Glad to see it all came together and hope it achieved whatever objectives those planning it had been aiming at. It's easy to critise other peoples efforts and point out the apparent short comings but perhaps I figure it's probably better to encourage that discourage and while I personally couldn't see to much value in this event I hope that it inspired some people and has engaged some of the local residents in the area for the coming days events.

well done for doing something other than wanking off online ;-)

Hoy, las protestas contra el "DSEI arms fair" (la feria de armamento DSEI) comienzan con una fiesta "Dale al bombardero". El equipo de reporteros de DSEI esta generando una cronica de los eventos-- llamanos al 07901778062 y cuentanos lo que pasa, o escucha la radio rampart -- o unete a la fiesta ...

[17:45] La mayor parte de la gente estan ahora de vuelta al centro de convergencia para tomarse un descanso. Los dos equipos de musica a pedales estan sonando fuera en la calle y hay una feliz atmosfera.

[17:09] La gente tomo durante un tiempo la calzada cerca de la rotonda de Canning Town Station pero los vehiculos de la policia dividieron en dos a la penya, parte la cual esta rodeada. Dos personas se han visto abatidas contra el suelo por la policia y ha habido por lo menos una detencion. Mucha gente esta ahora abandonando la zona.

[16:59] Un grupo de gente ha llegado a Canning Town, cuando una carroza a pedales con un equipo de musica esta dando vueltas alrededor de la rotonda, mientras, la policia, se concentra en intentar rodear a los viandantes.

[16:45] Un grupo con el equipo de sonido se ha desplazado en direccion a Canning Town. Hay un buen ambiente, algunos bailes y recovecos de cielo azul entre las nubes.

[16:29] La gente ha pasado cerca de 20 minutos en Custom House DLR, provista de un doble cordon policial. La procesion se desplazo a Royal Victoria DLR, donde despues de una pequenyo chaparron, bicis y carros llegaron trayendo cafe, te, galletas y comida gratuita que se repartio entre todas. La gente empieza a marcharse en pequenyos grupos, y se cree que se dirigen hacia el centro de convergencia. Otros escuchan el equipo de sonido, y un grupo de payasos se les ha impedido cruzar el puente.

[15:51] El grupo ha atravesado la zona residencial, usando altavoces sobre bicicletas para explicar a las vecinos lo que esta sucediendo, cruzan Prince Regent DLR y van hacia Canning Town. La policia que ha rodeado al grupo se cerciora de que el avance sea lento.

[15:06] Parece que la fiesta se menea. Los payasos marchan en formacion con el resto.

[14:52] Cerca de 100 personas avandonan el parque en direccion a Canning Town, con ciclistas y sambistas. Una furgoneta llega con carteles y pancartas. La poli esta tranquila.

[14:38] El equipo de sonido funcionando, comida y gente planteandose que hacer.

[14:10] Unas 80 personas se dirigen a North Woolwich.

[13:55] La gente se reune en los prados de Albert Park. Un tanto surrealista, policia, caballos, y porterias de futbol... Los autobuses desde Canning Town llevaran a la gente desde alli. El ultimo equipo de sonido esta de camino.

[13:50] Algunas personas se han concentrado en al puerta de la estacion Royal Albert DLR para el pasacalles. Unas 10 lecheras y polis haciendo fotos. La estacion de los dockland cercana a Albert Park esta cerrada, hay autobuses de reemplazo funcionando. Alguna que otra lechera se ha visto pasar frente al centro de convergencia. Uno de los payasos fue arrestado y cacheado.

[12:40] La policia vino al centro social okupado rampART esta manyana y tomo los datos de los vehiculos aparcados en la calle, tambien paro a ciclistas que pasaban por alli. La poli intento detener y paralizar una furgoneta pero no pudo encontrar nada. La furgo se piro y la poli se marcho de alli.

Hoy, las protestas contra el "DSEI arms fair" (la feria de armamento DSEI) comienzan con una fiesta "Dale al bombardero". El equipo de reporteros de DSEI esta generando una cronica de los eventos-- llamanos al 07901778062 y cuentanos lo que pasa, o escucha la radio rampart -- o unete a la fiesta ...

[17:45] La mayor parte de la gente estan ahora de vuelta al centro de convergencia para tomarse un descanso. Los dos equipos de musica a pedales estan sonando fuera en la calle y hay una feliz atmosfera.

[17:09] La gente tomo durante un tiempo la calzada cerca de la rotonda de Canning Town Station pero los vehiculos de la policia dividieron en dos a la penya, parte la cual esta rodeada. Dos personas se han visto abatidas contra el suelo por la policia y ha habido por lo menos una detencion. Mucha gente esta ahora abandonando la zona.

[16:59] Un grupo de gente ha llegado a Canning Town, cuando una carroza a pedales con un equipo de musica esta dando vueltas alrededor de la rotonda, mientras, la policia, se concentra en intentar rodear a los viandantes.

[16:45] Un grupo con el equipo de sonido se ha desplazado en direccion a Canning Town. Hay un buen ambiente, algunos bailes y recovecos de cielo azul entre las nubes.

[16:29] La gente ha pasado cerca de 20 minutos en Custom House DLR, provista de un doble cordon policial. La procesion se desplazo a Royal Victoria DLR, donde despues de una pequenyo chaparron, bicis y carros llegaron trayendo cafe, te, galletas y comida gratuita que se repartio entre todas. La gente empieza a marcharse en pequenyos grupos, y se cree que se dirigen hacia el centro de convergencia. Otros escuchan el equipo de sonido, y un grupo de payasos se les ha impedido cruzar el puente.

[15:51] El grupo ha atravesado la zona residencial, usando altavoces sobre bicicletas para explicar a las vecinos lo que esta sucediendo, cruzan Prince Regent DLR y van hacia Canning Town. La policia que ha rodeado al grupo se cerciora de que el avance sea lento.

[15:06] Parece que la fiesta se menea. Los payasos marchan en formacion con el resto.

[14:52] Cerca de 100 personas avandonan el parque en direccion a Canning Town, con ciclistas y sambistas. Una furgoneta llega con carteles y pancartas. La poli esta tranquila.

[14:38] El equipo de sonido funcionando, comida y gente planteandose que hacer.

[14:10] Unas 80 personas se dirigen a North Woolwich.

[13:55] La gente se reune en los prados de Albert Park. Un tanto surrealista, policia, caballos, y porterias de futbol... Los autobuses desde Canning Town llevaran a la gente desde alli. El ultimo equipo de sonido esta de camino.

[13:50] Algunas personas se han concentrado en al puerta de la estacion Royal Albert DLR para el pasacalles. Unas 10 lecheras y polis haciendo fotos. La estacion de los dockland cercana a Albert Park esta cerrada, hay autobuses de reemplazo funcionando. Alguna que otra lechera se ha visto pasar frente al centro de convergencia. Uno de los payasos fue arrestado y cacheado.

[12:40] La policia vino al centro social okupado rampART esta manyana y tomo los datos de los vehiculos aparcados en la calle, tambien paro a ciclistas que pasaban por alli. La poli intento detener y paralizar una furgoneta pero no pudo encontrar nada. La furgo se piro y la poli se marcho de alli.

Compared with the old RTS days this was a total and utter washout and its easy to see why!
1) the meet up location was only anounced one day before hand.
2) the party was when the arms fair was not on so people couldn't see the point in turning up for it.
3) the meet up point was in an area which is difficult to get to and no maps were provided on leaflets and posters advertising the party.
4) The docklands light railway was closed that day.
5) It was forecast heavy rain all day.

If you try harder and harder each year you might just eventually be organised and sorted enough to take on Dsei 3005!

Okay, so the 'party' didn't live up to the glory days of RTS, but then did anyone really expect it to? The party didn't shut down DSEi, but that wan't it's intention.

The question is not whether armchair critics think it was a failure but whether those that planned it and took part feel that way...

I suspect most of them do.

Should we now pick apart the bones of this sorry event in a public forum or should we constructively consider the failings of the idea at the convergence centre and prepare for the week?

I'd say the answer was obvious.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Getting Dicey

 http://disillusionedkid.blogspot.com/2005/09/getting-dicey.html

DSEi (colloquially known as "Dicey") proclaims itself to be "the world's largest international tri-service defence exhibition" and promises on its website that participants will be able to "see first-hand the latest land, air and sea capabilities of 1000+ defence & military aerospace companies from 26 countries" and "exchange experiences and knowledge". The event takes place every two years and since 1999 has been held in the ExCel Centre in London Docklands. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the event has attracted considerable criticism from activists who point to the role the arms trade plays in fueling conflicts, often perpetuating poverty in the process. The fact that representatives of some of the world's worst human rights abusers get invited along (China was there in 2002, for instance) doesn't go down well either. As such, the event has been the target of protests, much to the chagrin of the Old Bill who object to the cost and diversion of resources that policing the event entails. While the fair itself doesn't begin until Tuesday, protests are already underway and (some of you may have guessed where this is going already) I've already gone along to have my say.

I took part in the protests against the event in 2003, participating in what was supposed to have been a Reclaim the Streets party, but which in practice had consisted of little more than some walking and a lot of standing around looking at police officers. Yesterday's event was also billed as a street party and being something of a glutton for punishment (and more to the point, unable to make any of the events next week) I decided to saunter along and do my bit for the cause of global peace and partying.

The party was supposed to start at 1pm, but the combination of activist timekeeping and (apparently genuine) engineering work on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) meant that this was never going to happen. Instead a group of us formed outside the Royal Albert DLR station and enjoyed the pleasant weather. Various activist-types moved through the crowd (such as it was) distributing flyers about this and that campaign and a row of police stood guard over us, presumably in order to ensure we weren't attacked by irate arms dealers.

After a while we moved of to a nearby recreation ground where we found a sound system. The description on the Indymedia Timeline of this as a "bit surreal, police, horses and goalposts" pretty much sums up how me and the friend I was there with viewed the situation. Watching a police officer and a clown debate who was more of a cliche only deepened this feeling. We waited there for a while and gradually our numbers grew as more people arrived. While there were a number of faces I recognised, there wasn't anybody I really knew, which was a disappointment. The food which was distributed wasn't half-bad though.

After a while (the Indymedia Timeline suggests it was about 40 minutes, but I wonder if it wasn't longer), we decided to move off and formed up on the road. The police seemed happy for us to march along the pavement which we proceeded to do, accompanied by a smaba band, cyclists and a sizeable police escort (possibly on a 1:1 ration with ourselves). We walked for quite sometime, moving through a residential area and attracting the attention of many locals who seemed amused by our presence. Children seemed particularly fascinated. The cycle powered sound system was used to explain what we were doing and why to locals, although I can't help feeling that a denunciation of the "consensus reality" might well have been lost on many of the spectators.

I'm not really sure what route we took, but we eventually ended up outside Custom House DLR (which serves the ExCel Centre) which was protected by a phalanx of TSG (Territorial Support Group, riot cops, read: thugs in uniform), although they weren't kitted up. Our progress was slow and seemed to involve various inexplicable pauses, particularly irritating when it started to piss it down. We didn't spend all that long outside Custom House and carried on, apparently heading towards the convergence centre. At one point we walked past a house where a child was celebrating his birthday and proceeded to serenade him and his friends with a burst of "Happy Birthday" (particulalrly amusing given that nobody had though to ask his name before we began).

As we went on we began to find ourselves increasingly in disagreement with our escorts over the route we were to take. The police obviously wanted to minimise disruption and get us back to the centre ASAP, we weren't all that keen on playing ball. Things got interesting when we got to the dual carriageway near Canning Town Station. The sound system and other cyclists went round the roundabout a few times, with Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'" and System of a Down's "BYOB" blaring out. While that was happening, those of us on foot followed the pavement which ran parallel to the dual carriageway. As the cyclists and police followed us the road cleared and we all stepped off the pavement into the road itself. At this point police sirens started up and groups of police started running. This started us running and before you knew it we were all racing to get to the other end. The police tried to block our path, but I was moving sufficiently quickly to get through before they had formed an effective line. Most of the others weren't so lucky.

For some imexplicable reason the police decided that they wanted to pen people in and manhandled a number of the other people who had got through into the main crowd. Those trying to get over a low fence onto the side I was on were also forced back. They left me along, although I'm not sure why (perhaps because I "look innocent," as one of the cops in Scotland told me). I noticed that one protester was being held down on a central reservation by three or four cops. Friends and a legal observer who tried to see what was going on were forced back onto the pavement. Eventually he was brought over and searched. After being held in one van for a while he was moved into another and driven off.

Eventually the police decided to let the group they had been penning in go and we made our way towards the convergence centre. A brief attempt to get a game of catch going ended when it became obvious that we would very quickly end up losing the ball in the road (which the police were insistent we not step on; their concern for our wellbeing heartwarming as ever). When we arrived at the centre, which seemed to be a squatted community centre. We were greeted by police evidence gatherers who proceeded to snap away while we stood around outside. Having decided I'd done my bit I headed off at this point, although nothing much else appears to have happened after I left.

I heard a number of police moaning about the fact that they still had another week of this and indeed they do. There's a whole week of activity, actions and events to protest the fair. I'm not going to be able to get along to any of the other events, but hopefully others will and hopefully people will start to take notice.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/323010.html

The video shows some preparations for the event, closely monitored by the police, and the march itself after the gathering in the park. As one of the cyclists, I was not hemmed in like the people on the pavement and enjoyed a greater mobility so maybe more people should think seriously about getting on their bikes in future.