Battle Of Strasbourg

Gueorgui Pinkhassov

France. Strasbourg. Council of Europe. Plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe debate under urgent procedure: The consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia. © Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum Photos

I attended the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe debate, under urgent procedure, on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia. As I crossed the debating chamber I realized that the verbal battle was going to be less photogenic than a cannon battle, I took a seat, placed my Canon onto my lap, put on the simultaneous translation headphones and started to listen to the debate. The mouths moved out of line with the words being heard in my ears - the debate enthralled me. My concentration was broken by a security guard, who informed me that I was sitting in a place reserved for a delegate and the area for photographers was opposite. A man of arms, he could not hide his interest in my "cannon", I passed it to him and he examined it with childish curiosity. I gave him permission to fire the first shot at the assembly with it, which he did without thinking of the consequences. That haphazard photo was the key to my understanding of the contretemps needed to photograph anything in the building. Within this Babylonian tower of Europe I made ambiguous images corresponding to the essence of the debate, unsynchronized swimming in murky waters. The politicians spoke with the authority of high mammals and whilst they slept the Canon smoked.

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