2007 G8 Summit in Germany
Weekend of Discussion and Planning
7-9 October 2005 in Hamburg

-- Why against it?
The G8, that’s the “Group of Eight” heads of government of the world’s most powerful industrial nations.  The pretext for this round will be to seek solutions for the world’s problems.  Hunger, war, and the destruction of the environment should be opposed.  Under this cover, the G8 will in fact seek ways to improve and stabilize the capitalist system that produces these problems in the first place.  G8 meetings are important occasions for the industrial states to coordinate their interests and to plan and push through a still more efficient and pitiless neoliberal globalization.

In recent years hardly one Summit meeting was able to take place without disturbances.  Whether against the G8 in Genoa and Evian, against the IMF/World Bank in Prague and Berlin (already in 1988), or against the WTO in Seattle, resistance is the most public and ever louder answer to this ruling order.  Since the 2001 protests in Genoa, the G8 meetings are no longer held in the large metropolitan centers.  They have been moved to regions that are less accessible and more easily controlled.

In the summer of 2007, the annual G8 Summit comes to Germany.  The meeting will take place in the Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, an exclusive health resort on the East Sea.  Heiligendamm is about 20km west of Rostock, 200km from Berlin.

The G8 Summit in Germany is also a good opportunity to let the “Group of Eight” see the ones they DON’T speak for.  For these, the Summit offers many points of approach for concrete social intervention.  In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, there are many “partial movements” that also have to do with the politics of the G8:  genetic engineering, nuclear power and energy politics, privatization, immigration politics, racism, militarization, patriarchy, etc.  In 2004, there was an Anti-Lager Tour (a mobile protest against various racist forms of repression, such as detention camps and deportation) that also traveled through Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

-- Who are we?
We are a network of activists of diverse leftist tendencies.  Inspired by the networking process of the many different leftist groups in Great Britain that coordinated actions in Scotland under the name “dissent! A network of resistance against the G8,” we would like to begin, even this early, to think about a fitting reception for the G8 in Germany.

This invitation is extended to groups and individuals from all sectors.  We want to relate our everyday struggles to a shared common ground against the politics of the G8, and we ant to make plans with regard to Summit actions and substantive debate.  The mobilization for the g8 Summit is an opportunity for networking and an intensive exchange of ideas and practices.

For us, deepening the international networks is very important.  Even so, we are not yet mobilizing internationally for this first planning weekend.  We are first publicizing it in the German-language areas.  We especially want to appeal to people with immigration backgrounds.  And because of the regional proximity of the Summit, we will also try to invite groups from Poland.

-- Why mobilize so early?
We have two years, which we want to use to build structures for communication and discussion that will strengthen the undogmatic left going into the protests but especially coming out of them and going further.  Organizing these protests is enormous work that requires many people.  Media and publicity work must be organized, texts must be written, and the networking must be hurried forward.  Regional and international planning meetings must be set in motion and new contacts sought out.  People are needed to build an effective Legal Support network.  And before it gets too late, diverse working groups must be constituted:  convergence center, demo first aid, cooking and sleeping quarters, and transportation.  And before the actual Summit, actions, camps, and substantive debates will have to take place.  And then, too, NGOs, unions, political splinter groups, and local governments will all have to be dealt with.  (And let’s not forget the next G8 Summit in 2006, in Russia.  We of course want to support the resistance there, too.)

We don’t want to just leave the mobilization against the G8 Summit to the established NGOs:  the dismantling of hierarchical structures is an important part of our work.  We are assuming that reactionary groups, perhaps even Nazis, also have something against the G8 Summit.  We won’t fail to give our attention to this kind of sideshow.  For us it is moreover important to get into contact with residents of the region where the G8 Summit will take place.

We would like to work together with other grassroots groups and individuals, as equal partners in a self-organized network.  We also hope to meet with many committed people from “established associations,” who recognize the strength of this kind of approach and who would like to work with us.  We understand diverse forms of action as the expression of multitudinous approaches; we see that as our strength.  All are welcome, who are ready to reflect critically on their own forms of action and in doing so to respect other positions.  The PGA “hallmarks” (see below) are for this a good frame of reference.

We want to learn from the experiences of past Summit mobilizations, by leading mutual discussions about how to support in the most sensible way the protest and resistance in Heiligendamm.  How we network ourselves, what we do in the run-up to and then during the Summit:  all that is still open and can best be answered with wider participation.

-- What is the October meeting for?
A first meeting with about 80 people already took place in May 2005, in the context of the BUKO (Bundeskongress Insternationalismus) in Hamburg.  Preparations for the 2007 G8 Summit were also on the agenda at the dissent! Meeting in Mannheim.  The first workshops took place at the Social Forum in Erfurt and the Precaritization Camp in Wendland.  At the weekend in October, we want to go deeper into the substantive and organizational planning.  In September, we will circulate a detailed proposal for the agenda.  So far, we have thought about the following:

Friday Evening
-- Block 1: History and Evaluation of Gleneagles
In which tradition is the mobilization for Heiligendamm?  A brief summary of Summit protests since 1988.  Evaluation of the Gleneagles mobilization.  Which actions were successful?  How effective are the structures of the dissent! Network?

Saturday
-- Block 2: Contents and Aims
Critique of Summit-hopping v. Opportunities for Social Intervention.  What to we want to accomplish by the protests in Heiligendamm?  Outlooks for the left in Germany and internationally, social processes, international networking.  Exploration of perspectives and actions.

Who are we and what do we want?
Constituting our common ground.  Which groups or alliances do we not want to renounce, which ones for certain?  What do we criticize about the G8 and capitalism, what is our common denominator?

Sunday
-- Block 3: Praxis
How to go on?  Clarification of organizational, decision-making, and communication structures.  Begin with matters of urgent planning, formation of working groups.

So far, so good.  At the Hamburg meeting there was already a colorful fireworks of ideas for actions and campaigns.  At least one idea has firmly implanted itself in the planning circle and must soon go into concrete planning:  we want in the next year to have an international planning and mobilization camp in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.  The camp could be timed around the G8 in Russia and could concretely thematize the politics of the G8 (and its local effects).

It would be great if you could register for the weekend.  Let us know about how many people you will be coming with.  The place will be Hamburg.  Exactly where, we will let you know by the end of August.  The connection that came together at BUKO (ie, the Planning Group) can be reached at:  g8-2007@riseup.net.

Right, then.  We’re looking forward to a large and relevant meeting, and we’ll be glad to see you there!!

The Planning Group

The PGA Hallmarks, with which we have oriented ourselves up to now:

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalization.

2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. 
We embrace the full dignity of all human beings. 

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organizations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

5. An organizational philosophy based on decentralization and autonomy.