reporting the sound of the atomrnsplitting. Jamie would bernfeeding the script in her earrnfrom State.rnWhat was going on in the country’srnnewsrooms? ABC’s Seattle affiliate wasrnfranic enough to announce, even before thernconference opened, that it would “not devoterncoverage to irresponsible or illegalrnactivities of disruptive groups,” addingrnthat it was “taking a stand on not givingrnsome protest groups the publicity theyrnwant.” In a revealing choice of words,rnnews director Joe Barnes described civilrndisobedience as “illegally disrupting therncommerce of the city.”rnThe magnitude of protests that greetedrnPresident Clinton during his tour of thernBalkans—ten days before the “battle inrnSeattle”—was also unfit to print. Thernstreets of Athens exploded with tens ofrnthousands of demonstrators, forcing thernunprecedented last-minute postponementrnof Clinton’s visit. This prompted thernTimes of London to comment (Novemberrn12) that the Greek fiasco “has compoundedrnthe impression of a presidency stumblingrnrather than striding into its final lap.”rnClinton himself smugly referred to somern”communists and anarchists” in an interview,rnthus revealing his total incomprehensionrnof the Greek nation’s view of himrnand his policies in Kosovo and Cyprus. Tornmake Mr Clinton’s visit possible, a weekrnlater, the Greek government had to introducernsweeping restrictions on public gatherings.rnAs the AP reported on Novemberrn16:rnPolice banned demonstrationsrnand protest marches in largernp a r t s of Athens, saying Tuesdayrnthat i t was necessary tornprotect President Clinton duringrnhis v i s i t to Greece. Thern2 6-hour ban . . . is the mostrnsevere r e s t r i c t i o n on protestsrnsince the fall of military rulern25 years ago. The chief of thernAthens metropolitan policernbanned a l l open-air gatheringsrnand protest marches on routesrnstretching from Athens internationalrnairport to the U.S.rnembassy, located 10 milesrnaway.rnBut when Mr. Clinton eventually arrivedrnon a 24-hour stop (“like a thief in thernnight” according to Elefterios Tipos) thernprotests —and violence —exceeded anythingrnseen in Greece since the 1960’s.rnAcross the Aegean in Turkey (his prc’iousrnstop), police beat and arrested hundredsrnof protesters. In Ankara, many nowrnawait trial under draconian Turkish lawsrnagainst “illegal protests.” “Turkish Anti-rnClinton Protesters Face Jail,” the AP reportedrnon November 17:rnA Turkish court charged 113rnl e f t i s t s with i l l e g a l lyrnprotesting against PresidentrnClinton-a charge carrying uprnto three years j a i l – d u r i n g hisrncurrent v i s i t in which he hasrncalled for greater freedom ofrnspeech. Television picturesrnon Monday showed r i o t policernbeating the demonstrators andrnforcing them onto buses. Clintonrnwas meanwhile t e l l i n g thernTurkish parliament he wantedrnto see greater freedom ofrnspeech and respect for humanrnr i g h t s in Turkey.rnIn Sofia, the Bulgarians tasted policernoppression unseen since the days of TodorrnZhivkov’s “real socialism.” The “pro-rnWestern” government wanted to presentrnthe best possible face to the guest. Butrnmany Bulgarians, appalled by the NATOrnbombing, fear that they may be next. Tornpreempt them, the government issued arnblanket ban on all and-Clinton protests,rneven peaceful ones, in clear violation ofrnthe country’s constitution. Over 100 peoplernwere arrested when they tried torndemonstrate. One of them was BlagovestarnDoncheva, a former anticommunist dissidentrnwho has written about the country’srnsuffering under the new regime, includingrna recent op-ed piece for the New YorkrnTimes. In a reminder that old habitsrndie hard in ex-communist countries, shernwas brutally arrested and thrown into arnmental ward “for obsen’ation.” Slic wasrnreleased after Clinton’s departure and describedrnher experiences [www.emperorsclothes.rncom):rnIf they [the Bulgarian police]rnorder to a protesting citizen:rn”Get out of that area!” (thernpavement outside the US Embassyrnin Sofia), and the addressedrnperson dares to say:rn”No, I will not. You are tryingrnto infringe on my constitutionalrnright to protest accordingrnto Article 39,rnparagraph 1 of the BulgarianrnConstitution’-that is “inadequaternbehavior.” Another,rnmore serious sign of inadequaternbehavior ( i . e . mentalrndisorder): You choose to resrni s t their attempts to push yourninto the police jeep, but yourrnp o s s i b i l i t i e s for resistancernare deplorably limited: yournare a woman in your f i f t i e s ,rnand they are healthy and strongrnyoung men.rnOpposition in the Balkans to Mr. Clintonrnand all that he embodies goes well beyondrn”communists and anarchists.” It reflectsrnthe unease of people all over thernworld with what America has done, andrnwhat it has become. There is some comfortrnin the fact that people as different asrnGreeks, Bulgars, and Turks are growingrnapprehensive of the forces at work.rnIn Al-Ahram Weekly (“The globalisationrnbrigade marches on,” Noemberrn18), Gamil Mattar wrote that, after thernAge of Divinity and the Age of Reason,rnwc are being incxorabK pushed into thernglobalist Age of Certainty. Al-Ahramrnconcluded that the ongoing “assault onrnany glimmerings of national culture, thernbarrage of drivel and misinformationrnchanneled through the ever-expandingrnmedia” is the harbinger of a new totalitar-rnThe s t a t e is besieged increasinglyrnby demands to ignore thernprinciple of national unityrnbased on a shared culture, historyrnand fate, and . . . tornadopt the principle of culturalrnp l u r a l i t y . . . They overlookrnthese tenets, however,rnwhen preaching the i n e v i t a b i l ­irnt y of globalisation. Thernworld is racing headlong towardrna new monolithic ideology,rnwhich heralds a new t o t a l i ­tarianismrnfar more dangerousrnthan a l l those of the 2 0th century.rnThe strident and aggressiverncampaign for globalisationrnbrooks no resistance, norndissenting ideas, . . . no freernand open global dialogue on thernnotions of p o l i t i c a l and culturalrnp l u r a l i t y . As such, itrnhas come to depend on a propagandistrnstyle that the Westrnviewed with derision as long asrni t profited the communist machinern.rnFEBRUARY 2000/23rnrnrn