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We mislead?

amsterdammer | 11.03.2002 14:54

A man in Amsterdam has taken the most prestigious business building hostage, and is forcing people to letter the windows with the words WE MISLEAD. Media coverage claims that the man is frustrated over the impact of widescreen tv on his film enjoyment - black bars.

This is a very odd thing. I live in Amsterdam, close to this place. I have heard that in the proximity of the Rembrandt-tower, everything has stopped. It might be a practice for the police forces, we had one last september too, including the use of military helicopters, special forces of the marines and the army. There are more signs of a repressive alliance forming in the politics of power - all parties are shifting rapidly to the right, as if a weight has landed on one side of the political see-saw. The forces of order are aligning with the power of big business, it seems.

If this is a similar thing, they have just taken the loony argument (widescreen tv?) for the purposes of a grand-scale mobilisation. There are (I have heard) a hundred police officers surrounding the building. Of course, the future might be filled with political actions, occupations, strikes etc. (if reason has any power) and similar use of force will be used to oppose it. It would seem that the forces of order are in practice - whether they have created the scene themselves (as a spectacular event) or whether this man is actually an angry tv consumer gone activist, in a rare escape from the culture of passivity.

amsterdammer