Friday morning on the periphery
Yesterday a friend of mine queued at the Britannia St registration office for two hours to register. (He rang me on his mobile and asked for my registration code. Because I registered online, I just gave him that code and he got my wristband and free travel pass for the weekend.) Today at 9am, Britannia St was virtually deserted. There was no queue of any description.
When I went to Florence, I missed the first session by queueing for three hours. This time the first session kind of missed me. At 9am there was no one at all in the room for the session on 'from the azores to the return of the troops', about Spain's experience of the Iraq war. After twenty minutes I wandered off to a public services meeting, which at least had people in it (waiting, of course, for things to start).
When I got back after fifteen minutes, the Spanish meeting was packed, someone was delivering a passionate speech... in Spanish. The timetable had said the language was English. Apparently there was one lone Italian in there, but otherwise everyone was Spanish. Maybe they just took a straw poll and converted languages. I don't know.
The bigger sessions are simultaneous (or consecutive) translation. The smaller workshops are 'fend for yourself'.
It's a curious thought that all these people in this workshop could have met in Spain, but instead came to London to gather to discuss their country's involvement in the assault on Iraq.
Two volunteers I talked to, Marisol (from Bilbao via Archway) and Fiona (from Cambridge) agreed with each other that the thing about the ESF is the opportunity to meet new people, and to sample all sorts of different strands of politics. Fiona volunteered three weeks ago. Marisol on Wednesday. Another friend of mine queued yesterday for two hours, and ended up volunteering at registration for a while.
There is an openness and positivity about people's feelings about the ESF which is so appealing. I guess it is idealism. The event is so huge and so open that no one agenda, no one group, can hope to dominate.
Out here on the periphery, it is low-key, English, and calm.
Milan Rai
Easy Internet, Trafalgar Square
When I went to Florence, I missed the first session by queueing for three hours. This time the first session kind of missed me. At 9am there was no one at all in the room for the session on 'from the azores to the return of the troops', about Spain's experience of the Iraq war. After twenty minutes I wandered off to a public services meeting, which at least had people in it (waiting, of course, for things to start).
When I got back after fifteen minutes, the Spanish meeting was packed, someone was delivering a passionate speech... in Spanish. The timetable had said the language was English. Apparently there was one lone Italian in there, but otherwise everyone was Spanish. Maybe they just took a straw poll and converted languages. I don't know.
The bigger sessions are simultaneous (or consecutive) translation. The smaller workshops are 'fend for yourself'.
It's a curious thought that all these people in this workshop could have met in Spain, but instead came to London to gather to discuss their country's involvement in the assault on Iraq.
Two volunteers I talked to, Marisol (from Bilbao via Archway) and Fiona (from Cambridge) agreed with each other that the thing about the ESF is the opportunity to meet new people, and to sample all sorts of different strands of politics. Fiona volunteered three weeks ago. Marisol on Wednesday. Another friend of mine queued yesterday for two hours, and ended up volunteering at registration for a while.
There is an openness and positivity about people's feelings about the ESF which is so appealing. I guess it is idealism. The event is so huge and so open that no one agenda, no one group, can hope to dominate.
Out here on the periphery, it is low-key, English, and calm.
Milan Rai
Easy Internet, Trafalgar Square
posted by Milan Rai at 11:35 AM
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