A few things stick out of this article.

1./( Draw from this what you will. ) The need to identify and /or make "leaders". That doesn't sound very anarchist.
Mind you, Dissent isn't anarchist is it? Hence..
2./ Univeristy lecturers, pro artists, cmabridge students.

It does sound rather middle class. It is isn't it;-)

I myself find some of the Protest Jetset dubious to say the least. Do they only talk to each other/swop prop etc. and preen. Fuck sake - there are people still going on about the violence/non-violence good/bad protestor debate -yep and this debate IS along class lines!

I am sure there are people on Indymedia that feel in the past that they have been used ( or people have tried to use them ) as cannon fodder. University lecturing anarchists????And the Pope is a protestant! No wonder the movement got fucked up. Perhaps it died with Class War!

Anyway, I may aswell post the articles ( in quotes )to stop you having to pay when Sunday Times archives them:-


"Inside the secret world of anarchists preparing for G8 summit
BY ADAM LUCK ("you'll need it if I see you in Scotland mate:-)" )
The Times penetrated a group of militants who are intent on organised chaos when world leaders come to Scotland

A REMOTE farm in the Lanarkshire countryside was transformed last weekend into a city of well laid-out army tents and marquees resembling a military encampment. ( Al Quaida or a Permaculture project!!!)

The military aspect was no accident. This was a “war summit”, where about 300 anarchists ( did they wear badges proclaiming this?) — some dressed in urban guerrilla garb in freezing temperatures — had gathered to draw up plans to paralyse Scotland during the G8 meeting at Gleneagles in July.

At this so-called Festival of Dissent,( No it was actually Festival of Dissent )called held on the land surrounding the imposing 17th-century Birkhill House at Coalburn, a secretive group of militants drew up plans to blockade the summit by cutting road and rail links.

Under the plans, tens of thousands of protesters are to be housed in three camps strategically placed across Scotland and will be deployed through a communications network designed to outflank the police.

Despite the group’s obsessive secrecy, The Times was able to penetrate it to discover the nature of many of its plans — and the willingness of some militants to resort to violence in their determination to disrupt the summit.

After attending a series of meetings under an assumed identity, a Times journalist also established that two key figures in the network are a university dropout named Alessio Lunghi and Mark Aston, a university administrator.
Mr Lunghi, 27, is a leading light within the Wombles, the hardcore anarchist group that was behind the May Day chaos visited on London in 2002. The son of an Italian wine importer and a primary school inspector, Mr Lunghi, from South London, has been directly involved in anti-G8 groups in the run-up to the summit.

He favours combat trousers and heavy, military-style boots, ( see Style Pullout section )and admitted at one meeting that there was no point to the anti-globalisation protests if there was no violence.

Mr Aston, who works at Cardiff University and was the vice-president of the Cardiff branch of the Association of University Teachers last year, is a key organiser of the anti-globalisation group Dissent, which was behind the festival.
Set up in 2003, Dissent is an umbrella organisation for anarchists and other radical groups, which say that they wish to see the overthrow of capitalism through “direct action”.
The event last weekend at the farm 32 miles southeast of Glasgow attracted radicals from Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Spain and Iceland, along with a broad section of Britain’s anti-globalisation movement.
These included a PhD student from Cambridge University, a sales representative from London, a professional artist from Cambridge and an assortment of eco- warriors. They were housed in a tent city set in the farm’s 50 acres that included a military-style mess hall, where activists lined up in orderly queues for vegan meals.
Using a large map of the Gleneagles area pinned to the canvas wall of the main marquee, Mr Aston explained to the listening militants the benefits of cutting off the A9 trunk road from Glasgow to Perth and the Forth Road Bridge. “This would effectively cut off the north of Scotland,” he said. “We have to make sure that we can transport the protesters around the area and make sure they have maximum impact and blockade Gleneagles.”
Protesters from outside Scotland would converge on three camps — in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. Their exact locations are a closely guarded secret.
Activists at one meeting boasted that they knew the intended location for the main police camp, which will house many of the thousands of officers whose task will be to prevent any disruption of the summit. It is believed that some groups intend to target that camp. Mr Aston noted the success of text-messaging in marshalling protesters during anti-globalisation protests abroad and also discussed using motorcycle couriers to disperse information.
Among the foreigners were two Icelandic activists who gave their names as Oli and Runar. Runar, who said he was an art professor in Iceland until being made redundant when his radical activities upset the authorities, said: “We are here to learn about the techniques required for direct action. In Iceland we have serious campaigns against developing hydroelectric dams coming up this summer and felt we needed to come here to understand what we can do.”
The main action — which is scheduled for July 6 — is designed to prevent support workers, journalists and international and British civil servants, rather than the main leaders, from reaching Gleneagles. Several thousand foreign and British civil servants are expected to set the stage for the G8 leaders’ three-day meeting, where Tony Blair, as the host leader (if Labour is re-elected on May 5), has pledged to push forward his plan to relieve debt and poverty in Africa.
As plans for the summit are being polished in Western capitals, the organisers of the campaign were preparing their own detailed designs in the hope that they can plunge the event into chaos. The festival focused on a series of workshops that included using blockading techniques, surveillance and counter-surveillance, arrest role play, first aid and “dealing with trauma”.
Activists were told not to use inflammatory language or discuss detailed strategy or tactics in open meetings because of fears that undercover police or journalists were present. Security was tight, with mobile phones and cameras banned.
Nevertheless, activists openly discussed their involvement in previous anti-G8 riots at Evian in France, and Genoa. They also made clear their hatred for the “British State”.
One organiser of an “arrest role play” workshop, who did not give his name, said: “The British State has a soft and fluffy image, but it is not. It can be as violent as the Italian, German and Swiss police. Do not be fooled.”
More than 10,000 police are expected to be drafted in from across Britain to protect world leaders, including Presidents Bush and Putin, in an exercise expected to cost £20 million. Just how seriously the G8 anarchists treat the prospect of violence can be gauged by the setting-up of a trauma group to help protesters to deal with not only the aftermath of any physical injuries received during the G8 summit but also with their long-term effects.
One organiser also stated that they needed to pool funds to “sue the police as fast as we can” because it would “help the recovery process”.
In a “blockading workshop”, activists openly discussed paralysing Scotland’s rail network by using equipment to simulate a signal that there was a train on the line, and methods of interfering with level crossings.
One clean-cut English student, who did not give his name, explained the use of “track circuit operating clips” — which resemble battery jump leads — to turn the signals red on a rail line and effectively close it down. “There is an electrical current and you attach the clips to the tracks and it breaks the circuit,” he said. “This makes it look like there is a train on the line and stops everything.”

The blockading workshops also saw discussion about methods to block motorways, including the scattering of waste metals and plans for activists to dress as motorway maintenance workers before placing cones to create traffic jams.

Although Mr Lunghi did not attend the festival, he was at a meeting this month at a community centre in Reading of a “South East Assembly”, gathered to deal with the logistical difficulties of helping protesters to reach Scotland from London.
It was at an earlier meeting of the South East Assembly umbrella, in East London, that Mr Lunghi addressed the question of violence during the protests against the Gleneagles summit. Asked whether it was likely, he smiled and said: “Well, I would hope so. There’s no point going otherwise.”
Asked yesterday about the campaign, Abby Mordin, 29, a resident of the Talamh co-operative that owns Birkhill House and its estate, said: “Dissent is not about riots but peaceful protest. It is a way to get a strong message across and making sure the world leaders have important issues on the agenda. We had workshops about dealing with the media and peaceful blockades to block roads.”
Mr Aston said: “I would really rather not give an interview to The Times.” Alessio Lunghi refused to comment.
SECURITY IN NUMBERS
100,000 people expected at the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh on July 2
50,000 protesters expected at a rally outside the Gleneagles Hotel on July 6
10,000 police on standby during the summit, from Scottish forces and from England and Wales
1,151 the regular strength of Tayside police force, which covers the Gleneagles Hotel
1,500 delegates from the eight countries attending the summit
3,000 members of the media covering the summit
£150m estimated cost of hosting the summit
£20m amount provided by the Treasury for security

April 18, 2005

Ring of steel to shield Holyrood
BY SHIRLEY ENGLISH
Ministers have been warned that the 8ft barricade during the G8 summit may attract troublemakers




PLANS to erect a steel security fence around the Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will act as a magnet for agitators during this summer’s G8 summit, MSPs said yesterday.
Police intend to build an 8ft-high barricade around the Parliament and the Queen’s official Scottish residence as a precaution against protesters.
World leaders are due to meet at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire from July 6-8 where an anti-globalisation protest involving about 50,000 people is expected to mark the opening day of talks.Other demonstrations are planned in the run up, including a Make Poverty History march through Edinburgh on July 2, expected to attract around 200,000 people.
Opposition politicians said that a balance had to be struck between security needs and the right to protest. Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the Scottish Nationalists, said: “I’m not sure whether a steel fence is really required. It may in fact just act as a magnet for protesters.”
The Tory MSP Brian Monteith questioned why the £431 million Parliament building was not sufficiently secure. Bomb-proofing and the installation of shatter-proof windows added to costs and the three-year delay in its completion. “I do rather wonder, after spending all the money on the Scottish Parliament, what we have in the way of a building which needs another fence to defend it,” he said. “I do share a concern that the fence could itself act as a magnet for a Parliament which will not be sitting when the G8 summit will be sitting.”
It is understood that the fence, which is expected to cost tens of thousands of pounds, is not a response to any specific threat. But the Queen will no longer be staying at Holyroodhouse during the summit and is said to have cancelled this year’s garden party because it clashed with the G8.
Britain holds the G8 presidency and Tony Blair will play host at Gleneagles to George Bush, the US President, and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, as well the heads of the French, German, Japanese, Italian and Canadian governments. Mr Blair and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, have already voiced support for the Make Poverty History campaign, whose demands include trade justice, debt cancellation and more aid for the world’s poorest countries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that extra equipment had been ordered for police who will guard the summit amid reports that some officers were unhappy at having to share fire-resistant underpants. Up to 1,250 officers are being trained on public order tactics designed to quell violent protests. An MoD spokesman said: “Officers currently have to share some equipment, which is normal practice during training. But extra equipment, including fire-proof clothing, has been ordered.”


So, there you have it. perhaps I should point out to the Sunday Times that this is just an anarchist diversion. The real action will be happening near Liverpool Street in London where a large wooden horse on wheels (packed with humous and dynamite ) will be pushed to the London Stock Exchange by a group of disgruntled Faculty deans disguised in stylish latex posing pouches and vegan combat boots, who will then attempt to SET IT OFF.