STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In a message dated 17/07/01 16:05:27 Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << National Post, July 16, 2001 Pageant of protest Demonstrators at the G8 summit will employ weapons in keeping with Genoa's medieval past, though the use of catapults could be seen as playing to the media. Marina Jim�nez National Post Anti-globalization activists practise for this week's G8 summit in Genoa. The confrontation with police is going to involve siege carts and catapults. Europe is about to experience one of its first medieval battles in 600 years. Scholars of medieval weaponry are anxiously anticipating this week's G8 summit in Genoa, as the expected confrontation between anti-globalization protesters and police will take the form of a medieval siege, and will utilize a picturesque mode of warfare that hasn't been witnessed for centuries. Demonstrators are assembling wooden siege carts, giant catapults to launch rotten fish and other projectiles at authorities, and battering rams to infiltrate security barriers in one of Europe's great medieval port cities. "Genoa will resemble a typical Italian city of the Middle Ages with street riots," said Bert Hall, a medieval historian from the University of Toronto. "I'm sure the [cobble]stones will be very familiar with what is about to happen." Mr. Hall spoke from Leeds, in Britain, where he was attending the annual International Medieval Congress. "Modern weapons are little, sneaky and butt-ugly," said Mr. Hall. "Medieval weapons are big and bulky and gawky and exactly the sort of thing television cameras will focus on." Medieval weapons are also practical, cheap and easy to build; everyday materials such as rope, wood, poles, pins and clamps can be used, and instruction manuals are readily available. While there are laws against handguns and carrying concealed weapons such as knives, modern legal codes have no specific provisions outlawing catapults or battering rams. (Authorities can, however, find creative ways around such impediments, as in the case of Jaggi Singh, an anti-globalization activist from Montreal who was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon with dangerous intent for using a catapult to launch teddy bears over the chain link fence at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City last April.) In Genoa, more than 15,000 police, soldiers, marines and a unit armed with surface-to-air missiles to ward off an air attack will be posted this week to ensure the safety of the visiting leaders from the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. Summit organizers are also using water as part of their defence system, housing heads of government in a luxury cruise ship in the Ligurian Sea, in a tactic reminiscent of the medieval moat or island fortresses. The city, shaped like a narrow crescent, has mountains behind it, a labyrinthine port area and an intricate network of underground tunnels, sewers and cisterns. Ventilator shafts of historic buildings have been welded shut and manhole covers plugged to thwart a subterranean breach. Heavy black and white concrete barriers have been erected to mark an outer security perimeter of the city. A group called the White Overalls, created by the Italian organization Ya Basta, has vowed to invade the heavily guarded inner security ring, an area known as the red zone. They will carry quaint, homemade weapons, as well as plexiglass shields and mattresses. The group has signed a pact with the city not to vandalize stores or people's homes. Instead, they plan to march in a turtle-like formation and advance into the security zone on July 20, the day the summit opens, making a confrontation with police inevitable. "We have been practising to infiltrate the blockade. I don't know what will happen," said the Ya Basta spokesman in Milan. "We will try to force the blockade but without doing things that will destroy the city or harm the people." A Canadian group called the Deconstructionist Institute for Surreal Topology first used the medieval imagery during the Quebec City summit on April 20-22, utilizing catapults to hurl teddy bears over the 3.8-kilometre-long security fence. "We used it to mock the whole absurdity of the siege mentality that the elite find themselves in," explained a spokesman. "They were having the summit behind closed doors in a fortress, like kings in a castle. We tried to evoke the feeling of being the unwashed masses who are completely shut out from decision-making." In Genoa, however, protesters will be lobbing more than stuffed toys at police. Retreating behind a castle moat or to a fortified site was a standard medieval defensive manoeuvre for those seeking to stave off attacks. Several recent international meetings have been held in castles, including the recent European Union summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, which was disrupted by a violent riot. The Global Forum, a conference of political and technology leaders, took place in March this year behind the nine-metre-high walls of the Royal Palace in Naples, and the Quebec summit was held behind the old city walls. "People closing themselves behind walls to keep out the thieves and highway robbers is very much a medieval concept," noted Andrew Hughes, a medieval scholar at the University of Toronto. He even suggests that an analogy could be made with the power structures of the Middle Ages and those of today, and likened the Roman Catholic Church to today's governments, and heretics to modern-day protesters. Protesters have adopted the weaponry of centuries ago, but have yet to turn up in body armour. Adam Def Forges, an interpreter with the Royal Armoury Museum in England, who attended last week's Medieval Congress in Leeds, said chain mail suits can weigh as much as 45 kilograms and offer full protection. "It would seem a little extreme, but it would certainly protect them, as long as they know how to wear them properly," he said. "One of the suits I wear has a helmet that bolts on to a breastplate so if you get smacked on the head, you stay alive." Copyright � 2001 National Post Online >> ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
National Post, July 16, 2001 Pageant of protest Demonstrators at the G8 summit will employ weapons in keeping with Genoa's medieval past, though the use of catapults could be seen as playing to the media. Marina Jim�nez National Post Anti-globalization activists practise for this week's G8 summit in Genoa. The confrontation with police is going to involve siege carts and catapults. Europe is about to experience one of its first medieval battles in 600 years. Scholars of medieval weaponry are anxiously anticipating this week's G8 summit in Genoa, as the expected confrontation between anti-globalization protesters and police will take the form of a medieval siege, and will utilize a picturesque mode of warfare that hasn't been witnessed for centuries. Demonstrators are assembling wooden siege carts, giant catapults to launch rotten fish and other projectiles at authorities, and battering rams to infiltrate security barriers in one of Europe's great medieval port cities. "Genoa will resemble a typical Italian city of the Middle Ages with street riots," said Bert Hall, a medieval historian from the University of Toronto. "I'm sure the [cobble]stones will be very familiar with what is about to happen." Mr. Hall spoke from Leeds, in Britain, where he was attending the annual International Medieval Congress. "Modern weapons are little, sneaky and butt-ugly," said Mr. Hall. "Medieval weapons are big and bulky and gawky and exactly the sort of thing television cameras will focus on." Medieval weapons are also practical, cheap and easy to build; everyday materials such as rope, wood, poles, pins and clamps can be used, and instruction manuals are readily available. While there are laws against handguns and carrying concealed weapons such as knives, modern legal codes have no specific provisions outlawing catapults or battering rams. (Authorities can, however, find creative ways around such impediments, as in the case of Jaggi Singh, an anti-globalization activist from Montreal who was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon with dangerous intent for using a catapult to launch teddy bears over the chain link fence at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City last April.) In Genoa, more than 15,000 police, soldiers, marines and a unit armed with surface-to-air missiles to ward off an air attack will be posted this week to ensure the safety of the visiting leaders from the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. Summit organizers are also using water as part of their defence system, housing heads of government in a luxury cruise ship in the Ligurian Sea, in a tactic reminiscent of the medieval moat or island fortresses. The city, shaped like a narrow crescent, has mountains behind it, a labyrinthine port area and an intricate network of underground tunnels, sewers and cisterns. Ventilator shafts of historic buildings have been welded shut and manhole covers plugged to thwart a subterranean breach. Heavy black and white concrete barriers have been erected to mark an outer security perimeter of the city. A group called the White Overalls, created by the Italian organization Ya Basta, has vowed to invade the heavily guarded inner security ring, an area known as the red zone. They will carry quaint, homemade weapons, as well as plexiglass shields and mattresses. The group has signed a pact with the city not to vandalize stores or people's homes. Instead, they plan to march in a turtle-like formation and advance into the security zone on July 20, the day the summit opens, making a confrontation with police inevitable. "We have been practising to infiltrate the blockade. I don't know what will happen," said the Ya Basta spokesman in Milan. "We will try to force the blockade but without doing things that will destroy the city or harm the people." A Canadian group called the Deconstructionist Institute for Surreal Topology first used the medieval imagery during the Quebec City summit on April 20-22, utilizing catapults to hurl teddy bears over the 3.8-kilometre-long security fence. "We used it to mock the whole absurdity of the siege mentality that the elite find themselves in," explained a spokesman. "They were having the summit behind closed doors in a fortress, like kings in a castle. We tried to evoke the feeling of being the unwashed masses who are completely shut out from decision-making." In Genoa, however, protesters will be lobbing more than stuffed toys at police. Retreating behind a castle moat or to a fortified site was a standard medieval defensive manoeuvre for those seeking to stave off attacks. Several recent international meetings have been held in castles, including the recent European Union summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, which was disrupted by a violent riot. The Global Forum, a conference of political and technology leaders, took place in March this year behind the nine-metre-high walls of the Royal Palace in Naples, and the Quebec summit was held behind the old city walls. "People closing themselves behind walls to keep out the thieves and highway robbers is very much a medieval concept," noted Andrew Hughes, a medieval scholar at the University of Toronto. He even suggests that an analogy could be made with the power structures of the Middle Ages and those of today, and likened the Roman Catholic Church to today's governments, and heretics to modern-day protesters. Protesters have adopted the weaponry of centuries ago, but have yet to turn up in body armour. Adam Def Forges, an interpreter with the Royal Armoury Museum in England, who attended last week's Medieval Congress in Leeds, said chain mail suits can weigh as much as 45 kilograms and offer full protection. "It would seem a little extreme, but it would certainly protect them, as long as they know how to wear them properly," he said. "One of the suits I wear has a helmet that bolts on to a breastplate so if you get smacked on the head, you stay alive." Copyright � 2001 National Post Online .......................................... Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] ..........................................
