www.hellomrpresident.com
Posted 29th January 2001

Authorities in Switzerland have erected a ring of steel around this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, but anti-globalization protestors may still get their message across using a powerful laser and the Internet. See www.hellomrpresident.com Local authorities have banned all protests and called in police reinforcements from across the country to avoid a repeat of anti-globalization protests that turned violent last year. But a Swiss multimedia artist has set up a powerful laser capable of projecting slogans four-stories high on the snow-covered mountain looming over the ski resort town. Potential messages are being gathered at the "Hello Mr. President" website, where they'll get editorial filtering before being projected onto the mountainside. "Would you like to make your views known to the political and business leaders from all over the world meeting in Davos?" the site asks. "Would you like to praise them or blame them?" Swiss police are mounting a huge security operation for the Jan. 25-30 gathering of the world's political and business heavyweights.

The annual business summit will be attended by 3,200 heads of state and top corporate executives. Japan's Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli cabinet minister Shimon Peres, Mexican President Vincente Fox and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica are among those expected to take part. Last year, shops and cars were attacked in street clashes while U.S. President Bill Clinton addressed the world's "movers and shakers" in the fortress-like Davos conference center. The Hello Mr. President site claims to be politically independent. It is the brainchild of Johannes Gees, a multimedia artist based in Zurich. "Hello Mr President ... enables people to express their feelings and opinions about the main issues of the meeting of the World Economic Forum," Gees said in a statement. The site also includes a webcam showing the mountainside. Before messages are projected, however, they will be scanned by editors from SwissInfo, an arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. "Messages containing racist or pornographic remarks, personal insults, advertising or private communications will not be transmitted," the site says. Messages are projected 50 feet high and 800 feet across. They can be up to 160 characters long in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. Messages can be submitted over the Internet or mobile phone via Short Messaging Service (SMS).

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