The Sun Also Rises

12. ledna 2016

577d5e719c40af426f1a2b0f_Italie_policista2

A policeman guarding the Vatican area in Rome. Photo: Profimedia

We flew from Prague to Paris late on Friday 13th of November. Arriving at Charles de Gaulle a little after ten in the evening we knew nothing of the events that were unfolding. While on the RER train into city centre, we received a text from home asking if we were OK and telling us that something terrible was happening. No one around us seemed concerned. No one seemed to know.

By the time we reached the Stade de France we still only had snippets of information but the heavily-policed crowds in the station stairwells told their own story. People started to talk on the train – explosions close to the stadium, a hostage crisis in the centre, gunmen on the loose. Was the centre locked down? Could we get to our hotel (close to the Bataclan club)? Where was safe? What was going on? What should we do?

The next morning the city seemed dazed but the sirens that had grown in frequency during the night remained a regular, piercing presence throughout that dark, cold day. Police in body armour and carrying long-barrelled weapons patrolled the streets, security checks at airports were beefed-up and borders were closed down.

Amidst the confusion, these measures were supposed to reassure us, to make us feel safer, to make clear that action was being taken, that something was being done. This security impulse continued to be the driving logic in the days after the attack as President Francois Hollande declared war on ISIS and looked to build a coalition to bomb their positions in Syria as well as successfully seeking an extended state of emergency at home.

However, as so often when responding quickly, perhaps even hastily to acts of political violence or terrorism, the effectiveness of these measures is uncertain. Much of the ‘security’ they purport to provide is an illusion that can actually make things worse and so they cannot be a substitute for deeper engagements with the underlying issues.

Podpořte Reportér sdílením článku