Personal report on foot and mouth festival
Sorry girls and guys for not writing my report earlier, but I just felt a little bit like a break. And so many thoughts going round my head, more about Genoa than our festival I have to admit. I felt quite tied up with helping to organise the mouth festival, only now when it gets late afternoon I ask myself astonishing questions like: woa, no meeting tonight?
And on Sunday evening it was like a big relief: Yeah, we have done it! Altogether, with lots of contribution from different people the mouth festival took place, and the organisation was perfect. Surely there could have been some improvements, but we did the best possible. Especially I appreciated going to the Italian consulate after the mouth meeting, although we were all quite tired, probably a little bit hungry and quite overwhelmed by the mouth festival and all these events coinciding in Genoa with these horrible pictures, but more to come. The art space was fantastic, a special thanks goes to the open art space organisor, really good having it there on the stage and the exhibition as well, another special thanks to our food-not-bombs activist and her big amount of free sandwiches, which kept most of the activists happy and going throughout the event, esp. the ones with the delicious hummus.
All the speakers turned up and all in time, and the creche was impressing as well, and I heard the kids liked it. Oha, we still haven't had a final thought about funding it...
The video area was quite appreciated and it was also nice to see some footage
of the streetparty, which took place the week before. The talks were like all
interesting but participation in discussion seemed better in the small workshops,
as the workshops with the guest speakers ofteh were not as interactive as hoped.
For me my personal highlight was the co-counsselling workshop. I have learned
for life, and we will continue with it, so much and probably one of the best
skills we should have, listening carefully, having a supportive communication
not dominated by giving advice or feeling inhibited by possible gossip, building
up trust and getting rid of our amount of stressful feelings we accumulated
during life and which often interfere and determine in our behaviour with other
humans.
Somehow the turnout of people was a little bit disappointing, I don't know: because of people going to Genoa? Because of being summer holidays and students holidays? Because of the SWP not being involved? Because, sadly, the thousands of anarchists from all over Britain as claimed by the Evening News did prefer to stay at home or to go on a trip to the seaside? Which brings me to the football match on Wednesday I at first quite enjoyed as being funny and not so competative untill I got slagged off for my playing style.
Anyway I was told later people got annoyed with my way of playing football, and I just want to say to this/these stupid arrogant **** he/they should *** off, and if they want to play real football, than do it in a competative "man- only-sports-club", but don't give to yourself the impression that you are so wonderfully tolerant to slag people off if they don't play how you want them to, and especially when they are female and have never learned it in school nor practised it.
I still wanted to go on the Critical Mass. I was astonished with the turnout of people with bicycles, a lot I did not know, and the regular activists were quite a minority. Thusoever the Scottish green party turned up with their bicycles and, I was disappointed with this guy, giving a speech on how we should behave during the bicycle ride, and apparently co-operating with the police telling them the route, and this motorcycled police stopped whenever they liked, e.g. at the red lights which was totally unnecessary, quite destroying the fun of a critrical mass cycling, which is slowly moving all the time. I felt like so disappointed afterwards.
Anyway what could I say about the festival of resistance and revolution? Well both hasn't happened. Esp. with the bicycle ride, resistance was at the minimum.
The street party was inspiring, mainly because of the solidarity action at
the end, but police was behaving awful during the street party as well, trying
to kill all inspiration, creativeness and the feeling of freedom and of free
decisions and of success by their unnecessary repression and blocking the party
from the spectators and gaining control. But we won finally, all were freed
after we went to the police station, and we did our thing, we just did it!
