A call-out for anti-repression workshops at the PGA conference in Greece

hi here is a call out for antirepresion workshops at the PGA conference
.. Please is anybody in kommotini can translate it into greek would be
great i think is a topic related to issues that Greek activists involve
for years now

A call-out for anti-repression workshops at the PGA and international
reports of attacks to political spaces, erosion of political freedoms,
and repression over the past decades

We suppose there is no need to explain why and how important
anti-repression activities and mutual support are, especially now. In
the last two decades the situation in the world has changed
drastically. Neoliberal reforms, privatization, precarisation,
gentrification. New labour, housing and other codes. To shut up the
discontents and dissidents new anti-terrorist and anti-extremist laws
were enacted. At the same time systems of control and surveillance
were developed.

For the 5th European PGA conference, we propose a series of workshops
on anti-repression to elaborate strategies to fight mounting state
terror and to strengthen our solidarity. To gain practical benefits
from these workshops we would like to prepare a good basis, then we can
concentrate directly on more practical issues. We ask people to write
an overview of the attacks to political spaces, erosion of political
freedoms, and repression, that have happened in their countries over
the past decades and send them in before the PGA conference or to
bring them
with you. Please, send your overviews, ideas, analyses to
antirep@riseup.net. To give you a starting point we prepared a list of
questions. You can base your overview on this list, you can give
answers to the questions, or you can just ignore it :) Whichever you
prefer.

Even if you do not plan to go to the 5th European PGA conference and
you have something to say, please feel free to contribute to the
project. It might also be a good idea to inform us that you are going
to write something on your country since there might be other people
writing
something as well, with whom you can coordinate and cooperate. For
coordination and preparation of the workshops you can also subscribe
to the mailing list legalguides@squat.net. We also have an idea of
publishing the collected information (maybe as wiki-page, maybe
somehow else).

Some of us have experience from anti-repression workshops at the
Leiden PGA conference 2002 and the Belgrade PGA conference 2004, some
from the Dijon PGA conference 2006, where the International Legal
Guide project http://legal.squat.net/ was started, where we made the
first
attempt to develop some kind of international overview of the attacks
and erosion of our political space over the past decade.

We would like to make such workshops more effective. Thus, we would
like to avoid repeatable and endless presentations from different
countries and cities, instead we would like to print such
presentations as a readout so that people could familiarize themselves
with the information prior to the workshop. We would also try to
summarize different experiences and make a short overall presentation
in the beginning – however the main focus would be in evaluation of
the already existing projects and discussion about new ones. This does
not mean that people not involved in such a work are not welcome –
quite the contrary, however we do not have the luxury of spending a
rare occasion of international workshops for talking about issues
which everyone may read about from internet anytime.

We are therefore looking for analyses of legal changes and strategies
of repression of grassroots activism in your city or country over the
past five or ten years. Generally speaking, we would like to know how
has repression and social control increased in your country over the
past five to ten years? In which ways does your government try to
suppress the discontents (e.g. harsher accusations, easier
convictions, higher sentences, more state violence at demonstrations
and public spaces to intimidate, high claims for damage, use of
surveillance)?

List of questions:
What new laws have been introduced? e.g. Anti-terrorist legislation,
Civil Laws (housing, labour etc.), Public Order legislation/freedom of
assembly (such as the Criminal Justice Act in the UK, or the Codigo
Penal in Spain, Identification Duty in the Netherlands), etc.

How could these laws be passed and accepted? How has society reacted?

How have those laws been applied? Has the boundaries of these laws
been extended or functions changed (‘function creep’)? Differences
between theory and practice (legislation and repression practices)

Changes in the judicial system (e.g. Precedent Law in France,
restrictions for appealing in the Netherlands).

Suppression of different political rights and freedoms (in legislation
and in practice): restrictions of freedom of speech and assembly, to
express your opinion and demonstrate (easier to be
arrested and convicted nowadays; denormalization of government critics).

How has the practice of social control changed?
Use of preventive measures ~ ‘possibility of offence is
punishable’ (e.g. preventive arrests, ASBO in the UK, etc.)

How are they using surveillance? (e.g. Patriot Act in US, CCTV,
Phone tapping, ID cards and controls, travel cards, etc.)

Who are the main targets of this repression? (e.g. migrants,
activists, minors, subcultures participants)

Use of anti-terrorist / anti-extremist legislation to repress protest
(e.g. 129a in Germany), and other legislations (e.g. lock up anonymous
activists in deportation prisons in the Netherlands)

Changes in jail/prison/detention centres system (privatization
processes, etc.)

What impact has this had on grassroots political activity and on
society in general?

Descriptions (links at internet and other publications) of the most
outrageous cases of repressions

Strategies of counteracting repressions

Groups, collectives, and so on dealing with repressions in your country/city

Is there anything else you think is important to know about the
situation in your city/country?

Anarchist Infocafe Berlin

The Anarchist Infocafe will deal this time with the idea and history of PGA, there will be also information about this year's PGA Conference in Alexandroupoli/Greece New Yorck / Bethanien Mariannenplatz 2a Berlin / Germany 14.7.2008 8 p.m. with vegan kitchen

the leaflet of the Balkan Decentralized Network has been updated

Hi again!

The Balkan Decentralized Network is growing in the region. The last month two more collectives joined the network. That was the reason to update the Balkan leaflet one more time. The new update you can find it on the website of AnarchoResisnace collective by following the links below

file for reading: http://aresistance.net/data/bdn_the_leaflet_2_1_read.pdf

file for printing http://aresistance.net/data/bdn_the_leaflet_2_1_print.pdf

PGA GATHERING 08

5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

PGA - People's Global Action - started in 1998, it has been a tool and a diffuse structure coordinating groups and people sharing common struggles and practices, in accordance with various anticapitalist and anti-authoritarian principles (see the hallmarks). PGA initiated the Intercontinental caravan in 1999, as well as international action days of actions against the G8, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF... In Seattle, Genoa, Prague, and in a number of less popular events, PGA was a driving force behind numerous actions and reflections. At the convergence of
international initiatives and local struggles, groups close to the PGA are now looking for new drives to challenge stagnation.

In Europe, groups who identify with the PGA principles meet about once every two years, through the initiative of a "convenor" collective. Since 1998, these conferences have been the opportunity for several days of exchanging practices and knowledge, and of establishing bonds, which allow us to be better organized in common actions.

The 5th gathering of Peoples Global Action in Europe this time will take place in Greece.

A responsibility of organizing and coordinating the discussion that opened in the last meetings of PGA europe has taken by a decentralized network of activists and collectives in Balkans. Thats exactly and the essential advantage of this initiative. The convenor is not a local collective like other conferences in the past but a vital balkan decentralized network.
On the preparation all of these months several questions , problems as well as ideas for taking action are allready mentioned by all of us who involve with a conference here!!! Again in the Balkan region!

We would like to open a long discussion about local activism in combination with a global perspective. In other words we want to discuss about the future of the PGA network and its process as well as the various projects , topics and ideas for action.

As a reference example : the following topics that we are allready working or we want to invite people to open meeting spaces during the PGA conference.

Autonomous spaces and squating , patriarchy , gender , radical feminism , anti repression , anti militarism , biotechnology , environmental struggles , indigenous spaces , antiglobalization , G8 , DIY activities and sharing skills , fanzines , infoshops , PGA infopoints , land and autonomy , eco communities , digital struggles and autonomous servers , indymedia tools , precarity and flexibility , radical theory , productive networking , local alternatives , activism , other , be continued

if you wanna take part on the meeting we need the following information from you !! please send us as soon as possible at con2008@no-log.org .. have it in mind that our dynamic is not the best one and we need a lot of international support and definitely to know how many people are planning to join the meeting .. you need also sleeping bags and probably a tent ..

info that we need from you

name of your collective (if you belong in a collective)

number of people

workshop or topic who you want to organise (name of your workshop , what do you need for it , for ex do you need a projector?)

if you wanna participate In the kitchen (we definitely need it as well)

THE LOCATION OF THE GATHERING

after long discussions we felt that the best place in Thrace for the PGA gathering to take place is the Pedagogical Department of the Alexandroupoli University in the suburb of Hili.

The reasons are the following:

1. Alexandroupolis is near the border and accessible by road and railroad and has a harbor and an airport that connects to athens, so it's the easiest to reach for most people.

2. The University buildings there are relatively new , have easily accessible bathrooms, and are relatively cool (at least for Greek standards).

3. The suburb of Hili is 5-10 minutes by bus to the center of Alexandroupoli ,but far enough to ensure privacy.

4. Alexandroupoli is the destination of at least two pipelines (one for oil, one for gas) and therefore we felt important to have the PGA right at ground zero of one of the major issues we want to discuss. It is also near Venna refugee concentration camp which opens the possibility of No Border actions.

YOU MUST TAKE CARE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING

Of course not everything is peachy: The university dean is a right wing asshole with a grudge against anything remotely libertarian or anarchist. As long as we don't commit a felony in campus grounds he can't kick us out legally but he might show up with bouncers to try to provoke a fight and generaly mess things up. Please keep your heads cool, as much as i'd like it, any violent response to the asshole is gonna give him the excuse to involve police and mess the whole thing. And since we mantioned police, police in alexandroupoli are a bunch of fucking bullies and might stop and harass people they don't like the look of, so please keep your ID's or Passports with you when leaving campus and please, please ,please DONT CARRY ANY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. Because of the harbor and the alternative/hippy/raver tourist wave to Samothraki the police are always on the prowl for anything they can get their hands on, drug sniffing dogs Are plenty etc etc.

This is the situation folks , please ask anything because WE don't know what else to mention. Oh, there are no showers but we can easily rig a couple of outdoors showers so no problem.

PGA Hallmarks

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

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 organisations, 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 organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy. PGA is a tool for coordination, not an organization. PGA has no members and does not have and will not have a juridical personnality. Nor organisation or person represents PGA

in solidarity

international working group of the 5th PGA conference

Leaflet of the Balkans Decentralized Network 2.0

The second version of the Balkans Decentralized Network leaflet is available for reading here http://aresistance.net/data/bdn_the_leaflet_2_read.pdf and for printing here http://aresistance.net/data/bdn_the_leaflet_2_print.pdf

if you make some copies please let us know at balkan-infoshop@lists.riseup.net

1st Main meeting of Balkan Decentralized Network 21st to 23rd of August during the 5th PGA conference in Greece

This network is a result of a long process and discussion about digital tools and physical meetings which we, grassroots, autonomous, anti-authoritarian collectives from Balkans and beyond need in order to make our struggles more visible and powerful.
We are activists from Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia who are involved in local struggles but always with a global aspect.
The idea of this network came out from the last PGA inspired infotour, September 2007, when two activists traveled together in seven countries in Balkans and eastern-Europe.
We desire more collectives and people to join this project and make it a useful coordination tool - also with the critics of it - for future common actions, information exchange, call-outs for several issues.

The political goals of this initiative are based on the 5 hallmarks of Peoples Global Action network and it is a clearly inspired project by this network.

We don't accept any kind of formal hierarchy and we struggle against the informal one. We support the clear dignity of human beings as well as the animal liberation.

We call every grassroots movement, anti-authoritarian collective, autonomous space who feel related to this process to join this network as well as to join the further discussion for common activities in balkans and the support and solidarity of the anti-capitalist struggle everywhere!

We call everyone to get involved with a decentralized autonomous network without any representatives or relations with institutional organizations!

--------------- CALL FOR A Balkans Decentralized Network Meeting -------



This is a call to every anarchist, antiauthoritarian, autonomous collective, to every grassroot movement from Balkans and eastern Europe in order to participate in the meetings for further development of the communication of the Balkans Decentralized Network (BDN), creating working groups, digital tools, infopoints, discuss about issues like antifasism, antimilitarism, infoshops and socials centers, no border camps and also join the https://balkans.puscii.nl.

The Balkans Decentralized Network is a vital regional network politically based on the 5 principles of Peoples’ Global Action and definitely is a part of its process in Europe and beyond. We think that the critical mass of Peoples’ Global Action in Europe at the moment is located in Balkans and Eastern Europe. This is happening because of a neccesity for solidarity networks as well as further work and cooparation between different collectives and individuals, which is mentioned by a large dynamic of activists.

Also this is happening because after the collapse of the totalitarian systems in the early begining on 90s new wars and poverty started on the Balkans and eastern Europe, as well as the new colonization from the western countries.

BND and collectives who involve with it have organized 2 infotours and two international meetings in Thessaloniki october 2007 and Maribor March 2008.

As a proposal at the moment we call for 3 days of discussion: 21st, 22nd and 23rd of August during the PGA conference for all of the various topics

21st of August:

small introduction of BND and intro of the collectives and the program for the next fays (open to everybody to add issues) and workshops

22nd of August:

A)part Political situation in Balkans and Eastern Europe a discussion about Militarism and No border movement.

B) discuss a possibility for a no-border antimilitarist camp in Balkans in 2009 as well as a 2nd big meeting of BND as well as the possibility for antimilitarist decentralized Days of action IN balkan area during the NATO conference in Germany next year .

23rd of August:

A) working groups of the BND (newsletter group , digital tools, translations , political narrative

B) evaluation and final decission for the next steps

We are everywhere