“Our only weapon is reality”
Since we’re on the subject of viral reality and new protest movements, here is an apt example of the current zeitgeist: an image just shared via Facebook by Spain’s No Les Votes (Don’t Vote for Them) platform which calls for an end to the country’s two-party system and its replacement with a truly democratic alternative. The poster reads:
OUR ONLY WEAPON IS
REALITY
THERE IS NO DEFENCE AGAINST IT
RECORD IT
PHOTOGRAPH IT
SPREAD IT
Someone has just responded in the Facebook comments thread along the lines of (in loose translation): “Yeah right, we’re all broke but we’ve got iPhones, nice one xD”.
To which another user has quickly retorted: “iPhone or Chinese mobile, that’s not the point. The key thing is that as soon as you capture something you put it in the cloud, there is no shortage of means available (3G, Wi-Fi, etc) before ‘someone’ ‘invites’ you to take it down. Less stones and more photos and videos”.
Update (NB – today there’s a general strike in Spain): @hibai writes (my translation):
Postmodernity, a few break and burn thingies yfrog.com/obw8nnwj yfrog.com/ke93832344j hundreds take photos #vagageneral [#generalstrike]
Original version:
Hibai_ 1 hour 41 mins ago Twitter
Postmodernidad,unos cuantos rompen y queman cosicas yfrog.com/obw8nnwj yfrog.com/ke93832344j cientos fotografían #vagageneral
That makes me think of this picture from Egypt. The military officer is saying ‘bultagiyya’, meaning thugs while the other man, armed with a camera, is refuting the accusation with the word ‘kazeboon’, meaning liars. http://www.jadaliyya.com/content_images/fck_images/adel2222.jpg
Thanks Nina, great picture!