Camping at G8
June 8, 2007
As anyone who has ever been to a major rock festival will know, the actual music makes up only a fraction of the experience. Whether you're stumbling around trying to find your friends, debating whether a vegetable korma is the right way to go for breakfast or just searching for composure at your tent, the campsite often provides the bulk of the stories you take home with you.
It's the same at the G8 demonstrations. A lot of time between protests is spent at the camp. This is where friendships are made, alliances are formed and memories forged.
The camps also provide a fascinating insight into who these people are, where they come from and what has brought them here.
Hippy throwback
To visit the Rostock Fischereihafen camp is to take a trip back in time to the days when festivals had no corporate sponsors, no official security and were more about the gathering of the clans than the ring of cash registers.
On a huge swathe of wasteland in between a soulless collection of shopping outlets and run-down industrial units, the camp could be mistaken at first glance as a traveling circus. Its centerpiece 'Big Top,' where entertainment is provided, dominates the site, surrounded by closely arranged tents and battered caravans.
Much of the camp infrastructure is home-made and fashioned from materials found in its surroundings: watch towers and children's play areas constructed from felled trees, info points built from plastic sheets, floorboards over the mud made from woodland debris.
Safe and peaceful
Despite the extremely basic, rough-and-ready appearance, the camp appears professionally run.
"We govern ourselves here and provide everything we can for the people who choose to stay here," said Beate Schiller, the duty 'concierge' at the reception tent. "We are all volunteers, the site is free to everyone, and we aim to provide a safe and peaceful environment for all the 5,000 or so protestors who stay here."
Those protestors tend to be mainly under the age of 40, attracted to the camp by its commune atmosphere and the fact that it costs nothing to stay there. Hardcore activists clothed in ageing uniforms splattered in political slogans mix with fresh-faced youngsters in their favorite band T-shirts; impressively pierced, leather clad alternative types brush their teeth at the communal sinks beside earth mothers and their children. They come from far and wide, the flags of many nations flying under one banner.
Gina from Turin sat nodding along to a tinny stereo, while Einar from Reykjavik checked his rucksack ahead of their planned journey to the security fence at Heilingendamm. They met at the anti-G8 demo on Saturday.
"The issue of globalization concerns me the most," Einar said.
Gina has her own reasons.
"We have learnt nothing from the last century of war," she said. "I am here to say that no one should be killed in my name…I do not want these wars…no one wants these wars."
Deluxe demonstrating
Some 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) away, the atmosphere at the Gute Nacht in Bützow is no less committed. But the surroundings are more Hyde Park than Woodstock. The camp, described as the luxury alternative in the region, certainly provides facilities to justify its billing -- and a range of prices to match. At 10 euros ($13.50) for a day ticket and a recommended stay of 10 days, things can get costly. But this is a camp for those with disposable income and a social conscience.
With a capacity for 1,000 people spread over the 20-hectare (49.4-acre) site beside a beautiful nature reserve, personal space is certainly a luxury the mostly mid-30s to retirement age protestors can enjoy more than those at the Fischereihafen.
As for infrastructure, nothing at the Gute Nacht camp has been constructed from waste materials foraged from the surrounding countryside. There is a cyber café with Internet access and mobile phone charging facilities, the sanitation system is state-of-the-art and even trolleys are provided to help move bulky camping equipment from the car park to the site. Despite its luxurious feel, everything is run by renewable energy sources. While there is still an obvious protest culture here, this is definitely a camp for those who don't want to slum it while changing the world.
"Doing the mud thing"
"The idea of the camp is to provide a comfortable environment for those wanting to take part in the demonstrations," said Uwe Weddemann, one of the camp staff members.
"We have a lot of young families here, older people and people who have just made a choice of standard," he added. "After a long day protesting, many people want to be rested for the next day. That's why this is the Gute Nacht camp."
"I've done the camping in the mud thing in the 60s," said Georg Müller as he enjoyed a cappuccino in the coffee bar. "Now I'm in my 60s -- that just isn't an option anymore. I like the camp atmosphere and this is a good alternative to the others. I still have the fire in my belly to protest but my body has other ideas when it comes to sleeping in a puddle."