regional reports

not sure where this page is going but its vaguely an updated view of what we've heard is going on..

updated 14.8.2001

italia

(taken from rainbownetwork.com)

A gay man has told about how he was beaten during the recent G8 riots in Genoa following an admission by Italy’s national police chief that his officers used excessive force.

Stefano Maiocchi sustained injuries from police who attacked him and other demonstrators.

Maiocchi, who went to Genoa with two friends in order to take part in a peaceful protest against the world leaders’ summit, was not a member of any organisation, although the gay groups G.L.O. from Milan and Mario Mieli from Rome were present.

“We passed through the eastern part of the city without problems,” he said, although he saw “petrol stations, banks and other buildings that had been damaged the previous day”.

Maiocchi said that at first he was not afraid. He had not seen any members of the Black Block, who were allegedly responsible for the worst of the violence. He met up with his friends and joined the main march through Genoa. There were numerous police helicopters and a heavy police presence.

Maiocchi reported that the police launched a tear gas attack on the crowd. “We were ordered to raise our hands by the police,” he explained. “Obviously we all obeyed immediately.” Maiocchi said that he believed he would be safe if he followed police orders, remarking with hindsight that this was “fatal naivety”.

In what he terms a “military onslaught on totally unarmed people,” Maiocchi was beaten by police, sustaining lower back injuries, trauma to his head and damage to his hearing. He said that others who were injured included mothers and children, and a woman who was approximately 50 years old, all “brutally stepped on”.

Maiocchi caught up with an ambulance where he received medical attention. He was advised to avoid local hospitals because patients were being arrested there.

Maiocchi is still unsure of the long-term effects of his injuries.

Gianni De Gennaro, the head of the Italian police force, has told a government inquiry that police brutality would be fully investigated.

a call for bands

It`s quite likely you have seen the pictures of what happened in Genoa during the G8 days: the riots, the police beatings (and tortures inside their headquarters), the death of 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani have filled TV screens/newspapers/web sites the world over. Quite a few homosexual friends (both male and female) were beaten senselessly during the anti globalization protests. Therefore, Speed Demon (which is at the moment the only underground queer reality in Italy; it`s probably just fair for us as Italians to get involved in such a project) is thinking about producing and releasing a statement against the violence legitimised by the current right-wing government and to reclaim our right and freedom to demonstrate. We are thinking about a concept compilation featuring queer bands/artists only, which should feature exclusive songs reflecting upon what happened. The G8 and the whole globalization thing, police violence and torture in their headquarters, unjustified arrests, the death of a young man or even your own feelings/reflections you got from reading/watching the happenings: all of these could be good subjects for a song. We are asking all bands/artists to support us in this project, in order to give the Italian government a strong homosexual signal of civil resistance/disobedience. Please, don`t tell us that you`re not a political band. Human rights are everybody`s concern. Technical details: We are still deciding the format, it could be either a 7" or a CD but we are asking for contributions on a DAT tape. Your suggestions for a title are also welcome, since we`re still thinking about it, and of course written contributions for a booklet. Deadline is the end of September 2001; in the meantime, we`re available for any questions/clarifications. 

This message was sent to all the queer bands/artists we know of or are in touch directly: pansy division / harum scarum / tribe 8 / the butchies / karate cowgirl / halflings / sarah dougher / rubeo / rainbow flava / three dollar bill / tamy hart / dirty barby / the little deaths / sissies / vaginal davis / Nelson Ericks / maasen / vgurra / limp wrist / the haggard / the moves / fabulous disaster / brown star / automaticas / sourtooth / terre thaemlitz / starfag / the need / low end models / d/dc / she devils / fat rat / the crowns / weird mc / miranda july / lords of lightspeed / kill mariah ... Surely we have forgotten someone, but we would like everybody to get involved. Therefore, we are asking you to spread the info about our project to all queer musical entities you know of. While looking forward to hearing from you, we thank everybody for your attention and commitment. flavio (speed demon - p.o. box 44/a - p.zza san babila 4/d - 20122 milano - italy http://www.speeddemon.it speeddemon@galactica.it) PS. Don`t forget the homosexuals had Stonewall..... if there`s anybody it`s definitely us, who know about police violence and repression.

ITALIA...check out HTTP://WWW.MONDOBIZZARRO.NET or visit

VIA ALESSENDRINI 7, 40126, BOLOGNA, ITALY...

MONDO FAB GALLERY IS WORTH CHECKING OUT FOLX!

berlin first of all, the h-bar hasn't existed for the past like two years or so. BUT there is a new similar project, it's called RATTEN-BAR (rat bar - the name refers to the csd-parade in 1999, when police attacked the h-bar-truck etc. see tuntenhaus home page), it usually takes place every second wednesday in "schnarup-thumby", a house-project at Scharnweberstr. 38 (corner Colbestr., U Samariterstr., in Friedrichshain). it took place three (or four?) times already, and we always had some little trashy show about themes like "defense-strategies", "300 years rats in prussia" (it's the prussia-year this year, you know), and some quiz-show about some stupid politician, but that's kind of regional. anyway, the next DATEs will be: July 21st (!-Saturday) @ tuntenhaus (kastanienallee 86), and then August 8th at Schnarup-Thumby. After that isn't sure yet, but probably Aug 22nd asf. (actually, you can find flyers on the party-page of tuntenhaus) There won't be an official  tunten haus  & hoffest again this year. the "organization committee" broke apart after quarrelling about how to keep tourist and love-parade-visitors out (it's the love-parade weekend). the decision was made to let only people in drag in. after that, nobody wanted to work anymore .......also we see the demise of the h-bar, a queer night at a squat that seems to have ran for years(click here for a history of the tunten haus in berlin). if you do turn up in berlin you will see a continous roll of change...evictions of squats and gentrification...try finding the squat kopi on kopenikerstrasse, in kreutzburg before its developed, there are shows and cafes there. hey and then we had end of last year the...

Lesbian Avengers, Berlin 

The not-yet-founded Lesbian Avengers group of Berlin already organized an  action before Christmas (yes, I know, this is not what most people would  call "news", but I was off the net for 3 weeks or so...). The Kiss-In  took place at a very popular Christmas market in the center of (west-)  Berlin, on the last sunday before Christmas. The Lesbian Avengers were  first going around the market in small groups of 2-6, kissing constantly,  before assembling in the center of the market. We were singing some  rearranged Christmas songs with new *dyke* texts, all in all producing  very much publicity and being VERY visible. There were 50-100 dykes  there, and the atmosphere was very nice and relaxed among the lesbians.  Some of the hets didn't really know how to deal with us, so some tried  very hard to look away, while others tried very hard to look friendly. We  had 2 or 3 very negative reactions from the visitors, a lady stating that  we spoilt her xmas with de-sacrification (?) of holy songs, going away  with the Bible in her hand. An old man said that we would seduce the  youth and a couple told us that "under Hitler you would have been lined  up against the wall and been shot. BANG BANG BANG!". We informed the  press, too, and two left-wing newspapers were showing up (Die  Tageszeitung and Junge Welt). We got a big photo in both of the papers  with one short and one very short, but also very positive, article. This  was only the beginning and more "political" and radical actions are  hopefully going to follow. 

Founding Meeting (finally)   The official founding meeting of the Lesbian Avengers, Berlin is going to  take place on January, 30 at Pelze's. This founding meeting is going to  be the "official" start of the Lesbian Avengers in Berlin and hopefully a  lot of dykes are showing up. I'm looking very much forward to that, also  because it will be, as far as I know, the first non-English-speaking  Lesbian Avengers group ever!  For more information, requests, etc. contact me at :

henrisch@fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de 

Dyky greetings from Berlin,                 Henrike

(  If yer interested the london lesbian avengers resurected themselves also last year for the pink bus demo, which aimed to bring attention to the "new labour" goverments slow movements on manifesto pledges and a campaign led by the homophobic owner of a bus company called stage coach to maintain a thatcherite law which prevents homosexuality being discussed in schools or 'promoted' in any way in the public 'sector' ie no gay mags in libraries or local government funding of gay groups. the action involved taking over a bus(owned by stage coach) in central london and painting it pink! such fun!!)

anyway, sticking with deutschland, if your in hamburg then go to the hafenstrasse in st pauli...legalized squats have bars (like onkle ottos) and show spaces (both at the top of "the stairs" as well a a fab cafe "at the bottom". the rota flora at the schulterblatt puts on big parties, has a bar and cafe but can be a shit arsed place for homophobia sometimes, but also has cool queer parties...big n busy usually with djs and different dance floors...the last one in febuary was a benefit for the kellar bar, 3E (new queer indipendent bar) and the schwule bausteller (cool queer bar on Schlanke Reyer...and convieniently near hamburgs info shop). last week also saw a fascist demo...200 came along and the city was closed down, 700 antifa came along on a counter demo. the funniest thing is that the fascists were not alowed to wear boots and bomber jackets!

london meanwhile has plans for an alternative mardi gras .. this city has constant problems with the divide between north and south london...with each thinking the other are having a better time. each has its own squat scene, and queer goings on.. .see eroding empire for more london updates/reports! or the info shop '56a' at 56 crampton street se17, near elephant and castle tube/train...open thurs and friday 15h-20h, also has byke worksop and food co-op! talking squats there's a PARIS based site worth checking out http://www.multimania.com/squart.