The Dumpster-Fire Politics of Living Abroad

The inevitability (and responsibility) of getting swept up in another country’s politics.

A Catalonian Independence protest/general strike. Photo by NOTAVANDAL on Unsplash

Two years ago, I stood on my apartment balcony in Barcelona, Spain, and watched a group of 40–50 young people with dark clothes and bandanas tied around their faces as they dragged every nearby dumpster from the sidewalks to the middle of the…