# @the_quantum_lotus on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DeKlpOYjn3O
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71459064-the-quantum-lotus-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f7185324c8.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-10-06T19:57:52.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Torry Sledge (@TheQuantumLotus) — https://gondola.cc/TheQuantumLotus

## Caption

WHO IS THE STATE PROTECTING?

Today, I stood among demonstrators in Paris protesting the deterioration of their public education system.

And what struck me wasn’t simply the number of people marching. It was the relationship between citizens exercising their right to protest and the armed officers positioned to control them.

I experienced officers pushing people around, seemingly more concerned with demanding compliance than responding to any immediate danger I could identify.

There is something deeply contradictory about this.

A government has an obligation to protect public property. But doesn’t that obligation extend to public schools, public institutions, and the people who depend upon them?

How can we speak so passionately about the destruction of physical property while treating the gradual deterioration of public institutions as ordinary politics?

And when officers arrive prepared to use force, we must examine whether that posture prevents confrontation or contributes to it.

Police will point to incidents of violence and property damage as justification for intervention. Those incidents deserve scrutiny. But so does the conduct of the state itself.

Authority is not automatically justified simply because it wears a uniform.

Public safety cannot be measured only by whether streets have been cleared or buildings remain standing. It must also be measured by whether people can exercise their rights without unnecessary force.

I came to Paris to document fashion, art, and culture. But today, I was reminded that documenting the struggle of ordinary people is just as important.

A government should never become more invested in controlling the expression of public frustration than addressing the conditions producing it.

No Rush. No Spin.

The United Stand | Paris, France 10.06.2026

#parisprotest #righttoprotest

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- **Likes:** 173
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## Tags

parisprotest, righttoprotest

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