Fires in Europe. Cartoon from 19 October 2026 in CTXT
Translation of the cartoon: “After the uncontrolled burning of rights, they were surprised by the fires”
Protests are taking place across Europe. In France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Albania, people are taking to the streets to demand housing, to defend education and denounce the poor state of public education, or to protest against job insecurity, the loss of purchasing power and the rising cost of basic goods. In short, protests against a shitty present with no better future in sight.
If only what is known as ‘public opinion’ – artificially inflated by the media, which focuses on the flames rather than the underlying causes – would send out a message of indignation and rejection as forceful when street furniture is set alight as when the welfare and any hope of progress for several generations are being systematically destroyed, because for that, no amount of reconstruction can ever make up for it
Once again, a phrase attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat rings true: ‘Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help’.
