Burlesque comedy

The image of the Saturday evening demonstration in Belgrade, with tens of thousands of mobile phone flashlights lit, was the living (and familiar) image of those who can't take it anymore. It all began in November with the death of 15 people when the roof of a recently renovated station collapsed on them. The almost daily protests against corruption and bad governance have continued since then and erupted peacefully on Saturday.

The staging reminded me of the November 2017 Barcelona demonstration against the prisons and exiles of the Proceso, or the ones that fill the streets of Valencia every month against Mazón, a president who, if he had any political dignity, would have already resigned under the weight of his conscience. Or if the president of his party had any authority, he would have already made them fold.

They also make one think of the demonstrations that will begin next Saturday by the tormented commuter rail users in Catalonia, who were only missing the threat of the unsupportive strike by Renfe drivers, playing the role of untouchables. As if hundreds of thousands of workers hadn't been transferred to the Generalitat (Catalan government) over the decades. The transfer of commuter rail is on the way to becoming another episode in the no less well-known burlesque comedy of the Spanish state in Catalonia. The poet Estellés said that a day will come when those who can't take it anymore will be able to do everything, but that day hasn't quite arrived, because we've already spent hours and hours in the streets, we've even challenged the biggest one, and now, with a mixture of patience and conformity, we just hope that our elected officials will do their job, thinking of us and not. It shouldn't be so difficult.