A quick update on the last post,

Unbelievably the demo yesterday did not get out of hand. Police have tried just about everything to frustrate and provoke de demonstrators, and i am hearing all around that it is pure the disipline of the black block that kept the peace. Police left peices of the street with loosebricks in it free, in the hope they would start the rioting again. 

They have kept the demo on the street for more than 6 hours, constantly stopping everyone if they saw a scarf before a face or someone wearing black. The real reason things didnt get out of hand was that in the demo were the actual immigrants the demo was for. If police had located them they would have been deported out of germany the same day. I am proud of everyone that they kept a cool head, because nothing i said in my last post was untrue.

I am stil trying to comprehend  the whole situation so i hope to shed more light on it later.

I must say that it is hard to tell you what goes on concidering the alternative summit. Because it is so much, some thing small scale, others very big.

Tomorow night as an example, there is a big debate with, amongst others, Susan George from Attac France, ( please check her books, especcialy  The Lugano Report.)

This will be about how to organise the world trade and relations if the current system is not what we want.

I will Explain more on it when i am home, the pressroom here is very busy, and i am myself too. I have just had a sort of interview, together with a friend i made here from the Socialist Workers party in the UK. It was with a man we met here who does these things to document this time, the atmosphere and the way people deal and think about things. As a picture of this age on radio. It wiil be a while before its on the internet, but i think it will really be worth listening to. We had a very good conversation about reasons for being  here, ways to change things and examples of wrong or right.

This guy is originally from the DDR, (East Germany) and gave us a fantastic perspective from the people here. This is one of the most amazing things about being here, and it exceeds all my expectations, Meeting all these people from ALL over the world, different perspectives, motives, and stories all coming together. Despite the real opression by authorities 

(I am not kidding, we cant walk trough this town without cameras pointed at us, helicopters over our heads and meeting police at every corner. often areas are even completely closed of for us. At the campsite it is a constant parade of police driving by and also most of the time  the helicopters, if we werent so good at ignoring it and staying positive, we would feel like criminals. Now we only feel treated as such.) 

This is what prevails, the boiling pot for good ideas, solidarity and knowledge. I think this is the most important thing i will take home. Plus a lot of new good friends and contacts.

Our campsite is very well organised despite the very low price of 5 euros a day (if you can afford it, if not it is free) Everybody is voluntering, cooking washing dishes collecting garbage , security and all that, there are nice bars for relaxation which is very necceseray for everyone in this situation. Food is always organic and vegetarion or vegan, and often from gifts, still they manage to cook for at least hundreds, and i expect about a thousand of us evryday, breakfast lunchand dinner.

My time is up, more next time, hope this post is a bit more positive, but i do hope yuo dont forget what we are meeting here in terms of policeopression. Anyone who had never been to something like this  would be schocked to see what goes on. Again check the fotos on Flickr.com and such.

One last note, th ePeople from Rostock who recieve us with open arms are the elderly and the immigrants, a lot of others ahve boarded up there stores and even houses. It is touching to see this.

More soon, spread the word!