Anti-globalist protest a dud
Their silver visors came down quick. But that was because of the glare of the early Polish summer sun.
Then there were about one hundred of us (the press) buzzing, like anticipant flies with notepads and cameras, around the first group of 3,000 marching alter-globalisci who had arranged their rendezvous at the McDonald's drive-in on Rondo Babka.
Early on, a banner announcing 'Lesbian Rage Against Capitalism' got to the front of the throng of protesters. Then a flag of Palestine, black and red anarchist banners and a number of rainbow peace signs followed. These were more plentiful than the Polish national colors, somehow relegated below the global symbols of anti-globalism. There were no striped red-and-white ties in sight.
A teenage group of self-proclaimed 'Radical Cheerleaders' (splendidly decked out in army boots and dreadlocks) made their way through the crowd to find a good spot to put on their show. But the best spot had already been taken by three drunks lying across the road, making peace signs for the camera and swigging liquor from plastic Fanta bottles.
The paparazzi began smirking at each other as we progressed along the route to the city centre. "Nothing's happening," said one from Reuters walking beside a TVN man. "This is Warsaw," came the reply. "What do you expect?"
But for every jaded hack there was a policeman watching his back. "This time the situation is under control," said the nervous, clench-jawed Lieutenant Sokoowski, the press spokesman on the scene. "Prague was a mess, there were millions of dollars worth of damage. Warsaw is going to be different." When a tongue-pierced protestor asked him what he was doing in 1989, Sokoowski checked his watch.
"Our city is a police city" says Nikolas Linda of the Criminal Prevention section of the Warsaw police. "Everywhere you look, you can see how thorough we've been. We've spent weeks studying tapes from other business forums, such as Prague in the year 2000. We've learnt from their mistakes."
By 11.13 pm, twelve hours later, the worn out and ever-so-slightly bored circus of 'alterglobalists,' police and press had descended on Pole Mokotowskie. The 'alterglobalists', distinct from 'antiglobalists' who engage in direct action to further their goals, were attempting to proceed with their Alternative Economic Forum.
In plain clothes and on his cell phone from deep within a crowd who the police ironically referred to as 'the enemy', Nikolas Linda took a call.
"Warsaw has now proven itself capable of the best planning in order to allow world leaders and peaceful demonstrators to gather in the same, secure city," Linda concluded. The fact that only a few of the most influential international statesmen arrived in Warsaw, and that the often mighty demonstrations by the endangered agricultural and heavy industry sectors were never organized, as they have been in recent years, surely helped the city this time.
If EU membership is to put a global strain on national industries, as some doom-mongers would predict, Warsaw's mellow demonstrations of last week may soon be shadows of what is yet to come.
Then there were about one hundred of us (the press) buzzing, like anticipant flies with notepads and cameras, around the first group of 3,000 marching alter-globalisci who had arranged their rendezvous at the McDonald's drive-in on Rondo Babka.
Early on, a banner announcing 'Lesbian Rage Against Capitalism' got to the front of the throng of protesters. Then a flag of Palestine, black and red anarchist banners and a number of rainbow peace signs followed. These were more plentiful than the Polish national colors, somehow relegated below the global symbols of anti-globalism. There were no striped red-and-white ties in sight.
A teenage group of self-proclaimed 'Radical Cheerleaders' (splendidly decked out in army boots and dreadlocks) made their way through the crowd to find a good spot to put on their show. But the best spot had already been taken by three drunks lying across the road, making peace signs for the camera and swigging liquor from plastic Fanta bottles.
The paparazzi began smirking at each other as we progressed along the route to the city centre. "Nothing's happening," said one from Reuters walking beside a TVN man. "This is Warsaw," came the reply. "What do you expect?"
But for every jaded hack there was a policeman watching his back. "This time the situation is under control," said the nervous, clench-jawed Lieutenant Sokoowski, the press spokesman on the scene. "Prague was a mess, there were millions of dollars worth of damage. Warsaw is going to be different." When a tongue-pierced protestor asked him what he was doing in 1989, Sokoowski checked his watch.
"Our city is a police city" says Nikolas Linda of the Criminal Prevention section of the Warsaw police. "Everywhere you look, you can see how thorough we've been. We've spent weeks studying tapes from other business forums, such as Prague in the year 2000. We've learnt from their mistakes."
By 11.13 pm, twelve hours later, the worn out and ever-so-slightly bored circus of 'alterglobalists,' police and press had descended on Pole Mokotowskie. The 'alterglobalists', distinct from 'antiglobalists' who engage in direct action to further their goals, were attempting to proceed with their Alternative Economic Forum.
In plain clothes and on his cell phone from deep within a crowd who the police ironically referred to as 'the enemy', Nikolas Linda took a call.
"Warsaw has now proven itself capable of the best planning in order to allow world leaders and peaceful demonstrators to gather in the same, secure city," Linda concluded. The fact that only a few of the most influential international statesmen arrived in Warsaw, and that the often mighty demonstrations by the endangered agricultural and heavy industry sectors were never organized, as they have been in recent years, surely helped the city this time.
If EU membership is to put a global strain on national industries, as some doom-mongers would predict, Warsaw's mellow demonstrations of last week may soon be shadows of what is yet to come.
