G8 PROTEST: THANKS TO (ALMOST) EVERYONE

Not another one !

13.07.2005 15:25

Yet one more post pretending all was well in Scotland. Why is no one telling the truth, why are posts which state the reality of the situation there being removed ?

The protests were a joke, there was fuck all people there and we got no support from local residents (despite what was posted elsewhere) and worst of all the camp sites were left in a mess (thanks to those who broke bottles on the ground)

We have never been more irrelevant to society or less influential. Geldof achieved more in three weeks of planning than the entire activist community did in a year of preperation.

Jay

We're determined, you're kidding yourself

13.07.2005 17:37

What exactly did Bob Geldof acheive? There's an article on Indymedia about Live 8 I thought very informative. I think Bob Geldof's doing good but if it wasn't for the 'activist community' or whatever we call ourselves how would any one know anything about the politics causing world poverty? The whole point people are missing is that NOTHING is going to make those in power give anything away. The idea that western coprorations and governments are suddenly going to stop taking from the poor and start giving instead is insane. Why would they? In South American countries such as Bolivia there is resistance with real success. At the moment there we are far too content with our riches in Britain+the rest of the West to really rise up. Please don't kid yourself that anything else will change anything

Matt

there was support

13.07.2005 18:00

"No support from local residents"??? Did you bother even talking to them? Did you gop out to the estates and find them or did you stay at the liberal activist trendy Forest Cafe ghetto? There was a fair bit of interaction with local residents with them coming on demos, a football match, gigs, cups of tea, helping out feeding wach other and conversations, though probably not from some of the pretend black bloc poseurs ( you know who you are and you pissed off other people in various blocs with random destruction and pretend machismo) swanning around the planet! Anyway there are debrief evenings to discuss/argue this.....There was a lot of positive stuff and interesting debate. perhaps the BCG would have been a better target in london or any of the major UK corporate newspapers that have been getting away with hiding murder for so long now ( the yellow press so reviled by the survivors )coming back from Versailles .. Theres along way to go and very little time...

PS. To any twat that thinks a noise demo is blasting out the neighbours and activists at 4 in the morning deserves what's coming to them...
PPS Anarchism is not the above:- Responsibility you ketamine pricks!

division of labour

Hurray for the twats!

13.07.2005 18:09

Right now lets see you do something CONstructive. Anything: give blood; wash your dog; stop drinking superlager on public transport; do something to help the old duffers/young offenders. Be a legal monitor for people in custody; set up an organic farming ollective... anything.

Go on, start the revolution. Usurp the state! Otherwise, get a season ticket for Millwall and leave the rest of us alone.

Red Angus

Local support

13.07.2005 18:44

Due to money restrictions I was only in Edinburgh for an afternoon, but the locals that I met seemed quite excited we were there. There were two old women who told us to go home, but lots of people came up and asked what we were doing (in a positive way), and some seemed dissapointed to have missed the main protest that day. Our cab driver, although a bit limited in knowledge of the issues, was really supportive too.

I guess it just depends on personal experiences; I'm sure there were a mixture of responses.

Sean

usually i don't respond to trolls, however...

13.07.2005 19:51

Everyone I met was supportive, an elderly couple on the way to Gleneagles - "we'd be there with you if we could, best of luck to you"

edinburgh residents - "it's been great for Edinburgh, it's shown everyone the real Edinburgh, that real people live here, and that we have a voice, it's brought community's together"

On Princess street on the monday night all I could here was scottish accents chanting "Who's streets, our street's"

Farmers gave us directions, bus drivers talked to us about their concerns, shop keepers put up posters with words of support, and of course they would, because for so long they have suffered like everyone else, declining levels of pay, growing job insecurity and the lowering levels of safety at work, which when you work in scotlands infamous nuclear power stations, or in its oil industry, can be lethal.

G8 protester

hurrah for the non twats

13.07.2005 20:28

Nice to see some realsitically positive posts!

:-)

whatever bloody name I was using this time.

Just One Quote

13.07.2005 23:13

"I'm pissed off...I'm pissed off with the media, I'm pissed off with the police...If I wasn't here myself right now I wouldn't believe it myself. What's going on right now is completely out of order, I really can't believe it!"

Edinburgh Resident commenting upon the police actions during the Carnival For Full Enjoyment.

Krop

Commenting on Comments

13.07.2005 23:26

>to the council authorities,...no thanks.

Didn't Stirling Council for one help the setup with the eco camp there ? Or is this just fantasy?

>"No support from local residents"??? Did you bother even talking to them?

Talk to them all the time, I live there. The support in Stirling fell a huge amount after the arseholes began vandalising and spray paining homes in Bannockburn.

McD

Lots of Support?

13.07.2005 23:33

Waiting for it to be pulled from the site.

http://icstirlingshire.icnetwork.co.uk/news/stirlingobserver/tm_objectid=15731065%26method=full%26siteid=92391%26headline=contempt%2dfor%2dg8%2dvandals-name_page.html

Jimmy

JINGS

14.07.2005 01:55

"Farmers gave us directions, bus drivers talked to us about their concerns, shop keepers put up posters with words of support, and of course they would, because for so long they have suffered like everyone else, declining levels of pay, growing job insecurity and the lowering levels of safety at work, which when you work in scotlands infamous nuclear power stations, or in its oil industry, can be lethal."

How feching patronising, like we cannae sort out our own problems?

Come back when you can spell our towns correct.

baw heid

Local support ?

14.07.2005 07:08

There was little if any local support. I faced hostility at every turn. Comments I heard all related to damage and theft from the community.

I came home earlier than I had planned very unhappy, very pissed off. Too many weekend warriers (faces covered by scarves, knives being carried etc - you just looked stupid), too many groups making money out of the protest (Dissent - you should be ashamed of your involement) and a general air of "why are we there". Repeated posts claiming it was a success are pathetic

Kyle

Stereotypes and assumptions

14.07.2005 08:24

Baw Heid:

"How feching patronising, like we cannae sort out our own problems?"

What exactly does that mean? That the people of Scotland are an amorphous blob who can singlehandedly sort out the problems of globalisation? That every single person in Scotland thinks the same as you? That there is no globalisation, only local problems?

It just appears to be a meaningless statement.

Kyle, you sound like a deeply unhappy person. Perhaps you think that your experience was the same as every single protestors? Maybe you think that every local person you met thinks the same as every person in Scotland?

If thats the case, you're wrong.

This wasn't a protest aimed at the people of Scotland - it was a protest aimed at the leaders of the G8, and if anyone is responsible for bringing the protests to that location, it is the leaders of the G8 themselves.

A thread bogged down in personal prejudices, and blinkered world views isn't particularly useful.

Whatever

nice mail kacho

14.07.2005 09:13

thanks also to all the internationals who came to support the camp, who set up kitchens, who were street medics, who blockaded, and who were there with the black block.

The level of political activism in the UK is shamefully far behind that in most of the rest of Europe. There were sadly a great deal of 'passivists' who felt the need to try and dictate their 'morality' and their way of doing things on other people, an approach which is highly divisive and destructive.

And for the last time, no, the black block did not damage residential property. Those who actually saw the block walk past their homes would not have experienced anything more frightening than a lot of black clad people saying 'good morning'.

would give my real name but...

Lie

14.07.2005 10:05

"the black block did not damage residential property"

Yes they bloody well did !

I saw it and tried to stop it

"Damage to residential properties"

14.07.2005 10:23

"I saw it and tried to stop it"

So where and what was it?

The Stirling Observer report says residents were affected by fear and late busses

“What people are finding strange is how quickly television cameras appeared on the scene.”

says a local trader.

So, where is the footage of this damage, where are the stills, where are the reports?

Damn sure the main stream media would have covered it - but they couldn't because
IT NEVER HAPPENED.

Whatever

big thanx

14.07.2005 11:41

big thanx to the black blok(blackshirts) for bringing it on top in stirling ,and for destroying any links that were made with the local community in stirling. the way you smashed the windows at burger king really showed the g8 leaders what for, how they must be trembling in their shoes now.the end of globalisation must surely only be around the corner now.
also big thanx to the 'anarchists' who took the opportunity to steal telephones from the glasgow building, stole a borrowed solar panel from the roof of the office at the stirling camp, stole a borrowed marquee from the stirling camp and all the other petty (and not so petty) thefts that took place over the week and a half that we(our family group) spent in scotland.
and finally big thanx to the fascist arsehole who decided that only he had the right to decide what people were allowed to do and threw a bucket of water over the small sound system that had set up on friday night,risking the lives of everyone in the tent at the time. you know , water+electricity(240ac)+human beings= lucky no-one was killed, you fockin twat.
it saddens me to say that i was treated with more respect and courtesy by the pigs than by my so called comrades, at least i know exactly where they stand, and when they steal from me they give me a receipt.

chris
mail e-mail: the50yardpig@yahoo.co.uk

Worra lovely, lovely post Chris

14.07.2005 12:51

"it saddens me to say that i was treated with more respect and courtesy by the pigs than by my so called comrades, at least i know exactly where they stand, and when they steal from me they give me a receipt."

Hmm, well who's a lucky fluffy then?

Everybody I know was treated like shit by the cops, but with respect by the people in the camps.

What the fuck were you doing there? You're clearly an angry authoritarian git!!

Whatever

to whatever

14.07.2005 17:39

if you treat people like shit they will treat you like shit, it's not my fault that you and your hippy fascist wanker mates don't value human life or freedom of thought.when i deal with the pigs i treat them like human beings ,the same as i treat everybody else. unfortunately it seems that your nazi friends don't feel that they owe any respect to anyone that doesn't follow their doctrine. myself i think there is room for all sorts of people and opinions(even those i find disagreeable)on this planet, how many times have fought for your life, how many of your friends have died fighting on the street. when you have the slightest fuckin clue as to what the fuck you are talking about feel free to tell me all about it

chris

Chris on human beings

14.07.2005 19:14

"when i deal with the pigs i treat them like human beings ,the same as i treat everybody else"

yes, and we can see HOW you treat human beings:

"fascist arsehole"

"fockin twat"

"the pigs"

"your hippy fascist wanker mates"

"your nazi friends"

You know neither me, nor my mates, and yet you've decided quite a lot of things about them. You've made a heel of a lot of assumptions, and sadly, none of them have hit home.

I repeat, what were you doing on the site? you're clearly an angry, authoritarian git.

Whatever

!!Troll Quote of the Week!!

14.07.2005 20:28

***The police treated me better than the protestors***

HAHAHAHA

So did your mates steal your stuff, search you repeatedly, threaten you with big sticks, make snide remarks about you and follow you around by helicopter?

In fact, did you mates DO WORSE THAN THAT?! Did your mates arrest you and torture you by stopping you from going to the loo? Did they do worse than THAT?!

MAN - you have some severely shit mates. I suggest a change of scene. Unless of course, your friends ARE the police, in which case you have no real mates cos' everyone hates a copper.

And all these undercover cops pretending that the locals hated the protestors - I suggest you take a hike to Scotland and find out for yourselves. I've never met a bunch of more friendly and supportive people. Remember - Scotland has a bit of a lefty history, unlike most of England which is too busy trying to invade places.

Not a policeman
Homepage: http://www.agp.org

A week on...

14.07.2005 21:41

There was so much going on in different area's everyone is going to have a different opinion of events. I'm Scottish and I learned so,so much in that week. Even something as basic chatting with the huge variety of activists that had travelled from all over the globe and sharing opinions on how things are/should be/what should be done/how to go about it was really positive. Obviously alot of people will not be supportive but on the other hand alot of people were. We had people stay on our floor, eat our food, helped get people places, and borrow what they needed as best we could. Debate about what went on over the week is still in full flow around the city I'm in, and people in general seem to be talking about world issues, the conduct of the police, and WHY protesters were here (at last!) alot more - which can only be a good thing. As an example, my elder brother called me for a long chat (which is not like him...) after being caught up in Monday's march by accident. Seems it was a real eye opener for him and has certainly made him think after witnessing what went on then seeing how it was reported in the papers.
I couldn't believe the amount of squabbling that can go on between groups though. It's inevitable and healthy at a certain level but it can get to a point where I don't think it's productive at all - quite the opposite. I know it's not always so simple but surely we need to work together and discuss our differences to make this work? Knowledge is the key.
Thank you and much respect to all the people I met over the period of the G8 summit.

Jock Doe

Vote Jock doe

15.07.2005 01:00

Aye, each and evryone can only draw from their own personal experiences allways coloured by emotions.
I reckon more outreach required if you are being tret better by pigs chris. Get out there and do something positive, create..., All i know for certain is that indymedia is only place to get all the sides... and no its not chronological and yes it is sporadic but in contrast to any other media source in the UK where can you go to find any semblence of similarity in the decifering of events..?, be they only a few of the total of actions.
Please.., less glamour...
I was feeling it though, watching video clips of successful BB action forcing the daft rozzers back at what looked like the motorway roundabout. memories of getting past riot pigs of all nations. we never needed the clubs but that would have been more fun
But on the day it happened the beeb had it sewn up already by breakfast.
Ensuing bullshit smokescreen and Bang!
Can we move on now please. this dusting down of egos is not becoming and we have water sports to look forward to.
More fun pllease

Spectaculeriser

Vote Jock doe

15.07.2005 02:44

Aye, each and evryone can only draw from their own personal experiences allways coloured by emotions.
I reckon more outreach required if you are being tret better by pigs chris. Get out there and do something positive, create..., All i know for certain is that indymedia is only place to get all the sides... and no its not chronological and yes it is sporadic but in contrast to any other media source in the UK where can you go to find any semblence of similarity in the decifering of events..?, be they only a few of the total of actions.
Please.., less glamour...
I was feeling it though, watching video clips of successful BB action forcing the daft rozzers back at what looked like the motorway roundabout. memories of getting past riot pigs of all nations. we never needed the clubs but that would have been more fun
But on the day it happened the beeb had it sewn up already by breakfast.
Ensuing bullshit smokescreen and Bang!
Can we move on now please. this dusting down of egos is not becoming and we have water sports to look forward to.
More fun pllease

Spectaculeriser