Change

It won't be long before people wake up in a different place. But as someone wiser than me has said, they won't be waiting up to a new reality; it was already there when they went to bed the night before. And different will not be another word for good - quite the opposite. Today was the last day of my old me. Tomorrow I will be a different person. In the meanwhile, I will do some thinking. I can't change before I settle things with my consciousness; before I think of the best ways to go about this change. First, I have to give an account of the events that shocked the hell out of me; the events that I will never forget as long as I live.

I am, I mean was working in a security company - in the screen room. The screen room is the room that contains multiple flat tv screens from which one can have access to the CCTV cameras of a specific area. Until today, I was placed before the lives of the people leaving in the centre of the city. Today there was a huge demo against the government and the parliamentary parties. Some of them were half in the house of parliament half out in the streets. From where I was sitting I couldn't hear anything. I was watching several buildings that my company was responsible for - I was taken aback from the power of the silent (for me) demonstration. I couldn't see much, but it was evident that the protest was massive both in terms of size and tension. I was mainly watching the outside of the buildings, since they were mainly empty. Suddenly, screen 6 shows some irregular activity; people are very close to the window. They take out hammers and axes and break the widow, they throw in petrol bombs. My immediate reaction is to check whether the building is empty. This was the one that had people in it. The bank. I try to call the place but I cannot get through to them. I then call the HQ and reports, they tell me they will forward this, although the people in the bank will have probably realised the fire - if there is one, and they will put it out with the fire-extinguishers they have. In my screen the people are starting to realise the fire, and look around for fire-extinguishers. They can't find any so they start running for the exit in panic. It's locked. The person in charge has the key in his office, the manager is not there - he had a meeting at the HQ, I heard afterwards. He runs back to the second floor, By then the others have to go upstairs because the fire is growing. He finds the key but it's already too late; they all run for the balconies. Black smoke follows them - they can hardly breathe. I see the agony in their faces. Finally, I see the fire-fighters arriving, first on foot, then the lorry. They manage to take out some. They think they are all. There are more. I call the HQ and they repeat their usual answer: we will forward it, but they probably know that from the people they got out. In the screens nothing seems to be happening, the three people inside the bank, try to find some kind of air to breathe. One is close to the balcony, but not close enough. She's on the floor, pushing for the window. The other two are well inside the house. Then they are all dead. The rest is unimportant. What is happening out there is irrelevant. The only thing I can think of is the agony on their faces, as the last bits of oxygen where being irreversibly consumed. Later, I heard that the manager had threatened them that if they went on strike they would lose their jobs. And they lost their lives, because other people like them decided to take on the game of violence. They are nothing but brainless if they think that they can change the world in any positive way with such practices. It is pointless to hope for a better society if we kill each other. I will not tolerate the change they are bringing, but I will not follow them or anyone down the violent road. I will resist to the systemic or non-systemic violence. I will put up my peaceful response to the aggression that surrounds me. I will never fall into the traps of this game. If change is happening, I will be part of it, and I will ask everyone to be part of because this is our struggle, and we have to be there to actively resist the logic of violence.

Change is there for us to see it - only the media are obscuring it and our false consciousness, our faith in the institutions of a false democracy. There is always another way. There must be - I don't want to believe that this tragicomedy of society is all we can do.