Not An Alternative

The G8 From Germany To Japan: A Different Repetition? March 10th + 11th

Please join us for two evenings dedicated to the G8 mobilizations in Germany (2007) and Japan (2008) by artists and organizers involved in the events.

The Change You Want To See Gallery
http://www.thechangeyouwanttosee.org
84 Havemeyer St, at Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Monday, March 10th, 7:30pm
Act 1: Multimedia report-back and analysis from the June 2007 G8 mobilization in Heiligendamm by members of Not An Alternative and Hate The G8 Action Faction.

Act 2: Info-tour and screenings with representatives from No! G8 Action, a Japan-based network of anti-authoritarians and anarchists mobilizing towards the 2008 G8.

Tuesday, March 11th, 7:30pm
Act 3: Discussion and planning session with No! G8 Action, focused on the upcoming mobilization to be held in July at Lake Toya in Hokkaido, Japan.

The Presenters
From the US:
Not An Alternative: http://www.notanalternative.net
Hate The G8 Action Faction: http://hatetheg8.blogspot.com

From Japan:
No! G8 Action: http://a.sanpal.co.jp/no-g8

Go Hirasawa is an activist and film critic, teaching at Meiji-gakuin University in Tokyo. A member of No! G8 Action and a coordinator of the Independent Media Collective, he has published a number of books on radical politics and the avant-garde cinema in Japan, and has been active in the anti-fascist movement in Japan.

Sabu Kohso is an activist, writer, and translator. Living in New York since 1980, he is a member of No! G8 Action, has published two books in Japanese about New York’s radical culture and movements, and translated books by theorists such as David Graeber (from English to Japanese) and Kojin Karatani (from Japanese to English). Also, a member of IWW’s New York chapter.

The G8: A Different Repetition?
In many ways, last year’s G8 summit on Germany’s Baltic coast was as we had expected it would be: a repetition of previous counter-summit mobilizations from Seattle onwards (Prague, Gothenburg, Genoa, Evian, Cancun, Gleneagles…).

However, what appears like mere repetition is not necessarily a repetition at all; at least not in the sense that it is simply the same thing taking place over and over again. Rather than a return to a particular point in a cycle (bringing Seattle to Germany, for example), Heiligendamm may have represented a break in what has become a familiar trajectory. Is it possible that what came back with 2007 G8 was the reemergence of something unknown?

How are we to understand the mass mobilizations that occur every year around the G8? Are they part of an unforeseeable process of becoming – one that has the potential to go beyond the achievements and limits of the past? If so, how can they function less as a repetition that seeks to mimic and more as a new experiment in the production of politics - overcoming rather than reaffirming existing identities?

About No! G8 Action Info-Tour
In July 2008, heads of the states that monopolize two thirds of the earth’s wealth will gather at Lake Toya in Hokkaido Japan. The G8 is the embodiment of the global governance that has consistently driven neo-liberal reformation at the same time as spreading poverty, violence, hatred, segregation, and environmental destruction across the globe. We can no longer let it continue.

The Japan based network of anti-authoritarians and anarchists, No! G8 Action, was formed in May 2007, right before the G8 2007 in Rostock, where it learned from the European anti-G8 protest. Now it has begun to prepare its own projects, hoping to bring Japanese and East Asian impetus onto the stage of the global anti-capitalist struggle.

The info-tour is part of this effort. In collaboration with the German Dissent info-tour group, Japanese members have visited countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Australia. Two members have toured three cities in North America: New York, Montreal, and Toronto. Within this coming few months the group will travel to major European cities and those in the Canadian/American Pacific Northwest.

The info-tour presentation deals a lot with the particular issues vis-à-vis Japan and East Asia, such as militarization, neo-liberal reforms, free trade, society of control, environment, and minorities such as resident Koreans, Chinese, foreign workers, and the Ainu People, but the common ground of struggling people world over are going to be discussed in the form of problematic interrelation. It lasts about one and a half hours, with time at the end for questions and answers. It employs a power point presentation and screening of related footage.

It consists of the following subjects:

(1) General problems about the G8:
Analyses of what the G8 is, including the reason why it increasingly uses environmental slogans. We also show a few pieces of footage from past G8 protests.

(2) Japan’s status in the global governance:
It sheds light on the history of Japanese imperialism and its persistent ambition to control Asia by spreading neo-liberal policies and trade agreements. Today’s highly commodified and controlled social space shall be scrutinized as well. We show a few segments showing the situations of contemporary Japanese lives.

(3) About No! G8 Action and its coalition building:
This section is about the goal of No! G8 Action and its effort of coalition-building: G8 Action Network, which connects various types of radical groups and coordinates with certain NGOs for certain projects. It includes screening of contemporary Japanese street actions.

(4) About cultural and intellectual projects:
We talk about the events aside from the protests: political and intellectual conferences as well as cultural events such as film festival and music concerts.

(5) Action Plans:
This section focuses on the actions: their themes and the schedule.

(6) Facilities for foreign visitors:
We talk about various facilities to be used by foreign visitors and gatherings of everybody who participates, in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, and Lake Toya.

(7) Japanese police behavior and Immigration situations:
We try to explain what we expect and what might happen on these subjects.

(8) Call for action:
Statement from No! G8 Action to invite you to Lake Toya and international solidarity action.

(9) Q&A and public discussion

European tour schedule:
2/29 Copenhagen (Denmark)
3/02 Rostock (Germany)
3/03 Kiel (Germany)
3/04 Hamburg (Germany)
3/05 Berlin (Germany)
3/06 Poznan (Poland)
3/07 Berlin (Germany)
3/08 IWD!!!
3/09 Hannover (Germany) / Dresden (Germany)
3/10 Bremen (Germany) / Brno (Czech)
3/11 Bochum (Germany) / Vienna (Austria)
3/12 /
3/13 Nijmegen (Netherlands) / (Greece)
3/14 Amsterdam (Netherlands) / (Greece)
3/15 Antwerp (Belgium) /
3/16 Liege (Belgium) / (Greece)
3/17 /
3/18 Koln (Germany) / Bologna (Italy)
3/19 Freiburg (Germany) /Vicenza (Italy)
3/20 Lausanne (Switzerland) /
3/21 Bern? Basel? / Milano (Italy)
3/22 Dijon (France) / (Genua (Italy)
3/23 Lyon (France) /
3/24 Barcelona (Spain)
3/26 Madrid (Spain)
3/27 /
3/28 Malmo (Sweden)
3/29 Gothenburg (Sweden)
3/31 Stockholm (Sweden)
4/01 Oslo (Norway)

US tour schedule:
3/06~10 Washington DC (National Conference of Organized Resistance)
3/10~13 New York
3/14~16 New York (Left Forum)
3/17~19 Portland
3/20~24 San Francisco (including Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair)

Related web-links:
NO! G8 Action: http://a.sanpal.co.jp/no-g8
G8 Action Network: http://www.jca.apc.org/alt-g8
Japan G8 Media Network: http://g8medianetwork.org/en
Hokkaido G8 Summit Citizen Forum: http://kitay-hokkaido.net
Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum: http://www.g8ngoforum.org/english
Indymedia Japan: http://japan.indymedia.org
To join the Asian Anarchist Network: https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/a_a_n
To join the anti-G8 International email list: https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/g8-int
Basic info about Anti-G8 2008 Action: http://gipfelsoli.org/Home/Hokkaido_2008
Basic info about G8: http://www.g7.utoronto.ca