Introduction to the Dissent! Network

[Castellano] [Euskera]

The G8 (Group of Eight, most industrialised nations) Summits are hosted, on rotation, by the group's member states. In 2005 the Summit is to be held in the UK at Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland (around 40 miles north-west of Edinburgh). The Dissent! Network, has formed to provide a networking tool to co-ordinate radical resistance to the Summit.

The network was formed in the autumn of 2003 by a group of people who have previously been involved in radical ecological direct action, Peoples' Global Action, the anti-war movement and the global anti-capitalist movement which has emerged around meetings of those that rule over us.

The Network has no central office, no spokespeople, no membership list and no paid staff. It's a mechanism for communication and co-ordination between local groups and working groups involved in building resistance to the G8, and capitalism in general. It hopes to exist long after the world leaders have returned home in the early summer of 2005.

Dissent! is open to anybody willing to work within the Hallmarks of Peoples' Global Action (PGA).

PGA was founded in February 1998 by hundreds of people from social movements as diverse as the Brazilian landless peasants movement (MST), Reclaim the Streets in the UK, the Zapatistas in Mexico, radical ecologists from the Ukraine, Maori from New Zealand and squatters from across Europe, all of whom had gathered in Geneva for the founding conference. The PGA Network was created as a tool for co-ordination and communication between groups, movements and individuals wanting to organise global anti-capitalist resistance, particularly to international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and to draw attention to the possibility of alternative forms of social organisation. The PGA, and the movements involved within it, were instrumental in initiating and co-ordinating the global days of action against the last G8 meeting in the UK in Birmingham 1988, the day of action in financial centres around the world on June 18th 1999, and the events in Seattle and around the globe which coincided with the WTO Ministerial in November 1999. The Hallmarks are as follows:

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.

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.

If you would like to get involved in the Dissent! Network contact your nearest local group, one of the working groups or come along to the next  gathering.  If there isn't a Dissent! Network group near you, set one up!

For an introduction to using the web site please see http://www.dissent.org.uk/content/view/209/137/