[Nettime-bold] video on the first "anti-globalization demonstration" in Austria

[Oliver Ressler <oliver.ressler@chello.at>]

THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!

a video by Oliver Ressler, 38 min., 2002


The video "This is what democracy looks like!" thematizes the events of
1 July 2001 which took place surrounding a demonstration against the
World Economic Forum � a private lobbying organization of major capital
� which was meeting in Salzburg at the time.  
"At those meetings, in the absence of the public, billion dollar deals
are set into motion by the self-appointed �global leaders.� These deals
bring wealth and prosperity to a few, and exploitation and poverty to
many. To assure the orderly proceedings of economic globalization, the
conference facilities, located in the center of Salzburg, are largely
blocked off and all demonstrations are forbidden other than a rally at
the square in front of the train station." (Excerpt from the
introduction of the video) 
This video gives insight into the course of events of the first
"anti-globalization demonstration" in Austria, held subsequent to the
demonstrations in Seattle, Prague, Davos, Quebec, and Gothenburg, which
all received a great deal of media attention. In this demonstration in
Salzburg, which was forbidden by the police, 919 demonstrators were
encircled in a police blockade and detained for over seven hours. 

In the video "This is what democracy looks like!" anti-capitalist
demonstrators take the role of active spokespersons, contrary to
dominant media representations that denigrate them as either naive or
violent chaotic rowdies. Conversations about the events in Salzburg were
carried out with six demonstrators. The central themes developed in the
video are; the limitation of basic democratic rights � which is shown
mainly in the ban on demonstrating and the detainment of hundreds of
people in police encirclement � and the tension between the limited
physical force of a few demonstrators and the structural violence
practiced by state power. Excerpts from the conversations are put
together with my own video recordings and those from (video) activists
in Salzburg. The camera angle corresponds with the perspective of the
demonstrators, thereby placing video viewers in direct confrontation
with the events. 


Interviews with: Walter Baier, Tanja Jenni, Ingrid Popper, Michael
Pr�bsting, Daniel Sanin, Irene Zavarsky 
Video material from Indymedia Austria, Filmliga Linz, offscreen �
offenes film forum salzburg, UTV Vienna, Oliver Ressler


First presentations at Filmcasino, Vienna (27.01.02, 4:00 pm);
Moviemento, Linz (15.02.02, 7:15 pm); in the exhibition "x-lands", Forum
Stadtpark, Graz (March 02), Diagonale � Festival of Austrian Film, Graz
(March 02)

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