<nettime> tampere

[florian schneider <fls@ibu.de>]

Around Tampere and all over Europe

Dear friends,

in a few days, the Tampere European Council Summit will begin, and we
hope that parallel to this presentation of Fortress Europe, anti-racist
initiatives will protest in many European cities.

After several groups from France, Belgium and Germany published an
appeal in August, for europe-wide, decentralised actions on the 15
October, groups from other countries followed the initiative.

http://www.ecn.org/finlandia/tampere

If the interest shown was serious and the ideas discussed will be put
into practise, actions on the 15 October can be expected take place in
the following countries: France, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, and, of course, Finland.
Finnish groups had already created a special mailing list several weeks
ago. It summarises activities from different cities which have taken
place in the run-up to Tampere and invites everyone to take part in the
demonstration and conference in Tampere itself on 15-16 October.

Due to the fact that many groups will not be able to make it to Finland,
one can only expect smaller delegations to arrive. But both, the
activism 'on site' on the 16th as well as the decentralised actions on
the 15th have to be understood as a common project. That is why it is
very important that a direct exchange, contact and coordination is well
organised throughout these days, that we can relate to and rely on each
other, concerning the content as well as practicalities. We need to pose
a presence towards the press and the public, with common positions and
counter activities.

Since the 9 October, an international network has set up a temporary
media lab in Finland:

http://temp.kiasma.fi

It will act as a catalyst and coordinating force for the above mentioned
projects. In order to do this, however, the media lab depends on the
help of all activists, who organise their protests "around Tampere" and
"all over Europe".

This memo has been sent to to all groups and organisations that have
shown an interest and/or have already announced activities. We ask all
of you to please give us a rapid response about your actions (as far as
they are public) as well as indications of how to contact you so
information flow can be guaranteed. It would be helpful to have e-mail
adresses and telephone and fax numbers, so that we can reach you before
and during the Summit. Through mobile phones and the use of digital
cameras, direct links can be established and pictures from the different
actions exchanged. This would also lead to a more effective press work
in Tampere....

All of this, however, completely depends on your cooperation and
activism!

So please, get in touch.

P.S.: If, and we very much hope this is the case, the 15-16 October see
several parallel actions in different European cities, and further,
these are coordinated and information is exchanged, we will organise
another Europe-wide follow-up meeting in December, in order to talk
about future perspectives.


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