A City Besieged

In this week's Camino a Ítaca a look back at the summit of Culture Ministers from the EU that was held here in Caceres this week. Click over to read the original version published in Spanish in El HOY or read the English version below. (PDF en castellano abajo)

The scene in the square looked like some sort of Mad Max inspired gladiator theme in the gauzy early morning light. The sun had yet to come up over the Bujaco Tower and was just turning the crenellations of the Yerba and Hornos Towers a warm ochre.

There, at opposite ends of the square, two riot vehicles from the National Police were facing off against each other across the barren quadrangle. Like some sort of dystopian jousting match, they sat immobile, ready to pounce at any time.

This wasn’t your everyday morning.

As we climbed the Gran Via, more blue vans rolled somewhat menacingly down the hill and into the square, looking like a procession right out of the authoritarian Handmaid’s Tale. In San Juan we came across a different kind of control. Two canine police dog contingents were parked next to the church and were getting ready to patrol.

Further up the street in Canovas we came across uniformed officers standing on street corners, some armed with heavy looking machine guns.

“Don’t stare at them like that!” warned my 10-year-old daughter as I was visibly taken aback by how heavily armed they were. “If you look at them too long, they’ll think that you want to rob a bank or something.”

But I wasn’t necessarily afraid. I had had enough experience with Spanish police to know that they are some of the most professional and relatively soft-handed police forces in the world, especially when compared with the brutal and barbaric policing in my native North America. Their overwhelming presence, however, on our daily walk to school was definitely domineering and even imperious.

And just as she finished her warning a police helicopter buzzed overhead as it repeatedly circled the city all day while seven more riot vehicles pulled around the Fuente luminosa.

Caceres was definitely under siege. The irony was why.

The culture ministers from all the countries in the EU were in town to talk about culture and here we were almost locked down. They had come to discuss the benefits that culture can bring about in society under a net of suspicion and protection so severe that it seemed like something out of Margret Atwood’s terrifying tale.

They had come to sign what will be known as the Caceres declaration. A document stating that the EU is committed to working to make culture a crucial element of policies in favor of peaceful, just and egalitarian societies. Because, they claim, culture plays an essential role in the construction of democratic societies and in the personal development of citizens and is a cornerstone of the European project.

But what kind of declaration will they be signing along with far-right governments from countries like Poland, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and Finland? Governments who are comfortable banning works of art that they don’t agree with and that are two steps away from holding public book burnings. Will Maria Guardiola find common cause with them and find support for her PP and its extreme right cohorts censoring works of art?

But then I look around at all the police presence and think, maybe they did this to make them feel at home?