ABOUT Dissent! G8 Infotour
Once a year the leaders of the 8 richest nations meet behind closed doors in secret with no publicized agenda or published minutes, to discuss the fate of the world. They’ve been making empty promises for decades about improving the environment, poverty in Africa, and lots more, but the fact is that the G8 is not the solution to these ills, it is the problem! We are preparing in Germany for large scale protests against the G8 meeting this June 6-8, 2007, and plan to come tell you about what is going on here. We have done over 200 presentations in 25+ countries since November 2005, and are now coming to your town!
In case you haven't had a chance to check out the big number of anti-G8 web-sites we have over here in Germany (or got lost on a German language site looking around for more English), we've attached an overview below of what our normal "foreign" presentation consists of. There are also many links below.
As you can see, there is generally a first part that talks about the History of the G8, including going over German protest experience in Munich '92 and Cologne '99 (20,000-30,000 or more protestors each time.)
The second part is all about the latest going on over here now. If you download any of our English language power points, you might see that some are a few months old. They will be totally updated for the USA infotour, and there will be a lot of English information available about the German mobilization. Discussions will take place with local hosts to determine likely audiences, and whether people already expect to come to Germany for the protests, or whether it is a more general audience that could benefit from other knowledge such as about the G8 in general, or about how such activist mobilizations function in Germany/Europe.
The latest plan for the Infotour on the West Coast of USA is March/April, with a stopover on the East Coast as well the first week in April 2007. Ask us to send you a draft itinerary. Judging from experience, we expect quite big audiences to attend our presentations.
Hope to see you soon!
J + M
details below:
Presentation about G8, we can alter presentations/films for any audience.
from Dissent! Network Wiki:
http://dissentnetzwerk.org/wiki/Presentation_about_G8 almost all infos downloadable here:
http://gipfelsoli.org/Tools 1. Block on Background of the G8 (circa 40 Minutes)
* Film "Why Close the G8?" (Mobilization film for G8 2005, Scotland; 14. min., Download with most other films and power points at
http://gipfelsoli.org/Tools)
* Background on the History of the G8-Summit and protests against it, (lecture with Power-Point-Presentation, ca. 15 min.
* A summary of resistance to the G8, with the possible showing of short films.
We also like to tell about the effects of the G8 from those not from the "Global North". Therefore we often show short films from the "Raised Voices" project made up of short Videoclips with Interviews from people from Africa or South America regarding the politics of the G8. We generally show one or two 3 minute film clips.
2. Block: Heiligendamm, G8 2007 (circa 40 Minutes)
* The political and geographic situation of the immediate region of Rostock, Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm using a Power-Point-Presentation
* Explaination of the main relevant local groups, (Fundus-Gruppe, Kempinski, a Local Citizens initiative, the Left Party, Residents, City and Regional parlaments etc.)
* The situation of various groups mobilising against the G8, their activities and next meetings:
Grassroots + Left + radical groups + political parties…
* The International Mobilisation Camp in August 2006
* Left Network/Linkes Bündnis, BUKO
* No Deportations/No Borders-Network
* Attac
* NGO'S + Pop Concerts
* Militant Actions related to G8 2007
* Social Forum
* Green Party + Left Party (PDS/Linkspartei)
* 4 Bicycle Caravans, coming from N, S, E, and W
* Black Blocs
* Rhythms of Resistance/Samba Bands, Clown Army
* Queer, Women, Lesbian, Transgender-Resistance, etc.
At the close we like to start an open public discussion. Possible topics include:
* Pro and Contra regarding large Summit Mobilisations
* Would the resources for such a big mobilation not be better used for local projects?
* Working together with other groups
* Concrete action plans and ideas
* Possibilities to work together
* How to build/support local structures (in the local place we are)
More web-links:
Dissent! Network, Direct Action against G8: www.dissentnetwork.org
Reclaim the Commons, USA:
http://rtc.revolt.org For signing up to anti-G8 USA email list:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/g8-usa For signing up to anti-G8 International email list:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/g8-int Local (near G8) Action Conference web-site: www.heiligendamm2007.de
Peoples Global Action: www.agp.org
Hamburg Infopoint:
https://hamburg.dissentnetzwerk.org Interventionist Left:
http://g8-2007.de German NGO Platform:
http://www.g8-germany.info Basic info about G8: www.g7.utoronto.ca