Vineland revisited

[Doug Millison]

"Friday's protest was leavened with whimsy: Shortly after the anarchists
tore down the wall, a medieval-themed faction rolled up its catapult and
flung pink stuffed animals at the police. There was street theater, a Statue
of Liberty on stilts (later damaged when police rubber bullets knocked it
down), a group of "pagans" symbolizing a river and trying to heal the crowd,
young men in suits with signs like "Trees or Bush: It's Your Choice" and a
young man, dressed as the Easter Bunny, handing out chocolate eggs to people
as they recovered from tear gas attacks."
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/04/23/quebec/index1.html


They are media-savvy, able to turn the media against themselves, aware of
paradigm limitations in a way that not many of the '60s crew were, and they
have access to the 'net as an organizing tool. I wonder if Pynchon might
rethink Vineland's dismal view of the possibilities for meaningful protest
in light of today's anti-globalization movement. 

Doug Millison, Senior Editor
Knowledge Management magazine
(415) 348-3054
DougMillison at ftmg.net
www.destinationKM.com

[only my personal views and not my employers' of course]