STREETPARTY TUTORIAL FOR ALL THE INEXPERIENCED : 1. EVERYONE CAN ORGANIZE STREETPARTY On the decisions about Streetparty and its themes, organization, program, speeches or distribution of information can participate everyone who is interested in it. Anyone who is ready to create, organize or help by himself(or herself, of course) can follow. Organizers are not the same people every year. When making decisions, everyone is equal and all the decisions are made unhierarchicly - with consensus or by voting. Action is financed from people's voluntary supports partly from benefit sales of alternative magazines, sewed-on-pictures, books, multimedia, vegansfood and so on. Costs are low thanks to people's willing to help for free. Streetparty takes place just when people organize it themselves. 2. STREETPARTY IS A COMBINATION OF POLITICAL PROTEST AND FUN Its parttakers want to make visible attention on concrete problems. Streetparty is a space for showing opinion and for informating about problems. The form of doing it depends just and only on the parttakers and people who participate on organization. Basic themes, that the Streetparty entertains, are global and also local problems of nowaday's world that touch everyone of us - "direct" democracy, equality, freedom, human rights, great social differences, exploitation of property and information on onther's people detriment, ecological destruction, protecting of animals and nature and so on. 3. The parttakers of Streetparty ARE NOT ANTIGLOBALISTS Only a very few of the parttakers are against the globalization of information, communication or society. The main problem is economical globalization. Its result is concentrated power ind influence on people's lives in the hands of corporations, whose management is not based on democratic principes and is based on maximization of profit by all means. By this, it is not looked on the needs of majority. With this is connected also cultural globalization, which is a result of economical globalization. All over the world, transnational corporations set up their well-tested and psychologically sly medial influence to create inquiry for their wares and services. So there comes on gradual change or extinction of primary life values and culture of original population. Basic values as family, interest in common problems, solidarity, thrifty manipulation with nature etc. are replaced by individualism, carrierism, consume way of life, desire for as much property as possible and inconsiderate acceding to nature, animals and the other people. 4. Parttakers of Streetparty ARE NOT A COMPACT MASS of people with the same opinion The target of action is to inform people who doesn't have the exact information about contemporary problems and to join them for the activities. Streetparty is not a "exhibition" of people who denominate the same principles and attitudes for nowaday's world. Lot's of parttakers come to this action for the first time and so they just become familiar with the theme. Opinions on solving concrete problems are different between the parttakers. Part of people is active in various non-government organizations, citizen's associations or own iniciatives. Then you can find there symphatizers with the thoughts of action, human or animal rights activists, people who don't agree that the main value of society nowaday is money or those who don't agree with social injustice ... The parttakers are people who : want to show their opinion and make it obviously visible (approx. 90%) come just to have fun (approx. 8%) want to make conflicts hidden in a mass or are looking for a kind of "adventure" (approx. 2%) - chcú vyvolávať konflikty zakrytí v dave alebo hľadajú určité "dobrodružstvo" (možno 2%) - but organizers are trying to eliminate them out of the action or to reduce their conflict behaviour 5. parttakers of Streetparty DON'T AFFIRM THAT ONLY THEIR OPINIONS, ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLE ARE RIGHT People that come to the Streetparty don't try to differ from the majority of society purpously - that's not the main target. It's not about exhibition of people that think about themselves that they think and live "more correctly" that the other ones. It's about attenting to an existing problems and suggesting possible solvings. Between parttakers there are also lots of people from various subcultures, but that doesn't mean that they want the other people to look, live or behave like them. The target is only to attent to existing state of world. It's kind of sad, that in Slovakia that are mostly young people who consider it as important. In abroad the knowledge about the world's problems is much bigger and on similar actions participate people of all age categories. 6.   approximately 90% of demonstrations parttakers are people who WANT TO SHOW THEIR OPINIONS IN PEACE and don't have a willing for conflicts Media only rarely tell the fact, that on big demonstrations in the world is about 90% of all parttakers peacful demonstrants of all age categories, races, genders or professions(we can find there popes, engineers, ecologists, unionists ...) who show their opinion just by participating on the march and various lectures and discussions. Only about 5% of parttakers are those who express their mind helpless of solving great world's problems by angriness or aggresivity against representatives who are able, but not willing, to change this state, or by destroying symbols of consume and power of money. Only a little part of this 5% are rioters, who use such an actions for their own realisation. 7. ANARCHISTS ARE NOT aggresive DESTROYERS of shopwindows Dictionary says, that anarchy is a chaos and disorder. But political anarchy is, also by a dictionary, something completely different. Anarchists do want exactly a political anarchy which is based on autonomy, direct democracy, social justice, non-hierarchic and non-authorical guidance, on a permanent maintenability, solidarity, tolerance, responsibility, cooperation ... etc. Media say, that anarchists are people, who either are not anarchists at all, or if some of them even are anarchists, they take only a few part of all parttakers prefering peaceful protest. Anarchists, or people sympatizing with anarchistic thoughts, are also some of world's appreciated professionals (for example Noam Chomsky - world's established intelectual and lingvist) 8. parttakers of Streetparty ARE NOT JUNKIES, NOR ALCOHOLISTS Some of parttakers are vegetarians, teetotallers or non-smokers. Even if some of parttakers drink beer or smoke, they are still not differing from common people. But some media do describe action as a "drunk-party", what is very far from reality. Organize are trying to exclude drunk people out of action. The same will be done if any of parttakers wanted to use drugs. It's importand to notice that the target of action is to show opinion and make problems visible. People who are trying to do this don't have any interest in consumation of alcohol or drugs. 9. parttakers of Streetparty ARE NOT INTERESTED IN HAVING CONFLICTS WITH POLICE In the year 2000 police didn't intervene at all, the action had absolutely peaceful course and in media it sounded positive. The only thing noticed was a surprise of non-reacting police. But in 2001 the police wanted to repair it's reputation and began to intervene agressively and absolutely unsystematically. From the police's side there was some law-breaking, what can be seen also on the pictures from our videorecords. (you can see them in the section of "video, photo and reports" or right HERE). Police, for example, was hindering to make records from it's intervence so it broke the Constitutional's court statement, used truncheon's against peaceful parttakers and part of policemen wasn't even signed by indentification numbers. During intervence threre wasn't almost any reporters at the place. Those who did caught the action very realistic and positively. Those who didn't (unfortunately the majority of them), took just a very short and partial report of police and press agencies. Thanks of reporter's and TV's lack of willing to report the action directly, in the most of media the action sounded like a police action against rioters. In fact the police started to scatter peaceful people totally chaoticly. That caused useless tension and nervosity. After a lawless acting of police the parttakers started to shoud a phrases like "police terror" or "gestapo". But the most of media just transcripted the press agencie's and police's report telling about "intervence of police against demonstrants shouting this phrases". Further comments and media reports you can find in the section photo, video and reports. We are open to give all the videorecords from police's intervences and from whole action to reporters. The best should be if you judge who spoke the truth alone. Write us please to info@streetparty.sk 10. parttakers of Streetparty ARE PEOPLE, WHO INSTEAD OF INDIVIDUAL PASIVE ROUGHING AND RESIGNATION TRY TO MAKE THEIR OPINIONS VISIBLE AND ORGANIZE THEIR EFFORTS Only a few people really do appreciate, that people get out lots of energy such an action and are willing, also with a few of risk, to block traffic with their own bodies. That's not only some kind of amuse or manifest of own "power" ! That people really do want to tell something, but hardly anybody listens to them. On the 2nd Streetparty of Bratislava there was several hundreds of people willing to march throough the city's streets in rain and not the warmest weather. All their way was nuised by the police and the length of route was kind of tiresome too. And besides there exists real threat from the side of neonazi skinhead and various thugs, which spend their time by beating people they don't like and consider for junkies. In spite of this risk are some people willing to show their opinion and to join Streetparty. But media signed these people as rioters and demonstrants against which "had to intervene the police". Why is every effort for doing anything buried as meaningless, or casually as "completely different" action ? Some people consider this style of protest as non-effective and meaningless. But organizers and also parttakers think, that that exactly this form of manifest and protest is important and right. It's one of a few medium to make own opinion really visible in this one-sided medial world. 11. from the legal view is Streetparty PUBLIC GATHERING by the Constitution of SR and by the gathering law One of basic human rights is the right to manifest own opinion freely and also a right to gather. Streetparty is on its statical part, where its program take part, properly noticed public gathering. Even if a march through city's streets takes part, it's just a spontaneous reaction of parttakers. It takes part only if the parttakers themselves decide that way. It's not a inevitable part of whole action.