Brief introductions to: Dissent!, and the other mobilisations against the Summit (such as G8 Alternatives and Make Poverty History, the attitude of the mainstream media to the Summit and the protests, and some of the actions being prepared were given. Here are the notes taken from those introductions:
Introduction to Dissent! (UK)
Dissent was formed around the fall of 2003- to create a mobilization against the G8 but also to try and build a network beyond that. It is made up of various autonomous and radical movements and organizations. Dissent has a number of local and working groups throughout Britain. Dissent! Has adopted the PGA hallmarks and is based on principals of consensus decision making decentralization and a direct action.
Dissent has bi-monthly meetings and the minutes are available to download on the website. Since 2003 Dissent! Has continued to expand and grow. There are two other groups mobilizing to Scotland.
Note: An intervention was made, commenting that the PGA Hallmarks do not cover everything and do not, in themselves, make a movement. Some found the Hallmarks problematic. Some groups present at the meeting would not join the mobilisation under the Hallmarks, due to the problems they have with them."
Scottish Situation
The political context of Scotland. There is a strong history of resistance in Scotland- miners, crofters and rent strikes- there is a strong working class. There is a tradition of rural and urban struggle. Rurally people are less likely to come out in mass protests- recent acts of resistance have included rent-racking (people coming down from the highlands to protest against increased rent) More recently in Edinburgh- there has been poll tax strike and various occupations, including the occupying of the Autonomous Centre in Edinburgh. The anti war protests brought record numbers of people out to protest. There is also strong resistance to GM crops.
Differences you may expect- Scottish people are quite reserved- but not unfriendly. They become involved in political issues if they believe they are right. The main point is to try and build on the strong undercurrent of feeling of right and wrong and builds on that. We have the largest population of box dwellers (people living in social housing). They have tried to put the G8 in an inaccessible place the best way to deal with this is to come to Scotland to protest this. There will be infrastructure in Scotland to support people.
It's important to remember that Scotland is not a colony of England
Make Poverty History
Make poverty history (MPH) is the biggest campaign coalition of NGO's there has been in the UK and is made up of people from Oxfam, local churches and big relief groups. It's important specifically because they are organizing a large demonstration several days before the summit starts. They are talking mostly about third world debt and also talking about increasing aid and changing some of the trade rules that govern trade.
The UK labour government is making a very big media and political strategy around the G8. The UK government propaganda is arguing that the G8 summit is all about poverty and climate change and how the labour government is dealing with this. Many people in the UK are beginning to think that this G8 is about making the world a better place.
Some of the smaller NGO's are critical of forced economic liberalization (WTO, GATTS etc) and are much more radical- they have been trying to make a stance but they are a small voice within the bigger coalition. The picture that is being painted that Make Poverty History is the good protestors and Dissent! Are the bad protestors?
Senior people from MPH are saying it's not a march it's a walk and they are working with the Scottish tourist board. They are not encouraging people to stay after the Saturday, July 2nd march. MPH is part of a much world wider coalition of NGO's mobilizing for the WTO ministerial in Hong Kong and Millennium Goal seminars.
MPH is absolutely terrified that the bad protestors will attempt to disrupt their march.
G8 Alternatives
G8 Alternatives was set up by Globalize Resistance- a front group for the Socialist Workers Party- whom a number of groups have had problems with in the past. The Scottish CND, free party people and the Green Party also make up G8 Alternatives. G8 Alternatives are trying to get permission through the Scottish parliament for a rock concert for the duration of the summit. They have also called for a protest on July 6th at Gleneagles train station.
It is important to note that the SWP is different from the SSP (The Scottish socialist party who are a respected Scottish political party).
Climate
Climate change and Africa are big topics at the G8. Climate change is fuelled by oil, which is fuelled by capitalism, and we are trying to break the climate issue from just being centered on the environment into a wider anti capitalist context. We are coordinating an International day of action on the 8th of July to link oil, war, climate change and the G8 summit.
Corporate Media
There has been a lot of publicity about the summit. Most of the articles are about the issues- climate change and debt or about potential protests and security arrangements. It is important to note that the mainstream media get fairly hysterical in the build up to such summit. It will get considerably worse before the summit. In the past with actions such as reclaim the Streets, June 18th and Mayday the press has gone insane and just lied. Headlines like "Protestors will use samurai swords", "We will use children as a shield against police"
We have to be aware of this. G8 Alternatives and Make Poverty History are speaking to the media and this is perpetuating the myth that Dissent! are the bad protestors?
Independent Media Centers
There is going to be IMC facilities in Scotland but IMC will not organize accommodation for people. There is a grassroots political group in Glasgow called Camcorder Guerillas that make documentaries. They are currently working on a G8 video. IMC is not affiliated to DISSENT! Or any other political organisation. IMC UK stands for United Kollectives not the United Kingdom.
Mobilisations Taking Place Outside of the UK
Lyon, France
We are organising a festival of resistance for three weeks during April and May. 1 week will focus on the G8 summit. In our meeting in Lyon people did not really want to go to Edinburgh, however we will explain to people that there is a mobilization to Scotland. We are not enormous amounts of people in Lyon.
During the G8 summit we will build urban zones of resistance in solidarity with the G8 summit.
Russia
We see the G8 in Scotland as an opportunity to bring attention to the G8 in Russia as not many people know about them and their next meeting will be in Russia. We cannot create very much in our country because there is a lot of repression. There will be solidarity actions in Minsk, Moscow and Kiel. One idea is to play golf near the UK embassy.
Germany
There is a German-speaking Dissent! Network to mobilise people from German speaking countries. A lot of posters for the German speaking world have been produced, there are 30,000 stickers, 40-50 CD's, newsletters. There is a big meeting in Hamburg from the 4th-8th of May. The German network is organizing info-tours and evenings around German speaking countries about the legal situation and the G8. In 2007 the G8 summit will be in Germany and this is an important part of the outreach work being done.
Middle East
In our countries the movements are not really connected to the G8 and WTO. We are doing a tour called "Marhaba" around Europe we would like to use this tour as an opportunity to open space for debate about the role of the G8 in our countries through terrorism and security issues. We are bringing people to Scotland to form a Middle Eastern block and to make the links and connections with the situation in our countries.
Netherlands (Report given by: Rampenplan)
There is a festival which around 25,000 people will attend and we would like to use this as an opportunity to outreach and mobilize people. There are also info nights and local groups preparing to come to Scotland
Other Comments made during this session:
Britain/UK
There has been a war going on in Northern Ireland for the last 500 years that has seen many people killed. UK includes Northern Ireland, Britain does not. Both are complicated terms with lots of issues but its better to say Britain.
London/Berlin Refugee Issue
The idea is to use the G8 summit to highlight the plight of refugees and asylum issues. There is an appeal to the international network mobilizing against the G8 to discuss how to build asylum issues into the G8 protests and Dissent! Network.