Wanted Man
13th June 2007, 02:32
An English translation of something I wrote for "Voorwaarts!". It's about our experiences in Rostock. Sorry about the delay, it was actually written on 5 June, so it speaks about the actions during the Summit itself in the future tense. Also, I might have gotten some things wrong about the riots, as a lot of different info was going around. For example, I'm not so sure if there really weren't any incidents before the march ended at the port. I'm also not entirely sure what happened between when the riots started, and when the police returned in force and attacked the masses.
We all generally know what really happened, though. Here is the police starting the riots:
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/06/180758.shtml
And here is more police brutality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0WJ41lU6g
Looking back at the article now, I also probably would have taken a much stronger stance against the police, and done more to defend the so-called "troublemakers". Also, the media does not simply attempt to criminalize the movement, it also tries to split it between the so-called "troublemakers" and their apologists, and those who outright condemn them. It is important not to be fooled by this.
Lastly, I'm not altogether sure about how the situation with the nazis at the camp went. If something went lost in translation, I apologize for that.
Now, without further ado:
The leaders of the 7 most industrialized countries of the world and Russia have arranged for a cosy meeting in the town of Heiligendamm from 6 through 8 June, where they will discuss how to shape the future. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world will show their displeasure with the anti-social policy of the 8 leaders in a great week of action. On Saturday 2 June, the kick-off was given in Rostock, with a big demonstration to the port of the German city near Heiligendamm. Voorwaarts! and the Communist Youth Movement were present.
With three Dutch CJB members, and four members of the Belgian sister organization Comac, we left Antwerp at 4 AM. Although the police has sharpened the border control by now, we did not yet encounter any problems, as opposed to the activist buses, which were carefully searched. It appears that the best method to avoid being searched is to travel by car in small groups. After a long ride, we finally arrived in Rostock.
Demonstration
With our own CJB and Comac banner, with slogans like "The world can't wait!", we joined the bloc of the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei and their youth movement, the Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterjugend. In the bloc were also other communist parties and youths from all over Europe. According to the demonstration organizers, there were some 80,000 people present. Labour unions, left-wing political parties, communists, anarchists and many others joined hands to resist imperialism and globalization.
The demonstration was generally very successful. An atmosphere of solidarity was everywhere. From the speakers of the DKP/SDAJ sound van that was driving along, slogans against the G8 were called, and once in a while we would stop, to run for a bit.
The atmosphere became a bit more grim for a while when the van called that the German police was about to march by, in order to provoke and look for a reason to attack the mass. "Stay within the bloc, and do not answer the provocations of the agents of the capital!" The sidewalk had to be cleared, and soon after, a file of cops did indeed come past to show their strength, while the helicopter watched the scene from above.
Despite the provocations, the demonstration arrived in the port without further incidents, where people could enjoy a concert, buy food and drinks, and visit the info stands of the different political parties. In one stall, one could buy all kinds of items from the DDR time. Also the hammers and sickles everywhere, and the DDR flag flying above the DKP bloc, showed that socialism is still very much alive in Rostock. After all of this, it was finally time to go to the "G8 Gute Nacht" camp, for some well-deserved rest.
Riots
Right after we left, it turned out that riots had broken out between the police and anarchist activists. We saw the vans and armoured cars with water cannons pass by on the way back. According to Indymedia, it started when the police tried to arrest someone with a lot of show of force. The cops were surrounded by non-violent activists, who held their hands up to show that they would stop police brutality unarmed. The cops, however, lashed out hard, after which they retreated for a while. During the violence, stones were thrown, a car was burned, and many people were wounded.
The police quickly returned, however, this time with water cannons, tear gas, and baton charges. They fiercely beat the demonstrators, who were following the closing speeches on the stage at that time. On one occasion, a freelance photographer was beaten up by 20-30 officers, her material destroyed.
The serious violence at the end was a black mark on the otherwise very peaceful demonstration. In the media, the activists clearly got the blame, and they especially showed the burning car and stone-throwing anarchists. It can certainly be condemned that some demonstrators deliberately sought out violence, but this media strategy is aimed at characterizing the entire anti-G8 movement as violent. This, while the actions of the police were downplayed. It is important to condemn rioters, but also to stand in solidarity with all victims of police brutality, no matter if they support communism, anarchism, or something else, and not to fall into the "divide and rule" tactic of the media.(1)
G8 Gute Nacht
In the evening, we arrived at the big camping terrain with the SDAJ and other movements. After setting up our tents, we could finally relax, and then enjoy the party and watch the performance of a punk band on the stage.
That evening, however, was also rather tense; it turned out that some 150 neo-nazis live in the area surrounding the camp, who were attacking comrades on the way from the train station, and were at the edge of the camp throwing bottles and such to the other side. More SDAJ members arrived at the station, who were escorted to the camp by the police. The police, however, then decided to stay out of the matter completely, but the nazis did not try to enter the camp, because they now had a tactical disadvantage. They were therefore not allowed to get in the way of the fun, and the music went on as planned.
The last day
The next morning, there was yet more to do on the camp. After a good breakfast and a warm shower, there was an exchange in the SDAJ tent. A panel of SDAJ members, a member of the Communist Youth of Greece(KNE) and the Cuban chairman of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, the worldwide union of leftist youth organizations, told us about their situation and answered questions from the audience.
One matter that came up was to what extent we should support the different resistance movements in the Middle East, particularly the Islamic ones that are ideologically strongly different from the communist movement. Of course, the goal of an Islamic state does not identify with communism at all, but at the moment, it is important to support the entire broad popular movement against imperialism. In a time when Afghanistan and Iraq are occupied, Iran is threatened and the war in Palestine rages on, one should not deny support to the people threatening against this.
After these discussions, people could still talk to the panel members. With the KNE members, the role of the movement at the universities was discussed. The KNE is a very strong movement, and does a good job organizing at the Greek universities. In the Netherlands and Belgium, we can certainly learn from their successes. We also got the opportunity to hand out flyers for the Camp for Peace in Belgium, later this summer.(2)
After all of this, it was finally time to go back home. We have learned a lot about successfully organizing a demonstration, and sadly also about the police brutality that often occurs on demos. The exchanges with German and Greek comrades at the camp were also very interesting, and very educational as well. In the next days, the struggle against the G8 in Germany will go on. It is now important to wage this struggle in the Netherlands as well, and all over the world.
(1) http://indymedia.nl/nl/2007/06/45057.shtml
(2) See VW! for more info about the Camp for Peace(Dutch)
We all generally know what really happened, though. Here is the police starting the riots:
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/06/180758.shtml
And here is more police brutality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0WJ41lU6g
Looking back at the article now, I also probably would have taken a much stronger stance against the police, and done more to defend the so-called "troublemakers". Also, the media does not simply attempt to criminalize the movement, it also tries to split it between the so-called "troublemakers" and their apologists, and those who outright condemn them. It is important not to be fooled by this.
Lastly, I'm not altogether sure about how the situation with the nazis at the camp went. If something went lost in translation, I apologize for that.
Now, without further ado:
The leaders of the 7 most industrialized countries of the world and Russia have arranged for a cosy meeting in the town of Heiligendamm from 6 through 8 June, where they will discuss how to shape the future. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world will show their displeasure with the anti-social policy of the 8 leaders in a great week of action. On Saturday 2 June, the kick-off was given in Rostock, with a big demonstration to the port of the German city near Heiligendamm. Voorwaarts! and the Communist Youth Movement were present.
With three Dutch CJB members, and four members of the Belgian sister organization Comac, we left Antwerp at 4 AM. Although the police has sharpened the border control by now, we did not yet encounter any problems, as opposed to the activist buses, which were carefully searched. It appears that the best method to avoid being searched is to travel by car in small groups. After a long ride, we finally arrived in Rostock.
Demonstration
With our own CJB and Comac banner, with slogans like "The world can't wait!", we joined the bloc of the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei and their youth movement, the Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterjugend. In the bloc were also other communist parties and youths from all over Europe. According to the demonstration organizers, there were some 80,000 people present. Labour unions, left-wing political parties, communists, anarchists and many others joined hands to resist imperialism and globalization.
The demonstration was generally very successful. An atmosphere of solidarity was everywhere. From the speakers of the DKP/SDAJ sound van that was driving along, slogans against the G8 were called, and once in a while we would stop, to run for a bit.
The atmosphere became a bit more grim for a while when the van called that the German police was about to march by, in order to provoke and look for a reason to attack the mass. "Stay within the bloc, and do not answer the provocations of the agents of the capital!" The sidewalk had to be cleared, and soon after, a file of cops did indeed come past to show their strength, while the helicopter watched the scene from above.
Despite the provocations, the demonstration arrived in the port without further incidents, where people could enjoy a concert, buy food and drinks, and visit the info stands of the different political parties. In one stall, one could buy all kinds of items from the DDR time. Also the hammers and sickles everywhere, and the DDR flag flying above the DKP bloc, showed that socialism is still very much alive in Rostock. After all of this, it was finally time to go to the "G8 Gute Nacht" camp, for some well-deserved rest.
Riots
Right after we left, it turned out that riots had broken out between the police and anarchist activists. We saw the vans and armoured cars with water cannons pass by on the way back. According to Indymedia, it started when the police tried to arrest someone with a lot of show of force. The cops were surrounded by non-violent activists, who held their hands up to show that they would stop police brutality unarmed. The cops, however, lashed out hard, after which they retreated for a while. During the violence, stones were thrown, a car was burned, and many people were wounded.
The police quickly returned, however, this time with water cannons, tear gas, and baton charges. They fiercely beat the demonstrators, who were following the closing speeches on the stage at that time. On one occasion, a freelance photographer was beaten up by 20-30 officers, her material destroyed.
The serious violence at the end was a black mark on the otherwise very peaceful demonstration. In the media, the activists clearly got the blame, and they especially showed the burning car and stone-throwing anarchists. It can certainly be condemned that some demonstrators deliberately sought out violence, but this media strategy is aimed at characterizing the entire anti-G8 movement as violent. This, while the actions of the police were downplayed. It is important to condemn rioters, but also to stand in solidarity with all victims of police brutality, no matter if they support communism, anarchism, or something else, and not to fall into the "divide and rule" tactic of the media.(1)
G8 Gute Nacht
In the evening, we arrived at the big camping terrain with the SDAJ and other movements. After setting up our tents, we could finally relax, and then enjoy the party and watch the performance of a punk band on the stage.
That evening, however, was also rather tense; it turned out that some 150 neo-nazis live in the area surrounding the camp, who were attacking comrades on the way from the train station, and were at the edge of the camp throwing bottles and such to the other side. More SDAJ members arrived at the station, who were escorted to the camp by the police. The police, however, then decided to stay out of the matter completely, but the nazis did not try to enter the camp, because they now had a tactical disadvantage. They were therefore not allowed to get in the way of the fun, and the music went on as planned.
The last day
The next morning, there was yet more to do on the camp. After a good breakfast and a warm shower, there was an exchange in the SDAJ tent. A panel of SDAJ members, a member of the Communist Youth of Greece(KNE) and the Cuban chairman of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, the worldwide union of leftist youth organizations, told us about their situation and answered questions from the audience.
One matter that came up was to what extent we should support the different resistance movements in the Middle East, particularly the Islamic ones that are ideologically strongly different from the communist movement. Of course, the goal of an Islamic state does not identify with communism at all, but at the moment, it is important to support the entire broad popular movement against imperialism. In a time when Afghanistan and Iraq are occupied, Iran is threatened and the war in Palestine rages on, one should not deny support to the people threatening against this.
After these discussions, people could still talk to the panel members. With the KNE members, the role of the movement at the universities was discussed. The KNE is a very strong movement, and does a good job organizing at the Greek universities. In the Netherlands and Belgium, we can certainly learn from their successes. We also got the opportunity to hand out flyers for the Camp for Peace in Belgium, later this summer.(2)
After all of this, it was finally time to go back home. We have learned a lot about successfully organizing a demonstration, and sadly also about the police brutality that often occurs on demos. The exchanges with German and Greek comrades at the camp were also very interesting, and very educational as well. In the next days, the struggle against the G8 in Germany will go on. It is now important to wage this struggle in the Netherlands as well, and all over the world.
(1) http://indymedia.nl/nl/2007/06/45057.shtml
(2) See VW! for more info about the Camp for Peace(Dutch)