Antillectual

With the World Economic Forum (WEF) happening in Davos, Switzerland at the moment, we needed to share this throwback:

Over the years we’ve had our fair share of clashes with the authorities. From trouble at customs over visa or commercial goods, to being on the road with a Dutch van (which seems to trigger Bavarian police to check for drugs or the van being overloaded), to shows being shut down because of noise complaints. But we experienced one of the most imposing authority clashes when we were confronted by army soldiers in Switzerland.

In January 2009 we were doing a 10-day tour through France, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. We were invited by a punk hardcore concert group called Box to play a small town in Switzerland on January 31st. Nothing too special, if it wouldn’t have happened at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The WEF is a forum where world leaders come together to discuss how they can exploit the world in the most effective way. We were booked to play at the protest against that very WEF.

Pic from the protest at WEF 2009

In previous years there weren’t a lot of protests against the WEF. One of the reasons was because it was pretty much impossible to get close to the bastards. So we were kinda excited to hear some people were organizing something in Davos again. We were asked to play after the demonstration and it sounded like a great plan. We played Davos the day before the main protest, and afterwards we learned that the big demonstration was banned because the cops at the foot of the mountain blocked all activists. More on the 2009 anti-WEF protest via Reuters.

On the way to Davos, pic by Etjen van der Vliet

As we were getting closer to Davos, more and more police cars appeared at the side of the road. More men and women in uniforms with guns. More mustaches. The fact that this was the middle of a Swiss winter and everything was covered in a thick layer of snow did not make the scene any less surreal. But, so far, so good. Until we reached a patrol in the middle of the road. It seemed serious business, as it wasn’t a location where they would just check everyone before letting them through. This was a road block that no one seemed to be able to pass. When we approached the soldiers they asked us for our passports and they wanted to check what’s inside of the van. We were absolutely certain that they would not let us through, also because we carried a book distro with some very anti-authoritarian literature. When we opened the back doors of the van they saw the instruments. “BUSTED!” was all we thought. Their response definitely shocked us: “Oh, you’re the band that’s playing! No problem, go ahead. Have a nice show!” What the actual fuck… In order to organize protests and make sure they can take place you have to declare all activities around the WEF. It’s the only way to enter Fortress Davos. Those organizing the protest and our show knew this and arranged a free passage through the army road block without the slightest problem or delay.

At the Kirchgemeindehaus, pic by Etjen van der Vliet

The program at the venue consisted of endless speeches and long talks in Switzerdütsch and a violin player. After some more speeches we finally got to set up our backline. The Kirchgemeindehaus (church community centre) was definitely not suitable for (loud) live music. So it was a relief to see people removing the chairs in front of the stage and quite a lot of young people coming from everywhere all of a sudden. We played and we had fun. People were dancing and singing along to our songs. It was good. Very good indeed! And it was nice to see so many people interested in the anarchist literature we brought. Obviously there were some frowned eyebrows from the people who came for the speeches, but overall the reaction was very good. Thanks to the people from Box in Davos for this adventure!

Next time we’ll tell you about playing Ankara where the riot police wouldn’t have it and we had to pick up our tour manager from jail the next morning…