G8 2005 Scotland: Get Ready to Rumble!
by Rockin Rod (Reshape!)
draft, not spell checked
949 wordsThe G8 'Group of Eight' is coming to Scotland this Summer. This anti-democratic body is going for a game of golf, while the world 'from Iraq to Indonesia' is going to hell in a hand basket. And with Bush, Blair, Berlusconi, Putin and more in one place, there's going to be resistance not seen in years in Britain. We want aid from Earth First! in the US!
For more than a year, a UK-based network called 'Dissent!' has been organizing a network of resistance around the G8. Dissent! grew out of meetings at UK Earth First! gatherings, and many of its participants are veterans of anti-globalization protests. With local chapters in most British cities, Dissent! should help provide infrastructure to facilitate protests of all sorts. A group called 'G8 Alternatives' is also being organized by the retrograde Socialist Workers Party, and it includes many grassroots groups like the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Its main plan is some sort of corporate anti-G8 rock concert.
Locally in Scotland, activists and anarchists have been organizing with Dissent! under the Reshape! banner. Reshape! is currently working on procuring convergence centers and housing for incoming activists. The weather in Scotland is generally very rainy (think Pacific Northwest), although in the Summer it is warm, and one can sleep outside. Also, it's daylight until midnight, and dawn will break early.
The action plan is simple: A month of decentralized actions against corporate targets, focusing in particular on climate change and precarity (the neoliberal destruction of social welfare). There will also be community outreach and ecological activism in poor communities throughout Scotland. There will be a large, legal march in Edinburgh (the 'Make Poverty History' march) on July 2, followed by a massive nonviolent blockade of the Faslane military base that is being organized by the Trident Ploughshares and Scottish CND.
On July 6, the global day of action that coincides with the first day of the G8 Summit, there will be a protest aimed at shutting down the G8 meetings through direct confrontation. As the day breaks, beacons will be lit around the Gleneagles Hotel, where the meetings are being held, and festive drumming will begin. All major roads to the G8 summit will simultaneously be hit by blockades, and affinity groups will go straight over the hills for the Gleneagles hotel itself, distracting security and going to the red zone in either a large mass or affinity groups. For those in need of a visual, think the final battle in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While the G8 leaders will be helicoptered in, their servants and translators will be stuck behind blockades on the roads. Panicking as protesters go straight for the red zone, the leaders will hopefully cancel their meeting. Afterward, there will be a large coordinated direct action on climate change to remind people of the real cause of global warming: automobiles, oil and transport. The action plan depends on how many people show up and the spokescouncil meetings beforehand, as well as the police deployments and the plans of international activists.
Throughout Europe, many view this as one of the best chances we've had in the last few years to really stick it to Blair, Bush and the rest of the self-proclaimed rulers of the globe. The Scottish locals are active but not sufficient in numbers, and so we are calling on desperately needed internationals to come to the protests and be prepared to be self-sufficient (and prepared to camp): No big deal for Earth First!. Bring rain gear and waterproof boots, and be prepared to hike for the long march on the day of action. Also, remember that British cops historically don't use teargas or pepper spray, but they prefer a good, old-fashioned beat down with billy clubs (and have been known to use dogs and horses). So get ready to rumble, and bring some spare meat to distract the dogs. If you can't make it or rightfully feel horrific about the ecological damage caused by flying, we need funds: do benefit shows and raise money from wealthy donors. Lastly, do a solidarity action if nothing else, going straight for the oil infrastructure wherever you live.
For more information, visit www.dissent.org.uk; www.indymedia.org.uk; www.reshape.org.uk; scotland.indymedia.org.