Words and photos by David Zlutnick

This year's meeting of the Group of 8 (or G8, the 7 richest nations in the world: Great Britain, United States, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, and Canada, plus Russia) was held in the resort of Heiligendamm, Germany from June 6-8th. At the meeting 13% of the world's population was "represented" while policies were decided that will have tremendous effect for the other 87%.

In response tens of thousands of demonstrators arrived in the area in an effort to shut down the summit. The reasons for such a confrontation include the G8's policies on aid to Africa, the propagation of neoliberal economic globalization, the neglect of the fight against AIDS, and the inherent and rabid undemocratic nature of the G8 itself, among many others.

What follows is a brief report back from the front lines of the fight to shut down the G8. For more information check out http://de.indymedia.org/en/.

Repression

On May 9th state repression of anti-G8 organizing exploded with the raid of 40 sites including private homes, social centers, and the alternative web provider SO36.net. The locations of what were to be convergence centers in Hamburg and Berlin were searched by police. The reason given for these provocations was that they were needed in order to stop leftist groups who were allegedly forming "terrorist organizations." However, after the police admitted they had made no arrests and found absolutely no evidence of a terrorist plot or any illicit materials, it became quite obvious that the real reason behind the raids was simply to smash the infrastructure that had formed to counter the G8 summit. But the plans of the German police seemed to have failed as following the raids thousands spontaneously took to the streets in cities across Germany to denounce the raids and public support for the G8 opposition grew tremendously.

Around the actual site of the summit in Heiligendamm a 12 km security fence was built at the cost of $17 million in order to protect the grounds from protests, and a no-go zone was created to keep people from getting anywhere near the fence. During May most of the planned demonstrations were banned by the Kavala (special police) despite having already received permits. After lawsuits were filed for reasons of unconstitutionality many were then re-permitted, only to be banned once again days before the G8 began.

Another measure the German state took to repress the anti-G8 movement was the use of travel bans and the closure of relatively open borders within the European Union. This same tactic was used to defend the G8 in Genoa in 2001, where activists were turned away at the French border and prevented from entering Italy. Read More...