The G8

Big long day along canals. Met a local group protesting against a train which transports nuclear waste to the sea port to then go to Russia. Spent the night camping on some nice old gezzers lawn.

Nordhorn
Nice short day after much needed sleep in. Spent the night at Christian youth centre. Got told off for skipping :)

Münster
Whats that coming over the hill... is it a Munster?! we sung this to keep us going in the sun/rain/getting lost. Cool social centre and lovely people. Funny big puppets and anti military action.

Osnabrück
Sun came out for lovely ride through the countryside... and hills!! After dark by the time we got to the wagonplatz.

May 7th
As already alluded to, the first day with the G8 bike ride crew had a rather unexpected outcome - I ended up in the cells for cycling my bike on the critical mass in Utrecht.

It all started out so nice and fluffy - the sun was out and the clowns were all ready to guide the upbeat group through town. Of course the cops were there too but after London masses this didn't seem too odd. Even when one came out and spoke to the group on a loud hailer over the sound system everyone was having fun cruising and visiting local points of political interest.

Then out of the blue out came the riot vans and police horses... hmmm I thought, is this still usual Dutch policing?! But that was long enough to be quickly encircled and, unless you were speedy like Tabs and co, you were soon stuck in a nice little police pen.

Word got around that we would all be arrested. What?! Surely not.. we were just riding along. By not speaking Dutch I was reliant on 2nd hand info but that was the sum of it.

Food and drink came out and folks danced to the music, then one by one cops came and snatched people from the crowd. A group of us from the karavaan and others banded together and waited. Spirits were high and it was very surreal as slowly but surely 115 people were cuffed with plastic pull ties and loaded on to awaiting buses. Cos we looked like trouble we were the last to go, an hour and a half after it all began. The cops were rough if they wanted to be, pulling cuffs tight and using pressure points to move the less compliant.

The bus took us to a justice building where we were moved from cell to cell for processing. The place was, of course, packed, but like the rest of the operation they seemed to be prepared for it all.

When I had to explain I had no ID I was passed on to the forjudge police who weren't too happy. I was moved to another cell marked 'not to leave' but in another hour I was moved to the central police station and shared a cell with a nice American girl. We kept ourselves entertained till 11pm when, on delivery of our passports, we were let go. I have a court date for July I won't make.

What a crazy day! But the upside was I quickly bonded with some of the bike ride lot, and learnt the hard way what policing can be like in mainland Europe - heavy! Not sure what will come of it all but have a feeling it was over the top policing to remind folk that resistance, which now includes cycling, will not be tolerated. Roll on the G8 :)
Claire.

The G8 Bike Karawane: the ride so far
(34/05/07) me and Claire have been cycling with the g8 bike karavaan for nearly 2 weeks now. we joined a group of about 15 activists-on-bikes in utrecht and have been travelling through Holland and Germany leaving behind us a trail of chaos and strategically placed vandalism! the group is growing all the time (25-30 at the last count) and consists of Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Americans and 6 other people from UK, 3 of whom I already know. I am really enjoying the opportunity to cycle alongside and chat to people from far and wide about alternative culture where they are from, squatting, travelling, cycling, veganism, and how to destroy global capitalism and still be home in time for tea. :-)

We are surviving the combination of life on the road and a busy schedule of actions by treading the fine path between total chaos and absolute anarchy. Non-hierarchical decision making seems to be synonymous with 5 hour meetings, and 5 hour meetings do not fit well with cycling 13 hours a day then doing an action. Well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's one made in good faith to illustrate the actual-true fact that we are packing loads of cycling and activism into not much time. However it is a learning experience for us all, and learning the hard way is just as valid and less easily forgotten than theoretical learning. So we are getting more organised. Meetings are less cyclical (excuse the pun) and tangential, and more focused and shorter. We take turns to ride last wearing a hi-viz vest so as not to lose people en-route (sorry Anna)*. We have groups each day in charge of cooking, skipping and map reading. More than one person knows where we are going and how to get there.

The cycling itself has been fun. There is a certain joy in travelling trough towns and countryside in a large, happy, colourful and noisy procession. It brings smiles to peoples faces (or sometimes scowls, but that just makes me smile more) either amused or bemused. Doing multiple circuits of a round-a-bout en-masse whilst waving, whooping, dinging bells, blowing horns and shouting has become a ritual I will miss when this is all over. I don't think the impact will be the same when it's just me and Claire.

What is also amazing is the support people are giving us along the way. We have been welcomed into social centres, squats, peoples homes and youth centres. Fantastic healthy vegan food has been cooked for us wherever we have been. We have been camping a lot and it hasn't really stopped raining for a week, but this has been offset by kind people offering tired, wet, dirty cyclists showers, washing machines and some actual-real beds! This support has been in part due to the contacts and arrangements made before the ride. But what has also been striking is the spontaneous help and support proffered by strangers. This has included a chance meeting with a youth worker one rainy lunch time on the way to Münster. He opened his youth centre for us and we took over his kitchen to have hot lunch in the dry and played pool (what a star)! Then there was the old German couple who passed litres and litres of iced tea over their front gate, just because we happened to stop there for a rest. And the old guy who we met on the edge of Noordhorn who cycled us through the city to our destination then gave us a big donation and wished us luck at the g8. his parting advice to us was: "do proper protesting, but don't kill anybody, unless its George bush" :)

thats all the great stuff to do with the cycling. the down side of cycling with people is the stopping and starting. punctures and getting lost is inevitable. faffing and waiting around is not. the pace is already quite slow: lots of people have really old bikes with 1 gear and heavy pannier. yesterday we took 12 hours to do 70km, and thats about average. luckily most of the days are not as many km as that. but it is still great to be cycling in a big group.

The actions that we have been doing along the way are forming part of the build up to the g8 protests. we have been trying to link up with local campaigns, which has given them a boost, and meant that we get the chance to meet with lots of local people. these have included an anti-war action in Münster, a town with a bloody history and many military bases, opening a squat dressed as clowns (evicted after 12 hours) in Osnabrük a town with a 30 year long campaign to create a social centre space, and visiting high street stores with fliers to label goods "gm" and "sweatshop". And of course lots of critical masses, which is always a pleasure.

Tabs

* Credits to G8 Bike Ride 2005 for this idea (appointing a last rider that is, not losing Anna).

Berlin
(18/06/07) "i had a great time at the g8, felt it was very successful and inspiring. the camps were really well organised and the blockading went well. there was a great variety of people using a variety of creative tactics...clowns, black block, small autonomous groups, communists, cyclists and lots of nationalities. one of the most effective actions i was involved in was a blockade of the west gate where about 1000 people sat on a cross roads 100m from the gate. the police reacted quite violently with pepper spray and water cannons to disperse the people within quite a short time. even when the roads were not being blocked i think that the presence of many activists being held back by lines of police and water cannons got the message across and perhaps meant that entrances were limited.

i was quite shocked by the police violence and repression. i didn't get hurt but witnessed them randomly hitting, kicking, and pepper spraying peaceful people. it seems they are much more systematically brutal than British police.

one particular event sticks in my mind...a group near the west gate formed a "naked bloc", totally stripping apart from shoes and socks. they marched towards the police line, stopping a meter from the padded and helmet wearing cops, then backing off and repeating the action. at the third advance one naked blocker was pepper sprayed directly in the face. (video clip) after getting water poured on his eyes to wash away the burning spray he went to the police man who had pepper sprayed him. he stood face to face, still rubbing his painful eyes, chanting at him (in German so i don't know what he said). it made a powerful image. one man dressed in layers of padded clothing and a hat with visor, protecting and representing a system that kills millions every day. another facing him, naked, having been violently assaulted, but still bravely standing up for what he believes in. i hope the policeman considered the poignancy of the contrast, but probably not. he looked a bit embarrassed at least which i suppose is something!

did a great spontaneous action after the g8 was over which was quite fun although dunno how much it actually achieved apart from the feeling of joy gained from pissing off the police. a group of us were chilling and sunbathing on the beach a few miles from heiligendamm, relaxing after a hectic and draining week. then we see about 100 uniformed police marching onto the beach in the distance. first felt a bit scared, "are they coming for us?" but theres no law prohibiting sunbathing. so then we got curious. What were they doing on the beach in full uniform on a sweltering hot day? not building sandcastles.

when they formed into three lines with the sea behind them and got out a big camera and tripod all became clear. they must be part of the kavala, the group of police taken from many regions of germany to form the protection force for the g8. and they were getting a souvenir picture taken on the beach. before this realisation had even sunk in the lone french contingent of our group was suddenly sprinting towards them, seeing an oportunity not to be missed. so the rest of us followed, all dressed in our swimming kit and jumped and danced around in front of the camera.

to begin with they took it quite well. our german friend translated their comments for us; "at least some of them have a sense of humour" one of the coppers noted, smiling. next they began singing the chants that are normally directed at them during the protests, including "go away. go away. go away" and "one day your children will look like us", showing that they had a bit of a sense of humour too. however when we still didnt leave their picture their sense of humour was tested. "can we photoshop them out or shall i beat them away?" asked one of the macho ones. after about 5 minutes of us posing in the front of the picture they gave up and came out of formation, with some of them "accidentally" barging us. they were pretty pissed off at this point, but couldnt do much with all the snap-happy tourists making videos on their phones. however i still felt a bit vunerable when they surrounded us and started making comments in german, that didnt sound very nice. they also planted a pepper spray in a member of our groups pocket and tryed to accuse him of stealing it. they didnt take it any further, but it makes you wonder whether they use this tactic a lot. so they left the beach looking quite pissed off, without having got a group picture, and we stayed feeling smug. a silly childish action or a small victory against the police? dunno, but it made my day, and its a pretty good story."