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News :: Media |
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The Day Those Schoolkids Came And Interviewed The FTAAIMC |
Current rating: 0 |
by marco
(No verified email address) |
03 Dec 2003
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IMCista marco recounts a story about when he got interviewed
by a whole bunch of inquisitive schoolkids in Miami. |
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Friday morning 9am or so the streets of Miami
have a very eery feeling.
Streets surrounding the FTAAIMC.ORG space
are feeling the vibe of a raid being imminent.
Everything from the sudden half presence of the
embedded corporate media across the street, to
the Chevy Suburbans heavy-patrolling our streets
to the agitators trying steady to enter both our
welcome center and our IMC space by dressing like
us and trying to barrel on in and then giving us
a hard time about questioning their motives. This
happened periodically, but this morning had stepped
up bigtime.
But alas, along comes some public school kids on
a field trip. Lots of them. They're assigned to get
the story for an english class.
What is Indymedia, what is open publishing, what
makes each of you IMCistas.
They are the buzz on the sidewalk, AND the buzz
inside.
Yup. Inside.
NBC, CBS, FBI, CIA, they've all been trying their
hardest to get us to let them look around inside.
But to little or no avail.
At one point, our main outside greeter that hour
who had the secondary role of writing down every
licence place she sees of unmarked squad cars, has
to radio in from her table. "Just letting youall know
for the time being I will have poor visibility out here
because of this delightful bunch of inquisitive grade
schoolers.
If a raid was in fact imminent, it was averted by
30-50 mostly black ten-year-olds.
The rest of the corporate media showed up across
the street with their RATT rigs, the patrolling slowed
down to its normal steady stream, and the agitators
seemed to calm down a bit.
When the teacher thanked us for our time and patience,
and began heading back outside with her students, they
were mobbed by the corporate media paparazzi-style.
"What did you ask them?" "What did they say?" "How
many computers were in there," "were there lots of
phones?" "What was it like inside," "did they show
you the radio room?"
Oh, that reminds me, the day before I managed to
help confirm that law enforcement was hanging on our
every webradio broadcast. Yup, 24/7.
Somewhere around noon or so our DJ announced live
on the air that the only thing between protesters and
"the fence" were about a dozen AFL-CIO parade marshalls.
You should've been there on the street. Me too. I'm
told a speeding wall of White SUV's slammed on their
brakes at "the fence" where a full force of riotcops
oozed out of every car looking like blackdeath versions
of clowns coming out of a volkswagen in a circus.
Minutes after our announcement! They built a line
really fast and instantly retook the area. But within
20 minutes they bacame lackadaisical. I walked down
from radiolandia to the line.
I moved up near to them to count what I saw. Then I
retreated a little and foned in a live report.
"Resistance radio, you're live."
"Hi, this is marco from milwaukee indymedia with a
scene report. The cops at the fence, look tired. Very
tired.
"There are, let's see, 2,4,6... twelve riotcops lying
down on the ground, and 2,4... about 10 kneeling and all
the rest are rocking on their heels. They all appear to
be tired, very very tired. Just thought you would want
to know that."
I hung up the phone and waited. And watched.
Sure enough, almost instantaneously, out pops a commander
type. "Up up!!! Get up, tighten this fucking line, now! Off
your ass, up, up. Get up!"
They replaced themselves to position of attention and then
"parade rest" for about as long as they could stand it.
A day in the live of a firecely non-embedded reporter.
marco
Related Stories:
When I went to the FTAAIMC
by Dominique Utley
http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/2003/12/2646.shtml
PHOTOS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN LEARNING IMC
http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/2003/11/1821.shtml
Kids under the influence of corporate media
http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/2003/11/1590.shtml |
