next 5 minutes international festival of tactical media, September 11-14 2003, Amsterdam
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Strategic guide to a tactical festival: three men give wise advice

Author: redactie redactie

A tactical media festival requires a strategic guide. With so many things to see, hear and do, one can easily get lost in the tactical jungle. The organisers seem to be aware of this problem. That’s why this edition of Next 5 Minutes kicked off on Friday morning with a guideline, a ‘red thread’ of this festival that one can choose to follow.
A tactical media festival requires a strategic guide. With so many things to see, hear and do, one can easily get lost in the tactical jungle. The organisers seem to be aware of this problem. That’s why this edition of Next 5 Minutes kicked off on Friday morning with a guideline, a ‘red thread’ of this festival that one can choose to follow. Not only activists and artists are aware of their role as guides in their righteous quest for social change. Paul Keller, Eric Kluitenberg and Menno Grootveld took this role upon them as well. In front of a half full Grote Zaal at the Balie, they gave their advice on the program. Paul Keller told the audience they should be on the lookout for a big white bus with a satellite dish on top. These are the people of the No Border front, and the bus is their media lab. At Next 5 Minutes they participate both by broadcasting and by discussing their activistic strategies of past, present and future. More information will follow as it takes place. Eric Kluitenberg told us what the difference is between the day and the night program. The days are mainly for debates and film screenings. Certain aspects are continuous, like the Hybrid Media Studio and the Media Library, both at the Melkweg. In the evening the focus will be more on performances. Whether it will be Latin-American political hip-hop at the Paradiso, the performances at the Sabotage Performance Night, or the beats of Fem Snd, one will not be able to resist moving. ‘If I can’t dance, I will not take part in your revolution’ Emma Goldman once said. She was right. Concluding, Menno Grootvelt promoted the Tactical Tourism bus-tour through revolutionary Amsterdam. He also pointed out that the Amsterdam television centre Salto will broadcast live from the Hybrid Media Studio, every night. More was said. The three men advised on several definite ‘do’s’ of the festival. ‘Don’ts’ did not exist. Still, a guide has politics of its own. Every participant is completely free to make his own festival. This cannot be expressed often enough. Jouke Turpijn

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Jouke Turpijn