---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:23 PM Subject: Neutral Grounds - for Christmas Truce ? - Live and Let Live To: [email protected] http://www.truth-out.org/vacant-or-occupied-where-do-99-percent-go-when-natu... The restaurant serves as something of a neutral ground, where protesters and policemen are able to switch off the suspicion and hostility born of the power relationship they find themselves in when the latter are specifically charged with supervising the former. "Suddenly," says Wilkins, "they're really courteous to you. They can see you're a protester; you've walked in there with a cardboard sign. But if they bump into you, they apologize." Policemen have seen footage of protesters tossing barricades, and protesters have seen footage of policemen tossing occupiers, but none of this footage has been set in McDonald's. "Everybody needs a break," says Wilkins, inadvertently recalling the fact that McDonald's used to ask whether you'd had yours today. it reminds me : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce The *Christmas truce* was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceasefire> that took place along the Western Front<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_%28World_War_I%29> around Christmas of 1914, during the First World War<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_War>. Through the week leading up to Christmas, parties of German<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Empire> and British<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland>soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and songs between their trenches; on occasion, the tension was reduced to the point that individuals would walk across to talk to their opposite numbers bearing gifts. On Christmas Eve<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve> and Christmas Day <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Day>, many soldiers from both sides – as well as, to a lesser degree, from French<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Third_Republic> units – independently ventured into "No man's land<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_man%27s_land>", where they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in carol-singing. Troops from both sides had also been so friendly as to play games of football<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football> with one another.[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce#cite_note-0> The truce is seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity amidst one of the most violent events of modern history. ... The truces were not unique to the Christmas period, and reflected a growing mood of "live and let live<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_and_let_live_%28World_War_I%29>", where infantry units in close proximity to each other would stop overtly aggressive behaviour, and often engage in small-scale fraternisation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternisation>, engaging in conversation or bartering for cigarettes. In some sectors, there would be occasional ceasefires to go between the lines and recover wounded or dead soldiers, whilst in others, there would be a tacit agreement not to shoot while men rested, exercised, or worked in full view of the enemy. However, the Christmas truces were particularly significant due to the number of men involved and the level of their participation – even in very peaceful sectors, dozens of men openly congregating in daylight was remarkable. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens