Some press coverage of the week long Festival Of Dissent Anti-G8 Gathering being held 6-10th April in Lanarkshire.
Full info on that including impressive line up of workshops and discussions at
http://www.dissent.org.uk
Previous article was:
Call to crack down on G8 demo camps
Sun 20 Mar 2005 TOBY MCDONALD
The Scotsman
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/resistg8/media/0320crack_down_camps.htm
Full info on that including impressive line up of workshops and discussions at
http://www.dissent.org.uk Previous article was:
Call to crack down on G8 demo camps
Sun 20 Mar 2005 TOBY MCDONALD
The Scotsman
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/resistg8/media/0320crack_down_camps.htm http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15359009&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=anarchists-mass-for--boot-camp--battle-planning-name_page.html ANARCHISTS MASS FOR 'BOOT CAMP' BATTLE PLANNING
Apr 2 2005
By Allan Caldwell
ANARCHISTS are gathering in Scotland for a secret 'boot camp' to prepare for a G8 battle. The Daily Record can reveal that five days of training have been organised next week by a group known as the Dissent Network of Resistance.
Hundreds of extremists will flock to the camp in the west of Scotland.
Among the tactics being taught will be: #How to plan and erect blockade # Dealing with trauma and violent situations.
# Role-play arrests to prepare protesters who have not fallen foul of the law before # Scottish law and legal training.
Up to 50,000 protesters from around the world are expected to try to disrupt the G8 conference at Gleneagles in July and cause mayhem at nearby towns and cities.
Conspire The Dissent organisers state that the camp will provide ' a chance to form networks of resistance ... a chance to plot, conspire and dream about resistance to the G8 - to meet people, learn skills, share information, practise direct action and party.'
They add: 'The G8 is the annual meeting of the leaders of the worlds most powerful countries. It is a major symbol of capitalism - a summit where rich governments plan how to stay rich.
'Since 1998, these summits have been resisted wherever they have attempted to meet.
Disgust 'Protests have erupted on every continent, fuelled by disgust at the extremes of wealth and poverty, military repression and environmental breakdown. In July 2005, the G8 comes to the UK.
'Dissent! is a network of individuals and groups planning to use creative direct action and civil disobedience to resist the presence of the G8.
'Dissent! has no leaders, no paid staff and no membership list. Focuses for action so far include targeting the oil and war industries ... and the sustained disruption of the summit itself.
'Dissent! is acting as a focal point for coordination of resistance to the G8 and for continued radical action against capitalism into the future. The Festival of Dissent! will be the best chance before the summit arrives to get together, learn skills, share info, plan, and get inspired about protests at the summit.'
Previous G8 meetings have been marked with violent protests.
Four years ago in Genoa, Italy, hundreds of demonstrators were injured and one killed following horrific scenes of rioting.
Two years ago, 50,000 protesters fought running battles with riot police in the summit town of Evian, France.
The Dissent Network of Resistance branch in the UK includes both peaceful and violent factions.
Information available to people who have registered to attend next week's camp makes it clear they are expecting serious clashes, despite claiming to be staging 'non-violent' demonstrations.
Trauma The group states: 'We will be sharing experiences of and preparing for dealing with trauma/suffering violent situations.'
The July summit will see PM Tony Blair, president George Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin - along with leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan and their entourages - gather at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.
Thousands of police officers including armed response units and the SAS have been allocated to protect them.
All police leave at Scots forces has been cancelled for the first two weeks of July.
Court schedules have been cleared in anticipation for an influx of criminal cases relating to the summit.
And there have been discussions at Tayside Police about the possibility of closing down the main A9 road if protesters target it for blockades.
The Dissent network have revealed they are planning to keep their campaign going going after Gleneagles, adding: 'After the G8 summit is over we need to be left with a strong movement rooted in the local neighbourhoods.
'Our aim is to take actions that will inspire ongoing solidarity and subversion wherever we work and live.'
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COMMENT:
NOT EVERYONE INVOLVED IN DISSENT! IS AN ANARCHSIT!!
THE FESTIVAL IS NOT SECRET!!!!!!!
I mean how may more clearly advertised meetings can be called secret - well it's just beyond me.
"Boot Camp Battle Training" : well the papers are going to love this festival gathering, because for once they can call this a 'training camp' - previously it's been meetings in universities and community halls that have been called "camps" (secret / anarchist or otherwise) - but now people really will be in tents. And as the PUBLIC information says there will be training on non violent direct action training and so on - but you can be sure there will be no training sessions on "how to riot" - the only people doing full on riot training are the police.
It's also quite ludicrous that the journalist tries to infer that because people are organising to cope with traumatic situations they are planning violent demonstrations! Maybe the journo should tell that to all the people attacked in Genoa or others similarly injured in Evian / Geneva through violent police repression. It's not even as if facts around such events are disputed, what with all those police on trial in Italy at the moment and the Diaz trial of police due to start next week.
I note that this side of things is not mentioned when refering to previous protests like genoa or geneva.
Interesting that the article printed so much of the festival of dissent! text though.
The line about "there have been discussions at Tayside Police about the possibility of closing down the main A9 road if protesters target it for blockades" sounds a bit like an invite to try and blockade it - how ludicrous! Police doing the job of the protestors?
The police have in fact been at pains to keep insisting that they have no plans to close the A9.
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
starve the parasite
02.04.2005 13:32
.
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nick watson
Homepage:
http://www.zmag.org/cartoons
now we have it
02.04.2005 17:54
i think that about sums up the guardian.
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and this one for reuters
02.04.2005 17:58
go for it george, put the kids arms back
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Festival of Dissent Press Release Text
06.04.2005 14:16
Tuesday, 05 April 2005
Anti-G8 Festival of Dissent! 6th-10th April 2005
From Wednesday the 6th until Sunday 10th of April 2005, the "Festival of Dissent!" will take place in rural Lanarkshire, near Coalburn, Scotland. Hundreds of people are expected to attend the event, which is one of many aiming to inform people about the issues behind the G8 Summit and what it represents. The Festival is a space in which people can learn new skills, meet others interested in the issues, get inspired and plan actions to be taken around the Summit. People from across Scotland and beyond are invited to attend.
One of the organising collective explained, "For many people, the G8 represents a great deal that is wrong with this world. The G8 exists to secure the continued political, economic and military domination of the world by the richest eight nations- it's about oppression, exploitation and the pursuit of profit for the few at the expense of everyone else. We want to use the opportunity presented by the Summit to build new spaces, open to everybody, in which we can demonstrate our very real alternatives: of self-management, of non-hierarchical and consensus based decision making and of ecological sustainability. The Festival of Dissent! will provide exactly such a space."
Workshops at the festival include training sessions on the G8, consensus decision making, hill walking and navigation and direct action training. On the Sunday afternoon there will be bands and entertainment. Sarah, who will give a workshop at the festival said "I don't believe the G8 are going to do anything about climate change or Africa. Any suggestion otherwise is more of Blair's public relations nonsense. The G8 Summit is about opening up markets, extracting oil and carrying on business as usual. These type of policies are killing the planet and its people, and we simply can't afford to do this any more"
Liam Spencer, a resident of Glasgow who will attend the Festival later this week said, "I am going to the Festival of Dissent! to find out more about what people want to do, about direct action politics and how I can get involved. This is an interesting and inspiring time."
The Festival is being organised by a collective belonging to the Dissent! Network. Dissent! is a loose network of groups and individuals planning to use creative direct action to resist the G8. The Network has grown and successfully spread across Europe. It has no central office, no spokespeople, no membership list and no paid staff. It is simply a mechanism for communication and co-ordination between local groups and working groups involved in building resistance to the G8.
Notes to the Editor
For more about the Dissent! Network, see: www.dissent.org.uk
The Festival of Dissent is not a media event, and in order to minimize disruption, we ask that journalists respect the privacy of those attending the Festival. The Festival itself will not be open to the media. There will, however, be press reception available near to site on Thurs-Sat, 7-9 April, 11am-1pm. For more information please contact: 07813 406159/ 07904452297 or e-mail
FYI
Dissent! Festival - Media Coverage: Wednesday 6th April
06.04.2005 19:29
Radio Interview on BBC Good Morning Scotland:
its at about minute 1hr 42mins into the show.
(What's the festival about - are you teaching non violent direct action training - do you condemn violent protest? etc)
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Scotland Today / Scottish TV
Text below... Video (wmv) available from website
Also the article linked to the Dissent! website - which i think is the first time this has happened!
G8 protestors hold five-day event in Lanarkshire
06 April 2005 17:58
A five day event for protestors planning to disrupt the G8 summit at Gleneagles began today in the Lanarkshire countryside. People attending the Festival of Dissent will attend workshops on civil disobedience and receive advice on what to do if they are arrested. The festival is taking place just 13 miles from a disused hospital, where Scottish police are receiving training on how to deal with riots at the summit.
Training for a riot at the G8 - Scottish police officers have been practicing what they call public order techniques in advance of the summit this July. They would not let Scotland Today in to the old Law Hospital near Carluke but pictures were filmed from an overlooking hill.
Thirteen miles away in a windswept field the Festival of Dissent was getting underway. Several hundred people from a loose network of anti-capitalist protestors, environmental and peace campaigners will gather there to plan protests against the G8. They believe that civil disobedience is the only way to challenge the might of the eight world leaders - and they say have no plans to use violence. The organisers would not let Scotland Todays on to the site to film, but two agreed to talk to us nearby.
Community activist Alice said: "There's often references to violent protestors although it's not something we're expecting and I've not heard anyone planning anything violent in any of the Dissent network."
Street medic Lesley said: "It seems like there's some sort of hysteria being whipped up in the media, saying we're going to be violent. There's no-one on site at the moment planning anything like that. It may well happen, we can only speak as individuals, but we're not planning to."
They are planning what they call non-violent direct action. The police say they have no firm intelligence of widespread disorder. The training at Law Hospital is a precaution. But the officer in charge warns that anyone breaking the law can expect to end up in court.
Chief Constable John Vine from Tayside Police said: "Obviously if groups want to take part in any sort of protests they can talk to us about it. But I would emphasis that if any of the protestors break the law, as the police service we will be arresting them and putting them before the courts."
In Derby a recent anti-G8 demo attracted just 150 people - making the presence of 1000 police officers look a little heavy handed.
With exactly three months to go the protestors and the police are finalising their tactics for the G8. The plans for non-violent direct action means some kind of confrontation is inevitable. But no-one yet knows how serious it will be.
m hor