Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy Human Rights in Ireland >>
Labour?s VAT Plan for Private Schools Flunks Revenue Test Sun Jul 28, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred New analysis suggests Labour's tax on private schools could bring in less than half the expected amount because of the extra cost of adding more students to the state system.
The post Labour?s VAT Plan for Private Schools Flunks Revenue Test appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Far-Left Group Claim Responsibility for Paris Arson Attacks Sun Jul 28, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred A far-Left group has claimed responsibility for crippling Paris's rail network with arson attacks, stranding 800,000 passengers, just before the Olympic opening ceremony.
The post Far-Left Group Claim Responsibility for Paris Arson Attacks appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
DESNZ Has Net Zero Competence Sun Jul 28, 2024 15:00 | David Turver David Turver casts a critical eye over the new crop of ministers at the Department of Energy and Net Zero, revealing a batch of public sector lifers with no commercial savvy and zero energy know-how.
The post DESNZ Has Net Zero Competence appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Hate Cleric Raises £3 Million to Create Islamic Homeland on Scottish Island Sun Jul 28, 2024 13:01 | Richard Eldred A radical cleric has raised over £3 million to transform a remote Scottish island into a self-governing Islamic state with its own army, justice system, school and hospital.
The post Hate Cleric Raises £3 Million to Create Islamic Homeland on Scottish Island appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Why I Fear What Labour Will Do to the Education System Sun Jul 28, 2024 11:00 | Stephen Curran We are facing a radical agenda set by the progressive wing of the educational establishment, says Dr Stephen Curran. We should build on the past 14 years' foundation, not tear it down.
The post Why I Fear What Labour Will Do to the Education System appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
A Bridge Too Far: Strasbourg - Kehl 04/04/09
An eyewitness account of some invisible events
The Anti-NATO demonstration at Strasbourg - Kehl is disrupted by the strategic intervention of the police, but the attempt by the state to hide this strategy is in turn disrupted by the Black Block youth. This game is conducted at the level of the symbol. The official rhetoric of the event on the Rhine, which was staged on the 60th anniversary of NATO (as part of the process of normalisation of militarisation in the public imagination), was that the French and German leaders would meet to join hands on the Passarelle des Deux Rives which crosses the Rhine between Strasbourg an Kehl, and re-enact the rapprochment which followed the ending of the Second World War and subsequent founding of NATO in April 1949. The benign supervision of the American president would echo the liberal interventionist role of the US in 1945 (this narrative has erased the crucial significance of Stalin's Red Army in the defeat of Naziism). The symbolism of the bridge is anodyne yet powerful, as fake and as pervasive as the 'generic' bridges which decorate Euro banknotes (the Euro of course, like NATO, was another liberal US intervention).
500 metres downstream however another bridge story was being played out. Hundreds of German police formed a barricade across the Pont d'Europe, in order to prevent anti-NATO protestors from moving between Germany and France (several thousand protestors had gathered on each side). This was part of an official strategy which included the suspension for the duration of the summit of the Schengen Agreement , which allows the free movement of people between certain member states. To celebrate Free Europe, Europe would have to be made temporarily somewhat less free.
March organiser Tobias Pflueger of Die Linke argued with the police for the bridge to be opened, to allow protestors from both sides to join hands in a symbolic display of unity. Unfortunately while this discussion was going on a group of black-clad youths had made another barricade on the French side of the bridge and set fire to it. The police were then able to point to the burning barricade as a sensible reason for not allowing peace protestors (or indeed anyone) to cross the bridge. The action of the black-clad youths had seemed reckless and self-defeating, and the organisers of the protest were exasperated. I helped one of them to try to dismantle the barricade but it had become impossible. Had the black-clad youths ruined it for everyone?
The answer must be emphatically No. The black-clad youths had made the deepest (maybe instinctual) reading of the day's events. Had the bridge been opened and another five of seven thousand demonstrators from Germany been allowed to join the demonstration, so what? When Tony Blair was asked to respond to the February 15 2003 march, he said 'This is why we're going to Baghdad, so that people there can protest too'. You realised then that the only difference between Saddam and Blair on this point was that Saddam was making a saving on cleaning up the litter. The fact is that liberal democracy wants to be seen as a place where people have a right to protest, but is not a place where protests need have any effect on policy. For this reason it was important for the authorities in Strasbourg on Saturday to be seen to allow the demonstration, while in fact keeping it under tight control.
The skirmishes with stone-throwing black-clad youth served to distract from the fact that the march had been confined to a small area around the docks. The setting fire to the Ibis Hotel and other structures and the vandalism of certain marchers was widely regretted by the 'majority of peaceful demonstrators'. However the barricade on the bridge created a powerful counter-symbol to that of the Passarelle des Deux Rives. It reinforced, made concrete and drew attention (with a plume of black smoke) to the reality of Strasbourg -Kehl on 4th April 2009, which is also the reality of Europe: Europe is united only at the level of official discourse. This is a unity which asks everyone to join together to defeat 'the common enemy'. This is a union of state-corporate interests in which the people are invited in as spectators of staged symbolic events. The well-meaning 'peaceful protestors' are mistaken if they think that the audience participation in this theatre will have any effect on the plot. The Black Block element understand the need to claim an autonomous narrative.
|
View Full Comment Text
save preference
Comments (4 of 4)