G8 Walls
This is way over due, but - like most of this stuff, never too late. Here is a quick and dirty visual guide to the militarization that was practiced at the recent G8 Summit in Germany earlier this year, with some grafted captions.
Martin Krenn took this photo and tells us,“For the Group of Eight summit, Heiligendamm was turned into a high-security fortress. 7.5 miles long and 8 feet tall, a fence was designed to protect the leaders of the world’s eight richest countries. The G8 summit in Heiligendamm costed a round 92 million euros just for security.”
Angela adds: “Heiligendamm takes its name – “holy dam” – from parables which seek to mark the victoriousness of Christianity and, it might be added, do so as the theological rendition of borders, specifically the borders of a Western, Christian Europe. Depending upon which legend one prefers, a shepherd triumphed over the devil in a wager, or the dam miraculously rose up against floods through the prayer of monks. Much more remains to be said here, not least about the theologisation of the political. But, in turning over these confluences and their significance, the most obvious question is of the continuing expression of an ostensibly ‘European’ politics in anti-summit discourses.”
[Image: Workers clean the security fence in the sea near Heiligendamm. The fence was 12 kilometers long and 2.5 meters high, surrounding the whole village and sealing off the beach of the Baltic Sea. (AP Photo/Thomas Haentzschel)]
Here are even some maps of how the area was ringed off with walls, coastal patrols, buffer zones, armored personnel carriers, trucks with water-cannons and police helicopters.
For lots of good coverage, see these resources:
Fence, heavy security at G8 summit in Germany evokes memories of Iron Curtain
The Blockade of Heiligendamm by Boris Kagarlitsky
G8, Heiligendamm 2007 - A flickr stream by djcampfighter
G8 Protest: Summit Blockaded From All Sides - Indymedia UK
G8 Blockade Occupies Road - (Gate 2 Shut Down!) - Indymedia UK
Final demo in Rostock.- Indymedia UK
Tons of YouTube videos here including this one.
Martin Krenn took this photo and tells us,“For the Group of Eight summit, Heiligendamm was turned into a high-security fortress. 7.5 miles long and 8 feet tall, a fence was designed to protect the leaders of the world’s eight richest countries. The G8 summit in Heiligendamm costed a round 92 million euros just for security.”
Angela adds: “Heiligendamm takes its name – “holy dam” – from parables which seek to mark the victoriousness of Christianity and, it might be added, do so as the theological rendition of borders, specifically the borders of a Western, Christian Europe. Depending upon which legend one prefers, a shepherd triumphed over the devil in a wager, or the dam miraculously rose up against floods through the prayer of monks. Much more remains to be said here, not least about the theologisation of the political. But, in turning over these confluences and their significance, the most obvious question is of the continuing expression of an ostensibly ‘European’ politics in anti-summit discourses.”
[Image: Workers clean the security fence in the sea near Heiligendamm. The fence was 12 kilometers long and 2.5 meters high, surrounding the whole village and sealing off the beach of the Baltic Sea. (AP Photo/Thomas Haentzschel)]
Here are even some maps of how the area was ringed off with walls, coastal patrols, buffer zones, armored personnel carriers, trucks with water-cannons and police helicopters.
For lots of good coverage, see these resources:
Fence, heavy security at G8 summit in Germany evokes memories of Iron Curtain
The Blockade of Heiligendamm by Boris Kagarlitsky
G8, Heiligendamm 2007 - A flickr stream by djcampfighter
G8 Protest: Summit Blockaded From All Sides - Indymedia UK
G8 Blockade Occupies Road - (Gate 2 Shut Down!) - Indymedia UK
Final demo in Rostock.- Indymedia UK
Tons of YouTube videos here including this one.
posted by Bryan Finoki • Permalink
1 Comments:
Reallt these walls are a good point to show. These are also a very good example of militarism's effects on our lives even in the middle of the cities. I live in Turkey and it is very usual for us to see such scenes, even in the middle of the city center, such walls, such seperations.
All of us are potential criminals or terrorists. But the city is ours also. And i want my city back:)
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