Europeans secured opening of cinemas with demonstrations and Supreme Court decision
Europe is in a fever from “Omicron” and the tightening of antiquarian measures. Against the backdrop of record incidence rates, there are more and more restrictions and more and more popular discontent. It came to a boiling point: the decision of the authorities of the Belgian kingdom to close cinemas, theaters and concert halls was recently canceled through the Council of State of Belgium – the country’s highest administrative court. A couple of days earlier, more than five thousand people rallied in the Arts Square in Brussels, opposing the harsh measure.
On December 26, theaters and cinemas refused to close as ordered by the authorities. It turned out that the indignation of the masses is connected not only with this specific measure – the Belgians are afraid of losing their cultural leisure altogether.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Apparently, having reasoned so, against the background of the outbreak of the “omicron” disease, the Belgian government on December 23 introduced new antiquarian restrictions. It announced the closure of all entertainment venues – cinemas, theaters, concert halls and casinos. But at the designated hour on December 26, the opposite happened – 50 cinemas of the city announced that they would continue the screenings, despite the ban of the authorities. The Union of Journalists-Cinematographers sharply criticized the decision of the authorities. More than 5,000 people attended the rally. There were clashes with the police, as a result 55 people were detained. This is a civil demonstration (and for the sake of it people from other Belgian cities came to Brussels), not the first. And its reason lies not only in dissatisfaction with antiquarian politics. The question is deeper.
“Just hanging a padlock on cultural institutions is anti-scientific,” says Anna van Dansky, a Russian blogger in Brussels. The woman explains that all institutions in Belgium have taken all the necessary sanitary and epidemiological measures, limited the number of visitors and are mainly subsidized. In our interesting times, they all suffer disaster. “Why is it precisely cultural sites that are attributed so much danger of contamination?” – Anna asks, and immediately answers it. The fact is that Europeans are worried about the “green agenda”, according to which it is necessary to limit energy consumption, and at the same time, emissions that are hazardous to nature. Sounds great, but how is it in practice?
The ecological course in economics gave rise, for example, to the following expert recommendations: take a shower six times a week for no more than four minutes (instead of the current eight minutes), flush the toilet no more than twice a day, put on a diet – “switching from steak to vegetarian spaghetti bolognese will reduce emissions by 94 percent ”- work out in the gym 3 times a week for 30 minutes, Internet TV – 2 hours a day.
Cinemas, theaters and museums in the “green” value system are the worst offenders: large buildings, which consume a lot of energy for heating and maintenance. “It is much more economical to watch performances and films on the couch at home,” the professors argue. But, excuse me, you can find yourself in the Stone Age, ”says Anna van Dansky. In a word, in Belgium, where the most stringent measures were introduced, they were afraid to be left without cinema, not only for the holidays, but also for a long time. And this speech is not only against the antiquated measures, but also against the excesses of the “green” course.
It may be surprising for us, but in Brussels the people defended their culture. At least for now. On the third day after the unrest, the “castles” from theaters and concert halls were officially removed by the Belgian State Council. This court decision is a legal precedent that may play a role in the future. On December 30, European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni announced that the EU will not be able to move to a green economy by 2025.
By the way, the situation with “Omicron” in Europe and America, to put it mildly, is not very good, but the authorities of the countries have different approaches to the issue of restrictions. Only in Belgium did the authorities decide on a widespread ban on cultural entertainment, other countries did not. Somewhere they even soften the restrictions.
For example, in the United States, where the sharpest jump was recorded (377 thousand cases per day), the recommended isolation time for people with asymptomatic coronavirus was halved: from ten to five days. At the same time, from January 15, you can enter cafes, shops, cinemas and even churches only with a vaccination certificate. In France, where there are 180 thousand new cases per day, public events in the open air were limited to five thousand people. Germany has limited public events: the number of participants in private meetings of vaccinated people is no more than ten people. In Finland, bars now close at 18:00 and restaurants are allowed to serve food until 20:00. In Spain, it is once again mandatory to wear masks on the street. Covid passports will go into effect everywhere in Europe this coming days.
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