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He Said, They Said
I've somehow gotten on an anti-WTO/anti-capitalism/anti-everything mailing list based in London called Global Resistance.
Compare this delusional self-congratulatory nonsense:
We went along with the students to a Reclaim the Streets action immediately preceeding the main protest. We reckoned on 3-4000 were there - a brilliant sign. Marching through Central Park in the clear and cold weather was pretty surreal, and when we arrived at the main assembly point it was certain all expectations had been outstripped. The protest was young, a swathe of homemade banners and puppets, inventive slogans and many many pretzel jokes. The police presence was extraordinary. A few young people wearing masks were arrested near the beginning of the march, but it soon became clear that the polioce were not going to charge into the demo risking a full blown riot. Shops along the route remained open, and passers by appeared to have seen through the press hysteria and showed sympathy and solidarity with the protesters.
One coffee shop full of shoppers had a line of customers sitting in the window holding up "Bad Capitalist - No Martini. Shut Down the WEF" leaflets. Discussions had on the demo reflected constantly people's delight with such a big turnout. Estimates ranged from 20 to 30,000. I think it's safe to say there were 25,000 there.
With this story from the paper formerly known as the Paper of Record.
The New York forum -- which attracted 7,000 protesters at its height on Saturday -- has drawn far fewer activists than the estimated 50,000 who came to Seattle and the 100,000 who came to Genoa, Italy, for global economic conferences.
Note the reference to "pretzel jokes." I'll bet they were real knee slappers.
Posted by Rand Simberg at February 04, 2002 12:42 PM