through europe

Nos interpelan como ciudadanos

Hoy el ciudadano ya no es un hombre libre. El ciudadano ha dejado de ser el hombre libre que quiere vivir en una comunidad libre. La conciencia política que no se enseña sino que se conquista, ha desaparecido paulatinamente. No podía ser de otra manera. El espacio público se ha convertido en una calle llena de tiendas abiertas a todas horas, en un programa de televisión en el que un imbécil nos cuenta detalladamente por qué se separó de su mujer.

November 24, 2010. A date to remember. A few months after the Greek riots, a few weeks after the French wave of general strikes, Britain, Italy and Portugal synchronized their unrest against the new measures of austerity enforced by their respective governments. While British students descended in mass on the streets, their Italian equivalents attacked the palace of the Senate, before moving to occupy the Coliseum. At the same time, in Portugal, the unions called for a general strike that managed to paralyze the entire country, with peaks of 80% adhesion among the workers of several industries.

24 November 2010, London

Dear Sir,

I happened to see you today around Whitehall. You didn’t seem to see me. I was right in front of you, maybe a couple of feet away. I was blowing my breath on your yellow uniform. I tried to talk to you. But I guess you weren’t there. Talking to a uniform is a silly thing to do, when there is no one inside it.

They did it, again. Once again, it was the Metropolitan Police, once again it was in London. It was the national walkout day and thousands of students were marching in countless cities all over the United Kingdom. In London, a colorful and determined march (supported by all student organisation, with the exception of the notoriously brave-hearted NUS) made its way from Trafalgar square down to Whitehall. There, at about 1pm, it happened again. The Metropolitan Police, fearful of being blamed again for incompetence, kettled everyone in.

Another day of direct action, another day of semantic stretching. Kids run inside the Tory’s HQ, break the windows, or maybe they stop a coal power station, or they enact a political performance in a socially sensitive place. All legitimate and often noble means of protesting, but, still, their classification under the label of ‘direct action’ seems to me to be a misguided attempt to stretch the meaning of this expression.