LOCAL G8 CAMPAIGN NEWS:

GOING TO SCOTLAND NEWS
Updated weekly from Wednesday meetings
Last updated 29/6/05.

CONTACT INFO:
contact this e-mail: g8lancaster@yahoo.co.uk
or tel: 01524 383012 (leave a message)
or mobile 07919 587485

TRANSPORT:
Thurs 30th June. 5 or 6pm - Minibus with 8 places available going to convergence space in Stirling.
Sat 2nd July. 7.15am. - Two minibuses leaving Lancaster for Edinburgh 'Make Poverty History' march going on to the Stirling Convergence space. Places still available
Mon 4th July. 10am. - Minibus leaving Lancaster for Stirling Convergence Space. Places still Available (we need another driver)
The cost for transport to Scotland is £20 (children
half price). This will only just cover the cost of minibuses and
fuel, any extra donations to the Lancaster group would
be greatly appreciated.
There are regular train services to and from Edinburgh (2-3 hrs £33 single/£41.50 return)and connections to Stirling.
Contrary to rumours, there are no engineering works on
major train routes in that area for the duration of the summit.
Once you are in Stirling simply follow the signs to the Forth Bank Stadium, and you will soon see signs to HORI-ZONE. (convergence space)
There will be frequent pick ups in the Convergence space minibuses from the Stirling train and bus station.
Limited shuttles will also run from Edinburgh and Glasgow. There is some car parking next to the site, and only limited on site parking. The best way to get there is by bus or train.
During the summit week there will transport to different events if enough people want subscribe. We are asking for fuel contributions for each event. see calendar of events.
http://www.dissent.org.uk/content/section/12/63/
Please contact this e-mail: g8lancaster@yahoo.co.uk or tel: 01524 383012 (leave a message) or mobile 07919 587485
There are also many coaches going to the Make Poverty History demo on July 2nd in Edinburgh.
Contact Lancaster Faith and Justice tel: 01524 383081
email: ifj@fish.co.uk or see the mph local site.
Remember your midge repellent.

WHAT'S ON
The Scottish Young Greens have put together a full program of protests/events/entertainment for the G8 summit (over 80 events!) and are pretty sure that this is the most comprehensive list of things happening during the G8 summit. If there is anything you would like to add or amend, please tell them. They will continue to update it as time goes by. See www.syg.scottishgreens.org.uk/calendar.htm

CONVERGENCE SITES:
There will be two main convergence sites. One in Edinburgh which has 20,000 capacity and has been organised by the Green Party, the other in a field further out, called HoriZone. Obviously people can go to either, but the general idea is that the Lancaster group will be staying at the rural convergence space. (More about Hori-zone below)

THE LANCASTER BARRIO
We have been asked to host a 'barrio' (neigbourhood) at the convergence space (which is to be somewhere near stirling). Each barrio on site could be home to up to 200 people, so other folk may join us once we are up there. As a group, we’d be responsible for organizing a social space, the tea yurt, info point, communication with others and facilitating meetings. We have agreed to act as hosts, and help organise all within our barrio (e.g. getting food from central kitchens, doing rotas for gate duty, bog cleaning etc)
10 people from Carlisle and 20 Danes have asked to hook up with us in Scotland. We’re going to contact them to see if they want to help with this too. A few people are going to go up early (poss Wednesday 29) to help set the barrio up. We need a flag too, so put your creative heads on and bring some ideas on Saturday!

THE WISHLIST
We intend to set up a Lancaster (and Manchester/NW?) area', a village within HoriZone. To do that we need loads of stuff to go up there. Look at http://www.dissent.org.uk/content/view/195/125/
for an idea of what is being asked for to make the whole thing happen.
To be able to be more self-sufficient and autonomous, we hope to be able to provide certain facilities ourselves, to take pressure off the people organising more centrally. We are therefore asking people to email the 'inform' mailing list with details of what they might have to offer, to be able to bring. Don't worry if it is bulky, we will have some fairly large transport going up in advance of July 2nd.
We now have two 'tat' co-ordinators, who will be compiling lists of what we have, what we as a group need, and what we can offer to the network as a whole. Please carry on e-mailing the list if you can offer anything. We've had an offer of a Yurt, Woodburner, comfy seats, calor gas cooking stuff and generators.
We can store stuff in the Basement until we go up. A vehicle is visiting Lancaster on the 23rd-24th to pick things up that are needed to get the infrastructure of the site sorted. They are desperately after plastic sheeting, old tarps and wood. The stuff is going to be sorted next Wednesday afternoon at the basement, so if you have anything that could be useful, can you take it along before then (email list first to arrange for keyholder). If transport’s a problem, post to the list. If anyone knows where we can borrow a marquee (to be used for training), again please post to the list. Also, if anyone knows of any diesel generators that’d run on bio diesel, let us know.

INDYMEDIA
We've had a request from Indymedia - they want to use one of our minibuses as a mobile media centre for the week we are up there. There was some discussion about this at the meeting, and we didn't want to take a decision without consulting the whole group. Do people think it would be OK for us a group to have just the one bus to ferry people around, and rely more on any pooled transport once up there? Or should we keep hold of both buses, which may give us as a group more flexibility, but deprive Indymedia? Would we be able to offer our bus to Indymedia some of the time? What do the drivers think? Presumably we'll need to let Indymedia know fairly soon, so can folks please e-mail the list with opinions, or else come to next week's meeting.

FUNDRAISING:
Confirmation of the two benefit gigs - Yorkshire House on the 18th with bands, licence until 11pm. Phoenix on the 25th, licence until 12. See events list below. Volunteers are needed to take contributions at the door of both events, and help set up PA and stuff at the Phoenix. We can put any funds raised into LaRC's bank account.

PUBLICITY
Publicity - a 'mystery benefactor' who didn't want to be minuted, has funds going for the production of publicity materials, banners, colour photocopies and the like. These funds have to be spent over the next few weeks, so any ideas, fetch them to the next meeting.

SATURDAY STALL IN MARKET SQUARE
We are going to have a stall on Market Square on Saturday, meet outside basement at midday. There are three of us so far, if you can come along and help, please do. There's also going to be one at the University next week. When the date is confirmed, can whoever is organising it e-mail the list if they want help.

THE G8 BIKERIDE
The cycle caravan arrives in Lancaster on Saturday 25 June and leaves on 27 June. There will hopefully be some entertainment on the Saturday evening, which will also be a fundraiser. People have offered to cook.
The cyclists want to use the opportunity to help with local campaignsl. A critical mass will happen on the Monday morning to raise the issues of the G8 and the university prosecutions (George Fox Six) and the Northern By-pass.
more info on this to follow. if you want to get involved, email
brianmaiden@riseup.net
G8 CYCLE CARAVAN FOOD APPEAL
17/6/05: The local campaign group tell us that a number of people have offered to cook, but they need lots of food to feed an expected 70-100 cyclists over the weekend.
if you have an allotment (or know someone who does) they would be very grateful if you could donate a few spare veggies - anything will come in handy.
If you can donate something, please call 01524 389372. More about the G8 Bikeride at:
http://www.g8cyclecaravan.org
More about the local campaign group at:
http://www.virtual-lancaster.net/g8

PEOPLE & PLANET
Some members of the People and Planet group are interested in coming up for the week, hopefully about 7 people.

MEDICS
Action medics are providing medical support at all, events during the anti G8 protests in scotland. Various people are providing around the clock catering for them.
We are trying to blag food and catering equipment at the moment. Is there anywhere that would donate us food?
Also we need some more catering equipment, especially reasonably sized gas burners and a gas urn plus regulators, tubing etc.
Feel free to come along and provide support for the medics be it cooking, driving, childcare or anything else.
The action emdics are organising some weekend trainings
for those wanting to go and help as action medics. Attempts are in train to make some available at the Lancaster Training Day on 18 June (see events lists below).
See website www.actionmedics.org.uk.

HORI-ZONE
A zone of self-organisation, horizontal decision-making, ecology and autonomy in action.
HoriZone will operate around a "neighborhood" system. Neighborhoods will host camping, eating and meeting together and will be the focal point of decision making on the site.
The neighborhoods will be information and discussion
areas to aid communication across the site and beyond. The aim is for each neighborhood to be as autonomous as possible, with its own kitchen or food serving facilities, alt-tech power source and meeting space.
A neighborhood could also include anything else you would like to bring, like a library, cinema, crèche or spaceship.
Call out for art in resistance to the G8.
Help make Hori-Zone look as vibrant as our resistance.
We are calling for art collectives, groups and individuals to bring imagination, creativity and materials to help make our camp an inspiring and beautiful place for us all to be.
From gardens to murals, from sculpture to theatre, from pennants to graff, bring anything that you feel would add to the positive celebration this site will be.
A message from the site crew:
We are in need of people that will help with SET UP and TAKE DOWN of the HoriZone campsite. We are looking for 50+ people for each case.
SET UP: 25th June – 1st July
We are calling for all those who are able to come to the Stirling area to help with setting up the infrastructure for the site. We would be asking you to join existing site collectives, which are focused on specific areas of work.
If you think you might be able to help please get in touch on
site_set_up_crew@yahoo.co.uk
Let us know when you will be arriving and any skills you have, if you have no particular skills we still need you. If you're already coming to set up a space etc but can still be around to help with other stuff please contact this email. If you can bring any tools etc that might be useful let us know.
TAKE DOWN: 9th – 15th July
If you can’t make it up early but can stay around after the summit we also need people to take down all the structures and infrastructure and ensuring the site is spotless.
If you think you may be able to help with this please email
take_down_crew@yahoo.co.uk
Again, let us know when you will be arriving and how long you can stay and any skills you have. Also let us know if you can drive or have access to a vehicle, as we will need to be shipping loads of tat away.

DONATE AGAINST THE G8
5/5/05: This July, the G8 is coming to Gleneagles, Scotland.
The Dissent! Network is mobilising to ensure that the
Summit does not pass by uncontested. Preparations
are well underway and they have found a Convergence
Centre. However, they urgently need funds to pay for the
massive ammount of resources needed to accommodate the
10's of thousands of protesters expected. They estimate
that they need to raise a further £30,000!!
Please make a generous donation to the Dissent! Network through the webpage
http://www.dissent.org.uk/donate.html, or by direct
deposit into their bank account:
Account Name: Dissent
Bank Name: The Cooperative Bank
Sort Code: 08-92-99
Account Number 6515 5518
For international bank transfers you will also need
the following codes:
IBAN: GB85 CPBK 0892 9965 1555 18
SWIFT: CPBKGB22
Cheques can also be made out to "The Dissent Network"
and mailed to: "Dissent Funding, Box 8, 245 Gladstone
Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham, NG7 6HX".

G8 - LANCASTRIANS ORGANISE AGAINST AID & TRADE' INJUSTICE

Gleneagles Hotel, Petershire

16/3/05: Over 100 people came to a meeting at Lancaster Town Hall on Monday evening to find out more about this July's meeting of the G8 at Geleneagles in Scotland and to learn how this coalition of the world's richest countries (USA, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the UK) is responsible for increasing the divide between the world's richest and the world's poorest nations.

The locally based group Cre8 was formed in response to the aniticipated G8 Summit. Similar groups are forming nationwide to protest about way the IMF and World bank, (controlled by the G8) force countries to accept trade deregulation that will disadvantage them against G8 competitors while G8 countries indulge in restrictive and subsidised protectionism for their internal markets and producers. In combination with the faith-based 'Make Poverty History' movement it looks as if hundreds of people from this area alone will be participating in this civil movement to call the G8 to account.

While the G8 has promised to (and taken kudos for) write off £100 billion in 3rd world debt (in many cases lent to support previous puppet governments who in some cases trousered the cash into personal accounts) in practice less than half of this amount has actually been cut. Promises by Gordon Brown to increase aid to Africa are in fact a short term package with many strings attached that will be followed by aid reductions. It takes no account of the climate change - precipitated by the greenhouse gases of the rich countries, this will have the severest impact on the poorest.

LINKS

G8 Campaign events calendar - what's happening home and away

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY See the
Lancaster campaign site at
www.virtual-lancaster.net/mph
and the national campaign site at www.makepovertyhistory.org.

CRE8: Read the presentation from the Town Hall meeting - it's full of facts and information about the G8 , why the campaign is necesssary and local and national initiatives, ideas and events. Plus how you can join in. GO
Contact: cre8@lancasteraction.co.uk
Subscribe to the mailing lists:
http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/lunevalley-g8-inform (for announcements about Lancaster anti-g8 activities)
http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/lunevalley-g8-discuss (for an open discussion list)

Dissent

G8 Alternatives

Make Borders History

Indymedia

Lancaster Action

Jubilee Debt Campaign

The G8 Bikeride

World Development Movement

G8 Blockades

G8 Climate Action

G8 Feminist Action

G8 Cycle Caravan

G8 Queer Action