[g8-sheffield] please respond about crap article: Ready for a riot?

[adriana]

 From g8 media-response

Folks,
it would be great if those of you one this list outside of scotland could
reply to the shit article below via the scotsman link. those of us here are
frantic, so can others monitor papers like the Scotsman and Evening News? We
are taking some hits in these papers.
thx!
j
Reply here:
http://members.scotsman.com/contact.cfm

what I sent them:
I just wanted to say I was shocked at the sensationalist style of your Ready
for a riot? story on Sunday. Actually, most people I meet on the streets of
Edinburgh don't like the G8 at all. I for one will be joining all of the
protests.
Jay

If you have 20 mins to read the articles below, please take 5 mins to write
to complain about them.

Inside the weird world of the G8 anarchists
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment.cfm?id=704582005

SCOTT McCULLOCH

IF YOU need directions, then ask a policeman. Never was this more true than
when I took my early steps into the world of the front-line activists who
have dedicated their lives to disrupting the G8 summit at Gleneagles.

Struggling to find the real venue for a planning meeting held by a loose
coalition of anarchist groups in Glasgow in February, I knew I had reached
the right place when I spotted a police helicopter circling helpfully
overhead.

The line of battered old vans and the knots of people smoking roll-ups in
the foyer only served to confirm what the security services already knew.
Here, in a room at Glasgow School of Art, was a snapshot of anarchy in the
UK.

The only anarchy on show, however, was the groups of children running wild
around the meeting space as we discussed the finer points of keeping on the
right side of Scots law while carrying out a disruptive - but non-violent -
protest.

The worst disruption - perhaps a case of getting your retaliation in first -
came from the helicopter buzzing overhead. Those speaking had to raise the
decibels by shouting to get their points across. It lent a farcical
atmosphere to the serious matter of planning to spoil the G8 party in
Perthshire.

It was part of my six-month journey into the lives of the activists who will
be on the frontline of political confrontation, peaceful or otherwise.

It was a world in which neo-hippy mumbo-jumbo met hardline, expert protest
technique. Activists met in circles - use of a table was regarded as too
corporate - and indicated their approval or disapproval of decisions by
waving both their hands in the air, hokey-cokey style (up for agree, down
for disagree). But there was a more serious side. Surnames were never used
and all talk of the direct actions that are inevitable were quickly closed
down due to fears of infiltration.

Events, however, were orchestrated with a clear purpose in mind. "From July
6th to 8th, violent extremists [ie G8 leaders] will be converging on
Scotland... they'll be trying to meet at Gleneagles hotel, and we'll be
trying to stop them." So read the irony-heavy manifesto of the Dissent
network, the leading anti-G8 protest group currently mobilising activist
groups.

I learned of plans to blockade the roads leading to Gleneagles, in order to
stop the huge numbers of administrative assistants and translators required
to make the summit a success getting to the luxury hotel venue. This was a
tactic which had disrupted the G8 meeting in Evian, France.

Plans were circulated to make human-chain blockades more effective with the
use of "lock-on tubes" made from metal, plastic and cardboard. Activists
first push their arms down the tubes and then lock their hands together
using clips (karabiners) used by climbers. The police then find it difficult
to move protestors individually as they have in the past. Tube workshops
have been set up in Edinburgh and Glasgow to prepare for the events ahead.

Many discussions also centred on the so-called "convergence space" which
will become the anarchist group's strike base within easy reach of
Gleneagles. A site, being called an "eco-village" and housing up to 5,000
protestors, was approved by Stirling Council on Friday. It is from the
solar-powered camp that protest leaders will initiate and co-ordinate direct
actions.

One will be a demonstration at Faslane on Monday, July 4. Activist documents
gave detailed instructions on how to cut through the toughest of wire mesh
fences.

My first tentative steps to becoming a fellow "comrade" began with an open
meeting held by the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh (ACE) in a meeting hall
in the city centre in early February. From initial impressions, it was
difficult to see how any of those present would be capable of organising any
serious counter revolutionary activity.

The group consisted of around 30 people of varying nationalities, including
Spanish, German, American, Dutch and Italian. Only a few Scots were present,
along with some dubious-looking extras wearing very pristine combat trousers
and brand new hiking boots. It was difficult to tell if they were
journalists or police officers - but they were definitely not of the
activist ilk.

There were no formal introductions to begin the meeting - and those who
arrived not knowing the group already obviously didn't need to know. The
group has no clear hierarchy, though there were a few individuals who were
very obviously pushing the agenda.

Those present were asked to make a brief statement outlining what they
wanted to achieve by joining the G8 protests, without actually naming
themselves.

A young man, with blue hair which covered only one side of his head,
introduced himself as simply 'an anarchist'. Although he had no clear idea
of what he wanted to achieve, he knew he wanted to at least be involved,
preferably within the groups arranging suitable squats in the Edinburgh
area. It was more of a Citizen Smith kind of scenario than a well-drilled
hard-left revolution.

But alongside him were representatives from the Dissent network and the
Working Group Against Work, an Edinburgh-based movement against low paid,
insecure jobs.

The main focus of the meeting was to discuss mobilisation within Scotland
for the upcoming summit. The most pressing issue was convergence space,
loosely translated to mean finding spaces to house the large number of
protesters expected, as well as finding office space to set-up a
communications network, both in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

We also talked about Scotland's right to roam laws and how they could be
used to gain access to the countryside around Gleneagles without breaking
any rules. A "beacons of dissent" action was discussed - a proposal to burn
effigies of the G8 leaders on nearby hilltops to be organised by a protestor
nicknamed 'Spacebunny'.

The next meeting was organised under the banner of Dissent on February 12.
Dissent was formed in 2003 from groups of protestors involved in radical
direct actions. The network has no central office, membership list or
spokesperson, but derives its principals from the Peoples' Global Action
network, an umbrella group set up in 1998 to co-ordinate and communicate
with groups committed to global anti-capitalist resistance. It calls for a
"confrontational attitude" and civil disobedience to achieve its aims.

Because of the suspicious nature of the Dissent network, just finding out
where the meetings are taking place can be a laborious task in itself.

The original venue for the meeting was to be the Carnival Arts Centre in
Glasgow. When I arrived there, I wasn't too sure I had the right place.
There was no one around, and it looked like a disused warehouse. Only a
small sign saying Dissent with an arrow pointing up the dark staircase told
me I was indeed in the right place. Well, almost.

>From the surroundings, I was surprised to find the space upstairs filled
with brightly coloured tapestries and Christmas tree lights. A small group
of children were running between rooms, playing very un-activist type war
games. I was told that at the last minute the venue had been changed to the
Glasgow Art School.

The police helicopter hovering overhead confirmed that the security services
at least saw this meeting as a hotbed of anarchist activity. Other protest
groups had turned up, including Scottish CND and the Faslane Trident
Ploughshare.

Dissent information pamphlets were available, describing successful
disruption tactics used at previous summits and other government meetings.
There were clear steers as to what was expected from activists at the G8.
"Another problem for Tony [Blair] and his chums, though, is that Gleneagles
only has 270 rooms," they said. "Never enough for them, their entourage, and
the press. So it looks like these guys will have to be bussed in from Perth,
maybe Dundee and even further out. Not a lot of roads between Perth and
Auchterarder: if one of those roads was to get blocked it could be an awful
hassle."

Working groups were formed to discuss direct actions, meaning protesting in
a manner that is disruptive rather than outright violent.

There was a loose form of organisation to it all, though not exactly what
you would call a well-oiled machine. During meetings, a speaker is never
interrupted until it is clear they have finished speaking. The group use the
hand waves to signal their agreement or disagreement, and a minute-taker
speaks only to clarify points raised.

A controversial statement can provoke furious hand waving, with arms raised
in the air to provide emphasis. An example of this was the proposal to form
a "tranquility team" to maintain order within the rural convergence space.

The group agreed that there should be some people dedicated to maintaining
peace and harmony within the community. But it was hands down for the
proposal to have them wear yellow jackets.

When it came to direct actions, the group discussions became purposely
vague. Any discussion that strayed into actual details was quickly shut
down. Those that needed to know clearly already knew. As some of the group
are veterans of previous G8 protests, the cloak and dagger approach they
have adopted has come as a direct result of the treatment they have received
at earlier protests.

The topics were mainly limited to discussing the organisation of a suitable
place to create a community. It is within that community space that the
direct actions will be planned. A text messaging system will be used to
co-ordinate direct actions and a communications team will be active within
the rural convergence space - at Forthbank in Stirling - with a well
equipped, solar-powered communications hub.

As innocuous as the proceedings seemed, the purpose of this gathering was
nonetheless geared towards planning a strategy to disrupt the G8
proceedings. How do you turn a situation to your advantage? If a train full
of protestors was stopped heading north to Edinburgh, activists should be
ready with posters and banners to turn the exercise into a publicity
opportunity.

In April, it was time for a Festival of Dissent in a field in Lanarkshire,
which had a huge turnout of both journalists and police. The purpose was not
to train activists in direct action but to teach them how to set up the
eco-village that will house many protestors.

An American veteran activist named 'Starhawk' was co-ordinating this through
a group called Earth Action. The arts of non-violent protest were on the
agenda, as was what to do in the event of being arrested. Finances also
figured highly. The Dissent network was holding funds in the region of
£30,000 but had still to find a suitable accommodation space to spend the
money on.

The most important Dissent gathering was held in Nottingham in May where the
all-important convergence site was fully discussed. Minutes from the meeting
reveal a discussion about what to do if police want to enter the site.
Organisers want it to be a no-go zone for the security services although
they were prepared to allow an inspection before it fully opened.

Legal arrangements were also made clear with a team of lawyers due to be on
standby. Around 50,000 "bust cards" have been ordered for Scotland, giving
activists information on their rights and a number to call if arrested.

The key to direct actions lay with finding out more about what was to happen
at the convergence space. So my last brush with the activists earlier this
month was at a Dissent Gathering at the Scottish Carnival Arts Centre in
Glasgow, where the site was to be discussed. Attendance was poor as many
activists were away in Sheffield planning for a pre-G8 ministerial meeting,
at which police were expected to try out new crowd control tactics.

Only the core organisers for the convergence space in Scotland were on hand
and as I had not been part of this group earlier I was looked at
suspiciously. I was woefully out of my depth within this small group and
they knew it. The discussion was being drawn back at the slightest hint of
giving away any details of what the group were planning. I knew I wasn't
welcome anymore, though as was fairly typical, everyone was far too polite
to say anything.

It was clear to me that my time as a would-be anarchist was at an end.




  	 	
Scotland on Sunday
Sun 26 Jun 2005
Heavy mob: with only one more week to go until the G8 summit, public and
police alike are unsure of how many protesters will arrive- and what their
tactics will be.
Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/ Getty Images

Ready for a riot?
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment.cfm?id=704402005

MURDO MacLEOD

FIRST it was the suppliers, then it was the taxis. Now Catherine Parkinson
is wondering how on earth she can pursue business as usual during the first
few days of July. For Parkinson, director of operations for the four Howie's
restaurants in Edinburgh, the marches and protests surrounding G8 instead
seem more likely to turn life into something resembling a siege. "The
suppliers have said that they will not be able to deliver on that weekend,
and now the taxis say not to expect them to send cars into the city centre,"
she said.

Normally, the chain's four eateries - one West End, one East End, one Old
Town and one at Bruntsfield - are guaranteed money-spinners. But all four
are near the routes or access areas for G8-related marches or protests.
Staff have been given the option of coming into work only if they want to.

"We have been having meetings for weeks about this and there is still
uncertainty," Parkinson says wearily. "Right now the plan is to open and
then just see how things go. We don't know if anyone will want to go out for
a meal on those days. You wonder if not being an international company will
somehow count in our favour, or what. We talk to other businesses about what
they are going to do. You just don't know."

With just one more week to go until the G8, Parkinson is like thousands of
business people in Central Scotland, hoping that their fears will come to
nothing and that a fortnight today, they will be breathing an enormous sigh
of relief.

But they can only guess. Scottish police forces are admitting that they
simply do not know how many people will show up or whether they will have
the officers and the resources to cope.

Once seen as the mother of all policing challenges, the Make Poverty History
march on Saturday, July 2 through Edinburgh is now being regarded as
possibly the least fraught of all the events of the week. As many as 200,000
marchers will make their way through the city, calling on world leaders to
tackle the problems faced by the world's poor.

But that march will include Chancellor Gordon Brown, the new Deputy First
Minister Nichol Stephen, SNP leader Alex Salmond, and Edinburgh Council
leader Donald Anderson - hardly the baseball bat brigade. The march
preparations have been meticulously worked out between avowedly non-violent
campaigners and the police.

Then there is Monday, July 4, likely to be the grimmest day of the week.
That day will feature an anarchist demonstration called the 'Carnival of
Full Enjoyment'. It will involve organisations such as The Wombles and The
Clowns, who are regarded as among the most hard-line of the anti-capitalist
movement and as a magnet for others intent on violence. This is regarded as
the event which is most likely to go out of control. And businesses,
especially banks and companies with an international profile, are fearing
the worst. Senior police officers are complaining about the lack of
information from the march organisers.

One officer said: "We are getting very frustrated over how little we are
hearing from them. I don't know what they are trying to achieve through all
this. After all, the main reason we need to hear from them is for their own
safety."

Ironically, the prospect which most alarmed the authorities, that of the
million-strong march called for by Sir Bob Geldof, now appears to be
evaporating. It had been hoped - or feared, depending on your outlook - that
one million people would flood the streets in advance of the Edinburgh Live
8 concert on July 6, in the wake of Geldof's call for a march on the city.

But both Edinburgh City Council and Lothian and Borders Police have
confirmed that they have received no notification for any kind of march on
that day, and that while they are working on the preparations for the
evening concert, expected to be attended by 50,000, no march is officially
happening.

A spokeswoman for the city council said: "We have heard, just like everyone
has head, talk of a march of one million. We have so far received no
notification of a march on that day."

A police source added: "I think it's less a matter of things petering out,
more a question of will there be anything to peter into."

Even Geldof's team have begun to tone down their rhetoric. A spokeswoman for
the singer and activist said: "There isn't a march as such. It's a
metaphorical, symbolic thing which Sir Bob Geldof was talking about. It
doesn't really matter where you march. It doesn't matter whether you are
there physically as long as you are there in spirit."

Very much there in body and spirit will be the security services from all
over the world. Britain has hosted a G8 summit before; Gleneagles itself has
hosted more than its fair share of high-powered international gatherings.
But, in the words of one retired intelligence officer who recalls the
preparations for the 1977 Commonwealth heads of government summit at the
complex, G8 is far from "a relaxed weekend in the country".

"This is not going to be about just putting tapes on manhole covers and
neutralising post-boxes right near the venue," he said. "We were quite on
the ball in those days - more than any other country ever was - but now it's
like getting ready for a war."

Although the enduring terror campaign waged by Irish Republicans throughout
the 1980s had honed the UK security forces' ability to protect visiting
dignitaries, their modern-day equivalents are labouring under far more
varied and lethal threats. Each leader arriving in Scotland this week brings
individual domestic travails which could make him a target for attack;
together, representing the wealthy, the West and the ascendancy of global
capitalism, they are seen by a plethora of interest groups and dissenters as
a distillation of the most objectionable forces on the planet.

Some of the groups threatening to get in and disrupt the G8 are more
reminiscent of Citizen Smith and the Life of Brian. Their threats to get
into Gleneagles and "turf them out" are more likely to provoke eye-rolling
and sniggering than real fear. Others, such as al-Qaeda and Chechen
terrorists, are another matter altogether.

Every G8 summit for almost a decade has taken place under the shadow of
fears of attack from al-Qaeda. Four years ago, in Genoa, warnings of threats
from Bin Laden operatives reportedly prompted heightened security around
President Bush, including anti-aircraft missiles deployed at the airport,
and naval vessels patrolling offshore. Bush himself spent a night aboard a
US aircraft carrier during his stay.

Gleneagles, although less obviously primed for trouble, is little different
from anything that has gone before. The multi-million pound security
operation includes plans for warships to patrol a one-mile exclusion zone
around the coast. Army helicopters, containing the latest countermeasures -
such as flares to lure away heat-seeking missiles - will be used to ferry
dignitaries and even police officers around. And military commanders at the
army's Scottish headquarters at Kirliston near Edinburgh are understood to
have made special plans to use soldiers from the two infantry battalions
based in the city to back up police should it be necessary.

"There will be various security perimeters established around the location,"
explained Mike Smith, an intelligence expert at King's College, London.
"Police snipers will be placed on rooftops and the SAS's Sabre Squadron -
the anti-terrorist unit - is unlikely to be too far away."

Other intelligence experts confirm that the lower-key operations have
already begun, and the extensive surveillance of protest groups, their
literature and websites is merely the "back-office work" for more hands-on
operations elsewhere.

"Individuals will be checked out in person," one analyst said. "Anyone with
a particularly radical profile, especially anyone who has suggested they
might get up to something around G8, or who has encouraged anyone else to do
so, will be watched pretty closely. But it isn't just the crusties like the
anti-globals. The security people will know about anyone who is already here
that might pose a nuisance. They'll be watched. It's a labour-intensive
strategy, but it's absolutely necessary."

The domestic security forces are not the only ones to start early. Bush has
already sent a team of secret service experts to Scotland to check out
arrangements for his safety while he is at Gleneagles, and to prepare for
his arrival at RAF Leuchars. Scotland on Sunday understands that Russian
president Vladimir Putin has made similar advance arrangements. A delegation
of officials from the Russian security service the FSB has been
investigating the venue for six months, and slipped back into the country
within the last week to make final arrangements. They will remain in
Scotland at least until Putin has arrived safely back in Moscow. The former
KGB officer, who arrived in Genoa under a dense curtain of security
protection amid fears of attack from Chechnyan separatists, clearly does not
believe he is less vulnerable to attack than he was four years ago. "They
are as preoccupied about security as anyone else," one source close to
Downing Street confirmed last night. "Putin has his enemies. He has an
extraordinary level of protection, but that is par for the course nowadays."

Throughout the unprecedented concentration on activities that would
otherwise remain deeply confidential, one area the authorities have managed
to keep completely under wraps is the detail of their contingency plans
should protests or attacks force a radical review of their well-laid
preparations.

In advance of Genoa, the Italian government and security forces decided
that, if they had to abandon the original venue, they would move the G8 -
lock, stock and barrel - offshore to a flotilla of naval vessels stationed
in the harbour. None of the experts poring through what is known of the
arrangements for Gleneagles doubts that the UK authorities have made similar
plans, but the alternative venue remains a closely-guarded secret. The
enclosed, rural location of Gleneagles make them suspect that, this time, it
will not be required.

A former senior UK policeman who advised on security arrangements for the G8
summit in Georgia told Scotland on Sunday: "It is a different scene in the
UK. The Brits are very good at these events and will be well prepared. The
[Special] Branch and Security Services will have looked at all the different
problems that may arise."

On the other side of the divide, the coaches and cars will begin converging
on Scotland from all over Europe from Thursday. Many protesters will be
"disguising" themselves as innocent hillwalkers wanting to tackle the Ochils
this weekend. Briefing notes on everything from what to do when arrested by
a Scottish officer to whether midges are really a problem at this time of
year have already been translated into a series of languages.

Back in Glasgow and Edinburgh those who must go about their daily business
display a mixture of hope against hope and grim resignation. A seven-foot
tall metal fence surrounds the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of
Holyroodhouse, despite First Minister Jack McConnell's demand that everyone
"calm down" over fears the G8 could lead to trouble. Security around Bute
House, McConnell's official residence, will also be stepped up.

The most unlikely firms - from large stores to restaurants - have run drills
on what to do in case of trouble. This week will see the cities' businesses
hold last-minute meetings as they ponder whether to open or not during the
G8 week, with most likely to open in the mornings and then play things by
ear.

One Princes Street shop manager admitted he was deeply worried, and said his
company still did not know whether they would open. "I don't know what to
expect. I don't know if there is any point in opening. I don't know whether
the police really know what is going on. I don't know if head office has the
remotest idea what could happen in Edinburgh. We all feel totally helpless.
What on earth did we do to deserve all this?"

• Additional reporting by Brian Brady


-- 
Jason

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