22 September 200922 September 2009 Main Posts archaeological traces of another world Jeff Sparrow I stumbled upon this on the back of a door at Victoria University the other day, one of the original stickers from the S11 blockade of the World Economic Forum back in 2000. With all that’s happened in the last nine years, the S11 protest seems, in retrospect, entirely fantastical. Not just the huge numbers that attended (though that too is a source of wonder) but the optimism that permeated the whole event, a sentiment encapsulated in the slogan ‘Another world is possible’. Compare with the zeitgeist of today, manifested most depressingly at the shenanigans at Copenhagen where, with the fate of the planet very possibly hanging in the balance, the statesman’s art consists of manufacturing bogus enthusiasm for various permutations of the status quo. The explosion of creativity that accompanied S11 has now been largely forgotten. The regular film screenings; the photo exhibitions; the new journals and publications; the various political groupings that, for a while, held huge meetings every week: the memory of all it has been effaced. Yet it all happened, and not so very long ago. Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 11 November 202211 November 2022 Main Posts On the last day of Subscriberthon, our amazing online editor gives you one last (very good) reason to subscribe Editorial team What's in store for the last day of Subscriberthon? First published in Overland Issue 228 10 November 202210 November 2022 Main Posts On the second-last day of Subscriberthon, our favourite editor-duo give you reason #1002 to subscribe to Overland Editorial team What's in store for the second-last day of Subscriberthon?