Hands shot up. More hands were raised. Mixing art with revolution is now an essential of global civil disobedience, and the Seattle protesters have constructed a menagerie of trojan horses, puppets and structures for their day of serious carnival. All know the FBI and the police have infiltrated their meetings. No one seemed to care.
Every hall brims with discussion.
The army of dissenters is strong on preachers and ideas. Dockers, steelworkers, taxi drivers and bus workers plan to strike and march in the week. Unions are leading the debate with the environmentalists, and bizarre coalitions of interests and age groups are forming between human rights, development, environmental and church groups. The business community was sensibly keeping its head down yesterday.