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G8, A Sacred Dike

Karen Linke

Heiligendamm – G8 Summit - Germany, June 6-8 2007. A snapshot into what happened close to Heiligendamm at the Baltic Sea between Rostock and Wismar where the G8-Summit took place last June. In 2007, Germany, France, Italy, The UK, Japan, the US, Russia, Canada and the EU were represented by A. Merkel, N. Sarkozy, R.Prodi, T. Blair, S. Abe, G.W. Bush, W.Putin, S. Harper and J. Barroso. The meeting of the G8 is highly controversial and for some years, demonstrations have been organized to protest against the summit. The demonstrators know how to get attention for their political goals; at the same time, they try to avoid any kind of violent clashes with the police. The organizers at the G8 summit have tried to make Heiligendamm a fortress- a Sacred Dike... A huge fence should separate the government representatives, who are „in“, from the civil society, who is „out“. Where the protest becomes visible, the demonstrators are face to face with the police. Two groups watch each other, are in front of each other and skirmishes take place. Not far away from the demonstrations, at the beach of Kühlungsborn, people on vacation relax in the sun. What is happening close to them, does not touch them in any way. But there are also the curious who live nearby and who cautiously catch a glimpse over their fences to see what is going on beyond their property. At first glance, there is no violence. Yet, it is just not visible and it becomes more and more perceptible.



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