DER ALTERNATIVGIPFEL - DAY ONE Notes on Jean Ziegler’s opening speech at the G8 Alternative Summit. Jean Ziegler is UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as well as a prominent critic of globalisation. The Summit is taking place between the 5 – 7 of June in Rostock,, more information about the extensive and well-organised program is online at g8-alternative-summit.org. "To act inhumanly towards another destroys the humanity in our own person" - Immanuel Kant Every 5 seconds a child younger than 7 years dies. Every 5 minutes, someone looses his sight, because 

Bad Doberan - as many other locations – seemed unaffected by all the turmoil around. We went there to get closer to the fence, but we never actually saw it. We did see hordes of heavily packed campers heading to the train station, which lead us to think the real action is probably happening in the camps. We headed instead for the quiet town center. There, we met German peace journalist Leila Dregger. We talked about the events occurring in the last week, how international press is reporting them, and about 

After the events of Saturday's demonstration, it was a surprise to many that the group of 8,000 people gathered yesterday engaged in almost no violence, despite an interruption in train service, several police checks and repeated delays on the demo route. The mood was muted during the entire demonstration, a direct result of the interruption and containment techniques of the police. Independent media sources reported that several people were checked by the police, and some demonstrators were shoved to the ground. I'm on my way to the airport in Rostock Laage--more as soon as I get connected again. 

…Or how to build up frustration Monday, June 4, 2007. Another demonstration day in Rostock. Migration was the main theme. The group who gathered at the meeting point at 2 o’clock in the afternoon was colorful and festive. Samba drummers and clowns were entertaining the crowd while we were waiting for the demonstration to start. Little did we know, “just wait” would become one of the main themes of the day. After a while, we were told that the police wouldn’t let the demonstration start because they suspected about 500 people in the demonstration might be 

Shaina Anand calls herself Chitra Karkhana when she makes her video art. She sits in a moss-coloured armchair, and we sit before her. We listen to her thoughts as her her splitscreen videopieces project onto a large screen behind her. The concept of Chitra Karkhana, she tells us, is to critique image representation. Her statements barricade themselves within verbal butresses - these ample and ambigous words artists use to validate an art born from concept, an art often only beautiful once that concept has been revealed. She talks of confrontations, assumptions, interventions and