Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Yesterday ... I heard something about some bunch of guyz got arrested here in Geneva... My curiosity didn't leave me alone ... So I went with Jo to look for them ... We found that they work in alternative media thing ... Calling themselves polymedia lab ... But that old funky place was closed and so quiet, I read the sign saying that the police has closed the place ... And next to it I found a map directing to their new place (obviously, someone put it after the police left) ...
so, we kept wandering the streets.. Searching about those guyz.. Eventually, we found a small lousy bar there .. With two guyz listening to country music... Jo asked them in French about the polymedia thing .. They paused for a moment looking at us.. And then guided us to a big room with a stage in it, there were about 50 persons sitting with some computers and an-overhead projector showed what the guyz were chatting about on their computers on the wall, a guy was holding a mic and talking in English... And they all seemed pissed-off ...Their looks at us weren't comfortable at all... I just tried to put myself in a margin as much as I could and sat listening to what were they talking about.. I soon could get that they are from Indymedia, but less than a minute later, the guy holding the mic asked us to leave, and everything became silent... A sleeping black dog at the corner of the room raised his head and looked at me.
it wasn't a funny moments for me ... But I had to face it, so I stood up and introduced myself as one of Indymedia Baghdad ... They remained silent for a while.. I did, too .. After a moment, they all started laughing (??).
anyways .. We all talked about their situation, they were supposed to have an international alternative WSIS at that day, but the police broke into their place, and arrested some folks, and shut down the place... The reason was that they were using the office for living purposes (?)... So that event made them to start this meeting to solve their current problem ...
the discussion went for about an hour ... Then people got bored after, I guess .. So they decided to take a brake and go have some free food at the bar ...
I went and introduced myself to the guyz, they were more friendly than before ... I invited them to free beans and rice... And it was the worst food I ever ate.
I found out that most of the folks there used to sleep in their office ... Or workspace, so now they are homeless... So I accepted 2 of them as guests at my hotel room, they were techies from IMC-Spain ... We kept talking about technical things in my room ... And then I fell asleep.
such a day.
so, we kept wandering the streets.. Searching about those guyz.. Eventually, we found a small lousy bar there .. With two guyz listening to country music... Jo asked them in French about the polymedia thing .. They paused for a moment looking at us.. And then guided us to a big room with a stage in it, there were about 50 persons sitting with some computers and an-overhead projector showed what the guyz were chatting about on their computers on the wall, a guy was holding a mic and talking in English... And they all seemed pissed-off ...Their looks at us weren't comfortable at all... I just tried to put myself in a margin as much as I could and sat listening to what were they talking about.. I soon could get that they are from Indymedia, but less than a minute later, the guy holding the mic asked us to leave, and everything became silent... A sleeping black dog at the corner of the room raised his head and looked at me.
it wasn't a funny moments for me ... But I had to face it, so I stood up and introduced myself as one of Indymedia Baghdad ... They remained silent for a while.. I did, too .. After a moment, they all started laughing (??).
anyways .. We all talked about their situation, they were supposed to have an international alternative WSIS at that day, but the police broke into their place, and arrested some folks, and shut down the place... The reason was that they were using the office for living purposes (?)... So that event made them to start this meeting to solve their current problem ...
the discussion went for about an hour ... Then people got bored after, I guess .. So they decided to take a brake and go have some free food at the bar ...
I went and introduced myself to the guyz, they were more friendly than before ... I invited them to free beans and rice... And it was the worst food I ever ate.
I found out that most of the folks there used to sleep in their office ... Or workspace, so now they are homeless... So I accepted 2 of them as guests at my hotel room, they were techies from IMC-Spain ... We kept talking about technical things in my room ... And then I fell asleep.
such a day.
# posted by Majed Jarrar @ 6:33 pm 
