2007-11-06

November 6th 2007 Genoa -- Heiligendamm -- Bucharest

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We are history - a call to mobilization for november 17th 2007

It’s been years we have asked everybody to take responsibility as collectively as possible for what the mobilizations against G8 in Genoa were. The arrogance of Genoa prosecutors during the final speech of their accusation in the court case against 25 protestors accused of devastation and sacking seems to have eventually aroused the hearts and brains of 300000 people that in Genoa opposed themselves to the politics of the G8.

We think this is not the time for childish hairsplittings and sectarism. What we need now is a mass demo and an uncondtioned participation to all those events that will try to make pressure on courts and justice to avoid a conclusion in the court case along the prosecutors desires.

This is the reason we hope everybody will answer the call for mobilizations, with intellligence and the will to reclaim what those long lost days of july 20th and 21st 2001 represented for us all.

We are history A call to mobilizing for november 17th, 2007

“We are history” is not a catchphrase. It’s a specific approach to the point: on one side social history, on the other the hisotry of power. The people who sang this song over the years did it instinctively knowing to be part of an important part of history, wether it official one or not. And they did sing it thinking of Genoa 2001. By any means necessary.

Since July 21st 2001 the State Justice and politicians began to review the history we all lived: those who revolted against a certain view of the world became terrorists; those who spread terror through the streets of Genoa became the Champions of Order and Safety. For six long years this is what we breathed in the courtrooms, while our collective voice was growing faint, along with a process of collective removal that made a lot of people forget that Genoa was not only terror in uniform, but also the strenght and energy of hundreds of thousands of people that at least for few days thought that the world could be different from how they have always been told.

For six long years the puppet theatre of the criminal court was all we got instead of hearing the real voices of the people, believing that in some way judicial truth and historical facts could meet, hoping that in some way everything could come to an end without having few demonstrators paying for the revenge of power all by themselves. The public prosecutor’s Canepa and Canciani bills of indictment for the trial against the 25 demonstrators accused of devastation and sacking finished the operation of historical revisionism that started the day after the demonstartions against the G8 in 2001 and was ended by the demand of 225 years of jail for the 25 demonstrators.

We think that the time has come to take back our voice, to shout that what happened in Genoa in 2001 belongs to all of us, to mobilize with intelligence in order to avoid that 25 people pay for something that we all did, where we were all protagonists, none excepted.

We want to strongly launch the demo for the 17th November in Genoa, and all the other events that aim to the reappropriation of our historical memory and of the meaning of those days in Genoa, six years ago but still alive for what they represented.

We would like that everybody relaunch this call without signatures, without identities, because Genoa is not over, it’s still here, and today, and it concerns all of us and everybody has to take charge of it, without exclusion

Let’s start with a first meeting in Genoa: 17 November 2007

WE ARE HISTORY

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G8 Genoa: state prosecution demands 225 years of jail sentences

[Media G8way | Gipfelsoli Infogroup]

Press Release

Monday, 29th October 2007

* Those charged face compensation claims for Genoa’s “image loss”
* Solidarity demonstrations in Genoa and Rostock

Six years after the G8 summit protests in Genoa a number of court cases against demonstrators and members of the police force are still taking place. The cases against police officers and Carabinieri are being stalled in order to take advantage of the statute of limitation that will soon expire. In the cases against the 25 activists the state prosecuters Canepa and Canciani are displaying full force. There have never been such high sentence demands for street clashes.

The witnesses have all been heard. In its plea the state prosecution is demanding jail sentences between 6 and 16 years, a total of 225 years. With these convictions they intend to write history: “Let’s call Genoa what it was: looting and destruction”. Last week the Government in Rome ordered compensation claims against the 25 charged. These claims total 2.6 million Euros for the property damage that occurred, for example at the Marassi prison. Included in this is a large sum intended as compensation for the image loss the city of Genoa is said to have suffered.

“Genoa was a revolt. The 25 charged stand for all of the 300 000 people in the streets of Genoa. In all the diversity, there was one common goal: to delegitimise the G8 and the Red Zone”, Hanne Jobst of the Gipfelsoli Infogroup stated.

Under the banner, “Back to Genoa”, many of the different groups who mobilised against the Genoa summit in 2001 are now calling for a demonstration in Genoa on November 17th as a unified display of strength and solidarity. The demonstration is supported by Members of Parliament Luca Casarini and Vittorio Agnoletto, as well as Haidi Giuliani, the mother of Carlo Giuliani who was shot dead by police during the demonstrations in 2001. Further supporters include Father Don Andrea Gallo and Naomi Klein.

Members of the Alleanza Nazionale and the right-wing police union are demanding that the demonstration to be prohibited. With the slogan, “Looting to defend their arguments; Black Block, No Global and their surroundings”, the police themselves intend to march on Genoa. The police union COISP has registered “sit-ins” in all public places.

“We will not let the police and the state prosecution write the history of the Genoa protests“, activists from Genoa declared. The police were the ones who started the confrontations in the streets after one of the units arbitrarily attacked the legal demonstration of the “Disobbedienti”. During the clashes another unit shot the 23-year old Carlo Giuliani. Hundreds of people were brutally mishandled in the streets and prisons. The next day the police and Carabinieri attacked demonstrators whilst they were asleep in the “Diaz School”.

On November 17th there will be a solidarity demonstration in the German town of Rostock against the police attacks, mass arrests and mistreatments during the G8 summits in Genoa and Heiligendamm.
Background Information (multi-language):

* Genoa sentences: http://gipfelsoli.org/Repression/4357.html
* Compensation claims by the Italian Government: http://gipfelsoli.org/Repression/4353.html
* Call to protest: ‘We, from the Via Tolemaide’: http://de.indymedia.org/2007/10/198064.shtml
* Antirepression Demo November 17th in Rostock: http://antirep.blogsport.de
* SupportoLegale Genova: http://supportolegale.org
* The Committee for Truth and Justice for Genoa: http://www.veritagiustizia.it/english.php
* Global Project: http://www.globalproject.info/index-en.html
* Gipfelsoli Infogroup on the Genoa protests: http://gipfelsoli.org/Home/Genua_2001

Contact:

* Segretaria Legale Genua +39 10 8602573

Press fotos (Creative Commons-Licence):

* http://gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/13/010720_disobbedienti_full.jpeg
* http://gipfelsoli.org/rcms_repos/images/13/010720_carabinieri_chiuso.jpeg

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G8: STREET VIOLENCE, THE GOVERNMENT DEMANDS 2. 6MLN COMPENSATION

(AGI) - Genova, 26 Oct.- A consolidated compensation amount of 2.6 million euros, including 2.5 million euros for damages not related to cultural heritage: this is the request forwarded by the government, which covers the civil case against 25 demonstrators accused of devastation and looting in the context of the trial over the street violence that took place during the G8 summit of 2001 in Genoa. As regards damage to the image, the lawyer for the State Ernesto De Napoli has asked for 2.5 million euros, amounting to EUR100,000 for each anti-globalization demonstrator. In the case of cancellation of the charges of devastation and looting while pursuing those for resistance and violence against public official, De Napoli has asked for EUR30,000 as compensation from each demonstrator.

Other than damages not related to cultural heritage, the advocate for the state has also demanded compensation of EUR115,000 (from between EUR1,000 and 83,000 depending on the accusation) for damages to property belonging to Public Administration. The most significant figure of EUR83,000 has been put forward in the cases against Marina Cugnaschi, Vincenzo Vecchi and Alberto Funaro, singled out to compensate in full for damages inflicted on Marassi prison and other structures.

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G8. MASTELLA: PROGRAMME ENVISAGES PANEL? NOT THAT I KNOW OF

(AGI) - Rome, Oct.30 - "Our position is well known: we have always opposed the setting up of an investigation panel, since the magistracy is already dealing with the issue", Justice Minister Clemente Mastella said in Parliament, explaining the UDEUR party's decision to vote against the proposal of setting up a panel investigating on the G8 troubles in Genoa in 2001.

Mastella claims that "the case should keep on being dealt with by the current sphere". When the reporters reminded him that the centre-left claims that such a panel was envisaged in the electoral programme, Mastella replied "I didn't read about it".

G8. DI PIETRO: THE LEFT WANTED HALF JUSTICE TO BE MADE

(AGI) - Rome, Oct.30 - "We asked for a panel that investigates thoroughly and painstakingly on the damages caused by those who sparked the riots, and also on police abuses. We are ready to vote for such a panel straight away. But if a panel investigates only on one aspect, that would be half justice", Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro said, on the sidelines of a meeting with road accident victims' relatives, explaining his party's (IdV) position as regards the institution of an investigation panel for the troubles that occurred at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. Indeed, his party turned down the proposal, and was strongly criticised by the far left parties. "I'm sorry - he added - that everything seems to resemble a sort of confrontation, but the far left parties of the coalition only want to investigate on the responsibilities of the police. But the entire world saw that some of the demonstrators were wrecking the city and attacking the police, and that a demonstrator died in the riots, as he was trying to throw a fire extinguisher against a law enforcement officer. After all this trouble, the police broke into the demonstrators' dwelling, raking up everyone, indistinctively. There are responsibilities on both sides".

G8. FERRERO: VOTE AGAINST PANEL IS OUTRAGEOUS

(AGI) - Rome, Oct.30 - "An outrageous decision, someone prefers to have everything shelved instead of shedding light on responsibilities", Social Solidarity Minister Paolo Ferrero said, commenting the Lower House turning down the proposal of setting up an investigation panel for the accidents at the G8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. "Those who voted against the proposal - he insisted - clearly want to keep everything hidden instead of finding out what happened. Only once light is shed and all responsibilities ascertained can we overcome the post-G8 situation".

[www.agi.it]

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G8-TV: The alternative reporting of the G8 protests 2007 are now available on DVD

During the protests, demonstrations and blockades around Heiligendamm and Rostock the video website G8-TV provided up-to-date reporting to a wide counter publicity. All over the world people watched the live-broadcast and theindividual videoclips. The videoclips are now available on a double DVD.

In advance of the protests against the G8 summit the set-up of a video platform was a temporary focus of the German ‘Netzwerk Videoaktivismus’, a network of individuals and video collectives. In succession the website G8-TV (http://g8-tv.org/) was set up and was used by video activists from all over the world which were at the Baltic sea to report about the protests. G8-TV was a platform for themes and ideologies which are normally not covered by the mass media. During the protests from June 2nd. – 8th. 2007 G8-TV had about 40.000 visitors each day. Next to video direct view and a daily life broadcast the clips and broadcasts were offered as download as well. The double-DVD which is released now consists a selection of these clips in DVD quality and a data DVD containing the complete clip collection of G8-TV in a slightly lower quality. The videos are subtitled in up to 7 languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Dutch).

To order the double DVD we suggest a donation of at least 10 Euro (4.50Euro for postage in Europe!). Please send the donation in cash with the information of an address of dispatch to:

Netzwerk Videoaktivismus, Postfach 1925, 49009 Osnabrueck

or transfer to:

recipient: Netzwerk Selbsthilfe e.V., Bank fuer Sozialwirtschaft, BLZ: 10020500, Kto.-Nr.: 3029803, BIC (“Bank Identifier Code”, SWIFT): BFSWDE33BER, keyword: indymedia – videoactivists

Contact: videoactivism@nadir.org
Links:

* http://g8-tv.org/
* http://www.videoactivism.de/

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Campaign against the “11th European Police Congress“, 29th-30th of January 2008 in Berlin

Against a “Global Security Architecture”, for more security-critical behaviour!

In the recent months more information about the investigation methods of security forces has been revealed: data storage, online searches, so-called “textual analysis of political pamphlets“ (used in the paragrpah 129a investigations against anti-G8 activists in Germany) and so forth. Police and intelligence services want to attain unrestricted access to personal data and internet user profiles. Internet providers are now forced to save their data traffic long-term in order to relieve the police databases.

The debate around the introduction of biometrical passports has called into attention the fact that the industry has already developed complex surveillance systems: Iris-scanning, RFID chips (e.g. for supermarkets or on ID cards) or automatic facial recognition. In the context of border control “privileged travellers” are supposed to be able to cross borders “automatically”. The new “European Agency for the operative cooperation in the field of management of external borders” (FRONTEX) is in charge of assessing permanently the risks and dangers at the borders of the EU, and to provide more coordination and control. Technological armament is at the centre of the agency’s policies.

Control, normalization and surveillance are certainly not a new phenomenon. The retrenchment of social security in global capitalism goes along with the gentrification of city centres, gated communities with cameras, fences and security or video surveillance at work. Next to the freedom of movement, the free use of internet is increasingly restricted. Against unwanted social movements new repressive measures are introduced.

With the support of police unions, criminal investigation police and police hardliners, politicians of internal affairs want to create the political and social conditions for the introduction of new security technologies. These reforms are supposed to contribute to the creation of a “global security architecture”, based on approaches of the US Department of Homeland Security, whose mission is to foresee dangers, to pre-empt and prevent them.

“Security” has already become a hotly contested market in the IT sector. Dozens of suppliers compete about technical solutions in order to make information available rapidly for involved authorities, to encrypt communication via digital radio, or to develop software for the harmonisation of different databases. This is the same kind of software that is commercially traded, provided for example to universities, administrative authorities or private users,adapted to the operations of police and intelligence services. Thereby, differing technical standards of various countries pose a problem to police cooperation. At the next conference German police unions want to present a call for the introduction of unified software.

The “European Police Congress” is a forum where politicians, police authorities, intelligence services, the military and the security industry meet to discuss the implementation of new measures for prosecution.

The annual congress has the character of a “security trade fair”. During the first years technological innovation ranked high on the agenda. Meanwhile, for the investigative authorities the question has arisen of how to effectively process the immense amount of data they collect. One answer is so-called “data mining”, a process where texts, tapped conversations or video material can be searched for certain keywords or expressions and attributed to certain persons. Several providers are developing software that is supposed to enable the mathematical calculation of the probability of future illegal activities. The company SPSS described this procedure during a presentation at the “European Police Congress” as “evolution in the fight against crime… from reacting… to own initiative… to prediction…”. This way, the first step of the “Homeland Security” ideology is taken: the “prediction of threats”.

Also for the “prevention of threats” the “European Police Congress” fulfils a function: creating a network of international police departments that transcends already existing structures (the European Police department EUROPOL, the Schengen Information system SIS). The army is involved in the re-organisation of security policies. At home and abroad armies are supposed to take on security tasks (“civil- military cooperation”). For the “fight against international terrorism”, for “border controls”, or for the “policing of big events”, like international summits or sport events, new agencies, institutes, working groups and research programmes have emerged. Central topics are discrete intelligence gathering and intervention. Connected to this are commando and control systems, access to intelligence databases, ways of dealing with complaints against the police, IT infrastructure, fences, “crowd management”, as well as media and PR strategies.

Characteristic for these new police networks is that they operate in obscurity. National and supranational police departments delegate so-called “liaison officers” who negotiate crucial security matters in closed-door meetings. The acquired knowledge of how to control “security-critical behaviour” is exchanged during regular conferences, workshops or seminars of police academies. The goal is to develop international standards. The international networking of security agencies transcends restrictive political arrangements and takes place without any democratic control.

The “global security architecture” has a new quality. The focus on “predicted risks” exposes every citizen to a general suspicion. This poses a massive challenge for social movements. Therefore, we propose a campaign against the “11th European Police Congress” in February 2008 in Berlin. The campaign has at first the following, rather general goals:

* to protest against the architects of the “global security architecture” of neoliberalism
* to intervene in the discourse of threat scenarios that are designed to legitimize the new security measures
* to make informal structures of European police cooperation visible
* to create awareness about the new surveillance methods in the IT sector
* to scandalise the influence of the private sector in the “global security architecture”
* to enable more security-critical behaviour

The Police Congress 2008 has the motto “Information technology – investigation – operation”. On Tuesday, the 29th of January, Schäuble, the German Minister of Internal Affairs, will speak at the “Forum of European Ministers of Internal Affairs”. Together with other groups, we will organise a rally and perhaps a demonstration on that day.

We want to reach broad segments of society and we think that the “11th European Police Congress” is a potential extension of already existing campaigns: against data storage, against §129abc, Frontex, Oury Jalloh, antimilitarism, etc.

* Further Info about “European Police Congress”: http://gipfelsoli.org/Home/4223.html
* Official programme: https://gipfelsoli.org/static/Media/Repression/euro-police-program-2008.pdf

six hills

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Are we ready for the NATO Summit?

In the 20’s, left wing people were complaining that the situation could not get any worse. I doubt that the situation would have been singular. As a left winger, you would have found out then that the peasants wanted land, political rights, popular banks, ruling of the law, far from the slightest trace of agrarian socialism.
The workers wanted insurances and universal vote, but didn’t want rights for the working women and were anti-semite. The Jews wanted exclusive fiscal facilities.
In such a climate, any form of pure socialism was bound to fail, and at some point, when it was taken outside the law, the opportunists had to mingle either with the liberals or the conservatories.
At that point, because of these fights and of too many compromises, an anarchist movement was started by a group of intellectuals that taxed voting, election fight and the concessions made. This movement didn’t last for long and references to it were erased from almost every historical account. Another moment that’s worth mentioning is the “communist” regime from before 1989. We can say that we’ve lived in a national-communist, authoritarian, retrograde and nationalist regime, a lot closer to the national bolshevik and the extreme right wing. What did we inherit? A segment of population that assimilates left with the former regime, conservatory people, that love discipline, authority, but have no real clue about social justice and as electorate are very easy to be influenced by the extreme right. And another segment of population that hates the former regime and gives a negative connotation to the left wing.
So, if you were to state that you have some sort of affinity with the left, you risk getting tags like authoritarian, anti-democrat, anti-christian, or to find new nationalist “friends” that praise in a very awkward way the former regime.

As for the superior scene of politics, it can be said that it’s on the same level. We all know that the new politics transform the socialism of the 20th century into the liberalism of the 19th century. The big social democratic parties are in a liberal area, and the small ones that pretend to be communist celebrate nationalist heroes or legionaries and as example they use the NPD – concerning their tactics to collaborate with the syndicates.

The syndicates have become only a voice in the civil society and have lost a long time ago their “status” of pressure groups.
And a great part of the ones that could be left wing people, action and initiative people are almost the same as in the 20’s.
The small communities of Jews that are still living in Romania after the change of regime are in their majority neo-conservatories. A great part of the workmanship still has discriminative and sexist tendencies. Some rroma people hate the sexual minorities, and the organizations that promote the rights of sexual minorities come from a liberal zone and don’t collaborate with other autonomous groups.

If we direct our attention to the low area of the society we can observe the same problems, even some others that are out of the ordinary.
In the last years, there were actually 3 initiatives to form the Romanian Social Forum. Two of them were embezzled by people that had no relation with the Social Forums. The first of them was facilitated by liberal political people; officials, people of culture and people of the church were invited to it. Another group of initiative of FSR arose, but soon transformed into a small and closed group because of so many incidents and because of the fear of another embezzlement by the secret services, taking into consideration that the first initiator of the “Romanian Social Forum” was a woman that had worked in the romanian secret services.
Attac also appeared, but very soon disappeared in the fog.

The anarchist/autonomous scene is extremely small. The anarchism being known through anarcho punk bands, continued to be promoted through music, even though after a few years the scene wasn’t big at all, and was still full of people with stereotypes of any kind, unlimited violence, etc. Although small, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t conflicts between the few groups and people.

This is kind of the portrait of romania in the year 2007. And starting from here, everyone can imagine how a mobilization against nato would look.
We can even imagine how people react to such a topic, surely better then 10-20 years ago when many of the ones over 50 still lived in a semi-myth of awaiting the Americans.

[http://contra-doxa.com]

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Anti – Nato Week Bucharest 2008

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance, established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. With headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the organization established a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

“ The Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence will assist the Party or Parties being attacked,individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. ”

The initial treaty was signed by Belgium, Netherlands,Luxembourg, France, United Kingdom, the United States of America, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland which were followed after 3 years by Greece and Turkey. In 1954 Russia wanted to join NATO but was rejected by the NATO countries. In 1955 West Germany was incorporated into NATO, shortly after the Warsaw Pact was signed. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the de facto main adversary of NATO. At the moment NATO includes the next countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, USA, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. With the re-evaluation of NATO’s purpose in post-Cold War we could see a still ongoing expansion of NATO to Eastern Europe, as well as the extension of its activities to areas that had not formerly been NATO concerns. On 28 February 1994, NATO took its first military action, shooting down four Bosnian Serb aircraft violating a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over central Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the end of 1995 the war in Bosnia resulted in the Dayton Agreement, with the help of air strikes by NATO. On 24 March 1999, NATO saw its first broad-scale military engagement in the Kosovo War, where it waged an 11-week bombing campaign against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A formal declaration of war never took place. The conflict ended on 11 June 1999, when Slobodan Milošević agreed to NATO’s demands. NATO then helped establish the KFOR, a NATO-led force under a United Nations mandate that operated the military mission in Kosovo.
After September 11th NATO confirmed on the 4th of October 2001 that the attacks where an attack against the entire group of members. On 16th of April 2003 NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which was the first time in NATO’s history to take charge of a mission outside of the north Atlantic area. But most people do not realize that there are approximately 49,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, about one-third the number in Iraq. Of those troops, 28,000 are from the United States: 15,000 operate under NATO and 13,000 are part of the Pentagon’s Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The U.S.-NATO dichotomy is misleading, however, because the largest contingent of NATO troops is from the United States (the second-largest contingent from the UK is much smaller, only 7,700 soldiers). In addition, the military head of NATO operations, U.S. General Dan K. McNeill, is also the chief of OEF. In other words, America dominates all foreign troop operations in Afghanistan.
In fact, U.S. and NATO troops are doing the same things in Afghanistan and Iraq: bombing civilian areas, invading villages, rounding up people without evidence, torturing detainees, causing deaths in custody, and shooting into crowds. At the 9th of May 2007 the NATO secretary general met with the North Atlantic Council in Brussels and had discussions on the subject of civilian deaths. But the conversation was less about how to reduce casualties, than about how to explain them to European governments. To most officials, the criminality and injustice of the civilian deaths alone are not enough to condemn them. But when they undermine the support base at home or in the host country, and threaten the crucial “winning hearts and minds” portion of NATO’s counterinsurgency campaign, they become a strategic problem.

The facts are also clear, that there were secret prisons, certainly in Poland and Romania; and that people who suspected by the CIA of involvement in terrorism were interrogated and sometimes tortured in these prisons. NATO was also involved in the system of secret prisons and transports. After the US had, in 2001, issued a call for mutual support under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, NATO became a platform where the United States received the go-ahead and protective measures necessary in order to be able to begin the secret operations in the "war against terrorism". But of course NATO refuses to reveal details of the agreements concerning its involvement in the CIA Operation. But well who can be surprised if remembering that NATO also had a long held covert policy of training paramilitary militia as ‘Gladio’, known as ‘stay-behind’ armies, for a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe, whose role would have been to wage guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.
After September 11th Romania has expressed their willingness to join the USA in the war on terror and offered to help by sending military forces into Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2002 Romania was invited to the summit in Prague and began the accession process. In March 2004 Romania became a NATO member, as a ‘gratitude for it’s loyalty’. Romania now has military troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. There are 4 US military bases in Romania, hosting more than 2.000 American soldiers.

20th NATO SUMMIT BUCHAREST

"We are here to thank the Government of Romania and the Romanian people for the support they have offered to us on several occasions. We are allies in the fight on terror, generally, in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are allies in promoting democracy and we appreciate the support of Romania’s President"
Stephen Hadley, Bush’s National Security Advisor, October 23, 2005

On 21st of September the Romanian Vice Foreign Minister Victor Micula and North-Atlantic Council Secretary Berndt Götze signed the memorandum for hosting the NATO summit in Bucharest in April next year. This 20th NATO summit will be the largest one in the history of NATO, as all the 23 member states of the NATO Partnership for Peace will attend, besides 26 member states of the alliance. Approximately 3.000 high-ranking officials are expected to participate in the summit, whose security will be guarded by some 9.000 Romanian troops, officers of the Special Guard and Protections Service, police officers and gendarmes. The expenses of the event are estimated at 30-35 million euro.
Where to find a better place to hide than in the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, the summits venue?

The building known as Casa Poporului (the house of the people) was build during Ceausescu’s regime. It is 84 meters tall with 12 floors, being one of the top 5 tallest buildings in Romania. It’s area surface (64.800 square meters) makes it second largest after the Pentagon Building; it's underground floors, measuring down to 92 meters below the ground (more that over the ground); it's volume (2,55 billion cubic meters), third largest in the world (after Cape Canaveral and the Quetzalcoatl pyramid in Mexic).
But even if you are not able to catch a guarded or even better ‘unguarded’ tour through Casa Poporului, or you are not even able to get any closer to the area, cause of suddenly appearing stable or moving fences during your visit in April 2008, don’t worry there is much more to explore (still watch out for the local teams, who might be willing to take you on a tour).
Since you are in the capital, with an estimated 1.862.930 (2006) residents, many other institution, worth a visit, are located here. So for example Casa NATO, which promotes Romania as a reliable member of NATO as well as free market institutions and enterprises. Casa NATO is located in Bucharest’s Primaverii Palace, headquarters to Romania’s Euro-Atlantic Center and activities since 1992.
Since Religion is very dominant in everyday life in Romania, especially orthodox (86,8 %), you can find a church on every corner, which deserves a ‘disturbing’ visit.
Might it be for their priests and monks spying for the Securitate, their power and money seeking domination, their gender roles…, you will surely find a reason. If you want to continue your travel a bit further east, you might want to stop by the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase near Constanta. Not only known for the US troops heading towards Afghanistan and Iraq, but also as a CIA detention center for Iraqis and Afghans.
Surely you will find a worthwhile target, to make the ANTI-NATO-WEEK in Bucharest as disruptive, creative and long-lasting as possible.

FORCES OF REPRESSION

As activists in Romania have never experienced protest against an event of this scale in the country, it is hard to draw from former experiences in regard of state repression.
So here will follows an introduction to the different forces you might be confronted with during your visit.
The main forces of repression in Romania are the National Police (Politia Română), the Romanian Gendarmerie (Jandarmeria Română ) and the Border Police. The Romanian police is devided into two forces, the Politia Română (the civil branch) and the Jandarmeria Română (the military branch).
Romania also has a paramilitary structure, beside a police force and a military force. The Jandarmeria is the structure that should really keep the order, as the Police is meant only to investigate crime, while the military is meant only to defend the country from outside threats.

Politia Română

The Romanian Police is divided into 41 territorial inspectorates, corresponding to each county (judet), and the General Directorate of the Police in Bucharest. Each county inspectorate has a rapid reaction unit (Detaşamentul de Politie pentru Interventie Rapidă, Police Rapid Intervention Squad). The similar unit attached to the Bucharest Police is called Serviciul de Politie pentru Interventie Rapidă (Police Rapid Intervention Service).
Before 2002, the National Police had military status and a military ranking system. In June 2002 it became a civil police force and its personnel was structured into two corps:
. Corpul ofiterilor de politie (Police Officers Corps) -corresponding to the commissioned ranks of a military force.
. Corpul agentilor de politie (Police Agents Corps) -corresponding to the non-commissioned ranks of a military force.
Politia Comunitară is the name for the local police in Romania - on city or commune level. They are subordinated to the mayors and their main duties are to enforce the local ordinances and to assist the National Police and the Gendarmerie.
Also worth mentioning:
DIAS Detasamentul de Interventii si Actiuni Speciale
[Police rapid intervention (local)] The Special Intervention and Action Detachments are the special units of municipal police in Romania. DIAS are called whenever a Police operation may encounter severe problems.
SPIR Serviciul Special al Politiei pentru Interventie Rapida [Police rapid intervention (Bucharest)] The Special Rapid Intervention Service is the name of the much-expanded structure in Bucharest.
SIIAS Serviciul Independent de Interventii si Actiuni Speciale
[Police Special Forces]
The Independent Special
Interventions and Actions Service is an elite unit under the command of the Romanian Police.
Politia de Frontieră
Between 2001 and 2005, the Romanian Border Police has undergone four stages of reform of its internal structure, in order to bring it into compliance with similar structures of the European Union.
SASI Serviciul Actiuni Speciale si Interventie
[ rapid intervention force ] SASI was created on October 1st, 2005 and represents the rapid intervention unit of the Border Police.
Jandarmeria Română
The Romanian Gendarmerie
(Jandarmeria Română) is the state’s specialized institution, with military status. The Romanian Gendarmerie is divided in 41 territorial inspectorates, corresponding to each county (judet), and the General Directorate of the Gendarmerie in Bucharest. Additionally, eight Gendarmerie Mobile Groups (Grupări Mobile) operate on a territorial basis, with headquarters in Bacău, Braşov, Cluj Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Ploieşti, Târgu Mureş and Timişoara. The Romanian Gendarmerie was re-established on July 5, 1990. Starting in 2006, the corps abandoned conscription and in 2007 it became an all-professional military force.
The Romanian Gendarmerie is for example tasked to:
• ensure public order during meetings, marches, demonstrations, processions, strikes, and also other similar activities carried out in public areas and involving large crowds;
• re-establish public order when it has been disturbed by any kind of illegal actions;
• maintain public order during official visits or during other activities in which Romanian or foreign high officials take part, on Romanian territory, in the competence area and in the places where the activities are carried out
The Romanian Gendarmerie has two brigades, the 11th Mobile Brigade ‘Baneasa’ and the Special Brigade ‘Vlad Tepes’, as well as the Batalionul 1 Interventii Speciale(anti-terrorist force) and the Batalionul 2 Misiuni Speciale (special missions).
The Brigade is divided in two units:
Brigada Specială de Interventie a Jandarmeriei (Gendarmerie Special Intervention Brigade, BSIJ) is a special operations force belonging to the Romanian Gendarmerie. The unit carries the name "Vlad Tepeş".
• 1st Battalion "Actiuni Specifice şi Antitero" (Specific Actions and Counter-terrorism)
• 2nd Battalion "Misiuni Speciale" (Special Missions)

POLICE ARMS

Well the usual stuff: you can find crowd control paddy wagons, water canons, as well as the use of horses and dogs. Water canons, tear gas and rubber bullets have been used by the Romanian police before, for example at the Gay Parade in Bucharest.

GETTING TO THE ACTIONS

People from following countries are able to enter Romania without a visa for up to 90 days: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Chile, Cyprus, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia (30 days), Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, United Kingdom, Monaco, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Holland, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Holly See, El Salvador, Singapore (30 days), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States of America, Sweden, Hungary, Uruguay, Venezuela. Since January the 1st 2007 people from the Republic of Moldova can travel with a free issued visa. If you come from a country which is not listed above, you need an entry visa (if you are not intending to pass the green border, swim through the Danube river or overrun the border control with a huge crowd of other people protesting against the fortress Europe). The law bans:
• the possession of narcotic substances, even if for personal use
• bearing arms, hunting or sports weaponry must be mentioned in your passport
Bear in mind that the time difference to Central Europe is + 1 hour.
In 2005 the new leu (RON) was introduced, phasing out the old leu (ROL) in 2006. The new Leu (plural: Lei) is 100 Bani (notes in 500, 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 Lei, coins in 50, 10, 5 and 1 Bani). The exchange rate is something around 3.4 lei for 1 €. Romanian is the official language, with parts in the border regions where also Hungarian, German, Bulgarian and so on, is widely spoken. Anyway, in good old ‘tradition’ some useful words and phrases:
please, thanks, sorry = te rog, multumesc, imi pare rau
where is… = Unde este….
fuck off = Du-te naibii
come with me = vino cu mine
move on = continua
the cops are coming = vine politia
cops are attacking = politia ataca
to piss off = dispari
to attack = atac
attacking the cops = ataca politia
I need help = ajutor
good, bad = bine, rau
I am not guilty = nusunt vinovat
I want to call my lawyer = vreau sa sun avocatul

BE AWARE….

also the nationalists, nazis and neo-legionaires are for sure mobilizing actions against the NATO summit in Bucharest. The main nationalist actor is ‘Noua Dreapta’ (New Right). You can check them out at http://www.nouadreapta.org/ also easy to identify by their T-Shirts with the face of Corneliu Codreanu.

The ‘usual’ nazis-scum are dressed like neonazi-skinhead, mainly with boots, shaved heads and even using openly signs like swastikas, celtic crosses or hate-bands. Also the football clubs are full with nazis, the most known are Steaua and Dinamo, both from Bucharest. Be aware of that and get informed at the actions in Bucharest, where the nazis might make a march or usually gather.

ACCOMODATION and ACTIVITIES

There will be a range of events in Bucharest and others place. Those coming from the north, can for example stop by at the ANTI-NATO info-point in Iasi (at the Ukrainian nd Moldavian border) before continuing their way to Bucharest. The city also held for a week in July the first squat ‘Rebil’ in Romania (an English report can be found at ttp://de.indymedia.org/2007/07/188166.shtml). If you are coming from the south you might be interested in joining the preparation for the ANTI-NATO bike tour and the critical mass, to be contacted over This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it In Bucharest are plenty of opportunities to join into the ANTI-NATO week: a legal march, direct actions, probably the NoBorder from Timisoara seeking exile in Bucharest and many more.
Still you should keep in mind, especially if coming from the west, that the ‘scene’ is not as big and equipped as you might be used to. So try to be as self-organized as possible: bring a sleeping bag, try to organize food (dumpster diving is not so common, but you can still find some stuff) or even join the local FNB group (or bring in your local group for joint actions). Organizing legal sleeping spaces on mass still requires money, so every soli-action is welcome. But also you might want to check out one of the plenty abandoned houses in Bucharest, waiting for a better use.

[http://contra-doxa.com]