[ssf] [media_strategy_against_g8] Re: [resistg82005] from Indymedia UK: G8 Dissent International Networking Meeting in Germany - Report

[R&A]

Hello,
Cooperation needed in the form of 15 minutes now and then...
Forwarded message from the media-strategy against g8 team:
----



We are actively working on responding to the media and
keeping track of both shit articles and responses but
we need more people ...
If you see an article that is bias and generalizing
alll protestors as mindless people (for example), in
any news paper, post it to this list with the author,
name of the news agents, contact details (or link) of
person or group to send replies to + reply to it
yourself and send us a copy.
media_strategy_against_g8 at lists.riseup.net
This only takes 15 minutes of your time.

We are putting together a collection of  these in the
uk to illustrate how simplistic and sensationalist the
media have become and how protesters actually do have
an educated opinion to give if only the media asked
the right questions.

If we don't reply they'll keep on writting these
articles. If we don't show people how wrong they are,
people opposing the G8 get framed against our will as
destructive, mindless anarchists.

We need to organize these types of replies on an
international level so that not only the british press
are getting pressured but the French, German, Polish
... we need to learn how to make news rather than
letting others decide what is important.

cheers

  --- AnRo <anro at riseup.net> wrote:
> [i have snipped the tuebingen press release which is
> already known]
> 
> G8 Dissent International Networking Meeting in
> Germany - Report
> 
> 02.03.2005 19:52
> http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306083.html
> 
> The Dissent international networking meeting was
> held over the weekend 
> of 26th-27th February in Tuebingen, Germany.
> 
> Up to one hundred people from all over europe and
> beyond came together 
> to continue planning protests against the G8 Summit
> and campaigns around 
> the issues related to it. With people from well over
> 20 different 
> countries in attendance this was a truly
> international event.
> 
> Tuebingen itself is a university town, with a
> reputation for being 
> liberal and a history of politics. Accommodation and
> meeting spaces were 
> provided in two impressive places - the Epplehaus
> infoshop space and at 
> the Schellingstrasse project buildings. Originally
> army officer 
> barracks, the Schellingstrasse had been squatted
> around 20 years ago and 
> has provided much needed social space and living
> accommodation. Both 
> spaces are no longer squats, but have been
> negotiated as legal spaces. 
> Excellant food was provided by the hosts throughout
> the weekend for a 
> small fee of around five Euros.
> 
> Right from the start of the meeting it was clear
> just from the piles of 
> leaflets, papers, posters and flyers that the
> mobilisation against the 
> G8 in July will be a major event crossing over many
> issues and campaigns.
> 
> Much of the time during the two days of meetings
> were spent in 
> describing the situation in Scotland and the current
> state of 
> preparation and planning.
> 
> There were sessions on the various different
> mobilisations and the way 
> Labour Prime Minister Blair and Chancellor Brown
> were touting the G8 
> Summit as being all about ending poverty and solving
> climate change - a 
> prospect about which all participants were extremely
> sceptical.
> 
> The meeting heard about the Make Poverty History
> coalition campaign for 
> 2005, and the rejection of free-trade and forced
> economic liberalistaion 
> by many of the groups involved in the coalition.
> There were also reports 
> from the G8Alternatives mobilisation, their plans
> for organising a 
> protest on the opening day of the Summit as well as
> their 
> counter-conference and forthcoming book. There was
> some well founded 
> criticsm of their organising methods and some of the
> media spin they 
> were touting, but this wasn't dwelt upon.
> 
> There was also a basic introduction on the history
> and politics in 
> Scotland, including the infamous Highland and
> Lowland clearances during 
> the 'enclosures' that took common land from the
> people, and the current 
> situation where much of the land is owned by giant
> absentee estate 
> owners. It was noted that Scotland has a proud
> history of resistance and 
> that many people are sympathetic to the problems
> caused by 
> neoliberalism, and openly hostile towards Blair and
> Bush. It was 
> stressed that in many considerations, Scotland is
> significantly 
> different to England, especially in terms of the
> political left.
> 
> A long legal briefing described the legal system in
> Scotland (which 
> again differes significantly from the English
> equivalent). The session 
> included information on the controversial Section 44
> stop and search 
> powers under the Terrorism Act, which have been
> widely used against 
> anti-war and anti-arms camapigners, rather than the
> terrorists it is 
> intended to target. There was also a description of
> the Section 60 
> public order powers now routinely used to surround
> and detain protestors 
> - powers which themselves have recently been the
> subject of a legal 
> challenge following the eight hour plus detention of
> thousands of people 
> in Oxford Circus during the Mayday 2001 protests in
> London. People were 
> also warned about the widespread practice of police
> lieing about the 
> powers they were using to trick people to give their
> names and 
> addresses. There were also warnings of the use of
> aggressive police 
> surveillance techniques, with members of the Forward
> Intelligence Team 
> (FIT) tasked to follow, film, photograph and harrass
> protestors - a 
> practice that seems to be spreading north to
> Scotland ahead of the G8 
> Summit. This was stressed since it is uncommon for
> these aggressive 
> filming techniques to be used in the rest of europe.
> 
> It should be noted that during the weekend German
> police controlled 
> access to the meeting spaces on a couple of
> occasions, stopping a number 
> of people in the streets and checking and recording
> their passport details.
> 
> Activists were also warned that penknives used for
> camping could get 
> them into trouble, and were advised to not bring
> them. The ins and outs 
> of the Scottish 'justice' system were also described
> with advice given 
> on people's rights upon arrest, and it was noted
> that several civil 
> liberties groups would be monitoring police
> behaviour and security 
> measures over the coming months. It was also
> reported that authorities 
> have already begun questioning some people at
> airports in scotland about 
> the G8 protests. A draft copy of "An Activists Guide
> To Scottish Law" 
> (and not 'an anarchists guide' as was reported by
> the media) was made 
> available for people and will soon be published in
> print and on the 
> internet.
> 
> There were also presentations on the NVDA (non
> violent direct action) 
> blockading tactics which have been widely used over
> the years, most 
> noteably by the environmental roads protest movement
> and peace 
> movements. It was noted that these tactics meet with
> significant support 
> in Scotland where these forms of action also attract
> participation of 
> some members of the Scottish Parliament.
> 
> Another session looked at the mainstream press, and
> in particular, their 
> appaulling track record in 'reporting' the build up
> to large 
> demonstrations. Examples of some of the worst
> excesses of fantasy 
> made-up journalism seen over the past few years were
> given alongside a 
> description of the current media fixation on riot
> scaremongering and an 
> obsession with security arrangements for the summit
> at the expense of a 
> discussion of the issues (beyond the celebrity led
> 'drop-the-debt' 
> demands from Make Poverty History).
> 
> Practical discussions were also high on the agenda,
> with discussions 
> being held on the vast scale of catering needed to
> cook for so many 
> people. While people at the meeting were planning
> for a campsite for 
> accommodation, they stressed the political
> importance of creating a 
> space that would be self managed and which could be
> used to demonstrate 
> sustainable alternatives. Updates were also given
> about 
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