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Anti-G8 Evian Update

g8_actions | 24.03.2003 22:41

This is a report stitched together by some individuals who were at the G8 preparation meeting in Geneva at the beginning of March. Apologies for the delay (there is a war going on, you know...)

The G8 summit is opening on June 1st in Evian, on the southern shore of Lake Geneva (Leman). Around Evian itself there is to be a large exclusion zone of several miles. Any attempt to get to the actual venue will end up with people fighting in the countryside far away from it. However, since Evian is a small place and can't house the entire entourage (secretaries, translators, journalists…), the conferenciers will probably be coming by transport from Geneva to Lausanne, and then by boat to Evian. Only a few big-shots will fit in helicopters.

Of course it's difficult to know what will change between now and June (mainly in respect to the war) but it's looking like the main day of action is going to be on the opening day, Sunday June 1st. After discussion at the Geneva meeting it was agreed that *both the march and the blockades will take place on that day*. On the night before, local people will light bonfires all around the lake.

The big demo in the Geneva-Annemasse area will proceed from both sides of the border to clog-up the road to Evian. With 6 kilometres there, 60,000 people can form a human wall ten persons thick. Since this will be a coordinated march there’s not much probability of police confrontation there. Still, turning the demo through to a blockade is probably not going to be permitted – this is not to say that there will necessarily be a lot of problems there but closing the roads can be enough for the police to act. There will also probably be a smaller march somewhere around Lausanne.

A key blockade will probably happen in Lausanne, where people will be taking the ferry to Evian (all other movement on lake Geneva is forbidden). This blockade – and its complementaries at the Airport and on the roads around the Lake - is the most difficult and will probably be taken up by the more radical part of the movement. The quay in Lausanne will be a red zone but it looks like most of the hotels are actually outside it, with not more than three or four entry points to the ferry. There are also many creative ideas like everybody dumping their trash there, floating big barges made of ‘Evian’ bottles, etc.

There is a chance that the blockades, which will begin in the early hours on Sunday, may be reinforced by some of the march participants who will be bussed there. For this it is necessary to have good communication, perhaps pirate radio is the best idea. Hopefully once delegates can’t get through from Lausanne they will try the roads around the lake, through Geneva in the southwest (totally closed off by the march/blockade), or through Saint Gingolphe in the southeast where there is a very narrow entry point with tunnels that are easy to blockade.

The big advantage here is that there is a lot of space to work with, and an opportunity to separate the protest spaces and make the differences very visible so as to avoid the confusions of Genoa. It thus looks like the division of labour between blockades/marches will be more or less along the lines of political affinity. Since ther is so much space there is a possibility of defining the space so that different affinities – with different levels of confrontation in mind – do not disturb each other. There is for example plenty of vital road-length to disrupt around the lake, for the delegates who can’t get the ferry, and that can be a cool space for some “rural black-blockery” or in general small affinity group actions. There are some very good maps with many of the blockage opitions surrounding the lake on the g8deviant.org website (see website list below).

In Lausanne the space there seems very solid both politically and tactically. The OSL (liertarian socialists), anti-WEF and anti-WTO coordinations are working together, and will try to set up a very clear and diverse protest space so everyone knows what they can plug into

During the several days before there will be at least two self-organised camps. The CLAAAC (libertarians and anarchists) wanted to make their own camp (VAAAG), the other groups like the Greens, student groups, anarchists, Trotskyists and individuals are making another camp. The camps will both be in the south-western area, close to Geneva and on the French side of the border. They may be a good opportunity to converge in the days before, though it’s also important to get to know the ground in Lausanne as early as possible if people want to go there. We know that some roads will be closed, so people who want to be elsewhere than the Geneva/Annemasse area on the action day may want to get out of the villages well before the last minute. In Geneva there will also be a media-oriented convergence centre and counter-summit (both will be NGO / Social Forum style).

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