In another time, Europe was a land of protests. They appeared and disappeared like lights on a Christmas tree. Thus, in the eighties, there were rallies against NATO, repression in Palestine, the deployment of Pershing missiles, and Pinochet. In the nineties, there were rallies to reject the first Gulf War, the American intervention in Yugoslavia, and inevitably, Israel. In the early 2000s, rivers of people flooded Europe in protests against the invasion of Iraq, so many that George Bush senior said, “We cannot determine our foreign policy based on the number of protesters in Barcelona.”
It’s difficult to know the exact influence these rallies had. Thus, Spain remained in NATO, Israel did not evacuate the territories, the Pershing missiles were deployed, and Saddam Hussein was executed. But they weren’t homeopathy. In Spain, there was a referendum, the Israelis restrained themselves, and in the United States, there is a strong weariness with Europe.
Today, there is noise about the death of the Wagner founder, but there are no political protests.
Let’s remember that, in general, the crocodile that should concern us is the one we don’t see. Thus, in the eighties and nineties, we didn’t see rallies against Tiananmen, the Ayatollahs, the USSR, or the perpetual dictators of sub-Saharan Africa. This thematic asymmetry might have been related to the self-aversion that a part of the West professed, which struggled with hypocrisy, unequal opportunities, and the shoulder pads of our societies. Some countered that this sentiment wasn’t nurtured by knowledge, as the alternatives to the West were more brutal and unproductive. It also happened that one protests against those who can listen. Gandhi could fight against the British Empire, but he couldn’t have done it against Putin; for him, the cat doesn’t negotiate with the mouse.
Today in Spain and Europe, there are sometimes rallies that are almost revolts, as we’ve seen in France and previously in Catalonia, and in recurring events. But beyond that, the protesting circuit loses its audience; it seems that protests in Europe are less frequent, numerous, and roaring.
Where are the protesters? Are they on Twitter? It’s possible: if one wants to protest or criticize, they can now also turn to social media, newspaper forums, WhatsApp, or a Telegram channel. There, criticism can be composed comfortably, adjusting and qualifying it as desired. It’s also possible that protesters remain active, but in the eyes of this writer, the new protest methods are a blanket that covers them.
Protest plays a crucial role in all democracies. Besides being an inherent right, it’s good for a compassionate society to know what concerns its mobilized segments, even though we shouldn’t be overawed by them or confuse them with the whole, as all citizens count in a democracy. In some cases, Sayre’s Law applies: “In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” In others, we’re explained that decaffeinated doesn’t contain caffeine. But in others, the protesters are right; suffragettes, democrats during Franco’s regime, and early environmentalists were among them. Sometimes, a mobilized minority can determine electoral results by raising awareness about an issue without mobilizing the opposition. This is the case with guns in the USA; they matter a lot to a few and little to many.
Let’s manage our protests, therefore, with respect, observation, and let’s give thanks to Twitter, which, though not always harmonious, allows us to have much more information about what people think and channels protests without the possibility of burning kiosks.
Today there are protests against Rubiales, but few rallies, and the death (the assassination?) of Prigozhin has caused a stir, but not political protests; there haven’t been any against the morally and ideologically unjustified Russian intervention in the Sahel and Niger, employing mercenaries who still have traces of Ukrainian blood on their boots. Let’s remember that the most dangerous crocodiles are the ones we don’t see, so it’s important to recall that political instability in one of the most unfortunate regions of the planet will generate suffering and human waves that could destabilize Europe. At the same time, it’s against our interests for imperialist dictators like Putin to interfere in democracies, which is illegal. Therefore, we’ll need to properly contain and manage this crocodile. If we don’t take action, we could find ourselves facing a new and unfortunate metonymy.
Written by Marc Murtra in La Vanguardia: Rubiales, Prigozhin, and the Non-Protests
