Falling Back, 12. Good Protest, Bad Protest.

As a consequence of an elevated number of infections, several working class neighborhoods of the city of Madrid, as well as several townships just to the south of the city, were put under lockdown. The only reasons to leave are the usual: work, school, doctor. To control who can leave and who can't, residents venturing outside have to take a printed document stating where they are going and why. It has been pointed out that the restrictions don't mean anything except that people can only go to work and then head home to stay there until the following day. 

Yesterday, there were protests all over Madrid against the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, calling for increasing the number of primary care physicians, who are overwhelmed, and against the unfair lockdown. Police were called in, and after slamming into protestors, arrested three of them, and six were hurt. Police just started in with their batons, slapping them back and forth, pushing into people as if the protestors were simple mosquitoes to get out of the way. 

Yet, back in May when the entire country was still in a state of alarm and officially in lockdown, the right-wing neighbors of one of the most expensive neighborhoods of Madrid, the Barrio de Salamanca, protested against furthering the state of alarm, and called to open up the country, police stood by, not breaking up what was an illegal gathering. They exchanged pleasantries with those protestors, and everything was fine. 

What is it with police in various different countries? Law and order, law and order. But, what is law and order? What makes one protest good and another protest bad? In one, fascist salutes were given out, and the Franco flag waved about. In the other, chants of "dimisión" and calls for more doctors. 

Order can only come about with good laws. Good laws are those that guarantee the welfare of the majority of the people. If the majority of the people have their needs met, there is order. Needs can be classified differently, from basic to optional. A basic need is enough doctors to attend to all who need medical care. An optional need is to be able to travel at will. It hurts to give up the ability to move from one place to another, but public health is a basic need that is above that ability. It hurts even more to need a doctor, and discover that the only one available is trying to attend, not only to all your neighbors, but to public health emergencies that they are not equipped to deal with. 

The region of Madrid was going to hire thousands of trackers, so that they could call up all the close contacts of those who got infected, and tell those people to quarantine. In the end, the job fell to the primary care physicians, who also had their original jobs to contend with, in a region with a dearth of medical personnel, thanks to right-wing budget cuts. Now, the army is starting to step in to do that job. But the need for doctors is still there. 

The police are not there to determine which protest is moral, and which immoral. They are there to protect the public interest. And it is within the public interest to have enough medical personnel to cover the public health emergency. It is not within the public interest to be able to travel when or where one wishes when it goes against public health. Police, put your batons away and use your common sense.

Life continues.