty blurry.

It's really exciting to see what is happening right now outside of the G8 summit. Go everybody! Beat the states!

And save a mollie for me!

Want other tactics do you like, maybe some happenings where we all dance around playing music. In addition, having the cameras filming us showing how mad we can dance.
War is violent, so is the state. You have to fight back. The state hates riots more then dancing. History has shown us that if you want things to happen then you have to make it a living hell for the state. You make riots and hope that you can inspire more riots to start up.

Want other tactics do you like, maybe some happenings where we all dance around playing music. In addition, having the cameras filming us showing how mad we can dance.
War is violent, so is the state. You have to fight back. The state hates riots more then dancing. History has shown us that if you want things to happen then you have to make it a living hell for the state. You make riots and hope that you can inspire more riots to start up.

I have to do a comment on the quotation above. There is a statement, i have done during a press-meeting. It is written by associated press -and, as you will know, they will always write what they want.
Originally i mentioned, that there has been an mobilization in the anarchist society in berlin towards Tessalonikki. Thats it for this point.
Later i told the oficial (it was a hard fight!) position of attac-germany, what is: We will never support any trys to create an artifical gap betwenn attac and anarchists or between the violent and non-violent protesters; by the police, the media or anyone else, . we are fighting together. And violence is at first the state, capitalisms all the da everywherey. so you can say, violence as a political strategy is not ours (in attac) but we understand the reasons for defending against the common violence with violence and we will work together.

Please mention this.

leftradical and horizotal greetings from (fucking) germany

we will see us in the horizontal space on the esf!!!

Lukas Engelmann