The mass blackout that affected the Iberian Peninsula last Monday left a day full of historical images, very different from those that can be imagined in such a situation. The chaos that an incident of this caliber could have generated did not materialize. In view of The biggest blackout in the history of Spaintranquility was breathed in the streets, because citizens opted for the way of humor, joy and solidarity to face it.
This is what the Valencian journalist wanted to highlight Paco Cerdà In its column published by the American newspaper The New York Times This Saturday. He has done it under a title that sums up the day perfectly, a phrase that the country can be tremendously proud: “Spain in the dark is safer than any other place with light“.
The journalist emphasizes that what can be thought of a priori when electricity goes in an entire country, is that “it could have been The dreamed night of the thievesone night in which the evil would take advantage of the coverage of darkness and all that silence. “However, it was not so. Spain is a country in which, after a ‘Great blackout‘, the images opened by news are those of Citizens directing traffic At the crossings with traffic light, or neighbors carrying water and food to the passengers of the trains that stopped in the middle of nowhere.
Spain highlights “the difference with the forces of the extreme right”
“The taxi drivers, unable to charge by card, gave their telephone number to their customers to pay the trips when electricity returned,” says Cerdà. In short, Spain kept calm, and this has an explanation: “We somehow knew that everything was going well. That there was no robberies, no threat. We somehow knew that no one would take out a weapon. That this was not a apocalyptic movie of Hollywood. Just the opposite: calm, generosity and dedication They prevailed among public servants and workers, “he highlights.
The way of living in Europe, which has chosen to maintain Spain, is the one that has marked “The big difference between extreme right forces -What now insist that the only true chamber is that of individualism, each one by itself- and the trust that the European welfare state “generates in the community, says Cerdà.
The blackout has inclined the balance in favor of trust in the community, in the public, in the face of neoliberalism that threatens to destroy them “Is there a more powerful weapon than that? Is there a better shield than this? Knowing that others are there to help you, and not to hurt you, that we need each other. That is the key, “highlights the article.
“Accept that we are vulnerable, each of us must mean that we trust others, no less, than individualism and isolationism are not the way. In fact, what I saw this week is how much strengthens us as a society and as individuals when we choose mutual joy and support instead of fear of adversity. That choice gives us the privilege of feeling safe at home and in the streets, “he concludes.
