G20 kiddies

I had CNN on the other morning and they were showing footage of the protesters gathering at the G20 meetings in London. This was before the bank windows got smashed and anything got out of hand.

The cameras were really close to the police line, so you could see the faces of the aggro and het up young men in the front lines, "confronting" the police. I know so many people who are in lefty groups like this, I could just imagine all the planning meetings, the travel arrangements, having been made for like four years, all the temporary sleeping arrangements and really cool parties late at night after all the demonstrations had finished, all the organic food and girls with scarves wrapped in their hair and guitar playing and sharing. They must have been looking forward to this for like four years. I could also imagine all the earnest meetings where they debated and sorted out their group point of view, with all these young men's faces taut like thick wires, vibrating with their opinions but broadcasting them only to that tiny room.

On the news footage, you could see those same taut faces, yelling and yelling into the absolutely passive faces of the cops in yellow riot coats. The cops had linked arms to hold a line, and were probably going to have to stand like that the whole day, and this big row of impassioned young men were inches away from their faces, yelling and yelling, and you could tell they were alternating currents of anger and sarcasm. Trying and trying to provoke an emotional reaction in the cops, but the cops are trained not to rise to it or react.

It made me think about information and communication, and the fact that you have to have both signal and receiver to make it work.