Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/02/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Reminds me of an episode in the end of the 70ties - My school at that time (8th grade) was a very conservative school and the headmaster a very strict ultra conservative man. A demonstration in front of the parliament building was arranged by the Danish pupils organisation and pupils were allowed to go, according to the law, but our headmaster wrote down the names of the pupils in a little black book in order to " keep track of troublemakers, potential criminals and communist" for the years to come. That pissed me and some friends so much of that we eventhough we had no intention of attending the demonstration before his statement, left for Copenhagen and the demonstration any way. It was not one of (Nathans) rainy days but bright sunshine and something absolutely magical had happened in Copenhagen that totally lost our focus on the demonstration - a Burger King had opened - right on the main pedestrian street in the heart of Copenhagen - Now this temptation in the days were globalisation had not reached Denmark was to much - we had milkshakes - fries -burgers - and forgot all about our headmaster - and had he only known he would have been proud ! Well anyway a couple of years later, and anothe School, I did get more involved as government cuts was threatening our and many other Danish high schools to be closed. The stronger High School Pupils Organisation was arranging a large scale demonstration in front of Christiansborg our parliament building. a couple of hundred thousand people was expected to come and as our school was one of the schools that had put up a really heavy fight for not being closed I was invited to be main speaker at the event. The organisation had set up a speaker arrangement that would make even a heavy-rock band green with envy, in front of the parliament - all the students from my high school - teachers and parents were coming and I was really nervous about the whole thing. (This time Nathan!) the weather was also sunny - but as time passed on and only the pupils from my school was there and not he hundreds of thousand we expected we was contacted by a member of the organizing group from the High School Pupils Organisation and he told us that someone had send out the invitation to all the other schools but with a wrong date! So I was left to speak to my friends - the students from my high school etc. all in all around 300 persons. I did not panic but over reacted slightly as something inside me told me that if I should reach more then the little crowd in front of me I might as well take advantage of the huge speaker set up and make a performance out of it. So like some south American revolutionary freedom fighter I delivered my message so loud that it not only made the windows in the parliament building shake, it was heard all across town, and actually by a few members of the government that had not left the building to get away from the noise. Our school was never closed - and the majority of the other high schools survived to, even though the never reached to the demonstration. And for a lttle while I had a good feeling about democracy. Ruben n.wajsman@chello.nl wrote: >...and typical of Denmark in those days. I guess I am a bit older than Ruben, I was about 11-12 during the event he describes, and I lived in another part of Denmark, which the revolution had not reached... Anyway, revolutions in Denmark are cancelled in the event of inclement weather, and it rains a lot in Denmark ;-) > >Nathan > > > >>van: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> >>datum: 2004/02/03 di PM 11:46:04 CET >>aan: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> >>onderwerp: RE: [Leica] TOTALLY, COMPLETELY, AND UTTERLY OFF-TOPIC - A personal request >> >>Great story..;-) >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >>[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of RUBEN >>BLĘDEL >>Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 5:37 PM >>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >>Subject: Re: [Leica] TOTALLY, COMPLETELY, AND UTTERLY OFF-TOPIC - A >>personal request >> >> >>Sorry to young - but I do remember I sat on the shoulders of my much >>older big brother during a demostration in peacefull Copenhagen in the >>late sixties/early seventies and everybody was shouting "HO-HO-HOCHIMIN" >> >>and a Police officer let me were his cap. I guess it is ok to answer you >> >>on list as I did not fall into the right catagory - cheers Ruben >> >>B. D. Colen wrote: >> >> >> >>>Do any of you remember the 60's? If any of you considered yourselves >>>student "activists" at any time during the period 1965-1975, if you >>>were actively involved in anti-war activities, if you were involved in >>>the Civil Rights movement, if you were involved in campus "student >>>rights" activities, would you please contact me off-list? >>> >>>I'll explain further if you get in touch with me. Any replies will be >>>considered confidential. >>> >>>Thanks >>> >>>B. D. >>> >>>-- >>>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>-- >>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html >> >>-- >>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html >> >> >> > >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html