On 26 October, 51,000 people met in Pamplona in a rally in favour of those in Altsasu. Last Saturday, 47,000 citizens crossed the coast of San Sebastian in defense of Catalonia. A few weeks earlier, we were 50,000 on the streets of Bilbao under the slogan 47ak libre. Attacks on the Basque people were reported in Paris at the end of November and anti-social measures by the government were reported in Baiona at the beginning of December.
This “access” has also given more than one reason to go out into the street. And although it is common to draw attention to the crisis of militancy, we have to recognize that that people still have the capacity to mobilize thousands of citizens per week. And what? Besides beautiful photos, what consequences? I do not deny that there are political consequences. I'd like to place the focus elsewhere on the following lines.
Among us: Who has never come home a little frustrated after a demonstration? Are they not going to manifest some more from the possibility of socializing with each other than from the moment of the struggle? Sometimes it seems to me that we put thousands of citizens together with too much attention in the message (what photo do we take? What message are we going to send? And not just in the emotions that we're going to create in the participants: Parade from point A to point B, greet those we haven't seen for a long time, share on social media the collection of photos when returning home and to bed.
To take an example, I've always been surprised, because in our demonstrations, almost nobody has come home with an imagined, adored banner. Look at the social mobilizations in Paris, the protests in Catalonia, the street occupations in Lebanon and the photos of the demonstrations in Chile and compare them with ours. Color, humor and personalized messages are scarce in our environment. It seems anecdotal, but I think it's significant: let's go to demonstrations like we're going to walk. However, if the battle were momentous, we should be prepared.
As organizers, it is up to us to promote it. It is up to us to organize demonstrations that also affect people’s emotions, to make better use of social networks, to use our bodies, to accommodate different audiences… I have two small daughters and they don’t want to go to demonstrations anymore. Can we collectively do nothing to change it?
Let's work the imagination in the coming months, so let's be blockers, adornments, colorful, vivid, personalized, permanent. In short, creative emotions. Less slide and click, more adrenaline and endorphin. Cheer!