ARTICLE FOR RIOTER’S BLOCK

Written on the 16^th of November 2006

– MINORITIES –

There will always be a distinct minority which will disagree, which will have different desires from the masses and hence will instigate the momentum for change. Whether this change is intrinsically good or bad is another question, but there will at least be movement in the society, preventing evolution from reaching a standstill.

If we accept this, then it holds true that any society should nurture variety of opinion, to allow diversity of perspective and impede any possibility of monotony of thought from manifesting itself in the minds of the people. This is the killer of all intelligence and originality of thought and should be dutifully and diligently avoided.

Taken then, the accusation that so often is flung in the direction of this paper and its authors, that because the world is not a socialist or ideal one and is not ‘likely to change’, they claim that thinking as we do, differently, is futile and will serve no purpose.

Indeed? The segregation in America was wrong by all standards in the 1960’s, but that does not imply that the oppressed should not have risen in protest, that they should simply have accepted things as they were. Martin Luther King Jr., by that judgement, was a fool. This is not, by far, the singular example, but it proves the point. Minorities are not wrong simply because they are minorities. And acceptance of any state of repression, even when the future looks bleak, is defeatist.

Therefore, it is wrong to say that people should not think in terms of a better, more idealistic world. At least there are some, if not many, who may initiate some change. A stone dropped in a pond may sink to the bottom, but it sends ripples across the entire surface of the still water. You may accept the world as it is, but do not look down on those who cannot and do not. And when you are reaping the benefits of the revolutionaries’ tactics and methods, perhaps you will not condemn them so vehemently as you do now.

Remember, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a seed a long time ago.” (Warren Buffet)

– R*A*P

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Empty concepts, empty words, empty politics

Nationalism has always been a problem in Spain, but it has never reached today’s ridiculous extremes. President Zapatero has the whim to be remembered as the hero who saved Spain from Basque nationalist terrorism and for this reason he has invented a “process of peace” with the terrorist organisation ETA. There can be no process of peace when there is no war. And, as far as I know, there is no war going on in the Basque Country. This “peace” is among other things an insult to ETA’s innocent victims. Have their deaths been in vain? After decades of vehement anti-terrorism, the Spanish government now surrenders unconditionally to the wishes of a few fanatical empty heads – that is all it is reduced to in the end. Of the three million Basques, three thousand want independence. Three thousand. Zapatero faces opposition at home: what does he do? He attempts to legitimise his process of peace by presenting it to the European Union, conscious that sympathy for ETA is rather popular in Europe. But know this. One should understand and may sympathise with a “terrorist” who sacrifices his life for the cause of freedom and the end of oppressive occupation, but not with a coward murderer serving the ambitions of a few nationalist politicians. These ambitions are as stupid as they are varied. An example: Ibarretxe, head of the Basque Nationalist Party, has claimed that his ultimate dream is a World Cup final between Catalonia and the Basque Country (no, I didn’t make this up). Only ignorant fools can believe that heavy words like “oppression” can be applied to the situation in the Basque Country. However, whether Spain ends up divided into twenty different states is completely irrelevant. The country –or, should we say, group of countries– faces far more important social and economic problems that are deliberately hidden under this foolish and much publicised wave of nationalism. Spain is full of anachronisms, but the worst of them is nationalism. The Spanish right, worthy follower of Francoist values, now claims that the national political situation greatly resembles that of 1934, and that the country is on the verge of civil war due to the reckless policies of the “left”, which are destroying the unity of Spain. There is at least one important difference: the “left” of 1934 had a sense of social justice and revolutionary spirit that nowadays, I am ashamed to say, seem gone. This is not extraordinary considering that “left-wing” parties cease to be so under the appearance of “democracy” and parliamentarism. “Democracy’s” main success is putting the revolutionary spirit of the people in a state of hibernation. But if the numerous mistakes, corruption, incoherence and plain idiocy of this and all the other governments in the 30 years of Spanish “democracy” have not reawakened it, I really can’t see what can. People are led to believe that “democracy” is the only good system so that any other alternative must be bad. Conforming to “democracy” happens to be a moral obligation. Voting becomes necessary: it makes people think that they are participating, that they are taking the decisions. And there is nothing more satisfying for a voluntarily political ignorant person than a sense of self-importance. It reassures him in his ignorance. Solutions cannot possibly be found within the putrid “democratic” system. “Democracy”, “moderation”, “liberalism” and all those charming words are empty rhetoric, false and impractical. Action is required. And action can only be taken through that magic word – and one full of meaning: revolution. The main thing to avoid is “working against a system from within”. If we don’t want to end up becoming part of it!

A Zappatista