Protesters super-glued themselves to glass security gates inside BBC.They protested the lack of balanced reporting of the Israeli bombings on Gaza. http://www.undercurrents.org
You need two things – enough still pictures and a voice-over script.
Write a voice-over of 3 sentences only.
1.The situation (the news) – who, what, where
2.The background
3.What the viewer can do
Total duration of text: NOT MORE THAN 30 seconds
For more advice on writing / editing voiceover, click here.
Open any audio or video editing software, e.g.
Adobe Audition or free software Audacity and record the voice-over using a microphone in a quiet space (hiding under a duvets really useful if neaserery)
Import this track and the relevant channel music track (see downloads) into the software, and combine them.
Let the music play for 5 seconds or so before bringing the voice-over in. Let the music play out for at least 7 seconds after the voice-over stops.
Make sure the music is not too loud and that the voice can be heard clearly.
Make an mp3 of this edited soundtrack.
Open up animoto.Place your stills in the order you want them, starting with the Urgent Action Alerts graphic, and ending with an appropriate visionOntv end credit. The still before last should be the website of the campaign, which you should make in animoto text.
(You will need 7-10 still photos, in addition to the 2 visionOntv graphics at beginning and end and the website text graphic).
Mix the animation, make any adjustments (adding or removing stills or moving them around) and re-mix until you are happy.Download the result.Send us the link or email us the video so that we can check it and upload to the correct channel.
TEMPLATE for Short News Reports
As above, except for these differences:
3 sentences
1.What happened, where, to or by whom
2.Background info
3.What may happen in the future
Total voice-over duration: 30 seconds
If you have any difficulties writing the voice-over text, feel free to take it from a copyleft source such as indymedia or campaign websites.
Inside animoto, everything as above, except the first still is “visionOntv news”, and the animoto text before the final graphic is “for more info + website”
Photographers Rights And The Law In The UK - A brief guide for street photographers.
Know your rights when you're out with your camera.
Despite the law being clear on a citizen's rights to freely take pictures in public places (with a few restrictions) there is growing evidence of the police, police community support officers (PCSOs), security guards and general jobsworths failing to respect the rights of photographers going about their lawful business.
Street shots If you're on a public right of way - such as a public pavement, footpath or public highway - you're free to take photographs for personal and commercial use so long as you're not causing an obstruction to other users or falling foul of anti-Terrorism laws or even the Official Secrets Act (frankly, this one is unlikely).
Property owners have no right to stop people taking photos of their buildings, so long as the photographer is standing in a public place (e.g. the road outside).
However, if you're standing on private property and the landowner/occupier objects, then they have every right to request that you stop immediately and ask you to leave if you refuse.
Shopping Centres Most shopping centres and malls stand on private land with many gaining a notorious reputation for speedily dispatching stroppy security guards demanding that you stop taking photos.
The irony that they're already busy filming you from every angle via a flotilla of CCTV cameras is generally lost on them.
Deleting images Security guards do not have stop and search powers or the right to seize your equipment or delete images or confiscate film under any circumstances.
How greedy US corporations threaten to end the level playing field of the internet, meaning some information will be more equal than others. Barack Obama has declared his commitment to net neutrality, but now he needs holding to that in the face of the lobbyists. www.foureyedmonsters.com/neutrality www.visionon.tv
Is an outreach alt-media project – brining the simplicity of TV to the interactivity of web2
* make open source solutions and open standards useable by normal people * using video to bring radical voices and approaches to the problems facing society * creating communities around these solutions/approaches * motivating/informing/networking these communities
We believe that closed corporate solutions will keep failing. So the are always spaces for open solutions to become real in the virtual world.
- people feel disempowered - cut off from communities of like minded people - they are swamped by information, much of it of very low quality.
Technologies P2P - Torrents Syndication - RSS Video standards - H264 Open source CMS
What we need * Hot designer who can use simplicity to create functionality * Video content produces * System admins for web back end and server upkeep
Why are we making a new version of MIRO Well we started this project back in 2004 before the Democracy Player project had started; we developed our own download player app – using Azureus and an embedded media player. But this had a problem we couldn’t solve – the overly complex Sun Java installer so when Democracy Player (DP) was announced we were very excited as it was to have much the same functionality and was to be easily skinned – we thought this is fab, we could get on with video production and not worry about the tec backend.
DP took a lot longer than hoped to become stable and lost its easy skinning on route, finely we decided to search for a good programmer to do the skinning by hacking the UI code which we eventually found. Our VisionOnTV player backend is pure Miro we have only changed/added to the UI. Miro is a good app for computer savvy people – but it is less accessible for the every day TV viewer – it uses a lean forward interface and its lean back (TV) interface is lacking – we aimed to add this lean back interface so viewers can access the video content either way. In this we are adding accessibility and choice not taking it away.
Funding At the moment we are using foundation funding, we received a small grant which has got us to were we are now. And have recently been approved for a big grant (2 years core funding) but this has taken a long time to work through the lawyers.
We aim to do ethical advertising/grassroots notice board/classified and show sponsorship for long term funding.
The inside story on how Mark upset the U.S secret service by putting a bounty on President G.W Bush.The war on 'Terror', ID cards, animal rights,politicians and just about everything gets a look in during his inspired comedy. http://www.visionon.tv
Here is a kind of an update on where we are. Me and Richard have moved to East London and have put in a grant application to do “Hackney TV”, which will be a model example of a local VOTV channel and complete the second stage of work on the CMS.
This is a 2-year project which uses IPTV to grow local democracy via news.
We already have foundation funding to create an IPTV news station (visionOntv), and are bidding to build a multi-faceted but really simple-to-use content management system for this station, so that it can become comprehensively interactive and realize its potential for social change. It is essential that the CMS development be rooted in a local community, so that it can be tested and refined. We are therefore also seeking funding to facilitate Hackney TV, a visionOntv local channel in a London borough undergoing rapid change under the shadow of the 2012 Olympics, which will be this testing ground. If the CMS is successful in Hackney, it can be replicated globally.
Hackney TV will be a mix of local news and views, including rapid-turnaround, “live-edit” studio shows, as well as news reportage.
We will fully exploit the “micro-broadcasting” that IPTV enables. Our cms is based on the award-winning Liferay system, which is open source.It will encourage physical connections between people that traditional media has no power to do, beginning with neighbours recognising each other, through simultaneous chat while playing a film, to the creation of forums and physical groups around important community issues. Personalised adverts and info-verts will make TV into a community noticeboard. The cms will also draw in data from other existing national and global social networks, blogs, corporate news etc, so that it is constantly up-dated with new info. News becomes interactive through “E-decision” plebiscites by text, web voting and interactive IPTV booths in public venues, community cafes etc. Local business sponsorship by automated advertising makes it sustainable.
The focusing of the CMS group on a borough-sized community is the key to grassroots news. However, citizen journalist video production generally lacks the key skills and focus to substitute fully the role that top-down media currently plays. Quality control and fact-checking are absent, while disruptive posts are tolerated. Our cms will include these controls and thus feed relevant and accessible news from the grassroots back to the grassroots.
The 2012 Olympics will bring rapid change for the communities of Hackney in East London, over which they need to have control. A local interactive news service dedicated to their needs will give them a voice and enable them to shout louder.
Our project works both as “lean-back” TV and as interactive video on the web. The huge problem with other CMS's is that they are “out of the box” and designed by techies for techies, whereas we are outreaching beyond this.
We are broadcasting video content to drive interaction rather than relying on people simply to interact in an empty space.
We aim to create real-world communities by virtual tools. Live chat while watching a film will turn into forum posts, relationship links and involvement in outside groups,outside of a walled garden. Physical meet-ups will be pushed, via screenings, action groups or socializing. Local info-verts will be personalized to you. Currently, no other video site has a sense of community like this.
Undercurrents is an award-winning media charity of 15 years' standing, which coined the term “video activism”. We pre-empted the media revolution of the 21st century by putting camcorders in the hands of environmental activists during the 1990s. Popular London magazine Time Out tagged our work as ‘The News you don’t see on the News’. We put views from the grassroots in front of both the wider public and decision makers.
As part of the visionOntv project, we recently ran a studio at the Camp for Climate Action in Kent, England, making 20 shows in the space of a week, syndicated to over 40 streaming sites and our own video player application (a customised version of Miro).
Hamish Campbell, Richard Hering and Paul O'Connor have 45 years of video trainer and producer experience between them.
Hamish is the CEO of visionOntv, which was his idea. He is designing the parameters of the CMS and all other software, and envisioning the trajectory of the project as a whole.
Richard is also an award-winning investigative reporter for British TV, winning the Bill Travers Award for Environmental Investigation '97, the Amnesty International Press Award '98, and the Rory Peck Features Award '99, on subjects such as the illegal mahogany trade from Brazil and the effects of the nuclear test program in China.
Paul is co-founder of Undercurrents, and De Murphy is our financial manager.
Tom Campbell has been CTO for Bertelsmann, American Express, Scholastic & Teleglobal. He is an expert in the Liferay CMS, currently working on mobile-driven interactive TV services.
What unmet needs does your proposal answer?
Internet TV is increasingly dominated by privately-owned walled gardens. Instead, user-friendly open standards are needed.
Local people feel ignored through the Olympics development process in Hackney, and more generally by the lack of any participatory democracy. Lack of focussed social media connection means such communities are atomised and unable to find a collective voice.
Too few projects convert virtual interaction into physical.
No one has yet knocked down the barriers to making frequent and effective citizen journalist video news.
Currently, cms projects are not easily embeddable into other blogs, websites and cms's, so replication, distribution and dissemination are severely limited.
What tasks/benchmarks need to be accomplished to develop your project and by when will you complete them?
0 months
Employ liferay team to customise and develop CMS and create channel template to build onto our basic liferay install.
Start Hackney outreach and training. Consolidate existing contacts and outreach to new ones.
Research on Hackney stories.
Run first of 12 training workshops on video news and using the CMS.
Set up monthly volunteer meet-ups in Hackney with public screening.
Set up weekly support afternoon in the VOTV office for volunteers with practical problems.
3 months
BETA testing of CMS
Encourage Hackney residents to send in stories and trial e-plebiscites via the CMS
We have 20 local citizen journalists
The channel is up and running, with 5 channel embeds on local issue-based websites
6 months
30 citizen journalists
Version 1 (non-interactive) mini-cinemas installed in community venues
Version 1 of the full interactive CMS is launched
Start marketing and publicity for this CMS globally
Roll out local noticeboard advertising to sustain the project
Trial subtitling and open translation wiki.
Set up subtitling working group.
12 months
50 citizen journalists
Tweeks to local advertising.
Version 2 of CMS based on feedback, and we implement smaller geo-areas as focus.
The CMS is fully widgeted so local sites start to take the interaction from the IPTV site onto their own web spaces.
Start of global marketing and publicity for the noticeboard advertising
Apply for further grants for global marketing beyond this funding (in 12 months' time).
18 months
Campaigning around the Olympics and other local issues.
Version 2 of mini-cinemas (interactive with e-plebiscites)
Expand the widgetisation to 3rd sector partners' web resources.
24 months
The project is fully running and supported by local noticeboard advertising.
It has introduced new levels of participatory democracy in Hackney, beginning around the Olympics issue, and now much more broadly.
Further funding kicks in to continue the marketing of the project globally.
What will you have changed by the end of your project?
1.Created a fully-functioning cms for the building of iptv projects, crucially one which can easily be transferred in part or whole to any other project, without branding. Liferay is the only open source cms which allows people to embed any part of theproject into their blog/website, and vice versa. This makes the project simple to replicate and disseminate, with no need for anyone to “start from scratch”. The cms will have
important innovations for social interaction, such as multi-level chat (if no one else is watching the film at the same time as you, you can interact on the channel level above), and the turning of chat, of its nature more ephemeral, into more useful and long-lasting forum posts.
2.Evaluated the use of an open video and rss metadata standard (http://is.gd/9DU6).
3.Via Hackney TV, enabled local news-sharing, and through it deepened democracy, in an area undergoing massive change (see http://opendalston.blogspot.com/). News coverage will spread out from the Olympics development into other local issues.
4.Created a large body of inspirational creative commons video content. Have been the first to create and disseminate genuinely workable templates for video news production by beginners and non-professionals. At the beginner's level is a template which can be used by anyone with basic computer skills and a camera phone, but producing a professional and watchable result (see http://is.gd/9CND)
5.Created a completely scaleable form of distribution of this grassroots content, with a model of sustainability through automated classified advertising.
6.Aim to have defined user-friendly open standards as the future of internet TV, as opposed to corporate walled gardens.
How will you measure progress and ultimately success?
Statistically, progress is precisely measured in increasing numbers of rss subscribers, views, comments and active user accounts.
As a “from virtual to physical” project, physical meet-ups are also important to monitor. As a project with low-income outreach, use of interactive mini-cinemas is also important.
Google analytics gives us data such as viewers' geo-location and the content they access, the keywords and links that brought them to our website, and much more.
By focusing initially on one London borough, we can precisely assess our impact on the democratic strength of the local communities which could be served globally by our project. In concrete practical terms, for instance, will the man whose family has run a business in the local market for four generations still have a job?
Ultimately, success is measured by take-up of the cms by communities worldwide to make positive social change. More widely it is measured by projects taking the open source content and standards, or any part of them, and developing their own projects.
The other measure is that of enabling sustainability through “paypal” income from the automated advertising.
Two of the most successful open source projects on the web are ubuntu and firefox, providing real alternatives to closed projects. We aim to be part of an equivalent for IPTV, working with groups such as the Participatory Culture Foundation in the US.
Do you see any risk in the development of your project?
1.The biggest risk is that we don't do it, and allow closed corporate solutions to dominate the world of iptv and video on the web, while other alt-media projects remain ghettoised.
2.There are lots of great projects out there and we all need to support each other. A risk is that other sites are not open enough in terms of creative commons licensing and full rss feeds with downloadable enclosures, so we need to argue persuasively for this.
3.The threat that, in the face of recession, free streaming will close down or become polluted with intrusive advertising is not really a risk to us, though it will shut down many projects relying on streaming alone. Our embeds in other sites would be replaced by links to install our player app (based on Miro), which automatically downloads via bittorrent. We will also use bittorrent streaming when it is stable enough.
4.ISPs may increasingly impinge on net neutrality, favouring fee-paying companies over citizen journalist networks. Our project is relatively immune through its use of off-peak peer-caching. In this way, we also suffer less from ISP traffic-shaping than traditional peak-time streaming video.
5.Broadband metering and capping can be seen as more of an ISP business model than a real technical problem (see http://is.gd/8XOt).
6.The current advertising crash leading to a dotcom recession again affects us less, because our advertising model is people2people, similar to that of craig's list.
7.The greatest risk is that we create a prefect cms, but no one takes it up. This is why marketing and publicity is such a central plank of our strategy.
8.There is finally the risk that we spend all our time completing fund-raising applications rather than doing the actual project! (:
What is your marketing plan? How will people learn about what you are doing?
Half of our working time will be spent on marketing and publicity, in four separate areas:
1. Hackney TV
Network with existing local campaign groups, hold outreach meetings and screenings, plus mini-cinemas (recycled computers showing the channel in community venues). We will also use posters and stickers.
2. Technical
So far the visionOntv project as a whole has over 3 million views with only a trickle of content and without having publicised and launched.
Expand our syndication to over 40 major web portals and search engines.
Increase exponentially our Google juice, including using search engine optimisation with keywords.
Embed in other sites and blogs (extremely valuable for building views).
A team of interns will use link aggregators, bookmarking sites and email lists to draw people to the project.
Initially produce 10 viral video hits from the undercurrents archive (see e.g. http://is.gd/9CJ6), all linking back to the visionOntv page.
Add titles and end-boards to all visionOntv syndicated material.
3. Grassroots
Build on Undercurrents' reputation: "ingenious DIY culture at its best" (New Statesman magazine), and “compelling viewing” (Independent newspaper).
Do outreach training tours (already funded), public screenings, mini-cinemas, regular producer/campaigning group meet-ups.
Appear in all the popular web 2.0 IPTV shows such as Rocketboom etc.
4. Mainstream outreach
Use our access to quality news outlets to foster a national conversation on the transition from old broadcasting to new:
–newspaper and magazine articles, interviews for national papers
-local radio for geographical outreach
-world social forum and other local social forums
-conferences
-Our films will also intervene in national debates via seasons and studio discussion shows.
The have been a lot of resent closers and cut backs as free becomes less free in the video dotcom world. Now who will actually pay for these services interesting to see.
Mogulus Pro Launches: HD Quality, White Label, Privacy, Analytics & More Available Today
We're excited to tell you that Mogulus PRO is available today! We've been hard at work enhancing the Mogulus platform to respond to everyone interested in professional features, and we think it will be worth the wait.
Please take a minute to read through this email. There are some important changes happening along with the launch of Mogulus PRO that will affect every producer. Plus, there's a great offer at the end...
What is Mogulus PRO?
Mogulus Pro gives you the same great, industry-leading features and functionality that you now enjoy with your Mogulus FREE account - and more! We've added a bundle of new features geared toward professional producers, so you can have even more quality, control and flexibility.
Let's take a look at the Mogulus PRO features available upon launch:
Remove Ads
All PRO channels will automatically have our network overlay ads removed, so you're in full control of the user experience.
Make Money
Use supported ad networks to monetize your content by integrating overlay ads from ScanScout or Google AdSense for Video.
Analyze Stats
Detailed analytics on your PRO channels including statistics on viewer minutes, unique viewers, channel usage, content, embedded players, referrers, and more.
Privacy Options
Remove your channel from the Mogulus Program Guide and Mogulus Grid, and even restrict the websites that can embed your channel.
High-Quality Streaming
PRO channels can opt to broadcast HD-quality streams (up to 1.7 mbps) with On2 VP6 encoded media transcoded on our servers.
Wide-Screen Format
PRO channels can also customize format to broadcast in standard (4:3), wide-screen (16:9), or even cinema (2.39:1).
White Label Player
PRO channels can remove the Mogulus logo and all Mogulus-related links from the Player for completely self-branded user experience.
PRO Terms of Use & SLA
PRO channel owners retain all rights to their broadcast content, with very favorable terms, and a Service Level Agreement that gives you the guarantees you need.
There are many more PRO features and improvements under development, including scheduled programming, APIs, and additional options to monetize your content, including integration of more advertising networks and self-managed campaigns.
Mogulus PRO Plans & Pricing
Mogulus PRO plans will be based on the number of PRO channels you need, and how much storage and bandwidth you use. There will be two plans available upon launch:
PRO-1 ($350 per month)
1 Pro Channel
25 GB / mo storage included (overage at $1.50 / GB)
25 GB / mo bandwidth included (overage at $1.50 / GB)
PRO-10 ($1,250 per month)
10 Pro Channels
200 GB / mo storage included (overage at $1.00 / GB)
200 GB / mo bandwidth included (overage at $0.80 / GB)
All users with PRO plans can continue creating FREE channels anytime, just as you do today. If you do have a PRO plan, now you can simply set the channels you choose to "PRO" (up to the number of channel slots available in your plan).
How Much Would it Cost to Go PRO for Your Channel? Launch Estimator
Purchasing a PRO plan will be easy. When we launch, there will be an easy, self-service interface on our website that lets you pick a plan, enter your credit card, and start using PRO features immediately.
What Does This Mean for Current FREE Producers?
First, don't worry. You can keep using Mogulus the way you always have without any big difference in the way you use Mogulus today. We want to make sure this a smooth transition.
That said, here is what you need to keep in mind:
All FREE channels will now have ads. You will need to purchase a PRO plan in order to remove ads. By placing ads on FREE channels, we can continue offering you all of the features you love about Mogulus, for FREE!
For users that already have ads disabled on existing Free channels, we offer a 2 week grace period before we begin displaying overlay ads on your channels.
Users who want PRO features can finally have them! We've listened to thousands of feature requests in developing Mogulus PRO, and we hope you're as excited about it as we are.
Special Promotion for Beta Users
For those of you that have been patiently waiting for Mogulus Pro, we have two special offers if you sign up now:
The first ten (10) users that buy a Pro-1 plan get 1,000 GB of free bandwidth or storage - your choice ($1,500 value)
The first ten (10) users that buy a Pro-10 plan get 10,000 GB of free bandwidth or storage - your choice ($8,000 value)
We will confirm the winners via email to the first 10 who sign up for each plan. Winners can select which they prefer -- free storage or free bandwidth -- and we will add a credit to their account by the end of the month.
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more news on Mogulus PRO, and enhancements to the entire Mogulus platform.
After over seven years of investigation and trial process concerning the indictment of 76 italian police following events during the Genova G8 2001 summit. During July 2008, thirteen police from prison, GOM MOBILE, Carabineri and two medical staff were convicted of abuse of authority, abuse and torture as the Diaz sister trial, Bolzaneto came to an end.
With the Diaz convictions On November 14th 2008 of another thirteen 7th mobile riot commanders and men this brings a total of 26. On the face of it, a big success for any police trial. The Italian newspapers reported that Diaz was the blackest page in Italian police history. The issues raised by the Diaz trial and it verdict would have deep implications for the La Maddalena G8, for the Judicial Authority of Italy, the Government and most of all, the Interior Ministry.
The Diaz verdict was political and not based on any legal or evidence logic. It did not matter if the victims had 1000% evidence, the Diaz judge just was not going to convict. Diaz had overwhelming evidence. You would have to have overwhelming evidence to bring a trial against any police.
Currently, some of the victims and GLF staff have travelled to London for a press conference and also to show OP Genova 2001 at various locations. If you have not seen it, I recommend you come along to one of the viewings. If you are a journalist or blogger, the press conference is the right place to ask questions.
At the Press conference, we will deal with the aftermath of Diaz and the implications for the Italian La Maddalena G8 2009.
Will the Diaz and Bolzaneto trials travel towards ECHR Strasbourg or appeal to the Rome Supreme Court? There will be several news announcements about future developments concerning Diaz.
Due to the fact that the Diaz verdict failed to prevent the same men that commanded the raid will be in command of the italian police and army operation. This is the worst news for any victim. Not only to lose the battle for justice but also to understand that something like the events of Genoa could happen again. It is as though no lessons have been learned despite several expensive trials and many convictions.
The Diaz victims and the GLF will brief journalists on the current state of security in Italy on the run up to the first G8 that Obama, the first black president of the USA. The nature of what Obama is up against and will also field questions about berlusconi's policy towards climate change.
The press conference will have a photo show on display from those days during the Genova G8.
Speakers: Matt Foot UK Diaz lawyer, Italian lawyers (with translators), Mark Covell and Carlo Baroschmitt (GLF)
on Friday 5th December at 10.30 am (until 12 noon) at: The Hub meeting room 33 Corsham Street London N1 6DR
hope to see some of you at one of the viewings or press conference.
Mark Covell indymedia
for more directions or information please contact Mark Covell on 07985 389635 or reply on this email
Uproar as top police cleared of attack on Genoa G8 protesters
• Junior officers sentenced, but will not go to jail • Savage beatings left some peaceful victims in coma
There was uproar in a Genoa court last night after some of Italy's highest-ranking police officers, accused of masterminding a savage attack on peaceful protesters at the G8 meeting in the city seven years ago, were cleared of the charges against them.
The area reserved for the public erupted into chants of "shame, shame" as the presiding judge finished reading his verdict. The mother of one of the victims clambered on to a crash barrier and screamed: "We'll have our revenge".
Enrica Bartesaghi, the head of a pressure group formed by victims' relatives, told the Guardian: "My daughter was beaten so badly she was taken to hospital. She will receive €5,000 [£4,300]. Unfortunately, ours is no longer a civilised country. The sentence is an insult [to her]."
The three judges handed out sentences of up to four years to some of the operational commanders. But none of them will have to go to jail, because their offences will expire under a statute of limitations early next year.
None of the officers who carried out the beatings was a defendant in the trial. All were masked, and none wore names or numbers during the raid. Only one has ever been identified.
Among those acquitted were Giovanni Luperi, who has since been put in charge of the Italian equivalent of MI5, and two of Italy's most senior detectives, Francesco Gratteri and Gilberto Calderozzi. Several of the top police officers accused in the trial were filmed standing outside the building as the beatings proceeded.
Almost 30 people were taken to hospital after the raid, several in comas. An Italian judge subsequently ruled that none of those staying at the Armando Diaz school had had any part in the intensely violent rioting or looting that marked the anti-corporate globalisation protests in Genoa.
A statement issued by some of the victims accused the Italian police of acting "outside the democratic order". It added: "That is possible because they know they enjoy total impunity, as this sentence confirms."
Mark Covell, from Reading, one of five Britons injured in the attack, said: "The evidence was overwhelming. There is no justice here. I feel sorry for Italy."
Evidence was brought by the prosecution that police had planted two petrol bombs at the school to try to show that its occupants were violent subversives. But only the junior officers who carried the Molotov cocktails on to the premises were convicted, and their sentences and convictions have also expired under the statute of limitations.
Last night's impassioned scenes came after four years of legal wrangling. Preliminary hearings in three cases arising from the most violent of G8 protests began in 2004. The first to conclude ended in December last year, when 24 demonstrators were found guilty of damage to property and looting. They were jailed for between five months and 11 years.
In July, 15 police officers and doctors who were on duty at a holding centre near Genoa were found guilty of brutally mistreating detainees, including many from the Diaz school. The court heard of threatened rapes, sadistic maltreatment, and of detainees being forced to bark like dogs and sing anti-Jewish songs.
Those convicted of the abuses received sentences of up to five years in jail. But, again, none will serve time. The sentences, together with the convictions, will be cancelled when the statute of limitations takes effect next year.
No justice in Genoa
The G8 protesters were brutalised, yet the Foreign Office showed complete indifference
Rich Moth and Nicola Doherty had waited a long time for the verdict. But, seven years on, they have been sorely disappointed. On Thursday night, some of Italy's highest-ranking police officers, accused of masterminding a savage attack on peaceful G8 protesters, including Moth and Doherty, in 2001, were cleared of the charges against them.
More than 60 people were taken to hospital after the raid, several in comas. Yet none of the officers who carried out the beatings was even a defendant in the trial. All were masked, and none wore names or numbers during the raid. Only one has ever been identified.
In July 2001, Moth and Doherty travelled to Genoa to join 300,000 protestors in the huge anti-globalisation demonstration against the G8 meeting taking place there. On the Saturday night they decided to stay at the Diaz school, which the local council had given over to people travelling from out of town. But, as they were zipping up their sleeping bags, riot police battered down the front door and streamed in, lashing out indiscriminately.
The pair fled upstairs but there was no escape. As a riot squad walked down the dark corridor, methodically beating those cowering there, Rich lay on top of Nicola to protect her. Officers took it in turns to hit them with batons and kick them, leaving Rich covered with bruises and with a serious gash to the head, while Nicola sustained a fractured wrist.
But this week, after four years of legal wrangling, justice has not been done, The three judges handed out sentences of up to four years to some of the operational commanders, but none of them will have to go to jail, because their offences will expire under a statute of limitations early next year. So what was the verdict on this appalling episode of police brutality?
The five Britons injured in the attack, including Mark Covell, who was almost killed, Dan McQuillan and Norman Blair have tried to move on with their lives, but this decision leaves them without closure. The British government harps on about victims' rights but at the same time shows complete indifference to the plight of these people. Foreign ministers have ignored their letters and the current incumbent has refused to meet them. Presumably these are not the right sort of victim.
Back in July 2001, from the luxury of the yacht where the G8 summit took place, the then foreign secretary Jack Straw reminded us of the need to uphold the rule of law and insisted that he was certain the Italian judicial system would see justice done. These have proved hollow pronouncements.
During the byzantine trial process, the victims of this astonishing episode of police brutality have three times had to brace themselves to recount in court their dreadful experiences - each time the evidence given through tears. They even had the ignominy of facing serious charges that they themselves had been involved in violent disorder, allegations which were later found to be trumped up. The court has made a political decision which reflects more Silvio Berlusconi's return to office than the truth.
Anyone who spends two seconds looking at the video of the police riot at the Diaz school can see that it must have been ordered from on high. It is inconceivable that separate police squads from different parts of the country poured into Diaz school at the same moment and starting beating people without prior briefing and orders.
Rich Moth described the scene in the school that night with bleeding bodies strewn around as like the Crimean war. The sadness and travesty of this latest decision can only confirm the trusted phrase - no justice no peace.
Images and footage from the 2001 demonstrations in Genoa went all around the world, from police vans attempting to run down lone demonstrators to the pictures of Carlo Giuliani after a Carabinieri officer had murdered him.
The reconstruction of these events has taken place in the Italian courts during the many trials that have occurred over the last seven years. Some demonstrators have suffered severe penalties, amounting to 110 years of sentences. At the same time many police officers have been accused of offences ranging from attempted murder to abuse of office and false testimony.
The offices of the Genova Legal Secretariat have been set up to aid the lawyers accusing police officers and defending demonstrators. Their task has mainly revolved around the reconstruction of video and photographic evidence.
The film OP Genova is one of the results of this work and has been used to defend the demonstrators accused of devastating and looting the city. It also provides many insights into the way public order was mismanaged by the police during the demonstrations.
The film screening will be followed by a discussion with some of the film makers about the making of the film and the legal aftermath of Genova's counter-summit.
*Fri 5 Dec* 10h30 – 12pm Press Conference in 33 Corsham Street, London N1 6DR 7pm on Dissident Island Radio http://www.dissidentisland.org/
At Cafe Oto, Ashwin Street, Dalston. The meeting includes the premier of Winstan Whitter's new documentary film "Save our Heritage"(some of you may have seen his brilliant film "A legacy in the dust"). The writer Iain Sinclair will describe his strange experience of being banned from Hackney Council's libraries and he will be reading from his forthcoming book "Hackney. That rose-red empire". There will be performances of poetry by Dalston's very own Michael Rosen childrens' laureate, writer and broadcaster. Our Olympic Legacy Followers of OPEN's campaign in Dalston will recall that, on appealing to the Secretary of State to call in the authorities plans for the demolition and redevelopment of Dalston, we received the reply that "the proposed transport interchange between the East London line northern extension, the North London Line and London Buses, is an essential part of the transport improvements required for the London Olympics 2012." Barratt's development of 10 to 20 storey residential towers on Hackney Council's Dalston Lane (South) site. Only 28 flats will be for social housing. These photos are of the Dalston transport interchange now under construction and the towerblocks with 550 flats and shops being built for sale to pay for it. TfL's £39 million concrete slab development for a bus turnaround above the Dalston Junction East London Line station where Barratt's are to build further residential towers of up to 20 storeys for private sale. The evening will conclude with information about the authorities plans for the demolition and redevelopment of over 20 more buildings in Dalston and a discussion about our Olympic legacy.
