pic of the week

#O15

This picture is my contribution to today’s Wall Street Sit-in gone global. I took it in Pisa last week Friday shortly after running into a group of marchers that had gathered on the North side of the River Arno. Pisa fascinated me as a city that despite all the masses of tourists pilgering to the leaning tower it still seems very undisturbed and instead of surrendering to the tourists it seems to be firmly in the hand of the large number of students, cyclists and Pisaners. 

I don’t know why it surprised me to see this message stenciled all through town – somehow I found it at the same time reassuring and deeply upsetting that citizens in other parts of Europe (and the world?!) are struggling with the same issues that we do in this country. It struck me that globalisation has really gone far beyond globalised markets and has brought with it the globalisation of fear, inequality and social injustice.

Let’s hope that #O15 can inspire a globalisation of alternative action and vision.