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Eight good reasons to block the G8
Apr 13, 2007

Focus:Government
Action Request:Think About
Location:Germany
Eight good reasons to block the G8
(By: Affinity Group Wilnis)

An impressive number of groups in Germany and outside is currently
preparing to effectively blockade the G8 summit this June. At least they
will try to, they are, of course countered by a large police force that
will try and stop them.

At carious info-nights about these mobilisation efforts held in the
Netherlands, you often hear people voicing doubts about the use of
blockades. It is sometimes claimed that they “useless”, “a ritual” and
that “summits are only symbols”. Below you will find eight good reasons
for taking part in the blockades and help making them successful.

1) In order to win. Imagine that this time round it will really work! The
big names will, of course, be flown in with a helicopter, but that’s only
a few of them. The lower ranks, especially the personnel, will have to be
brought in by car. Furthermore, you can block a helicopter, too (with hang
gliders, sky rockets&hellip, and on the day of the summit, people have already
announced they will try and block the only big airport in the region. But
again, imagine that it will be a successful blockade; that we are enough
people with enough fantasy, initiative and courage to block the entry
points. Then the G8 summit, where those who are instrumental in
perpetuating global poverty, environmental destruction and neo-liberal
business want to get together and play, will simply fail. Just that day,
remember Seattle?

2) In order to create networks. Summit protests are spaces where countless
groups and individuals join forces who rarely see each other in their
daily lives, let alone organise protests together. We have been divided
into countless one-issue movements which in turn are divided over
strategic and political questions. But during protests against a summit
such as this one, everything comes together and crosses each other. This
cross-fertilisation yields unexpected results.

3) As a school for protest. The protests, the preparations and the action
camps, are spaces in which everyone learns new things. It is a living
school for self-organisation, theory, discussion, action forms, etc.
Helping organising an action camp, witnessing how people who barely know
each other can stop something of that scale in such a short period of time
and under difficult circumstances, is in itself something that everyone
should have experienced at least once in their lifetime. These camps are
also places where people who have just recently decided to become active
against the current world order can come into contact with people who have
been active already for a long time. The blockades and actions can be
astonishing experiences, they can change lives and let people see that we
can change things and that resistance is possible. These experiences are
then used in different places and on different subjects and thereby
disseminated beyond only the summit.

4) For the spin-off effect: the effects of these sort of mass actions are
much bigger than the place and time of the summit. It influences a large
part of the surrounding society, the media, the discussions at the baker’s
and in the bus. Suddenly everyone is talking about the issue, and that
would never happen if the protests would not take place. Of course, not
everyone agrees with the activists, but at least they are discussing the
issues. Compare that with summits that meet with no resistance, which was
common place only a few years ago. Then the media picture presented is
largely that which those in power created, and you would see men in grey
suites shaking hands. But now, WE are in the picture. But the spin-off
goes much further than that: the networks created during the protests,
activists return to their local settings and are inspired to carry on with
their work. Because no one considers these summit protests as the end
point in their lives as political activists; it is but one moment in our
daily campaigns and struggles to change the world. But it is an important
one that can be used well.

5) Ritual and spectacle? The common reasoning that summits are just a
ritualised display of power and serve as a trap which activists step into
by protesting against them is simply not true. The powerful would much
rather meet and discuss in peace. Now they are forced to protect
themselves with an army surrounding them in order to keep off the angry
masses. They have a very hard time, under these circumstances, to
legitimise themselves and their actions and are thereby forced to make all
sorts of pseudo-promises. So this is what we have achieved already. Of
course they also learn from these experiences and activists have to be
inventive to keep up the pressure. It is also important to realise that
summit protests cost activists a lot of time, money and labour, which
could also be invested elsewhere. Hyping militant behaviour can also be
irritating and counter-productive. Much more dangerous, however, is the
ritualisation of powerless political agreement which mainstream NGOs make
with governments, such as symbolic mass demonstrations (round the church
and back). They also cost much time, money and energy, and are, moreover,
painfully boring.

But to be active only at the local level and &lsquoositively’ is also not an
option, the ruling elite will laugh at you and couldn’t care less. Every
now and then, you have to try and come together and score ‘globally’, and
then part again to carry on working at the local level. Also: not all
actions that have taken place many times are also out of date. For
centuries now, workers have gone on strike against their bosses and
strikes are still necessary tools that book results.

6) In order to break out of the often illusionary ‘civil society input’
culture. In order to experience a different reality for a moment (other
than the endless ‘consultation’ model with its ‘civil feedback groups’,
‘stakeholder meetings’, reports, studies and policy recommendations), it
helps to, once in a while, attempt an actual act of resistance without
compromise. Yabasta! It’s enough, in June in Heiligendamm, we had enough
and will try and stop the limousines and dance on their roofs. All this in
the hope that the practice of direct action will effect the negotiations,
because not so long ago this was the case and had actual effect (e.g. in
the squatting, women’s and initially the workers movements&hellip. Fewer things
on earth are more fulfilling than to smash the party of fat cats and stop
them, even if only for a moment, from destroying this planet.

7) For strategic reasons. Although the G8 is an informal meeting at which,
officially, no decisions are taken, the G8 is becoming an increasingly
important forum and, for this reason, is being increasingly
institutionalised. Thousands of politicians and civil servants take part
in it and it is prepared during the whole year by large teams. It is
evident that these sort of meetings form the structure for negotiations
between the most powerful capitalist nations in the world in order for
them to coordinate their policies. Important decisions of other
institutions, such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank, are prepared during
this summit. The ‘system’ will not collapse if they cannot hold one of
their summits, but it makes it all a little more difficult to keep the
machine running smoothlessly. Imagine that each of their gatherings is met
with such resistance. Also ideologically, they are forced into the defence
by this form of mass protest.

8) For international solidarity. We fight against the G8 leaders because
we are suffering from their policies. But we also know that often people
that are hit the worst by them live in the global South, far away from the
cities where the power lies, where the conferences are held and the
offices of the multi-nationals are located. In southern countries it is
often common to resist economic oppression with hand and feet, for which
people pay a high price. Those people also appreciate that also in the
capitalist centres, people actively resist and demand an end to the
desperation and status quo. This is why ‘global’ actions often go hand in
hand with very specific demands around specific issues that all have to do
with the G8 – supporting the Ogoni fighting against Shell in Nigeria,
freeing political prisoners, solidarity with Oaxaca/Chiapas, oppose GMOs,
etc, etc.

But first and foremost 1) in order to win! Those who join can later tell
their grandchildren (or those of the neighbours) that they were there; the
historic beginning of the end of the capitalist nightmare. Heiligendamm,
June 2007, that’s where you have to be, en masse and active!

-------------------------------
For more information on the coming protests see, amongst others,
http://www.dissent.nl
Visibility: Everyone
Posted: Friday April 13, 2007, 9:00 am
Tags: block the good to reasons eight g8 [add/edit tags]

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