State of the nation

Tim posted this on Facebook (thanks Tim). It is so perfect, it's like watching a play. (It does in fact remind me strongly of Josef K that we saw at the Gate recently, a modern version of Kafka's The Trial.) Both very funny,in an absurdist way, and also deeply upsetting.

Everyone involved seems very young, from the political activists to the police (I must be getting old now that police seem young.) They are all scrupulously polite to each other, but they are all treading carefully through their roles, and no matter how much they try to handle the situation with English politeness, they are also up against ancient, monolithic power structures that were in place long before they were all on the scene.

It did upset me, this, though it is funny. ("Do you think the police do political targeting?' asks the girl. "To be honest, I've never seen it," says the copper. "But you're seeing it now. You're enacting it now.")

The one thing about this snapshot of the state we're in that made me hopeful, was this girl. She's so sparky, and only 21. I love the way she keeps filming even when she's crying over her boyfriend's arrest. You go, girl... Our hope lies with the youth...