Die Neue Zeit
2nd July 2007, 03:04
The Blockade of Heiligendamm (http://www.tni-archives.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=17060&[email protected]&password=9999&publish=Y)
The demonstration timed to coincide with the opening of the G8 summit in Germany had been projected to be massive and peaceful. Left-wing sources put the attendance at around 80,000 people, from almost every corner of Europe. Everyone knew in advance that clashes could occur, but both sides, activists and police alike, hoped that everything would pass off smoothly. Rostock is the capital of the German province of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where power is held by a coalition government headed by the social democrats, and in which the Left Party (Linkspartei) was until recently a participant. The local police had been instructed to show restraint, and the demonstrators had not wanted to embarrass a friendly administration. The federal police, it is true, were taking a much more decisive line, so that there were obvious disagreements among the authorities. The organising committee for the Rostock protests had successfully exploited this situation, constantly criticising the ruling groups and forcing them to justify themselves. For the first time in many years we are on the ideological offensive, explained Peter Wahl, one of the committees leaders. Now the press is publishing our point of view, and the government is losing the debate. Weve won ourselves a tribune!
Unfortunately, these subtleties were completely lost on the anarchists of the Black Bloc, significant numbers of whom had come from different countries, including Greece, Italy and Poland. The autonomists, or as they are called here, the chaotics, were employing their usual tactics. Emerging from behind the backs of the demonstrators, they pelted the police with stones, and then dispersed among the protesters. The police responded with tear gas and water cannon, often attacking completely peaceful columns. The left activists tried to reason with the chaotics, but this was impossible, especially since the police, now taking their first casualties, were also beginning to turn savage. The chaotics started building barricades, and Molotov cocktails began exploding, while the police brought their more specialised equipment into play. Both sides called their reserves into action. The chaotics threw more than two and a half thousand fighters onto the streets, and the police mobilized ten thousand. The battles continued until the evening.
The size of the black bloc was a surprise both to the authorities and to the organisers of the demonstration. Rapidly growing numbers of young people are showing a readiness to defend their antisystemic views with the help of force. In Seattle and Prague the notorious black bloc, whose members engaged in battles with police and smashed shop windows, consisted of only a few hundred people. In Rostock there were already thousands, of both sexes and mostly very young. The increasing strength of the black bloc represents a response not only to capitalism and to governments which do not inspire the slightest trust in the new generation, but also to more moderate leftists who over the past decade have achieved nothing or almost nothing.
...
Rostock had transformed the image of radical leftists in the European press. Now, no-one tried any more to depict them as a mindless crowd of hooligans who themselves did not know what they wanted, and who only knew how to smash windows and fight police. Even the violence of the first days was far less than the press had reported. Of the hundreds of police who were supposed to have been hurt, only one was hospitalised with serious injuries. Only one car was burnt, though photographs of it appeared in newspapers throughout the world. As for other property damage, the shop-owners who covered their windows with plywood were wasting their money. The windows that had remained uncovered were left untouched. On the whole, nothing was damaged, apart from the unfortunate fence.
A success of such magnitude would have been impossible without painstaking organisation. The protests were prepared over a period of two years. To this end, the G8 Bloc was set up; the decisive role within it was played by a group called the Interventionist Left. This body is made up of leftists who are actually involved in life, unlike intellectuals holding seminars, and politicians who think only of elections. Two years ago few people even in Germany knew about this group, but it has now grown to include several thousand people, who have their own periodical publications, as well as membership cells in all the German provinces. People I talked to who were acting as field commanders for the demonstrations told me proudly that they were members of the IL. Many had only joined quite recently.
These people worked out plans, reconnoitred various localities, held talks with parties and social organisations, and conducted propaganda work. For several weeks on end, the activists had conducted exercises and refined their tactics and methods in the spacious parks of Berlin and other large cities.
All this bore fruit. Rostock will be remembered like Seattle in 1999 and Prague in 2000, a young woman activist of the movement told me proudly. Well take pride in having been here.
The demonstration timed to coincide with the opening of the G8 summit in Germany had been projected to be massive and peaceful. Left-wing sources put the attendance at around 80,000 people, from almost every corner of Europe. Everyone knew in advance that clashes could occur, but both sides, activists and police alike, hoped that everything would pass off smoothly. Rostock is the capital of the German province of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where power is held by a coalition government headed by the social democrats, and in which the Left Party (Linkspartei) was until recently a participant. The local police had been instructed to show restraint, and the demonstrators had not wanted to embarrass a friendly administration. The federal police, it is true, were taking a much more decisive line, so that there were obvious disagreements among the authorities. The organising committee for the Rostock protests had successfully exploited this situation, constantly criticising the ruling groups and forcing them to justify themselves. For the first time in many years we are on the ideological offensive, explained Peter Wahl, one of the committees leaders. Now the press is publishing our point of view, and the government is losing the debate. Weve won ourselves a tribune!
Unfortunately, these subtleties were completely lost on the anarchists of the Black Bloc, significant numbers of whom had come from different countries, including Greece, Italy and Poland. The autonomists, or as they are called here, the chaotics, were employing their usual tactics. Emerging from behind the backs of the demonstrators, they pelted the police with stones, and then dispersed among the protesters. The police responded with tear gas and water cannon, often attacking completely peaceful columns. The left activists tried to reason with the chaotics, but this was impossible, especially since the police, now taking their first casualties, were also beginning to turn savage. The chaotics started building barricades, and Molotov cocktails began exploding, while the police brought their more specialised equipment into play. Both sides called their reserves into action. The chaotics threw more than two and a half thousand fighters onto the streets, and the police mobilized ten thousand. The battles continued until the evening.
The size of the black bloc was a surprise both to the authorities and to the organisers of the demonstration. Rapidly growing numbers of young people are showing a readiness to defend their antisystemic views with the help of force. In Seattle and Prague the notorious black bloc, whose members engaged in battles with police and smashed shop windows, consisted of only a few hundred people. In Rostock there were already thousands, of both sexes and mostly very young. The increasing strength of the black bloc represents a response not only to capitalism and to governments which do not inspire the slightest trust in the new generation, but also to more moderate leftists who over the past decade have achieved nothing or almost nothing.
...
Rostock had transformed the image of radical leftists in the European press. Now, no-one tried any more to depict them as a mindless crowd of hooligans who themselves did not know what they wanted, and who only knew how to smash windows and fight police. Even the violence of the first days was far less than the press had reported. Of the hundreds of police who were supposed to have been hurt, only one was hospitalised with serious injuries. Only one car was burnt, though photographs of it appeared in newspapers throughout the world. As for other property damage, the shop-owners who covered their windows with plywood were wasting their money. The windows that had remained uncovered were left untouched. On the whole, nothing was damaged, apart from the unfortunate fence.
A success of such magnitude would have been impossible without painstaking organisation. The protests were prepared over a period of two years. To this end, the G8 Bloc was set up; the decisive role within it was played by a group called the Interventionist Left. This body is made up of leftists who are actually involved in life, unlike intellectuals holding seminars, and politicians who think only of elections. Two years ago few people even in Germany knew about this group, but it has now grown to include several thousand people, who have their own periodical publications, as well as membership cells in all the German provinces. People I talked to who were acting as field commanders for the demonstrations told me proudly that they were members of the IL. Many had only joined quite recently.
These people worked out plans, reconnoitred various localities, held talks with parties and social organisations, and conducted propaganda work. For several weeks on end, the activists had conducted exercises and refined their tactics and methods in the spacious parks of Berlin and other large cities.
All this bore fruit. Rostock will be remembered like Seattle in 1999 and Prague in 2000, a young woman activist of the movement told me proudly. Well take pride in having been here.