5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

5th Peoples' Global Action Gathering in Europe – North Greece / Thrace 18th / 25th of August

PGA - People's Global Action - started in 1998, it has been a tool and a diffuse structure coordinating groups and people sharing common struggles and practices, in accordance with various anticapitalist and anti-authoritarian principles (see the hallmarks). PGA initiated the Intercontinental caravan in 1999, as well as international action days of actions against the G8, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF... In Seattle, Genoa, Prague, and in a number of less popular events, PGA was a driving force behind numerous actions and reflections. At the convergence of
international initiatives and local struggles, groups close to the PGA are now looking for new drives to challenge stagnation.

In Europe, groups who identify with the PGA principles meet about once every two years, through the initiative of a "convenor" collective. Since 1998, these conferences have been the opportunity for several days of exchanging practices and knowledge, and of establishing bonds, which allow us to be better organized in common actions.

The 5th gathering of Peoples Global Action in Europe this time will take place in Greece.

A responsibility of organizing and coordinating the discussion that opened in the last meetings of PGA europe has taken by a decentralized network of activists and collectives in Balkans. Thats exactly and the essential advantage of this initiative. The convenor is not a local collective like other conferences in the past but a vital balkan decentralized network.
On the preparation all of these months several questions , problems as well as ideas for taking action are allready mentioned by all of us who involve with a conference here!!! Again in the Balkan region!

We would like to open a long discussion about local activism in combination with a global perspective. In other words we want to discuss about the future of the PGA network and its process as well as the various projects , topics and ideas for action.

As a reference example : the following topics that we are allready working or we want to invite people to open meeting spaces during the PGA conference.

Autonomous spaces and squating , patriarchy , gender , radical feminism , anti repression , anti militarism , biotechnology , environmental struggles , indigenous spaces , antiglobalization , G8 , DIY activities and sharing skills , fanzines , infoshops , PGA infopoints , land and autonomy , eco communities , digital struggles and autonomous servers , indymedia tools , precarity and flexibility , radical theory , productive networking , local alternatives , activism , other , be continued

if you wanna take part on the meeting we need the following information from you !! please send us as soon as possible at con2008@no-log.org .. have it in mind that our dynamic is not the best one and we need a lot of international support and definitely to know how many people are planning to join the meeting .. you need also sleeping bags and probably a tent ..

info that we need from you

name of your collective (if you belong in a collective)

number of people

workshop or topic who you want to organise (name of your workshop , what do you need for it , for ex do you need a projector?)

if you wanna participate In the kitchen (we definitely need it as well)

THE LOCATION OF THE GATHERING

after long discussions we felt that the best place in Thrace for the PGA gathering to take place is the Pedagogical Department of the Alexandroupoli University in the suburb of Hili.

The reasons are the following:

1. Alexandroupolis is near the border and accessible by road and railroad and has a harbor and an airport that connects to athens, so it's the easiest to reach for most people.

2. The University buildings there are relatively new , have easily accessible bathrooms, and are relatively cool (at least for Greek standards).

3. The suburb of Hili is 5-10 minutes by bus to the center of Alexandroupoli ,but far enough to ensure privacy.

4. Alexandroupoli is the destination of at least two pipelines (one for oil, one for gas) and therefore we felt important to have the PGA right at ground zero of one of the major issues we want to discuss. It is also near Venna refugee concentration camp which opens the possibility of No Border actions.

YOU MUST TAKE CARE ABOUT THE FOLLOWING

Of course not everything is peachy: The university dean is a right wing asshole with a grudge against anything remotely libertarian or anarchist. As long as we don't commit a felony in campus grounds he can't kick us out legally but he might show up with bouncers to try to provoke a fight and generaly mess things up. Please keep your heads cool, as much as i'd like it, any violent response to the asshole is gonna give him the excuse to involve police and mess the whole thing. And since we mantioned police, police in alexandroupoli are a bunch of fucking bullies and might stop and harass people they don't like the look of, so please keep your ID's or Passports with you when leaving campus and please, please ,please DONT CARRY ANY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. Because of the harbor and the alternative/hippy/raver tourist wave to Samothraki the police are always on the prowl for anything they can get their hands on, drug sniffing dogs Are plenty etc etc.

This is the situation folks , please ask anything because WE don't know what else to mention. Oh, there are no showers but we can easily rig a couple of outdoors showers so no problem.

PGA Hallmarks

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation.

2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy. PGA is a tool for coordination, not an organization. PGA has no members and does not have and will not have a juridical personnality. Nor organisation or person represents PGA

in solidarity

international working group of the 5th PGA conference