G8 Dispatches: Organizing for Justice: Inside the Anti-G8

Posted by Marina Sitrin and David Solnit and Asha Colazione and Sarah Lazare, AlterNet at 4:51 PM on July 16, 2008.

July 16
(See below for previous dispatches.)

The G8 delegates may have boarded their planes and flown home, another year's summit having come to a close. But for many, this is just the beginning. Three anti-G8 organizers spent almost two weeks in jail facing the possibility of years-long sentences, mounting legal fees, and families left to deal with the consequences. Another 23 people were detained as a part of government repression of an Osaka-based homeless and precarious workers' rights group that has been focusing on anti-G8 organizing. Solidarity actions are taking place around the world. Perhaps some of the most important organizing happens now when we, as a movement, seize opportunities that arise in the wake of this mobilization to build sustainable international movements for justice. It's not yet time to turn the spotlight away from Japan. There is work to be done, and international support is needed.

The Kamagasaki Patrol

Ten years ago, a homeless man in Osaka, Japan, was collecting recycling by the river when he was assaulted and thrown in the water, where he drowned. The homeless community was outraged and called meetings to decide what could be done to ensure the safety of their community. They decided to address the issue collectively and autonomously, since the police were not supporting them. This was the beginning of the Kamagasaki Patrol.

Since that incident, the Kamagasaki Patrol, composed primarily of precarious workers--day laborers and others with low-wage temporary employment--and homeless community members themselves, has patrolled the encampments and neighborhood in five to seven hour shifts each day.

"The policy is squatters and the homeless organizing themselves," said Koske Nakagiri, homeless rights activist and Kamagasaki Patrol member. "This is about autonomy and self-governance." Nakagiri, 32, lived in the Ogimachi encampment for six years before moving into his own apartment several months ago, and remains very active in the community.

In 2006, ten parks were evicted by the city, according to local activist Hex, 26, who has been active in squatters' rights issues for several years. "The important thing is that we are not here to sympathize with their plight, but to be in solidarity with them. The people here want a decent life in the middle of the metropolis. They are refusing to pay rent, refusing to give up their autonomy, refusing to be corralled into night shelters and workers' hotels, where they have no space or privacy, early curfews, they have to line up every afternoon to get an admission ticket for the night, and get woken up at 4:30 every morning. Those places look like refugee camps inside. At the parks they have some stability despite the systematic irregularities in the labor market. They don't have to worry about being kicked out if they can't get work, and they have a community behind them. They can plant a garden. I've learned so much from their strength."

It has been a difficult few weeks in Osaka for the Kamagasaki Patrol. They had been focused in three main areas of work: 1) patrolling the neighborhoods for safety and coordinating weekly communal meals; 2) organizing with the precarious workers' unions for workers' rights, and helping community members find jobs; and 3) supporting the anti-G8 organizing. But several weeks ago their efforts were derailed.

It started on July 12--the afternoon before the G8 Finance Ministers and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn would meet over a lavish dinner on the other side of the city--with the simple act of a homeless man trying to buy a pancake. With the disrespect that is too often directed toward the homeless, the saleswoman ignored him and helped other customers first. He left his money for her and went away, figuring she would have his pancake ready when he returned. But she took the money and continued to ignore him when he returned, and he got angry. She responded by calling the police, who arrested the man and beat him viciously in jail, going so far as to hang him upside down and punch him in the face and stomach. When he emerged from jail with rope burns and bruises, the homeless community rose up to fight.

Although tensions rise to the surface in clashes with the police every few years, the riots last month were the most violent in this area in sixteen years, according to Nakagiri. Outraged community members faced off in front of the police station with stones and fists against police batons, water cannons, and riot shields. No one was arrested at the time, but police monitored homeless rights activists and organizers before and during the riots, and used the event as reason to arrest 23 people in the following weeks. Japanese police are known for targeting people involved in political organizing, and many of those detained were held on frivolous charges such as failure to register a change of address, jaywalking, and "fraud"--registering a cell phone for a homeless friend who couldn't register his own due to his lack of address. Thirteen are still being held.

Local activists contend that this wave of arrests was timed to squash dissent against the G8. The Kamagasaki Patrol had been planning to send delegations to the G8 protests as well as hold local solidarity demonstrations in Osaka. Instead, they were forced to spend much of their time supporting their friends in jail and trying to avoid further arrests.

So while the world's media watched the G8 leaders' photo opportunities and the anti-G8 protests in Hokkaido, Japan, some of the strongest G8 resistance--and repression--took place largely unseen, hundreds of kilometers to the south in the streets of Kamagasaki, Osaka, led by homeless, day laborers, and local youth--those most impacted by G8 policies.

As Kamagasaki community members resisted water cannons and shield-wielding riot police, the G8 Finance Ministers issued their Communiqué to the world from Osaka, strongly pushing to further the policies of corporate "free" trade, speculative capitalism, and neo-liberalism that are largely responsible for the poverty and homelessness of those in Kamagasaki and around the world.

Their Communiqué read in part:

"We, the Finance Ministers of the G8 countries, met today in Osaka, Japan, in preparation for the Summit of the G8 Heads of State and Government in Hokkaido-Tokyo. For a long time the world economy enjoyed a combination of robust growth and low inflation, but it now faces headwinds. We affirm our commitment to an open investment policy... We will resist protectionist sentiment at home and abroad. We also highlight the urgent need for a successful conclusion to the Doha Development Round."

The "Doha Round" was forced through by rich countries at the WTO Ministerial in 2001 in the wake of the collapse of the WTO meetings in Seattle in 1999, but has been stalled by impasse between the wealthier and the majority poorer countries, thanks in part to the influence of global movements. The rich countries and corporations, using the food riots and hunger crisis as the excuse, are now trying to revive the Doha Round, which would bolster corporate rights and profits while overriding social safety nets, environmental regulations, and the ability of national governments to protect people's needs.

The cuts in social services and availability of resources that typically ensue from such policies are felt most strongly in poor communities such as Kamagasaki. Mr. Yoshitaka Mashima of Via Campesina, the global organization of small farmers, farm workers and peasants, said, "The G8 leaders pretend to solve the food crisis with more free trade while it is the liberalization of agriculture and food markets that continue to lead us to the current crisis."

The work of Kamagasaki patrol and other groups such as the Toyuru Kitchen Collective from Tokyo make the connection between the G8, the policies it pushes onto the world, and their actual local impacts. One activist put it simply: "G8 policies make people poorer."

Visiting the Camps

We wanted to better understand the day-to-day life of people living in the homeless camps as well as the work of the Kamagasaki Patrol, so in the blistering heat of July in Osaka, we had the honor of visiting the Ogimachi and Nishinari camps and interviewing several members of the Kamagasaki Patrol, with the help of a translator. We were struck by the well-built shelters and organization of the camps. Under towering shade trees, sturdy rooms were constructed of wood from the hardware store, lined with blue plastic tarps and occasionally decorated with wind chimes, stuffed animals, or other adornments. A common area in the Ogimachi camp held cooking utensils, a clock, couch, bulletin board, and storage room. Building materials had been purchased with the proceeds from collecting recycling.

Question: What has it been like for you here since the arrests?

Kamagasaki Patrol: Now we have to be careful about more police arrests. We have to hide documents like pictures, names, and records of activities. Sometimes police come to our office to take flyers and documents, so we have to hide those too. We had been planning to send more people to the G8 protests and to hold solidarity demonstrations here in Osaka, but now we are forced to spend much time supporting the people in jail.

Question: Now we understand why nobody wants to have their faces in photos. Can you tell us about more about the practicalities of day-to-day life?

Kamagasaki Patrol: Squatters organize themselves to make food. We believe in autonomy and self-governance. Once a week our encampment has communal meals with twenty to thirty people. We collect cans for money and from the money we buy ingredients for food and things we need for the camp. Two times a month we have a food project day, when we prepare food for other homeless camps and we all come together. This is not just charity. This is empowerment.

Question: What is your decision-making structure?

Kamagasaki Patrol: We have groups: Patrol groups, feeding groups. We have meetings to make decisions. We have meetings two times per month, first and third Sundays, to have discussions about problems, new homeless people arriving, etc.

Question: Does everyone contribute what they can?

Kamagasaki Patrol: Well, no. I hope that each participant can talk freely, but working together is not always easy.

Question: How do you deal with conflict?

Kamagasaki Patrol: It depends on the case. There are sometimes clashes between people who have tents and people who don't have tents. There are some who only have baggage, cardboard and a blanket. There are sort-of two classes. On certain days, people who have a tent serve to people who don't. On other days, the people who don't have tents prepare food for those who do.

Question: What can people internationally do to support those in jail?

Kamagasaki Patrol: Tell the truth. Give the facts about how we are living and what we are thinking. Please tell people in your country what is going on here.

What you can do

International pressure can help prevent more people being arrested and support those already detained. Please call, fax, and visit your local Japanese Consulate or Embassy. Ask to meet with or speak to the Consul General. Make a formal request that they report your human rights complaint with officials in Japan. Consulates are supposed to report all complaints regarding human rights to their home country offices when it is requested formally. To send donations or for information on how you can support those from the Kamagasaki Patrol who were detained, please email kamapat@infoseek.jp, or call 81-06-6374-2233.

July 9

The series of demonstrations against the G8 meetings in Lake Toya, Japan, continued this week with lively marches in Sapporo and Toyora. Thousands more showed their opposition to G8 policies by attending a nine-day Counter-Forum, networking and sharing experiences and ideas of how we might build a better world.

Organizers registered the Sapporo demonstration as a "March for Peace," afraid that a "March Against the G8" would not be granted permits. It was a colorful demonstration, with a wide variety of groups and nationalities proceeding through the streets carrying signs, banners, and giant puppets. Many participants wore costumes or brought their own instruments to play as they marched.

The procession was led by a sound truck playing music for the crowd, immediately followed by the beautifully attired Kimono bloc. In another Japanese tradition, a group carried a bamboo tree decorated with words on black paper strips indicating what people wish for in the coming year.

Behind the Kimono block, ominous puppets with heads of G8 leaders and bodies of skeletons donned yellow and red labels such as hunger, global warming, poverty or privatization of resources. Swooping after them, a flock of shimmering yellow birds made of painted cardboard and satin-like fabric carried signs indicating what they'd like to see instead of the G8--"democracy," "healthy environment," "peace."

A clown in a green wig and pink boa approached the lines of riot police with a rainbow-colored duster and proceeded to dust off their shields. A few more members of the Clown Army loomed behind, sporting red noses and army camouflage, waving their rainbow dusters in the air. A roving band of drummers kept up a lively beat behind them.

Police divided the march into three segments, each surrounded on all sides by two rows of police in riot gear. A group of demonstrators led by radical workers' movements, anarchist activists, and black bloc rebelled against the strict control of the demonstration by moving out beyond the one lane of traffic they were allocated in order to spread across the entire road.

At one point in the march, police surrounded the sound truck, smashing the side window and forcibly arresting its driver and DJ, as well as a Reuters journalist standing nearby.

"I saw the police smashing one of the windows of the sound truck," said John Owens, a UK activist. "They pulled the driver out violently, even though he didn't do anything."

Photojournalist Brandan Jourdan, 29, who filmed the arrests, added, "They pulled the driver out in a headlock, but his foot got caught in the steering wheel. He was obviously in pain, but they didn't stop pulling." The owner of the sound truck, accompanied by a Japanese lawyer and a member of the National Lawyers Guild were able to see the truck in police custody yesterday where they found numerous areas of dried blood on the steering wheel and dash board.

The arrests were consistent with police repression tactics of targeting organizers. The arrestees are still in custody, and may be held for twenty-three days without formal charges. Once charged, they may face years-long prison sentences. Other organizers who were victims of preliminary arrests are still being held on charges as trivial as failing to register a change of address. It is common practice for police to arrest and jail Japanese organizers for anything that happens during a march they organized, even if the organizer was not present at the time of the incident, according to the Japanese legal team supporting the demonstrations. This creates a stifling atmosphere of collective punishment; even the slightest act of civil disobedience on the part of any protester could land local organizers in jail.

Demonstrations Move to Lake Toya

In keeping with its tradition of meeting as far away from public access as possible, the G8 is opening its 2008 Summit in the isolated mountains of northern Hokkaido. But not even the long journeys and heavy rain have deterred global justice activists, who set up three camps yesterday afternoon in the forested mountains thirty kilometers from the Forum, the closest camping areas to which they were allowed access.

Forty Japanese activists participated in a ten-kilometer permitted walk early this morning as an expression of their opposition to the G8. At midday, another group attempted an unpermitted two-kilometer march to the train station, but were turned away by police before reaching their destination.

"It says something about the police repression when we're not even allowed to walk to the train station with 'No G8' signs," one participant commented.

Police repression did not stop activists from brewing the coming day's plans. Back at camp, activists spent the rest of they day painting multi-lingual banners, preparing food, and making art for tomorrow's actions, knowing that as significant as the protest is the globalization from below--creating relationships, building networks, and linking organizations and movements, like a spider web with Japan momentarily at its center.

July 7

Note: This post is from No! G8 Legal Team.

Activists and organizers are asking local groups and individuals to call, e-mail, visit and protest at Japanese embassies over the unjust arrests, detentions, deportations, and repression occurring around counter-G8 mobilization in Japan.

Japanese police continue to escalate repression against protesters of the Group of 8 Summit. This is part of a growing trend of the suppression of human rights in Japan. Yesterday's demonstration of approximately five thousand was lined with, and sometimes boxed in by, several thousand police in full riot gear. At least four people - including a Reuters reporter - were arrested. In one arrest, the police shattered the window of a sound truck and dragged out the driver. Hours after the demonstration ended the legal team had already received numerous reports of police misconduct.

This latest action comes after weeks of repressive activity on behalf of the police and government. Activists throughout Japan have been arrested at demonstrations and in their homes, often on "technical" charges, such as not registering a change of address. Overt surveillance of activists, academics and reporters has been taking place for months, and with some local activists for years. International conference participants and protesters have been interrogated for hours at the border and many have been denied entry into the country without warrant. The legal team sees this as a violation of people's right to freely exchange ideas.

"What we have witnessed in the streets of Sapporo is part of an ongoing and escalating campaign to suppress the movement for real democracy in Japan," said Marina Sitrin, professor and member of the National Lawyers Guild, a US based human rights organization that is a part of the No! G8 Legal Team.

"We were surprised by the excessive force used by police in today's demonstration," said Ko Watari, of WATCH, a Japanese legal network created to document police and government misconduct during the anti G8 protests. "This was a non-violent demonstration where no acts against property or people took place, or even appeared likely to take place." The arrested Reuter's cameraman was standing on a public sidewalk when seized by plainclothes police; his video camera was confiscated and has not been returned. The arrest of the sound truck driver followed immediately thereafter. Footage of the driver's arrest shows him screaming in pain as the police pulled him out of the truck, his foot stuck in the steering wheel.

Protesters are organizing various events in the upcoming days of the G8 Summit, between the 7th and 9th of July. The No! G8 Legal Team will be paying close attention to the behavior of the police and government. "Labor and peace movement leaders are concerned that the police will arrest them for organizing these protests, search their homes and interrogate their family members," said Dan Spalding, Legal Worker Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild.

Japanese law permits police to hold and interrogate suspects in the police station for 23 days without formal charges. They can interrogate suspects for up to 12 hours at a time. While detained arrestees can be forced to sit on their knees the entire time they are awake, not being able to move, even to use the bathroom without asking permission. This permission is not always granted.

"We take all arrests very seriously, and the specifics of the procedure, such as the 23 day detainment in the police station, the absence of lawyers to oversee the conditions of process, the physical violence involved in the interrogations, not being allowed medication, the fear of putting friends, family, and affiliations at risk are only a part of the damage. Its also about the anger and sense of shame which stays and creates more damage. It's the humiliation of not being able to take care of your own." Commented Gen, a participant in the counter G8 protests.

He continued: "I am personally grateful for the presence of activists from throughout the world. The spirit and experiences, levels of militancy they bring, for just being here in solidarity. Overall it has been a very energizing experience, and we are in high spirits. I am grateful for your continued presence and support. It is what authorities have tried to prevent through repressive measures. International solidarity and pressure at this moment will bring us to another level."

• International pressure can help prevent more people being arrested.
• Please call, fax, and visit your local Japanese Consulate or Embassy. Ask to meet with or speak to the Consul General.
• Make a formal request that they report your human rights complaint with officials in Japan. Consulates are supposed to report all complaints regarding human rights to their home country offices when it is requested formally.

Also:

Footage of brutal arrest of sound truck driver.

Footage of Reuters reporter arrest, the truck driver and some of the demonstration.

July 3

The following is a conversation with South Korean activist Dopehead Zo and the Just Words Collective -- Sarah Lazare, Marina Sitrin, David Solnit and Asha Colazione.

The anti-G8 mobilizations have been bringing together inspiring organizers and activists from all over the world. Japanese precarious temp workers, calling themselves "Freeters", South Korean anti-military base organizers, Spanish media activists, Farm workers from Via Campesina, Australian human rights activists, German direct action organizers, and many others from North America, Asia, and Europe, have all come together to share stories, struggles, ideas, and to network and plan actions. At The Counter G8 International Forum in Tokyo, we met one organizer whose story is so compelling we needed to share it as soon as possible. The following is a selected transcription of our conversation.

Dopehead Zo is an activist who has been heavily involved in the South Korean demonstrations against the US beef import deals. Beginning in late May 2008, mass protests have rocked Seoul and other cities in South Korea, bringing hundreds of thousands, and at times over a million protesters together into the streets. These are some of the biggest mobilizations South Korea has seen for over two decades. These are both mass demonstrations and places for the creation of new social relationships between people. As one flyer put out by activists there reads: "Candlelight Vigils Evolving to a Street Rebellion Calling for Direct Democracy - We've Got the Power"

At issue is the decision taken by the new South Korean president - Lee Myung Bak - to ease restrictions against US beef imports, most of which had been banned in 2003 after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States. The ban was a blow to the US beef industry, as South Korea was its third largest importer of US beef. Critics see the lifting of the ban as an effort to appease the United States at the expense of South Korean public health, and the trade deal has awakened broader feelings of discontent with the government's pursuit of neoliberal reforms and close relations with the United States. The overwhelming public response has virtually paralyzed Lee Seok-haeng's government and has caused him to start backpedaling on the agreement. Meanwhile, protests, rallies, and candlelight vigils continue to fill the streets of Seoul. Perhaps other forms of democracy are on the people's agenda.

Dopehead Zo spoke with us for hours, sitting on the floor together after the forums of the day had finished. He shared his experience protesting in the streets of Seoul and described a new kind of social movement that is taking form. A movement comprised of, as he calls them, "common people." He describes forms of mass democracy in the streets, and the joy of being together to create new ways of relating to one another. He also explains what all of this has to do with the G8 protests and places it in the context of an overall struggle for social justice.

Q: Can you describe what it is like right now on the streets of Seoul?

A: People are holding candlelight vigils every night, with a minimum of 10,000 people in Seoul and several thousand in other cities. On weekends, we have 50 thousand or 100 thousand people participating. When it began, it was anti-US beef imports by the Korean government. The newly elected, right-wing neoliberal ex CEO South Korean president, wanted to give some good gifts or presents to the US. The first thing the new South Korean president did was to visit the US and beg for a good relationship, and for all kinds of things. Or go to Sarkozy. I hate to mention the president's name. The gate to the US beef industry was the imports of US beef, every part of the cow - spinal cord, intestines, heart - the parts that other people usually don't eat.

I am a vegan myself, but many Koreans cook these parts and then they eat it. According to most calculations, the US beef industry would massively profit from beef imports, and once South Korea opens its markets to beef imports, other Asian countries will do the same. Talks between the two presidents took place in April, and before the talks, the two governments made an agreement and then it became known to the public in early May. As people heard more about the details of the agreement, they realized it was really unfair. Everyone could tell it was for the profit of the US beef industry, not the health of the South Korean people. If mad cow disease is in the US, there is no way to stop it with the import of US beef.

The agreement was really messed up. The general public found out about it and started a candlelight vigil. South Korean people started to pressure the government by taking to the streets every night with candlelight vigils. The government didn't listen to us, of course. At first it was 2000 people then 20,000 then 100,000 ... and then more and more people ... People got angry and took to the street.

Eventually the government listened to it. The pressure got bigger. The Korean government knows how to control the movement people, because the resistance or the movement has been going on for 20 or 30 years, so there is kind of a pattern as to what we do when we do rallies or demonstration. Riot police know how to respond to these situations. But this new candlelight vigil - police do not know what to do. Because when police try to stop the rally, they don't stop. They continuously move to another street. Before, back then, we had one clear target. Let's say it was the US embassy in Seoul or the police headquarters or the presidential residence.

Now, people, common people, who didn't actually know about the free trade agreement before or hadn't heard of neoliberalism, like young couples with a babies, they come out into the streets with their baby in a stroller, or old people come out. So, you can see a whole new demonstrator. And there was no set pattern for when they were blocked by the police. The tactic that police used to block a road so that people cannot go in the path that they want to. In May and June, the people just started to flow, and the police realized they couldn't contain the demonstrators if they used the ways they were used to, so they brought out a new way - water cannons. We haven't seen water cannon for 5 or 10 years.

Q: Water cannon against the candlelight vigils?

A: Yes. Not only water cannons, but batons, shields and physical violence against people like me, with nothing - no weapons, no helmets. They also use fire extinguishers. Tear gas was kind of banned.

Q: What does the fire extinguisher do?

A: You use it and then demonstrators cannot breath so we have to pull back and disperse. The fire extinguisher fills the whole area instantly. We couldn't do anything on the police buses. Some of the direct action we do is that we paint a lot of graffiti on police buses or the streets. At first the police started to arrest people, and beat people, and then it got such bad media coverage because like you said, it was a nonviolent protest, and so then the police responded with civil violence and they were criticized very badly. So then the new strategy that the police started to use was to block the whole area where any protesters could go. The streets of central Seoul became neutralized every night. No traffic at all.

Q: Could you describe a little bit of what it is like in the streets when there are hundreds of thousands of people, do they sing together, talk together, are they friends, what does it look like?

A: We try to do everything. I am a singer myself, so I perform three or four nights a week, five or six hours each night. I get exhausted. I sleep all day and then get up again in the morning. People who have never met before talk to each other and start talking about what we should do to make our voices heard. Amazing things have been created, like huge squares or spaces. We cook, we talk, we make a speech, and when we rally, we do that kind of thing too. And we dance.

Q: Can you talk a little more about the dissatisfaction with the relationship to the US and what that might have to do with the G8?

A: The newly elected right wing president had a big wish. They think that the neoliberal way is the only way, and the market is their god. The president is the ex CEO of Hyundai. He thinks that a working economy means that there is construction, buildings being built. Environmental activists think this could be a disaster. It was this new administration that made the general public realize that everything is related in the name of neoliberalism... We are taking this opportunity to spread this ideology - the idea that in order to become a leader we have to receive ideas in the name of neoliberalist policies. In the name of neoliberalism, we have to open our markets. The reason we have to open our Korean markets is that if we don't do it, we will be a backwards country. That is a term that the ruling class loves to use. At first it was the US beef import issue, but then it was the government trying to impose its neoliberal policies at the same time. The president was rushing to realize his dream. The right wing loves him. These policies could affect peasants lives, or farmers lives, or small businesses.

Q: Does it feel like people are talking about that, like in grocery stores or schools?

A: Yes. It's very natural for Korean people to talk about the US beef issue, and once you start talking about US beef the subject becomes linked to other related issues, like opening markets through FTAs [Free Trade Agreements], like with Japan, Korea, the EU, Chile, with the US, with China and privatization, because that is the big plan for the government. The government is promising that we are going to go "forward". That's the major policy.

Q: How are things organized at night? Are there political parties? Unions? How do people know where to go?

A: The internet is amazing. I am really addicted to it. Internet is the main tool that we have been using. Text messages. Since the beginning, it was middle school and high school students who constituted the demonstrators, like ten thousand high school students and middle school students in their uniforms, and what they do is exchange text messages, like two thousand text messages every day to everyone: "tomorrow, 2:00, city hall square, let's go, be there with a candle."

Q: The image that sometimes people have of unions or political parties taking charge is not true?

The candlelight vigil started with normal people and then they realized that no matter what the people did, the government would not listen to them. And then when the crowd began to take more to the streets, that is when the labor unions got involved. KCTU [Korean Confederation of Trade Unions] is a big labor union with about 700,000 union members and university student activists. They wanted to join and then some of them wanted to become the leaders of the movement and wanted to control the flow of the actions or rallies and then the general public started to yell at the wannabe leaders - "who do you think you are to try to control our movement. It is a people's movement, not the movement of the elitist union members". It is for the common people. Every time professional activists try to regulate or suffocate the energy, the vibe, they fail. Miraculously, people succeeded in continuing their actions every day and every day. They didn't get exhausted. Why, because they have never experienced something like this. When we have marches with big unions, it is often really boring, with all of us marching in line and the same old songs being played.

I play new protest songs. Those professional organizers get exhausted. They think it is not fun if you have thirty consecutive days of street demonstrations. But for these hundreds of thousands of people experiencing this, it was fun. Every day they realize something. Some of them even voted for the right wing president, when he said that he would make them all rich. But then they realized it was all lies. Then they got more angry and tried to find ways to make their voices heard.

The presidential residence was protected by a high mountain and armies of police. But then people started to infiltrate those blocs and then later we succeeded in gathering in front of the residential place. We could not do anything three miles near the presidential place. Accidentally on the part of the police bloc, we opened it, then lots of people went through a small hole, and then later, we gathered. It was early in the morning. It was thirty thousand people in early June it was first a large crowd demonstration in front of presidential palace since the people's uprising in 1960.

I have been long-time activist since early 1990s.

Q: Does this feel different?

A: For me, not really different. I have been active in the movement for a long time. I don't have any bad feelings regarding my comrades, but the way we do it is different. I am an anarchist myself, and the political movement in Korea has been influenced mostly by Marxism and the way that they organize.

Q: Do you think anarchism makes more sense to people now?

A: Definitely. Union leaders and organizers have been using their conventional ways of organizing and want to use them on the common people. People feel it is authoritative and don't like it. If you have someone telling you what to do, you say, we don't want that. In that sense, these are conventional movement people who think this new situation is anarchistic. We don't use the term anarchist or anarchy. I can tell the way they do it is anarchistic, but it doesn't matter, the ideology that you give yourself.

The president and the whole government, they are not willing to step down or anything, and the day before I came to Japan, police brutality was really incredible. Now the government and the whole right wing have made up their mind to crush the "violent" uprising. They say it is violent because we take over the streets. The government is using scare tactics - six water cannons at the same time - it is really scary. Fire extinguishers are used and it makes it hard to breath. Participation has been smaller after June 10, the nation wide day of action, when the government started to oppress us really heavily. The ministry of education, for example, sent orders to every school that no students could participate in the candlelight vigils.

Q: What are the demands of the people in the streets?

A: First, renegotiation with the US about beef imports, which the Korean government denied, they said that if we renegotiate, the credit of South Korea will be hurt in the international market. Lots of trade experts pointed out that it was all lies. It would not harm the Korean government if we renegotiate with the US. That is the first demand that we are still asking. The legal process is over, and now Korean importers are inspecting the US beef. The first demand is still in effect.

Second demand: the president publicly apologize or resign. Now it is becoming more and more for the resignation of the government. The whole cabinet offered to resign to the president, but the president did not accept the resignation.

Q: Is there any formal organization of demonstrations?

A: There is a temporary organization of organizations.

The committee of all the organizations has a broadcasting truck with a big speaker, and when the rally begins, the truck plays protest music or they say something. If the police respond and approach the demonstrators, then the committee truck says something. If the common people don't like it, like if the truck says ok, we have to pull back, and then it's just gone, then the people do not leave, they just stay there.

The thing is, nobody knows what's going to happen. For 30 or 40 days, the police didn't do anything and just let the people do whatever in the open space, and then people started to talk together about tactics, "do we use violence or nonviolence?" Every day, some people try to pull down police buses so that we can make our way to the presidential place. Some people yell that harming police property is a violent thing, or that repercussions from mass media will be big. Other people say police presence is violence itself so we should remove it.

There are some really exciting tactics that those organizers have never thought of, like making a styrofoam mountain so that we can cross over the police buses. It is decided in open meetings, every night, in small groups and large groups.

The sandbags - that was an amazing thing we witnessed one week ago - There was a huge construction site three miles away from where we were. Of course we were surrounded by police buses. We were talking about how to deal with this situation, and someone said, "ok, three miles away we have a construction site with huge piles of sand". Someone said, "how are we going to carry huge piles of sand?" We lined people next to each other from the construction site to presidential residence, then they carried sandbags, passing them from each person to each person. After three hours, we piled three huge mountains of sandbags and then we could go over the police buses.

Q: Did you go over?

A: No, because once you get to the roof of the police bus, they hit you with water cannons. Many people got over with their flags. Symbolic resistance.

Q: What about food and water?

A: It's incredible. People just pitch in money. Water, tea, coffee, sushi, kimpa, free every night. You can eat as much as you want. Street cafés open. Like one person drives a truck near the people and says this is a candlelight tea house and anyone can have cup of hot water or tea, and there is a cash jar and anyone can pitch in. For bathrooms we use nearby buildings or bathroom trucks.

Q: What would be your dream scenario?

A: The president steps down, and then, I don't know. I don't have a big dream. If everyone has his or her own small dream and we have our own small dreams and we can think about our way to make our dreams come true ... I don't picture a large model of society. It is created together. It is the kind of thing you can imagine through cooperation. The small group I have been working with is called blood sisters. I sew cotton pads and we sell reusable, washable menstruation pads, with organic cotton.

For the last ten years, I have been working on many issues and things that I think are really important that would affect people's lives. For example, we try to get the word out about the FTA. We have been trying to spread it, we wished that people would know about it, but we couldn't - we couldn't control people's thinking. But then, after the autonomous voluntary movement, people started to figure out everything by themselves. It was really, really amazing. Somehow it was a kind of miracle. Everything we talked about came true - all of a sudden.

July 1

Four simultaneous marches and rallies took place on June 29th in Tokyo and Sapporo, characterized by vibrant and colorful voices of resistance and a suffocating police presence. The marches in Tokyo weaved through the streets, complete with rolling sound systems blasting protest music. People chanted in various languages, waved flags from around the world, and joyfully displayed banners and puppets exclaiming what they are against as well as what they are for.

Eight puppets with heads of Group of Eight (G8) leaders and bodies of skeletons moved through the crowds. Each held a yellow and red sign with a word such as hunger, global warming, poverty or privatization of resources, to indicate things the G8 is creating with its current policies. At the same time, shimmering yellow birds made of painted cardboard and satiny cloth symbolized freedom, each with a word or drawing of something demonstrators desire in the world, from clean water and air to freedom of expression to real democracy. People brought banners and flags indicating the places and groups they are from, including the CNT in France, the Freeters Union in Japan, and the Wobblies in the US.

The street protests made apparent how little political breathing room the anti-G8 organizers have in which to function. Many hundreds of police flanked the demonstration route, crowding protesters into a thin line occupying less than one lane of traffic, and physically pushing those in the rear, as well as everyone who let more than a few feet of empty space grow in front of them. Hundreds more "public security" forces, a police agency in Japan that can work in an undercover political police capacity, lined the sidewalks and peppered the march, taking photographs, notes, and sometimes even setting up ladders to focus a photo on the face of an organizer.

"All of these tactics are clearly part of an effort to intimidate people and limit our imaginations as to what could be possible in organizing," one participant said. "The feeling on the street is one of being constantly surveyed, and literally being pushed if you get out of line. But despite the repressive tactics, people march and sing. We refuse to allow the intimidation to silence our voices or our bodies."

Repression Against Local and International Activists

As the G8 meeting approaches, the Japanese government is waging an escalating battle of repression and control against Japanese and international grassroots organizations and movements.

Our first indication of the level of political police repression came just after arriving in Japan last week, when we participated in an alternative media seminar in Osaka. A tall, thin man in a suit visited our laid-back guesthouse, asking to see a copy of our passports. Hostels are required to keep a photocopy of each guest's identification, but the manager declined to show them to the plainclothes police agents. They did, however, tell them how long we were staying, as required by Japanese law.

Local Repression

A wave of harassment and arrests of activists and organizers is taking place throughout Japan. Stories proliferate of people being arrested and held for many days under pretenses such as failure to inform the government of an address change, or alleged bicycle traffic violations.

A little over two weeks ago, the police raided a day laborers' union office and arrested a well-known organizer on absurd charges--receiving social benefits several years prior without the correct paperwork. It was one of the incidents that sparked the first riots in Japan since the 1990s in Osaka's low-income day laborer neighborhood of Kamgasaki. During the riots, which spanned several nights, neighborhood day laborers and youth fought to defend their neighborhood from water-canon-wielding riot police.

Four nights ago, an organizer with G8 Action Network briefed a group of international participants. He explained that they expected thousands to participate in the anti-G8 demonstration in Sapporo on the eve of the annual G8 meetings. He shared detailed stories about the excruciating amount of negotiations, permits, and government control they had to navigate to simply publicly express their opposition to the G8. Camps for participants in Sapporo had to be cancelled because police demanded to set up identity checks within the camp. Every demonstration requires a police permit. He told the internationals, many of whom are veterans of mass direct actions in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, just how little political breathing space there was for anything remotely disobedient. As an organizer, his hands were tied by the politically controlling and repressive government. At a public forum yesterday, plainclothes police moved through the crowd taking notes.

Harassment of Internationals

Many foreign participants in the Counter-G8 International Forums and protests have been harassed and detained. From Hong Kong to Europe to the US, grassroots organizers and intellectuals--such as movement scholar David Graeber--have been held and interrogated for a half-day or more, and allowed to enter the country only after pressure and negotiations by the local legal team. Lisa Fithian, a United for Peace and Justice Steering Committee member and longtime labor and global justice organizer, was detained and questioned for eleven hours in what she describes as "blatant discrimination against global justice activists." She and others have been ordered to leave the country before the G8 meetings are to take place.

"What is the so-called democratic government of Japan so afraid of?" she asked. The authorities told Lisa that she was held because she could not tell them exactly where she would be every day.

Lecturer and policy expert Susan George was detained and questioned for six hours. Activists and organizers from Hong Kong were detained overnight, not receiving basic amenities such as food and beverages. While many of the organizers from Korea are yet to arrive, a number of those who have attempted to enter Japan have already been refused entry.

We Will Not be Intimidated

Each attempt to silence and intimidate local and international activists is being met with organization and resistance by the local organizers of the protests. A new generation of smart, creative, and dedicated young Japanese organizers are building networks in the face of the repression that some say may be the biggest challenge to Japan's elites since the since the militant old "new left" of the 60s and 70s.

June 27

Like many other foreigners, we arrived in Japan holding stereotypes of Japan as a prosperous country, not one where tens of thousands of people live in the streets. Surprised by the level of visible poverty and homelessness we saw, we realized our assumptions were wrong. The next question was how to write about the issues of homelessness and displacement with relation to the policies of the G8 and international financial institutions. Last night the answer to this question appeared.

Under the bright-as-day glow of bustling Shibuya Square, we had the honor of meeting organizers from Miyashita Park. Used for a wide range of activities by the community and activists during the day, Miyashita Park is home to dozens of people by night. But change is on the horizon for the park: it has been sold by the municipality to Nike.

Yup, Nike. The brand name, the sneaker, the swoosh that just does it. Nike has bought the park. It is private now, no longer the domain of the people of the neighborhood. Nike is in the process of building walls to keep out the community, and of course closing it at night so it is no longer anyone's home. Privatization of parks by international corporations, causing more displacement and homelessness - thanks, Nike, for helping us make the connection.

The Japanese economy is characterized by free market trade policies, an overwhelming private sector, low tax rates, and a minimal social safety net. At virtually every bump in the road over the past several decades, from the world oil crisis of 1973 to the bubble burst and economic recession of the 1990s, the Japanese government has responded with aggressive privatization measures. Safety nets for the poor and elderly have been stripped away while public goods and spaces have been sold off to large corporations. Such policies have made Japan the darling of transnational organizations like the G8, WTO, IMF, and World Bank, who claim that Japan's aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies have transformed it into a prosperous nation.

Yet, as Japan's bare free market trade policies have increased, so too has the underclass of low-wage precarious workers, underemployed youth, and homeless people. The rise in neo-liberalism has seen a shift towards under and partial employment, especially among young people, and day laborers find it increasingly difficult to get steady work. A staggering 30,000 people live on the streets of Japan, most of whom are single, older men. Not only are they faced with precarious working conditions and diminished welfare programs, but the Japanese government works aggressively to hide them away, forcibly removing them from the parks, sidewalks, and other public spaces where they live. In addition, private developers and corporations run massive work programs which "hire" these same people who have been displaced, to work on job sites where they have to pay for every meal as well as their housing. At the end of a job, workers often have little or no money left, having spent all of it to pay for the meager living conditions they were provided.

In response to these conditions, several communities of homeless people have organized amongst themselves, building tight-knit encampments where people look out for each other, share resources, and fight against government attempts at eviction. In some cases, NGOs have joined in the chorus of voices advocating for the rights of the homeless to maintain their communities.

The organizers we met last night took us to the site of a government "beautification" project. They explained that over the past year, the government has been trying to "clean up" the area around Miyashita Park, commissioning art students to paint the walls beneath a nearby bridge where homeless people sleep. Of course this entailed evicting the residents of the neat row of cardboard boxes that lined the underpass. But homeless organizers fought the eviction and eventually won back their camp.

As we walked under the bridge, we were struck by the orderliness of the cardboard houses, some beautifully decorated by their inhabitants with dangling chimes or painted images. One cardboard house - belonging to a homeless activist - was built out of Nike boxes, with painted yellow stars covering the black swooshes.

Behind these houses loomed a government-commissioned mural of the "beautification" attempt: a "cheery," flowered landscape in bright pink and blue hues. The contrast was striking: this was a war of appearances, a struggle over who gets to define the beauty and function of a space.

The G8 protests are fundamentally about how public goods and spaces are used, and who gets to decide. Should land, water, and public space simply be sold off to the highest bidder, or should communities have control over the decisions that affect their lives?

Last night, while we were meeting with the activists who showed us around the homeless encampment, one organizer wrote "No G8" in English and Japanese on a piece of paper. We all looked at it and one woman asked, "What do we want instead of a G8?" After a bit of discussion, the young man pulled out a new piece of paper, and in English and Japanese, wrote: "We are the real G8." Then he changed it to "We are the real G-8 billion." Then, after thinking about it for a few moments longer, he crossed that out and changed it to "We are the real G-infinity."

June 25

We are four friends who just flew across the world for a meeting we were not invited to. Why would we feel compelled to do such a thing? It is exactly because we were not invited to the 2008 Group of Eight (G8) Summit that we feel we must go.

The G8 meetings bring together world superpowers once a year to set global economic, environmental, and political policies. You are invited to this meeting if you are the leader of a rich, powerful country interested in colluding with other governments to consolidate the power of the global wealthy elite. You are not invited if you are a citizen of the world, from either a "rich" or "poor" country, who is interested in building communities based on mutual aid, human needs, and respect for the environment. We think this is a recipe for an unjust world, and we plan to crash their party.

The G8 meetings were conceived in the early 1970s in response to a burgeoning economic recession. Initially just the G6 (consisting of six member states) the meetings brought together world superpowers to talk about how to respond to the crisis and establish economic security for themselves. The summit eventually expanded to include a total of eight member states - the UK, US, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, plus the president of the EU, and today the G8 presents itself as a forum for establishing world economic stability and tackling global problems, such as climate change, hunger, and disease, and poverty.

When the richest, most powerful leaders of the world come together, is it really to talk about how to help the poor? And why is it that after every annual meeting, all they ever seem to accomplish is further consolidation of their power and securing of their economic advantage? In reality, the G8 meetings have been a part of a general trend towards international neo-liberal economic policies that privilege corporate interests at the expense of the world's poor. The policies instituted by G8 member states do the exact opposite of the G8's stated "humanitarian" goals; they give "aid packages" that trap the poorest countries into debt while removing social programs. They wage wars and commit military atrocities, from the invasion or Iraq to the funding of Israeli bombers. They maintain the oil and coal-based energy systems that cause climate change. And they perpetuate corporate power at the expense of direct democracy.

But there is another story simultaneously being told--one of resistance, alternative organizing, and people coming together to create a more just society. In response to the G8, as well as other transnational institutions that generate neo-liberal policies, a global resistance movement has blossomed. From Italy to Calgary, Switzerland to Japan, people have come together to try and prevent the G8 from making any more decisions that will adversely affect people's lives. In the most recent meeting of the G8 in Germany, global activists physically blockaded the G8 meeting entrances and set up eco-camps outside of the summit, where they sought to model alternative social structures by providing earth-friendly food and housing for international activists.

Even on our first day of Japan, the area of Kamagasaki in Osaka was witnessing a riot, one of many in the past years, in response to the precariousness of work and survival. All over Japan, homelessness and poverty has been on the increase, especially over the last ten years as the Japanese government has imposed neo-liberal market policies and privatization measures on its population. Just as there has been a rise in homelessness and poverty, there has been a rise in resistance. From the organization of precarious workers to homeless encampments to the expansion of alternative media, people in Japan are fighting back.

The G8 summit is undemocratic at its core, setting policies that affect the world, while denying the input of most of the global population. But alongside the G8 meetings will be a powerful counter-summit, where a diverse gathering of people from around the world will come together to discuss alternatives to this system of hierarchical power and greed. The four of us, the Just Words Collective, will be sending out regular accounts of our experiences in Japan, including interviews with social justice organizers, reports on the anti-G8 actions, and pieces of the discussions on how we might work together to build a better world.

Tagged as: japan, g8

The Just Words Collective is a group of four friends who are engaged in various global justice struggles and believe in the power of words and action to change the world.