A-Infos (en) Poland, The anarchists' "people's ball" was held yesterday in Warsaw.

Nov.11, was Polish Independence Day. As the country becomes sick with more and 
more patriotism, the patriotic holidays are becoming more and more grandiose and 
grotesque. This holiday, the 90th anniversary of Polish independence, saw huge 
military parades, dozens of patriotic demonstrations and a presidential ball.
At a time when the government is preaching austerity to the people, when 
thousands of people are striking for better pay, when the government is 
attacking the health care and education systems, when early pensions and other 
benefits for working people are being done away with, and we are being told "we 
cannot afford this", the state wastes millions on shows of patriotism and 
attempts to show off its military might and present itself as a regional 
superpower. While millions suffer from lack of basic services, the president 
decided to throw a gala ball.

Presidents from the Visegrad countries, the Baltics, Balkans, Ukraine and 
Georgia came, as did high-ranking officials from other "aspiring" countries like 
Turkey. In short, the "B-list" countries are networking. Angela Merkel arrived 
for official ceremonies in the morning but did not stay for the ball, which 
featured all the typical luxuries, dashed with amazing Polish ultra-kitsch such 
as the strange gorale group Zakopower. (All we can say is the ball's 800 
disgusting guests certainly deserved the torturous concert.) While the 
Presidents, the rich, powerful and elite were whining and dining, the anarchists 
decided to hold a counter ball - a people's ball.

Anarchists protested the arrogance of the politicians and their use of tax 
money, which was typical of the relation between those in power and those 
without. One of the many themes of the ball was the warning "Capitalism is 
sinking, enjoy your last dance" sent to the participants of the ball. Posters 
with the warning in many languages were put around the city.

Many would-be participants, who had taken part in an antifascist action were 
either blockaded by the police or waiting for people blockaded by the police. 
The ball was then attended mostly by people outside the movement, who danced to 
the DJs or samba band, watched fire shows, got a warm meal, anarchists leaflets 
and newspapers. Afterwards, people tried to move on to the official ball, but 
were stopped by the police. Some people went there anyway only to find that the 
anarchist ball, which was only a couple of hours long, had actually outlived the 
presidential ball. (Our guess is that people ran away after Zakopower.)

As a political protest, maybe the ball was a bit weak, but it was not a bad 
street party, made by the people, for the people and at a cost of a few thousand 
times less than the president's ball.

Some photos of the ball are here:
http://cia.bzzz.net/fotki_z_kontrbalu
FROM: http://cia.bzzz.net/anarchist_counterball
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