there are sorted squats all over the place here in geneva, and understanding weed laws

but much more than that the people i`ve met so far have been normal residents ready to engage, listen and debate

in geneva there are many shops that have been boarded up, but the streets seem relaxed if a little empty - public holiday and no cops patrolling at every street corner

i understand the situation over the boarder is quite different but no more detail than that from my few hours here

over the main public bridge crossing the river there are a set of large flags flying - swiss flag - UN flag - and peace flags - in the italian rainbow `pace`style! - i heard that the geneva administration is a left one and that this is them sending a clear message - no doubt they will be criticised for co-opting an anti-war movement symbol, but from where i was standing seeing these flags flying against the backdrop of the mouth of the G8 lake, it was pretty cool.

i dropped by the main imc centre in geneva (another amazing building) in time to catch a discussion that was being webstreamed live about IP - intellectual property + copyright, technology, freedom of movement, and immigration - discussions continued looking forward to the UN world summit on information society (WSIS), set to take place here in geneva, later this year in december.

the folks coming back from todays demos seemed to have had a good time, and were in good spirits. there are so many tales here about the corporate media and their riot apocalypse stories - kind of remined me of london mayday hysteria over the last few years, especially when you hear the line about the right to protest being second the people`s rights to go about their daily lives peacefully and without disruption - well excuse me - try going and speaking to the poor residents of evian who are living in some crazy modern update of the prisoner tv show.

one quite shocking story heard twice now is that of the commander or senior spokesperson for the 750+ german riot police deployed here in geneva at the swiss govs request. he has been quoted in the press saying that he and his boys want to really be in the front line and have the opportunity to hit back over the coming days! while the swiss geneva authorities had to take steps to rebuff this rhetoric...

so we will see what the next days bring, tmrw the noborder demo will take to the streets and the counter conferences continue

NO TO THE G8!