12-09-06 Dispatch from Barcelona: Indignados viejos en "Silencia por la Paz" - Free Speach in the Autonomous Region of Catalonia

The protests at the entrance to the Government Palace in Barcelona should provide a moment for thought to the people of Quebec, Washington, District of Columbia, and Jerusalem. Freedom of Speech is more likely  to be preserved in such zones in the Medieval-Digital Era.

 

Barcelona, September 6 - protests by the group of older Indignados, called "Silencia por la Paz", continue.  The protestors simply stand silently at the entrance to the Government Palace in Barcelona, near the guards. Their literature advocates Civil Disobedience, in the tradition of Thoreau, Gandhi, and ML King.
Such conduct is considered by new laws enacted in the United States, terrorist activity.  No protest is permitted this close to any government offices in the United States today.  Even before the enactment of the recent laws, a common type of protest had been self-chaining to the fence of the White House, in Washington, District of Columbia. That way, it took police a few extra minutes to remove and arrest the protestors.  Washington, District of Columbia, where the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court of the United States are located, was originally conceived as an autonomous zone, but the outcome is very different.
In Montreal, Province of Quebec, in Canada, this summer massive protests were launched in protest of an anti protest law.  Quebec enjoys relative autonomy and continuously keeps secession from Canada on the agenda
Jerusalem is Corpus Separatum by international law, but conduct of the Police of Israel in violation of Free Speech and Free Assembly has been repeatedly documented on this blog.
Barcelona indeed has more Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Speech today than vast majority of cities on the planet.  Freedom of Speech is more likely to be preserved in autonomous zones in Medieval-Digital Era.