Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Some punk kid who goes by the name "Franki" decided back in 2002 that it would be a good idea to get some of his buddies, go to the Terrassa city hall and charge right in, get in a tussle with the cops, and torch the Spanish flag hanging off the front balcony. As the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow, his 32-month prison sentence has been delayed for years, until now. The judge ordered the cops to go get him and lock him up in the ancient Modelo prison, the "Black Hole of Catalonia," for "insulting the flag."

Comments: 1) I don't think flag-burning should be against the law, though I consider it to be very offensive 2) I'd put the guy in jail for fighting with the cops, trespassing, and destroying public property, not for burning the flag.

So Franki's in the slam and his squatter punk friends graffitied my street last night with slogans like "Freedom for Franki," "Cops get out," "PSOE = oppressors," and the like. They also graffitied a bank branch with "Speculators" and a supermarket with "Steal here." The municipal street brigade hasn't gotten around to cleaning it up yet.

Of course, these jerks have no idea of how to go about civil disobedience: you break a law you consider unjust and then you accept society's punishment, thereby establishing your superior moral status. Whining about getting jailed is not civil disobedience, it's wanting to get away with breaking the law, which establishes your inferior moral status.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. You've just solved a mystery for me. I saw the graffiti all over the kiddie park in Plaza de la Revolución this afternoon, where I bring my 3-year-old to play. I didn't know what the hell it meant. I honestly thought 'frank' was a Catalan word I hadn't yet learned. Like 'fora' or something.

... turns out it's just more asinine whining from the professional protesters. They were cleaning it off while we played.