[g8-sheffield] [Fwd: [media_strategy_against_g8] Minutes from Tubingen Mainstream Media Meeting | Sunday, February 27, 2005]

[Philippe Deux]

Hi,

it's getting late... anyway this message is rather significant...


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [media_strategy_against_g8] Minutes from Tubingen Mainstream 
Media Meeting | Sunday,      February 27, 2005
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 03:11:36 -0800 (PST)
From: mcnuts at riseup.net
To: media_strategy_against_g8 at lists.riseup.net
References: <18955.1109612851 at www10.gmx.net>

This is just a quick message to let those on the media list know that
following the International meeting in Tubingen a number of internationals
have now joined this media strategy list; welcome.

Also, below I have pasted the minutes from the “mainstream media “meeting
held in Tubingen below and attached it as a file to this email:


Mainstream Media Workshop | Sunday, February 27, 2005 – 12:30pm

Meeting Context: The mainstream media working group was an opt-in group
held along with parallel sessions which included:
1)	Borders support – people who are not allowed in the UK
2)	Street Medics
3)	Legal / Anti-Repression

Discussion Topics Brainstormed:
o Monitoring mainstream media/Media watch
o Existing media networks
o Press statements re the Tubingen meeting
o Developing a strategy to deal with media in emergency / worst case
scenarios
o Media training/skills sharing workshops
o Rural action/possibility of media blackout and how to counter it

· There is currently a proposal to have a phone number/phone that is
passed around with a log to track who/what media has called and what has
been said. There is also the potential of having a one-way list to send
information to journalists about events.

·Press strategies may be useful to gain logistical concessions from
police/government

· A strategy in the past has been for everyone to use to use the same name
when dealing with the media. This was done in Evian

·It was noted that all Dissent meetings and action reports are on the web
and are thus available to journalists

·PROPOSAL: Work on the Tubingen press releases


DISCUSSION OVER PRESS RELEASE CONTENT
· The initial press statement had the suggestion of placing a focus on the
‘violence’ of the G8 and how we are organising against that; against the
violence of Bush and Blair. However it was felt that the anti-war movement
focuses a lot on Bush and Blair. There is a need to focus in general on
global capitalism and the G8 as an architects or prefects of the system.

·It was suggested that the press statement does not use he word violence

·While the question was raised as to “Why is it necessary or important to
issue a press statement?” this question was not debated at great length.
It was noted that while Dissent should not spend a lot of time on media
issues, there was optimism, that the media would probably carry the press
statement from the Tubingen meeting. Thus the press statement was seen as
a nice opportunity to tell people what the more radical parts of the
[anti-G8] mobilisation are about.

·Suggestions as to the content of the press release included the points:
o	Meetings are public
o	The G8 is a problem
o	The Problems caused by global capitalism far outweigh Dissent
o	The number of countries represented at the Tubingen meeting.
·It was noted that there is a need for translations of various press
statements.

·It was suggested that it may be useful to put an ‘Editor’s note’ on the
press release mentioning sensitivity shown towards Dunblane because of
past events however this suggestion was not acted upon.

·It was suggested that the press release may want to include the fact that
the people who are organising demonstrations for 2006, 2007 were at
Tubingen but it was decide that this was too much information.

·A point was made that when writing a press statement  Dissent should try
and minimize what is out in a press statement, If you give too much
information the media may be selective with what they print.

·It was noted that while email lists up until now have not been used to
take decisions, there is a need to use email for decisions

·A decision was made for a small group of 3 people to take the spirit of
the points raised in the media discussion and work on the press statement.
This group would then feedback the press statement to the group.

Mainstream Media Feedback Session to Group
Sunday, February 27, 2005 – 3:45pm
Group of about 60 people (20% were women)

·The proposed press statement was read out

·The list of countries was amended and expanded

·Suggestions were made to amend additional actions to the list of
activities. The list of additional actions included “No Border” campaigns,
as well as information tours by Trapese. It was noted that the press
release was envisioned not as the minutes of the entire weekend.

·A debate emerged over various words such as “co-ordination” and
“eco-village.” The debate around the words in the press release was
evidence of a constant consideration of how the media would interpret
various words and phrases. This discussion was consistent but jovial.

·The Press Release was agreed upon and individuals were tasked with
translating and distributing it.

**Press Release**Press Release**Press Release**Press Release**Press 
Release**

International Anti-G8 Meeting in Tuebingen, Germany
(For immediate release)

>From 26th-27th February 2005, people involved in anti-capitalist groups
and networks from twenty-three different countries, gathered in Tuebingen,
Germany to continue planning resistance to the 2005 G8 Summit.

The meeting declared, “This year’s Summit professes to address issues
important to us all, amongst them: climate change and poverty. Yet these
are issues produced by a system from which the G8 was born and which it
attempts to manage. Resistance is the obvious and growing response to the
current order. Our aim is not merely to oppose the Summit, but to
contribute to the daily struggle to create new worlds.”

A number of action plans were developed over the weekend, reflecting the
diversity of the perspectives from which those attending were coming.
Concrete action plans included:

·	Blockades of the Summit.
·	Holding a people’s golf tournament on the lawns of Gleneagles.
·	Taking direct action against the causes of climate change.
·	Actions for freedom of movements.
·	Supporting the blockades of Faslane nuclear submarine base.
·	Co-ordinating actions around the world showing solidarity with those
resisting the Summit.
·	Constructing self-managed, ecologically sustainable convergence spaces.
·	Resisting increasingly flexible working conditions being imposed in the
UK and around the world.

The meeting also commented, “Whilst the eight most powerful men on Earth
retreat behind fences and into militarised zones to pursue their policies
of war, growth and destruction, we are attempting to build new spaces,
open to everybody, and in which we can demonstrate our legitimate
alternatives: of self-management, of non-hierarchical and consensus based
decision making and of ecological sustainability.”

Notes to the Editor
1)The 2005 G8 Summit will take place at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire,
Scotland. Gleneagles is located 70 Kilometres north of Edinburgh.
2) Amongst those attending the meeting were people based in: Scotland,
Germany, Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, Lebanon,
Israel, Ireland, Finland, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Russia,
England, Belarus, the United States, Canada, Austria and Switzerland.
3)The meeting was organised by the Dissent! International Networking
Group. For more information about Dissent! see: www.dissent.org.uk