Resistance time

“There are two ways to live,” Pere Portabella once told his daughter, when she was a teenager: “Without taking risks, or by taking them. The first is calmer, and the second is harder, because you might find yourself alone. Both ways are valid, but if at the end of your life you could have lived the same number of years, the person who took risks would have lived twice as much.” We heard Carol Portabella say this yesterday at the Filmoteca de Catalunya, where Acció Portabella was presented—a series of events taking place worldwide to celebrate the legacy of the film director and producer, who is approaching his centenary. We attendees left thinking that events like this are rare these days. Not only because of the international reach the Action will have, but also because figures with such broad appeal (the same appeal that unanimously made him the organizer of the massive welcome for President Tarradellas in 1977) are becoming increasingly rare.

We are living in risky times, regardless of whether we are among the calm or the daring. We Catalans have experienced this firsthand (the risk of disappearing is the natural condition of our existence), and the journey is not yet over. Democracy, justice, and human rights are at risk in places where we once considered them immutable. In fact, democracy has always been just a generation away from extinction, but we didn't think the danger was so imminent. We have the impression that the outcome of the next elections, whatever they may be, will no longer be just about a change of government, but a change in the rules of the game. And to prevent this, we must continue taking risks. We are now in a time of resistance, and organized resistance is best.