[Nettime-bold] The new US

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

Yesterday I had my first encounter on the homeland front of the US 
war on terrorism. I went to see a documentary by Eric van der 
Broek and Katarina Rejger about the Otpor movement that toppled 
Milosevic in Serbia. The film was showing at the Margaret Mead 
Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History on 77th street and 
Central Park West in New York city.

Naturally, I was expecting that I would just buy a ticked and go to 
the movies. Not so in the new America. All belongings had to be 
searched at the entrance to the museum. It was an international 
film festival. It was happening inside the landmark building in the 
New York city, a building that also served as a museum containing 
valuable exhibits. Naturally, under those circumstances, everybody 
should have expected to be searched.

But I forgot that detail and I had my backpack with me. And in 
backpack, of course, I had various things that I didn't expect I 
would have to show to anybody. A pair of quite smelly socks, still 
moist from sweat, since I was just hailing from the gym, for 
example. When I opened my backpack's accessories 
compartment one thing stood out on the top, which immediately 
caught an eye of the security guard and made the rest of this 
humorous ordeal possible: my orange box-cutter knife.

A Croat with a box-cutter knife coming to see a film about Serbia in 
the middle of New York? This is Trouble with capital T, isn't it? The 
security personnel explained me that I can't get in with the box-
cutter weapon. And I said that I understood that and that I was 
willing to leave the entire backpack in their care until the film was 
over. Here, however, the real problem became obvious: they did not 
have facilities to deal with unwelcome luggage. In other words, they 
told me - you cannot get in with this backpack AND you cannot 
leave this backpack here in our care.

What were my options at that point? To leave the theater 
alltogether. Or to go out and leave the backpack on the street and 
come back to see the movie. Well, it was absolutely sure that in 
the later case I would never see the backpack again, so I dropped 
that as an option. Instead, I argued that they should either:
a) let me in with the backpack, on a trust
b) take the backpack and keep it somewhere until I get out
c) give me my money back for the ticket I bought for the movie, in 
which case I would leave

There the three (all female) security guards divided in opinions on 
what to do with me. Two of them, both of the same rank, fell into a 
quarrel over my situation, and ended up both independently calling 
their supervisors for instructions, which were to some extent not 
really clear. One was for letting me in. Another was fiercely against 
letting me in. However, the supervisor, who happened to be (male) 
NYPD officer, decided to let me in, provided that I leave the box-
cutter weapon at the security desk, which was completely fine with 
me.

At that point the one security guard who was in favor of letting me 
in waved me in, but the another one started screaming - "come 
back! I did not finish the search of your backpack!" The cop (who 
was not feeling comfortable with the entire thing) did not took either 
position. But since the persistent guard who did not favor me, was 
the loudest in the pack, we all complied with her wishes. Of 
course, strictly security speaking, she was right: because I could 
volunteer the box-cutter, and have a hand grenade in the back-pack 
go unchecked with me to the film presentation.

I also had scissors in the backpack. And I had pepper spray. The 
zealous guard gleamed with her finds. And I complimented her on 
her sense of duty. She did miss the small folding Leatherman tool 
that also have a 2 inch long sharp knife inside, though. Which just 
shows how even a meticulous search can miss something. And if I 
was really a terrorist I might have a real weapon hidden inside my 
deodorant stick, for example. I could have given up all the 
suspicious stuff, and keep the stuff that looks harmless, but which 
could have been re-designed to keep a chemical or biological 
agents.

This just shows how the war on terrorism is a tricky issue. I lost 
half an hour at the entrance. And other people who came to the 
festival with bags also lost time. That means that we have to put up 
with the time consuming incovenience of searches. Also, there is 
considerable loss of privacy associated with this. I could have a 
bag of weed in my backpack. Which is not a weapon. But which is 
illegal, and if found, the NYPD officer would have to seize it, and 
maybe even book me.

On the other hand, despite the inconvenience and the loss of 
privacy, there is no absolute guarantee that such searches will 
prevent terrorism - because, as I explained, I still could have a real 
weapon hidden in some of the unsuspicious everyday items in my 
backpack. The only real "weapon" against the terrorism is 
eliminating the causes that may drive somebody to desperate 
violent acts. There should be other roads for the rage of 
dispossesed to address their grievances. They should not feel that 
their only answer is to follow the lead of those whose only desire is 
destruction and mayhem. That's the only cure for the current 
disease that plagues our planet.

ivo

ps - the 3 suspect items were kept at the security desk until the 
end of show and returned to me; I was let in and NOBODY even 
asked me for a ticket, or checked whether I was on the list (which I 
was). After all, who would dare to ask for money, from somebody 
who came so well armed? They just told me where my film is 
showing, and let me in....

_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold