Robbery and History

I was robbed in Barcelona this week. I was queuing up waiting to get into the Camp Nou to see the Barcelona/Arsenal game (which turned out to be a tremendous match, as all sports fans will know by now) when I was set upon by a gang of pickpockets. They were an extremely effective group of thieves. One knelt in front of me and started rubbing my leg below the knee. It was a weird thing to do and took all my attention. Once I was distracted then the other two put their hands in my pockets and snatched my money.

A couple of things struck me about this experience that made me think of my own work. The first was that as the robbery took place I was surrounded by people, all of whom must have seen what was happening – including security guards at the gates of the stadium who can’t have been more than ten yards away. Yet no one did anything to help. Only after the pickpockets had gone did someone come up to me and say: ‘Terrible, isn’t, that kind of thing? I saw it all.’

But why should we expect people to help in that kind of situation? Why put yourself at any risk for a stranger? That, of course, is the story I heard from so many bystanders in Germany and elsewhere who did nothing during the war to help when they saw people in trouble – infinitely more trouble than I was in, of course.

And second, I was interested in how I suddenly felt a wave of emotional intolerance sweep through me about  issues like immigration. The pickpockets seemed not to be Spanish, but by their language and looks came from sub-Saharan Africa. In this reaction I mirrored the feelings of many Germans I met who, more than seventy years ago, wanted to blame all the problems in their country on ‘outsiders’. In a crisis, a common reaction is to look for scapegoats. Obviously, not all pickpockets in Barcelona are non-Spanish, but that’s what I felt at the time.

The whole experience was a stark reminder of how beliefs can change as our circumstances change. It’s easy to be a liberal – but only  so long as everything is going well and life is safe and secure.