by PATRICK LEJTENYI

When the Queen Elizabeth Hotel announced that the delegations from 25 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) were personae non grata last week, among the first to know were the people dedicated to the body's eradication. Declaring the reservation cancellations a victory, they announced a press conference within hours, beckoning the city's press to listen to what they had to say.

The speed at which the protesters - a convergence of a dozen or so groups known as the Popular Mobilization Against the World Trade Organization - organized and alerted the press signals not only a growing media-savvy but also an increasingly sophisticated network of information gathering and distribution. In fact, says Tamara Herman, one of the group's spokespeople, it is often in constant monitoring of the organizations they oppose that they keep track of their comings and goings. Relevant information picked up by one is almost immediately shared with all.

"E-mail is our biggest asset, and we use it to organize our big mobilizations a lot," she says. "And we try to borrow cell phones to keep in touch. It can be a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of thing."

Herman, however, says she personally has noticed a sharp increase in the levels of communication and organization among her fellow activists since she became politically active over 10 years ago. "It's a lot easier now, and a lot faster," she says. "Technology speeds things up, but it's consistent with what corporations and governments have been doing." Keeping up with the multinational Joneses is imperative, she believes, to be effective in countering them.

Media monitoring also plays a big role in their planning, she says, and being plugged into the media world has immediate benefits. "I found out about the change of venue from the CBC at nine in the morning," she says. "I made a few phone calls, and most of the people I spoke to already knew. Then I went to check my e-mail and saw that I had 30 new messages."

Contingency plans - and position platforms to offer quote-hungry media - can be agreed upon fairly quickly. "In the case of something like the Sheraton [now hosting the WTO]," she says, "we call an emergency meeting, bring all the information we have and come up with a plan. We were holding our first meeting about this by noon." Exactly 25 hours later they were holding a press scrum outside the Queen E, talking to journalists from print and broadcast media in both official languages.

She also says that keeping in touch with journalists covering the stories is key to staying on top of developments. Herman says she and other organizers often communicate with reporters, and are able to remain abreast of the news by cultivating relationships with some of them.

"We have a list of media who have shown themselves to be somewhat sympathetic to our causes, who have shown an interest and have represented our positions well," Herman says. "So we can get in touch with journalists we know and invite as many of them as we can."

In the meantime, everyone is invited to participate in the Popular Mobilization's five days of action against the mini-ministerial, beginning Friday, July 25. For more info, consult posters everywhere or http://montreal.resist.ca.