medicstastebetter

safe and sound

2006-07-27T21:33:00.000+04:00

Back in the uk in kind of one piece.
That is to say I think my brain and all other significant analytical functioning capabiliites I once had are still stuck hovering somewhere over central europe in somekind of moscow-berlin orbit.
Which is probably as well as I've returned to high scale, full on family drama of the full engagement but the less emotional capacity the better type..
I am going to attempt over the next while to try and write some kind of analysis of what we did, what we learnt etc..
Hopefully in time for the ef gathering but who knows as well have to agree content cross continentally..
besos m

funny little note

2006-07-22T23:05:00.000+04:00

to say. it turns out that when they let me into the police station that night they thought i was the british consul.. god only knows why.... probably my attitude?

will post some photos shortly..
in berlin now. damn hot here.

leaving in the morning

2006-07-22T11:12:00.000+04:00

Getting on a plane today back to europe.
went to big post mortem yesterday and people said loads of stuff some of it good some of it bad.
overall at least now loads of people here have some organisational experience and theres a network and...
well.. the legal situation is still chaotic, some people arent out yet..
Chucked all my money and the shrapnel that remained of medic funds at legal/future medic group.
Want to say that everyone here is incredibly brave and wonderful i almost dont want to leave..
Theyre all legendary. especially the translator.
and hey that boy in amsterdam.. we havent got yr number... we miss you. youre amazing..
will write real pm maybe sometime and upload some random photos..
xxm

Amsterdam blues

2006-07-21T16:06:00.000+04:00

So I guess we're all getting stocked up on sleep....I bugged out of the Russian Fed about two days ago, leaving M & A to fend for themselves through psycho drivers and cute grrls by the truckload. Though Amsterdam is not without its charms.
I pretty much agree with M's take on things, and I think it would rock if the former ussr got it's own corps of medics. Probably need to do more trainings tho.
Anyway just want to add my own thanks to all you beautiful supportive people out there, who helped make our job so much more bearable. Cheers - you are all wonderful.
anyway will get going now - need to figure how to get the rest of the way home on approx. 3 euros...hell of a time to run out of money...but anyway it's all good - it's not like I'm in the Russian fed anymore ;)

love, rage and sleep
xxG

moscow meltdown

2006-07-21T00:53:00.000+04:00

so.. moscow has everything.. beer, cute grrls insane traffic, fine art. what more does a girl need? there are even cute girls too. that was supposed to say boys but in a weird freudian slip kinda way i wrote girls.. you can tell where my head is at. but there are boys.
weve been doing a post everything post mortem and figure we did kinda ok.
theres gona be a medic collecitve in the former soviet union now.. theyve got loadsa kit, some experience and they all rock...
we have loads of contacts all over and may do yet more training and train trainers..
about ? 500 hundred arrests overall.. mostly out now.. major repression before and some now but nothing like the horror story we were preparing for..
and.. well this is my take. need to sit down with G and A and be coherent..
but have had much sleep. will get more.
love you all for your fantastic support. any of those of you who called here can be sure you saved some people some nasty experiences ... the cops even said so..
xxm

made it back

2006-07-19T14:10:00.000+04:00

in one piece to moscow despite crazy crazy roads and no sleep hallucinating while at wheel. and usual traffic cop scenario..
post properly later

the morning after

2006-07-18T13:40:00.000+04:00

We've just collected some internationals from the police station.. they're tired but all fine..
They've all been treated ok by the standards of russia in that they've only been denied food, water and the use of the toilet periodically.
After we visited them last night the cops refused to allow people to go to the toilet and were generally as obstructive as possible.?
There's been so much pressure internationally, by which I mean that people have been calling the police stations from all over the world, and so the russian cops have been a little freaked out.
The internationals were able to do things that affected the treatment of russians in custody also which we think was a very positive thing, it's very unusual to be able to visit in a police station here and the police were clearly scared of the level of attention.
There are still some people in custody who will hopefully be let out tomorrow..
We are still concerned about the belorussian man, who has now been located, but seems to have wandered out of the hospital unnoticed. This may be a big problem considering that he was reportedly very disorientated when last seen. As we have said before - this is something that people die of in custody in western countries, let alone here, and so we are worried, but frustratingly unable to do anything about it.
so were about to head back to moscow. were going to leave our public medic phone and whatever resources we can with the legal team here.
We will also be forwarding any funds we get donated from here on in to the legal team

late night news at 3am

2006-07-18T03:23:00.000+04:00

Unbelievably we've just managed at one in the morning to get into a police station here.. where there were 6 internationals all of whom had clothes and had been fed by their consuls bringing stuff in.. none of them were injured at all.
Having said that they said they were noticably worse for wear, sleeping on newspaper with no blankets and visibly fragile.
We brought them sheets and blankets and ironically the police decided to use one of our sheets as a backdrop to take pictures of them..
According to the people in jail - 3 of the welsh anarchos and 3 germans no one they have been detained with has been seriously injured as far as they are aware..
The police didnt really want to let us give them bedding but i just did my usual thing of wearing a stethoscope and totally ignoring them which works well as they dont speak english and I'm fairly bossy.
Apparently theyre all being released tomorrow morning at 9am and will have 24hrs to leave the country..
So now well go and pick them up in .. less than 6 hrs
going to go to sleep asap.. have to drive to moscow tomorrow night.

(and were driving around St Petersburg really late at night and all the bridges are up so were having to drive some insanely tortuous route and all other drivers are pissed and doing 140km/h) We have no idea of the speed limit but the fine's only 100 roubles..
bizarrely there are still cyclists with no lights.. man thats hardcore..
Apparently there are now only around 35 people left in jail... alot of whom will be released tomorrow or the next day. However the quality of information available is by no means reliable due to the lack of resources and the russian police attitude.
We still havent found our belorussian with head injuries but we will.
tired but the beer is good.
x M&G (A is sleeping sweetly)

outside the court

2006-07-17T23:07:00.000+04:00

We are outside the court now where 9 internationals are currently being sentenced, I say this because its unlikely that they will be found not guilty as a day after their alleged offences they are being tried in a closed court and in some cases their consular representatives have not been allowed to visit them - This is definitely the case with the Germans but Im waiting to speak to the british consul to clarify the situation and maybe apply some leverage.
(just done this.. no joy.. explain later)

4 british
3 germans
1 dutch
1 polish
It sounds as though they are going to be sent to the federal immigration service.. we know nothing about this and the russians we were with didnt either except that it is bad.
Whether this means they will be directly deported or given 48 hours to leave the country remains unclear.
Some of them are still with out food and water despite the efforts of even consular officials. (Specifically one german woman who the consular representative wasnt allowed to see). there may well be others although we are trying to get into all the police stations with food water etc. Unbelivably we're the only people with transport except possibly indymedia who appear to be otherwise engaged.
We remain concerned about the belorussian man with head injuries and at least 2 other people are in custody with injuries :they were seen being dragged into the police vans. we are almost certain they will recieve little or no medical care inside as people dont even have beds to sleep in, or in some cases clothes to wear.

Ps. we caused a bomb scare yesterday ... this is funny.. due to our lack of sleep and the general high level of stress we left a rucksack containing a laptop cable IV fluids and suturing kit as well as a bunch of stuff under a table in a cafe..
We waltzed off to our next drama and realised 3 hours later...
As ever the legendary translator rescued the situation by remembering where this might have happened, tracking down the right cop shop - they had to come in and securely remove it, and then smiling sweetly enough to persuade them to give it back. We lost a sphygg and a glucometer, presumably to the cops.. but how lucky can you get?
xxm

exhaustion

2006-07-17T19:33:00.000+04:00

So .. we should update you all, but we're a little wiped out.
Things here were kind of a washout from a medic perspective.. This is a good thing in that it seems almost no one that we know about was seriously injured. All the actions that happened in a disparate way across the city seem to have just resulted in immediate arrest. On a mass scale. The police and army have been everywhere, literally blanketing St petersburg and all its transport links, not to mention the level of repression elsewhere in russia.

As to whether or not people who are in jail are injured, we don't know.
The legal situation is somewhat chaotic.. one of the legal phones has been smashed up when the guy who was on the end of it was arrested, and there is a dearth of resources in the extreme.

Were driving around now as I write on our way to a police station with food, water, toothbrushes and cigarettes for some people who were arrested. They dont provide these things in police stations in Russia, not until you've been to court and are in jail even if its days, and even then the food leaves a lot to be desired. People are therefore utterly reliant on their friends who may not even know they are there. (and you can only deliver food at certain specified but random hours)
(People are also being denied phonecalls, although some have been able to hang onto their mobile phones which is how information is getting out.

The legal system here is well... insane. People who were arrested yesterday morning were tried and convicted yesterday evening regardless of legal representation, the clear and evident inability to mount a substantial defence within that time frame not something considered significant here. As the British vice consul kept saying frustratedly when I called him.. "this is russia..."

Some people are on hunger strike.. because they want to resist in every possible way..

We are desperately trying to find a belorussian who was taken to hospital with head injuries after being arrested by the police. The judge who knows has refused to tell any of the legal team or a lawyer and when last seen this man was very disorientated and probably had concussion. This is something people frequently die of in police custody in western countries let alone here. He may well be in a hospital but we have called them all and we still cant find him. Im not going to post his name yet but if we dont get news soon then well have no choice

Lots and lots more to tell you and more arrests since I last wrote but no time now to lay them out clearly. Will endeavour to do so later. Am currently writing a database to put all our scraps of information into as paper just doesnt cut it in this situation.

will try to post coherent legal information later xx M, G and A

medicstastebetter

2006-07-16T20:41:00.000+04:00

Hi M has just rung me from outside a courtroom,
People arrested this morning are being tried now in a closed court. They have been walking off buses which is a good sign, but they also have audio of people who have been beaten in jail and they have been denying people food and water. At the moment M, G and A are ok - Please help by doing what you can to embarrass the russian state
medicstastebetter

continous caffeine

2006-07-16T15:41:00.000+04:00

heres that picture

more people are being arrested, the total was 38 people this morning, many internationals included in that
3 from britain
1 - from poland
3 - from germany
1 - netherlands
2 - ukraine
6 - belorussian
1 - moldovan
12 - russian
Again.. this is a situation where their embassies and in partiuclar the russian embassies in the country where you are need to be pressurised to act. The human rights situation here is dire and we already have anecdotal reports that suggest serious violence from the police.
A further 12 people have been arrested on an anti war demo and we have narrowly escaped once today ourselves.
We're off now to cover a large mobilisation, I dont have time to post this on indymedia. please do this somebody?
We will post you from the streets and/or later tonight. Wish us luck cause were needing every ounce of it
xxm

skin of our teeth

2006-07-16T10:01:00.000+04:00

Violently happy.. (yes were listening to bjork again)..
We just got away by the skin of our teeth from some over zealous fine hungry fat traffic cops....Heres a picture of one ... he wasnt very happy about it - apparently you're not allowed to take pictures of cops in russia..
We were driving down a major street here and he pulled us over and started giving us some thing about how we'd just made an illegal left turn.. (Along with lots of other people)
And there was no choice but to go to court on the 20th and our car was illegal because its russian MOT ran out a month ago..
and .. and.. so you can imagine G&A got out of the car and did the polite thing and tried a little... and i waited.. and then I figured we needed to have the "im calling my embassy, whats your number and which division of police are you?" conversation.. He wasnt very forthcoming so I took a picture which upset him some but when he thought Id left the situation and was on the phone to my embassy whilst A&G did the polite thing, he caved in a little and let them go. Ihad to return and delete my phone picture and apologise ..
then some agent with big glasses wearing in a truly russian style some kind of interesting earpiece.. sat and watched us trying to be clandestine and conspiratorial. I wish I could give more detail but.. you know how it is..
And its the next morning now.. weve had almost no sleep..
30 plus people just got arrested blockading a delegates hotel - the radisson on nevsky prospect... one guy with a camera just for taking pictures.
If you fancy calling a russian police station we know people are in the 28th police station phone no. +78127642802 and were very scared theyre being beaten up there. we cant go there as we would be arrested but if you call in english and ... say youre very concerned about your relatives who may be there.. or something anything...
They may well be youre relatives, there were lots of internationals in the group.
Were still fine, still at large and loud as ever.
The gods and goddesses are truly on our side, last night we dropped a sim card with 2000 rubles of credit on it which is the only one that allows us dial up web access.. we drove off and left it in the street outside a busy restaurant.. 3 hours later when I went back to look in an emergency final this is never going to happen hopeful way.. there it was...
So it was either divinity or a small brown dog covering my ass as usual..

Well post you later. Were going into the zone as weve started to call it, as theres alot of places and people to try and cover.
Well try if medical support becomes obsolete to run some kind of legal off our medic number as people are being incarcerated in droves.
The sun is still shining though
love and rage
xx M,G and A

The scene from the road..

2006-07-15T12:37:00.000+04:00

There are soldiers spread out every twenty yards on every road throughout this city, cops on every corner...literally.
Its an overcast day but still warm and we're enroute to a staging post of sorts to chainsmoke and wait. There is almost no rush hour traffic and a palpable tension in the air.
We've necked our vitamin pills and are at large in the city listening to loud KRS1....whoop whoop..thats the sound of da police.... officer..overseer...
Were dressed to kill... you know that black chic thing.. sunglasses an' all although i have to say we look more matrix style.. by far the cutest affinity group ever to be at large here (although there are some finnish grrls who..hmmmmm)
On a random retail therapy note, its IMPOSSIBLE to buy large bottles of iodine here and so we've had to buy hundreds of small bottles of iodine and transfer them into large bottles - well a large bottle as we've literally bought 5 pharmacies out of iodine and we still only have 300mls.
Update - the wonderful ones have just been to a pharmacy and bought a further 140 10 ml bottles.. wahey! (the tap water has giardia here as well as us needing it for wound care)
Safety pins are also very hard to track down..we have 2. Total. good ones though
Im sat in traffic outside a delgates hotel now. Posh radisson edwardian thing. Busloads of cops, lots of parking space. its so tempting to just pull on my sunglasses, get out, walk in and just do the fire alarm...
Reckon I could get away with it actually looking like this, a bra and everything...cleavage gives you good leverage.... Dont worry.. there is nothing, I repeat nothing kamikaze about our intentions...( we'd only do it if we were sure wed get away..)
We have no concrete information to add about the situation in terms of arrests at this time.. its all messy. It looks like tomorrow is shaping up to be even crazier than today.. not that I can say more than that at this time..
But we do have enough sutures and IV access for a football team of broken people. Thats all though folks.
So no messy extended care situations please,
well post you all later. xx m

bringing it on... russian style

2006-07-14T21:10:00.000+04:00

Ok so today's headline has got to be: "The cops have told people not to look out their windows, because they will shoot." Now obviously this doesn't mean that they will, but it certainly says something about what may go down over here.
The motor cavalcade for the G8 is going to pass through the centre of the city.
The situation is extremely interesting to say the least.. Other choice nuggets from today are .. the legal teams no.s have been turned off by the cops/mobile phone companies.
We are fine. if a little caffienated.
Tomorrow we'll be running a backup clinic from the boot of our car... we're going to be mobile but we'll try and blog here with any updates.. We'll also be running a medical advice number in English and Russian and, if were still online at the end of the day, some kind of legal/information support thing, we think, as all existing infrastructure is already decimated, and at least people will need food taken to them in jail.
Half of the medics we think have been detained already on the way here and with them most of the basic kit we gave out. The repression is extreme across Russia. The police have refused to allow people to leave some cities, notably Samara.
This is an extremely repressive situation and we would ask you to show solidarity wherever you are by visiting local russian /G8 member state embassies. Also if you can please donate. Any money we have is going to go directly on either medical care for activists or in the eventuality that is not needed then on legal support.

And this just in: You can't even choose your lawyer here, unless you previously sign something to say he will be your lawyer...
so it's all just fairly insane

Elephants taste better

2006-07-13T08:56:00.000+04:00

So a quick update while there's time. Currently off the road, drinking sickening amounts of cappucino and getting carpet bombed with clean ashtrays by an overzealous waitress. Trying to stave off much needed sleep.
Anyway.
Latest news> The pre-summit repression continues. Since yesterday 5 more russian activists have been arrested - four in St. Petersburg for putting up posters for the russian social forum (which is sanctioned and "legal") and one in Samara for being alive apparently.
The latter was released and then re-arrested, and also had his flat raided.
This brings the total to at least 14 arrests and 3 raided flats, but I doubt we know about everything that goes down here. In at least two cases the arrestee has been released only to be re-arrested hours later.
It seems likely these activists were released so the police could follow them to flats/hangouts and raid these.
The many arrests are worrying in themselves, but seem even more so given the situation with legal support, the coherency level of which is still in serious doubt.
So the next few days look to be truly interesting, but at least it seems almost all *our* plans (from A to Z) are coming together. And the cappucinos are good.

The sun is most definitely chicken.

xG,M&A

medicstastebetter

2006-07-13T08:16:00.000+04:00

So we're listening to that dylan man .. when he went all electric... "so how does it feel? on your own.. with no direction home.. like a rolling stone"
It's the middle of the night, still humid as fuck and we're somewhere driving across russia
in what looks like its going to be our clinic space. There are stick insects crawling on the screen and there's so much to tell y'all...
We just had our first scary cop experience. As usual the legendary translator rescued us from serious derailment.
To give you the context
The road here is well.. kinda ? not marked, or marked randomly. Its full of psychotic lorry drivers and occasional concrete bollards which serve no apparent purpose. Weird soft/inflatable toy and pottery stalls in the middle of nowhere that, obscurely are the only things open at 2 in the morning.
Russian drivers are not really into the whole lanes of traffic thing. The only way to drive is to weave and cut people up. We're doing this at speed, like everyone else - the speed limit is 60 or 90 km/h, so obviously everyone does twice this. Everything has hair raising potential. All the time.
We're weaving maybe a little extra to try and avoid a particularly random lorry driver and the cops overtake us - they had to be doing ? at least 180km/h. Very fast.
Anyways, a mile down the road they pull us.. for ??speeding/dangerous driving/the hell of it?
and were like ....oh shit. here goes our one legal driver... and we're waaaaaaaay out in the sticks...
Gav has to go and sit in the cop car with a fistful of documents and a very large cop. I sit here getting paranoid and trying desperately to think of some kind of contingency plan.
Meanwhile Amal sidles up alongside the cop car and smiling very sweetly begins to charm a way out of the situation. Essentially she pays them money and instead of drama, documentation and extreme tedium, they tell Gav off and we drive away.. 500 rubles (a tenner) lighter....

We're compiling a compendium of bad english phrases for bad things happening as our vocabulary is becoming increasingly contracted....
any interesting variations on
shit hitting the fan
things going tits up
pear shaped
up shit creek without a paddle
are greatfully recieved

(geeknote: I've just spent ages hacking around in the windows registry and getting this bluetooth connection up so we can post you from anywhere. Dodgy russian software broke xp totally and windows is crap. But after some gnashing of teeth and grumping it works. And yes i know i should be using debian. I try but the extreme challenge of getting wvdial to do anything resembling dialling is too extreme in this situation and there's no fast ethernet for thousands of miles)
*the sun's not yellow it's chicken*

love - the medics

medicstastebetter

2006-07-12T13:55:00.000+04:00

A quick by the by: An independent survey has found that the amunt of swearing by the medical team has increased markedly in the past days. Of special significance are the phrases "going tits up" and "shit hits the fan". The use of these has been found to be several hundred times a day.
Almost ready to leave now. Or so we think. But at least things are going at bit easier today than yesterday.
x Gav

shock and awe

2006-07-12T10:57:00.000+04:00

So weve managed to be totally shocked by something. trying to buy more Iv access here as weve only got a few grey venflons.. and they use needles. Literally green needles... what the fuck. They come with every giving set.
People here apparently have to lie down in hospital when they have IV stuff as they have a fucking real needle taped into their veins. This is normal.
Not just any needle but a large green one. I can imagine doing this in an emergency in a young person with good veins but still. I dont think weve done it like that in britain since the 40s and 50s.
Maybe this is the norm outside of the rich west and I just havent seen it yet but still... unusually money appears to be unable to solve the problem.
I feel now that I can say almost definitively that we would/will provide better emergency care than a public hospital from whatever clinic we cobble together in our limited time with our limited resources and skill level.
I think Id rather fly home with any injuries I have even if im only barely able to walk. Luckily there are 2 of us with a reasonably high level of skill.
And its still hot and weve sorted out all our kit and this is a last minute before we leave post.
Pj Harvey is singing in her mournful divine way and the espresso pot is doing overtime

a mixed bag

2006-07-12T00:40:00.000+04:00

So good news ... the street party in moscow today went off without any mishaps... no arrests just 32 degrees of sun and smiling people..
(on an activist history note... fascinatingly different approach to organisation of a street party. absolutely nothing public at all as in no stickers, no meet up point etc.)
street party may be a misnomer though.
bad news.
The flat in st petersburg where people were arrested earlier today apparently has police waiting in it for any new arrivals..
We havent been up too much, just shopping and planning and plotting. the moon is huge and orange and were listening to dj food.. drinking earl grey and cold beer almost simultaneously. i cant spell that i know. sorry.
no other news yet.
leaving tomorrow. will try to write from the road but not holding out much hope for trans russian mobile coverage.
love and intercontinental kisses m (&G&A)

turning up the heat

2006-07-11T11:27:00.000+04:00

Ok, so the bike caravan activists arrested yesterday got released and rearrested back at the flat they were staying at and a bunch of other people got arrested there too. (all this is in St peterburg)
details are incoherent as there are few people accesible on the ground there.
the german consulate (2 of them were german) apparently refused assistance....
There is clearly a need for external pressure here on the russian authorities as apparently this is Putin being nice before the summit.. afterwards the repression will be spun as policing violent demonstrations..
The legal team appear to be scattered at best with their flat raided some people arrested and very little resources.
Theres an email list stuff is being put out on as it happens but an absolute dearth of russian - english translators or russian - german.
its g8-2007@lists.riseup.net
and spb8_en@lists.nadir.org

please if you can translate or have time to hang out on the phone/web/embassy steps whatever join it because weare going to need as many eyes as possible watching what goes down here and reacting..
Were going to endeavour to use our resources in whatever way seems most useful and if the situation is just lockdown then we may end up doing legal/jail/whatever support as well.
Just in case you were worried about us right now you should know that we're listening to loud bjork with a fridge full of wild strawberries about to go out into a very sunny hot day on various missions (aka shopping).
And weve been sleeping.

Grozny

2006-07-10T22:32:00.000+04:00

The police raided the flat of the legal team here today, we don’t know the outcome exactly but it isn’t a good sign. Also it seems local activists from St Petersburg have started being called up for military service as a means of getting them out of circulation before the summit. All in all it seems all the stops are being pulled out to hamper the protests.
We are fine here though – drinking a bit of dodgy russian red wine and munching chocolate, getting ready to execute our master plan of stocking up on sleep. Also tomorrow will be another crazy day running around trying to sort out a long list of stuff that needs sorting.
Oh, and we had a major thunderstorm today and got ourselves blissfully soaked. Goodnight everyone.

update from the eastern front

2006-07-10T15:57:00.000+04:00

Well things are getting interesting... it seems the cops are arresting foreigners at random in st petersburg - 3 people from the bike caravan were taken to the station "for identification" even though they had passports. Now they're being charged with Suspicion of provocative acts or some bullshit russian thing that doesnt translate.
Don't know if they're going to be deported or what.
So that's us staying out of the street at all costs then.
People are apparently also being arrested on trains and taken off them, although we dont know the specifics on this. There was a bit of a language issue and so it's still kinda rumour and hearsay.
Did a brief training today and gave out lots of maalox, gloves, tape and eyedroppers.
Very disturbing thing - the meeting space had to have a guard as it was semi-public in case of fascists attacking.
Clinic space situation looking very sketchy to say the least, but as ever we have a contingency plan. (That means Max has one she isn't telling me about ;) -Gav)
Hungover and sleepless so going now.
Plan to store up as much sleep as possible in the next 32hrs. Max has caught legendary translators cold. Bad scene but worth it.
At this point we're both going "Oh god".

xm+g

decadence

2006-07-09T16:38:00.000+04:00

So weve managed to buy most of our kit, weve created another bombsite of steristrips, venflons and really shitty russian dressings. they dont have dressings here basically, theyre like really really cheap versions of net swabs. However you can buy over the counter antibiotics and IV-fluids here. That makes us very happy ;)
We have enough to buy and give out kit to everyone weve trained which is really awesome... (over 20 people)
Weve got some very basic emergency trauma kit and well.
Were watching cheesy scifi (starbuck is so cute) to stave off the jitters..and eating cake. Very strange cake, but nice. (like somekind youghurt/sourcream with candied fruit)
And Gav's been getting lessons on Russian history from our legendary friend.
Trying to learn cyrillic alphabet.... getting there slowly but surely..
off to pace out red square and make more contingency plans

comedy or tragedy

2006-07-09T00:16:00.000+04:00

Ok, so finally forced Max away from the keyboard for my first go at blogging here. (She objects loudly)
The girls have apparently been drinking quite a lot of wine and so are a lot more cheerful than yesterday :).
Anyway - it's still steaming hot here and it's been a long gruelling day for Max and I. Our still legendary translator has unfortunately been ill today, which meant we had to make our way (aided by fantastic maps) on our own. We felt reduced to the age of three not being able to read anything or understand anything said to us. That was a challenge to put it mildly, but we managed! And we are right pleased with ourselves.
Still no news of the missing activist. Everything is very strange here - personally I haven't realised where I am yet and it's all very surreal.
Went back to the house where we did the trainings to get the kit left there. Out there it's all countryside charm - inviting us to sit down with a beer in the sun and relax. A stark contrast to worrying about where you speak English, whether or not you are being followed and if police are going to be kicking in the door while you sleep.
So everything is a very mixed experience here - most of the time worried and paranoid describes us best, but with brief spells of relaxed frolicking.
Still we are trying to get our contingency plans into place, which is proving harder than expected and soon we will be moving. Everything is just in case, but that's sometimes what medicing is.

just to add a little normality to make y'all worry less were listening to loud loud ani difranco, drinking bad wine and discussing the local talent... (moscow +2 spb -19 so far)

just one thing - ther wine's not bad actuall..

notes at nightime

2006-07-08T00:52:00.000+04:00

Just a little note to update y'all. Backup has arrived and is taller even than i remember.. So now we are 3 again. including
our legendary translator who remains legendary but has a cold and is cranky as hell. Harvey pekar cheered her up though (american splendour is a good movie if you havent seen it).
The people who were nicked yesterday are out and are fine. Happily.
Things are increasingly scary. The police have started instigating their policy of stopping people even getting to st petersburg - this has some mission title we can't remember that makes it sound democratic..
Some known activists who were on their way yesterday went to pick up their bags and one of them didnt come back to catch the train and has not been seen since. I hesitate to use the word disappeared at this early stage but thats what the russians are saying... and it would not be suprising.
And theres more scary context stuff I cant post.
So were all contingency plans and cold beer here. Its still hot and not so hectic but we're aware its the calm before the storm.
Were working hard at retaining our lesbian licences by drinking enough earl grey to drown in. Challenging but it passes the time.
More training and an ocean of kit to drown in coming up tomorrow. We should have enough medic kits to distribute to everyone weve trained and some spare tat.
Thank you all for all the donations, sorry havent been able to say so in person, they are appreciated.
xm

shaken but not stirred (yet)

2006-07-07T00:01:00.000+04:00

So lots has happened today but one of the more significant things is that the police have stepped up their activitites.
They arrested some people in a park for possessing anti g8 posters, theyre in the station now and we expect its just an id check and a bit of a shake down.
Hopefully nothing too serious.
Even so, I was reading an article today in the moscow times which says how Russias own human rights watch NGO says the jails and judiciary system are worse now than in the 6Os and 70s. There are more extrajudicial killings and disappearances than under the KGB..
The context here is interesting in that this was not a public advertised event, some people were just sat in a park talking and this is a park in the centre of moscow, lots of people hang out in. kinda like Green park in London or something.
So, we shall see what happens. Were ringing the police station but theres been no discussion yet about whether or not its useful if people do that internationally as well so Im not going to post the number here. yet. It definitely isnt safe to go there for anyone.
Otherwise, its hot here. things are socially interesting..(insert your own subtext here).
Were ordering kit, training and geeking out in pharmacies to our heart content.
Oh and the Pushkin museum is amazing.. degas, picasso, matisse, leger.. big greek sculpture.

drama and no crisis

2006-07-05T16:04:00.000+04:00

The last couple of days have been fairly full on. We finished our first training and just as we were doing so stuff came up which meant that A. had to go back to the uk straight away.
so we had flight dramas and well... stuff.
That leaves me out here as a lone international medic.. although reinforcements may be en route. Kind of a challenging situation given the language barriers amongst other stuff..
But the people out here are great and theres no doubt that at the very least finishing the trainings is essential, given that there have been at least 2 deaths in the last 8 months of antifascists. Both times stabbings by fascists.
From the ancedotal evidence it seems that at least one of these times death was very preventable.
Also in Russia as I understand it, russians are registered in their local region and thats the only place their medical insurance is valid. Meaning they'd have to prove they're capable of paying to get treated if they were in the wrong place..

So were trying to navigate the nightmare system that is registration... ( In russia you have to register at an address within 3 working days of arrival, they literally put a stamp with an address in your passport)
If you dont have the right stamp any random cop can fine you when they check your passport, which they do all the time. Especially if you make the mistake of asking them for directions.. (another muppet moment)
To register at a address seems to take at least 3 days, you have to buy a form somewhere, fill it out .. and then negotiate the queue in the police station.. which is enormous and goes between several different offices, none or all of which may, or may not be appropriate.
Its also not really safe for me to say anything in English there because otherwise prices would double and new fines would be invented. So Amal has to do all the talking while I follow her round like some mute sidekick. This is not, as those of you who know me know, something I am good at. But Im learning.

The logical thing would have been to register through the company we got the visa from - they're linked off the russian embassy site in london and you would imagine therefore some kind of kosher. yeah right.
Its seems they cant do registration, they don't have the right licence??... hmmm

After much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands we seem to have found a solution which Ill post here when its worked and i know its legal.

oh and on a weird but random note the cafe im sitting to upload this in
is playing that theo and shannon song .. i am strong like a tree on a mountain...
is there no escape?

messy but promising

2006-07-03T14:59:00.000+04:00

We're somewhere in a dascha .. (russian country house) and we're training people.
It's kinda crazy cause nothing is like we expected...
The trainings were going to be later on as far as we were aware. As in not the day after we arrived. We thought we might have a day of breathing space to get to know Russia a little before embarking on a hectic teaching session.
And it's true we did get here yesterday morning.. so we had the day to potter and go.. oh my god we just finished a 25 hour train journey.. We're not moving anymore.. (before we got on the train we'd done a nine hour train journey after a 3 hour flight after a night at the airport. and then we had to go drinking with people)
Oh and you know the concept - one group of students, one class at one time. If only.
We've ended up running this kinda rolling drop in 2-3 day thing as people keep suddenly appearing out of the trees and interrupting our well structured program (we use the term loosely)
So we've ended both training different sections at any one time and then running scenarios together. Our legendary translator* almost had to clone herself.... untill someone else shyly volunteered that actually they spoke english (fantastically well) at least enough to translate a section. (twice)
Unfortunately we both have stomach 'issues' (i'll spare you the details) and it adds another dimension to tandem relay training that one doesn't generally anticipate. We're blaming the water in Moscow, or rather the fact that we've been brushing our teeth with the stuff. Undoubtedly we'll be having problems with the paparazzi when we arrive back in england - they'll be thinking we're posh spice what with our new-found gaunt, toothpick-esque physiques. (I type this after eating a huge 'Max' meal and downing a beer so perhaps i'm just being a little melodramatic... go figure) (and oh yeah - to match the tandem training we're tandem blogging, just to add to the general confusion)
This dascha is a small wooden fairytale house in the middle of pine woods, there are 2 compost toilets and the babuschka in residence is 81 and has seen a lot of change. She's sceptical about our youthful enthusiasm for politics and says young people don't listen enough. But we must be some kind of cool as far as shes concerned because she thinks we're nice marxists (this is good apparently)?
People rolling around with large gaping abdominal wounds doesn't seem to phase her at all. Hope I'm that laid back at 81.
What have we learnt so far? Russia is beautiful. Incredibly green and huge.
Oh and I can count to ten and say please.
The impending situation looks chaotic in the extreme.. not much to say about it here except that possibly all our previous estimations and expectations need to be revised and we both promise not to be too foolhardy. That said it all looks more different on the ground than you can imagine..

Max and Astrid xx
*just for the record our translator amal is an absolute legend. almost inexhaustible with a vocabulary to rival my mother (who is also legendary, obviously)

train2 moscow

2006-06-30T13:33:00.000+04:00

So, somehow we've managed to find ourselves safe and sound in Moscow... Drinking coffee, about to eat some food and trying to get our heads together after a couple of full on days of travelling. We wandered through the Red Square on the way to the cafe. Kind of hit home that we were finally here when our 'host' pointed up and said "that there is the Kremlin". Madness.

The train journeys (from Poland) proved pretty uneventful. The usual dramas of drunk blokes ("touch my arse again and I'll break your hand...") and border crossings. Otherwise it was just a matter of drinking cold beer, sitting back, catching up on sleep, and trying not to let ones vegan sensibilities be completely overwhelmed by the quantity of raw fish being consumed around us. An interesting snack of choice at the best of times. Let alone in a steaming carriage (the thermometer on the wall hit 30 degrees C) packed with people. We chugged along munching on chewy bread, and sesame snaps. Breakfast of champions.

We had a predictable street medic muppet moment on the border from the Ukraine into Russia. We'd been so paranoid about carrying vast quantities of medical supplies ("um i know we have a suspicious amount of cold packs and one of us has dodgy hair...but it's for a church hospital... - honest guv") that we hadn't actually checked the date of the visa validity. Resulting in us being 24hrs early and getting a right telling off from immigration officials who told us with wagging fingers "Big problem, big big problem" - but who seemed to sort it without much fuss. phew. Being booted off a train in the middle of the night in who knows where wasn't exactly going to be a high point.

We were thinking we'd have a couple of days of relative chilling but turns out we start trainings tomorrow. Thankfully the train was a good opportunity to catch up on zzz's as things appear like they may be a little hectic here-on in.

Anyway

we're here. all's well.

Astridx

ukraine

2006-06-29T03:48:00.000+04:00

A is going to write a proper post later but .. were in the ukraine.. its humid as hell and were about to embark on a long train journey to moscow... and so im staying awake with lots of polish punks hallucinating on tiredness. xm

airports

2006-06-28T08:31:00.000+04:00

airports are horrible places, weve just spent the night here .. had a whole 3 hours after insanity..
got the ukraine visa but getting the vaccine was very time consuming - Guys pharmacy having to search through the bowels of their store room.. did y'all know that you can get a BCG preparation 4 bladder washouts..?
and this obviously they had. but the straight up vaccine.. inthe cellar obviously.
luckily it wasnt too expensive though.
then obviously london traffic on a bike after extreme coffee is always good for a few near death experiences. russias going to be positively restful.
Predictably then astrid had a reaction to the BCG involving her being lightheaded and dizzy and nauseous for ages, which meant she couldnt be left alone for a bit.
So she had to come to high st ken. at the height of shopping horror time. Nice.
shes probably going to have a really disgusting scar and blame me.
mind you if she gets locked up in russia she'll need that immunity.
airport calling.
donations still trickling in..
thanks people. youre great.
well write you from the train.
xx cranky as hell m&a

stream of consciousness

2006-06-27T02:16:00.000+04:00

So we're at the caffeine induced paranoia stage of the evening and, oh my god; we're leaving in 24hrs and there are literally a thousand things we havent done...

We have as usual some random sketch with a delivery company that have hopefully sent us
cold packs and a sphygg but .. obviously.... since it's a next day delivery which we paid for on friday they won't be here till tomorrow (tuesday) - therefore one of has to wait in all day as they couldn't possibly be specific about timing...
god. capitalism sucks.
and there are a number of essential missions that have to be accomplished.. like picking up a visa (yeah we know its late and sketchy but there had to be some drama) and a vaccine that's not available anywhere except this one place on the otherside of london..
and and and.
you can imagine i am sure.
the flat is a bombsite of steristrips, chlorhexidine, important cables and lists.
and everything is kinda starting to blur.
time to switch to red wine and try and sleep for a few hours..
anyways, like we said were keeping you posted..
probably nothing exciting will happen that doesnt involve vodka

ever increasing hecticness

2006-06-24T13:55:00.000+04:00

in the spirit of blogging we just thought we ought to post a little note here to say
oh my god weve got our visas!!! (getting a visa for russia is a long and complex process)
and were running around madly organising kit before we leave....
theres a benefit for us tonight at the square http://www.londonsocialcentre.org.uk/
and its also their last night party..
so that should be fun
and donations are steadily trickling in.. thank y'all...

paypal donations

2006-06-18T02:09:00.000+04:00

You dont need to email us to make a donation as we've now got a paypal account.
Just click on the 'Make a Donation' button on the right and put in the numbers...
(unless you prefer to make a bank deposit which is obviously less traceable)

blag

2006-06-14T02:15:00.000+04:00

dear all, (dudes)
As some of you may be aware we're off to Russia in two weeks. Specifically to run some trainings and cover the g8 demonstrations in mid July.
In case you're not sure why we're doing this or you think we're really psycho (more so than first suspected) we'll spell it out ..
- there is little to NO medic cover (except those trained in the Ukraine by J and I last month)
- the hospitals in Russia are almost always best avoided due to limited resources and poorly sterilised equipment. As well as wide-spread infectious diseases such as HIV and TB
- the importance of solidarity, especially in situations where medic cover would otherwise not exist. i.e there is no 999. (red flags?!)

So, we're aiming to train more people at a basic street level and provide/coordinate more experienced backup and extended care. This is something that the Russians and Ukrainians who requested us to do the original training have asked us to do.

We also want to take the finances to buy kit - we're going to carry as much as possible but we're doing most of the journey by train and the border crossings are sketchy.
Therefore, realistically we're going to have to get a lot (if not most) there. The exchange rate luckily puts us in a very favourable position.
Unfortunately our personal funds are limited.. we also have limited time to fund raise as we're leaving on the 28th.. two weeks...(shit!)
so please give us money.
now.
blag everyone you know.
ten pounds is alot in Russia.
Thousands of people travelled to Scotland last year and we had over a hundred medics from international backgrounds to cover the summit - with months of fundraising behind them for basic supplies in a situation with major backup.
The level of force used by the authorities in Russia is expected to be lethal. Also the fascists are a significant issue having already killed anarchists in St Petersburg in the last year.
There are 2 of us.
Already 9 people have been trained to basic level, and we'll probably manage to train at best another?? what?? 40 ?
thats it.
so......................................................
if youd like to give us money email us and well send you bank details
medicstastebetter@yahoo.com

We'd like to recoup our personal travel expenses but this is by no means our priority, the most important thing is getting relevant supplies to the people that need them!
We will endeavour to keep track of what we spend on what. We'll try and keep a blog here.
You can keep up with what goes down at our end without having personally to put up with any encounters with the Russian police force.
If you haven't got the ovaries for it then ..live vicariously people!!!! (ha ha)

We're lucky to have a bloody awesome, spine tinglingly fantastically amazing support group back in the UK who will also post on our blog in the unlikely event that anything unforeseen happens.
love to you all
no hippy shit.