Balas de Goma not only portrays the long and exhausting legal battle that Carles and Ester have faced. It is also a reflection of the power of the collective, of how necessary care and solidarity are to resist impunity.
SEBAS RODRÍGUEZ | Sira Centre Communication Manager
The image is still fresh in my mind: the enormous hall, the silence at times, the applause, the standing comrades, The nodding heads, the complicit smiles. That day it was my turn to be in front, photographing the whole scene. That's why I remember it so well.
It was June of last year. Nine years had passed since the Gag Law came into effect, and various groups and individuals affected by its application gathered at the Congress of Deputies to demand its repeal. The photos show representatives from Yayoflautas, Stop Rubber Bullets, Desarma Madrid, Al Yudur, the Carabanchel PAH (Platform of People Affected by Mortgages), SOS Racismo Madrid, No a la Tala (No to Deforestation), Afemtras, and Ala Cannabis. They all shared their experiences, pain, and lessons learned at a table dedicated to the impacts of the law.
Among all these voices, one in particular struck a chord: that of Carles Guillot. In 2001, in Barcelona, during a protest against the illegal eviction of the Kasa de la Muntanya, Carles was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a National Police officer. The projectile caused him to lose an eye.
Since then, Carles and his colleagues from Stop Rubber Bales have spent more than two decades both accompanying other mutilated people and calling for a ban on these weapons, as imprecise as they are lethal. “The sadness, the anger, the feeling of guilt, the insecurity, the fear of going out in the street, or the fact of looking in the mirror and seeing that the image that comes back is not you”, said Carles during his speech at the Congress, referring to the after-effects of the shooting. From his testimony, the idea for the new episode of our podcast was born. Gaps: Rubber bullets.
In reconstructing its history, we find in the newspaper archives the trace of more than twenty years of struggle: interviews, reports, denunciations, actions, and a hand extended to each new victim. Since 2000, at least eleven people have lost the sight of an eye in Spain due to the impact of this type of projectile. In 2012, Iñigo Cabacas lost his life after being shot by an Ertzaintza police officer.
This project also allowed us to learn about the work of organizations like Stop Rubber Bullets and Ojo con tu Ojo (Watch Out for Your Eye), and to connect with the wounds, journeys, and strength of other survivors: Olga, Aingeru, Roger, Óscar, Nicola, Juan, Daniel, and also Ester Quintana, whose story is central to the episode. Her drive was key to the ban on the use of rubber bullets by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) in Catalonia.
In sharing their experiences, many of them acknowledge that the support of their peers, their close ties, their families and civil society was - and continues to be - the impetus for go ahead. In particular, the bond between those who share a similar wound. “I thought I had to do like them and take the lawsuit forward,” says Ester, recalling her first encounter with Stop Bales de Goma.
This episode not only portrays the long and exhausting judicial career that Carles and Ester have been through, but also the physical impacts and psychological problems experienced by those who have suffered this type of violence. It is also a reflection of the power of the collective, of how powerful and necessary care and solidarity are in order to resist in the face of the impunity. “I would also take the solidarity of the people, and our solidarity with each other. I keep the dignity, with our dignity of not giving up, of continuing to work, of continuing to fight”, concludes Carles in the episode. Balas de Goma wants to be a reflection of that dignity: the dignity of those who organise themselves, embrace each other and do not give up, even when the state turns its back on them.