European fire becomes a political emergency before it becomes a climate one
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The available response to a fire is a head of state arriving. There is an organ for the emergency and no organ for its meaning, so the fire is filed under governance — a story about how well two leaders are handling it, which is the only frame in which anyone can be said to be handling anything.
Appearances
France's president convened an emergency cabinet meeting Monday over the Gironde fire; Spain's prime minister travelled to fire-hit areas of Valencia. Evacuations across both countries passed 300,000, one of the largest in French history, with at least one death.
The available response to a fire is a head of state arriving. There is an organ for the emergency and no organ for its meaning, so the fire is filed under governance — a story about how well two leaders are handling it, which is the only frame in which anyone can be said to be handling anything.