what gear do you need?

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday June 05, 2003 20:21 by thessalonika IMC via ipsiphi - us i live on the same sea. we get DU from there.

who is inviting you / hosting your camp / bus?

an outline of the political groups who will be active in Greece and inviting you all to their country. This was compiled by members of the IMC collective Thessalonika. for your "elucidation".

The political organizations that will be active during the days of
the EU
summit

First of all it is useful to elucidate that the place of the summit
is not
located in the city of Thessaloniki but at Porto Caras in Chalkidiki
peninsula, which is more than one hundred kilometers away from
Thessaloniki.
Therefore the red zone area will not be in the city and the
demonstrations
in the city will not follow the tactics of breaking a zone or
disturbing the
summit- this is not possible! Also it would be impossible to reach
the
summit place in Chalkidiki because of its geographical location.

Here is a brief description of the organizations that will act in
Thessaloniki.

The platform >, is organized
by the Stalinist
Communist Greek party and is expected to have a lot of people taking
part in
its demonstrations as the Communists party has a long history in
Greece.
(for more info: http://www.action-salonika2003.org)

The > is an umbrella of leftists, NGO,
trade unions and
students. It is expected that a lot of citizens who simply want to go
and
demonstrate but they don’t find an other organization suitable for
them will
join the >. The > has declared that it
supports the camping of the > at
the university campus, in the center of the city. On june 19 they
organize a
march in the center of the city about immigration, the next day they
are
going to Chalkidiki and Saturday afternoon they are going to
demonstrate in
the city. http://www.socialforum-media.gr/)

> is formed by
smaller communist
parties and and leftist students organizations as NAR and EAAK Their
camping will be in the university campus (http://www.thessaloniki2003.org/)

>, is a
platform consisting of
some anarchist groups from all over the country. Their camping will
also be
at the campus (opening day 14 of June) and they are going to organize
an
antiauthoritarian festival. (http://www.resistance2003.gr)

For more practical information about transportation, accommodation,
everyday life in the city , legal and medicine information and some
maps,
look at the web site http://www.thessaloniki2003.info/en/index.htm

(please link this site to your links about the EU Summit)

Operation of the SIMC

A) housing
The SIMC will be situated in a building in the university campus. We
have
not yet reached a conclusive decision about the exact spot, but our
intention is to put up the SIMC in a building occupied by
antiauthoritarian
– anarchist collectives. The SIMC will begin its operation on june 18
and go
on until june 22. It will consist of two to three rooms. One of these
will
function as an internet center, accessible by anyone who wishes to
access
the internet, while another will be accessible only to the editorial
teams
of the imc’s, for site administration purposes. There will also be a
space
for the general assembly and a place to store equipment.

B) technical
In the university campus buildings there are computer rooms quite
abundant
in computers, which we intend to occupy and use for our purposes. As
far as
the telephone connections and the access to the network are
concerned, we
have not yet reached a conclusive solution, even though we have
thought out
several alternatives. Your help and experience in technical matters
will
certainly be very useful. (Bring your laptops!)

C) principles of operation
The SIMC will be set up, supported and safeguarded by the editorial
team of
imc Thessaloniki, other comrades and by people of other imc’s who
agree with
the SIMC basic principles of operation.

00- general assembly

As soon as the simc will start its operation, every day at a
specified time
there will be a general assembly of the center. The general assembly
will
consist of the above mentioned people, it will be carried out in
English
with the possibility of translation in other languages, following
the
principles of direct democracy, antiauthoritarianism and antisexism.
All
issues concerning us those days, practical, safety, ideological etc
will be
discussed in the general assembly. Any problems that may come up will
be
handled by this general assembly, and the assembly will bear the sole
responsibility and cost for the undertaking.

01- processing material – respect for the demonstrators’
personality

The demonstrations will be covered with photos and videos, as well as
articles. Our principal standpoint here is the respect for any
person’s or
collective’s negative opinions. All photos and videos appearing in
the
indymedia websites must be altered so as to conceal the identity of
the
people shown in them. Photos uploaded by other users will be removed
from
the page if the protection of the people portrayed is compromised.
Any
material leaving the SIMC will have to comply to the above principle
of
protection. After the end of the demonstrations, all files in the
SIMC
computers will be destroyed.

02- financing of the SIMC and distribution of the material

The SIMC will be financed by the people running it and comrades
willing to
support it. We will not ask for money from ngo’s, eu programmes or
political
parties, neither will we accept any funding by those or other
institutional
instances. In addition, material collected in the SIMC (photos,
videos etc)
will only be given to other individuals or groups under the explicit
condition that if they distribute it they will do it for free and
respecting
the above principle of processing (hidden faces)

03- unmediated character – relationship with institutional and
alternative
media

Indymedia Thessaloniki will promote and take part in the
demonstrations and
action against the EU. Our purpose is to let the demonstrators inform
the
world about the events and actions. We must not let the institutional
media
distort and assimilate the truth and present their commercial
propaganda as
the only version of the facts. It’s up to all of us, through direct,
immediate reporting from the streets, to distribute through the
anti-information networks the real message, meaning and aim of the
demonstrations to the whole planet. We do not desire and will not
tolerate
any relation nor cooperation with the institutional media. Their role
and
their tactics are hostile to us. In june, just as in numerous other
occasions, they will excel in snitching and distorting the
demonstrations.
Anyone cooperating with them has no place in indyme dia. Access to
the SIMC
will be denied to all journalists, cameramen, editors etc related to
institutional media. Moreover, anyone participating in the SIMC must
explicitly declare that he/she will not forward SIMC information
and/or
material to the dominant media. Those known to have carried out such
actions
in the past are denied our cooperation in advance (see
“undercurrents”).

We want to inform and get informed about the actions in which we
participate. We are not journalists to cover all protests. Everyone’s
initiative is vital to achieve complete, effective and unmediated
antiinformation. Take information into our own hands! Cancel the
institutional media!

We would like you to tell us if you agree with these principles, how
you
judge them, if you have other propositions etc. Your response should
cover
the issues set out by us and your definitive affirmative or negative
response is important to us. Any cooperation depends on a reasonable
degree
of consent on the principles of operation.

It would be advisable to inform us in time (until june10?) about the
exact
number of people coming to thessaloniki, the equipment you will bring
and
any other special needs/wishes. For security reasons we would like to
know
the exact number of people and their date of arrival in thessaloniki.

Struggle Greetings,

the IMC Thessaloniki collective