I consider myself cosmopolitan, and I think there is no other way to be unless you embrace ignorance -- willingly or unwillingly. Anyway, a brief glimpse should suffice to see that the military juggernaut unleashed by 9/11 affects the entire world. A longer glimpse then shows that the power structures are far from what we were being told -- speaking of money and the media, especially. And from there it becomes crystal clear.

I gotta run right now, I'll get back to your other points later!
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about the distribution: I was suspecting that one might need a permit to pull this one off -- after all you need a permit for just about anything short of accomodating your basic vital functions here -- so I went to the temple of the bureaucrats. One sent me to another, which in turn sent me back to the first, so I started asking questions and elaborating on my intent.

I was told that for a demonstration, I'd need at least 3 people, to which I responded that, no problem m'am, I'll get two wingmen. But no, that wasn't how this was supposed to work, or so I was told. I reminded them of my favorite article in our ("temporary") constitution -- that which grants citizens the right to resist should freedom and democracy be threatened and should legal avenues be foreclosed -- and went from Pontius to Pilate. Pilate told me that I'm perfectly entitled to exercise free speech, as long as it remains speech in its literal sense only, or I'd need to represent a party, union, or similar legal construct deemed beneficial to "the common good". He said the municipal council had issued a decree in that vein, and that I should apply for a permit which he then would deny after which I might address the municipal council. Bureaucracy...

Anyway, as fortune would have it, I know a somewhat renegade member of that council (who's never gotten any proposal through, btw), and found out that so called "citizen initiatives" were the loophole I would just fit through, so it's now Bureaucracy 0, Bruce 1.

After the initial refusal, I contacted some private entities near the preferred spot (cafés, essentially), and even though I was polite and diplomatic in my requests, never heard back from them. Same goes for regional so-called independent newspapers -- it's not like you invented the gatekeeper ;-)

You have to realize that we are several steps behind here. So far, there's has been close to zero activism, and the dam is still steadfast. But this summer, it will change.
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