All images: Felipe Fuente … [Read more...] about Spain’s Congress protests in pictures
madrid protests
Iberians of the Year 2011: Spain’s Indignados
From Tunis to Cairo and from Madrid to Manhattan, outrage has been the overwhelming theme of 2011. Outrage at ineffectual, unrepresentative political systems, outrage at coddled elites, outrage at the financial system and the perceived culprits for the economic turmoil that has spread around the world. The year of outrage began on the streets of Tunisia in January, spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East as Arab Spring revolutions unfolded across the region, and, by late spring, the wave of indignation hit Europe. In Madrid in May, the seed of a different style of revolution was planted as thousands of activists - mostly young, many unemployed - set up camp in the city … [Read more...] about Iberians of the Year 2011: Spain’s Indignados
Spain’s ‘indignados’
[sharethis] Last May, as the campaign for Spain’s local elections got underway, it looked like business as usual. Neither of the two main political parties was managing to inspire voters with hope or ideas as the country’s jobless line grew and the economic crisis deepened. But on May 15, the Sunday before the elections, a group of well-organised, mainly young, activists gathered in Madrid and marched to the central square of Puerta del Sol. They set up a makeshift campsite, declared the Spanish political system unrepresentative and obsolete, and within days their support had snowballed across the country and the eyes of the world were on them. Six months on, los indignados, or the … [Read more...] about Spain’s ‘indignados’
Spain’s greatest export: protest and outrage
El País newspaper’s decision to put its coverage of the October 15 (or “15-O”) global protests on its “National” pages, rather than in the “International” section may have looked at first glance like a heinous editing error, but it was in fact a telling decision. Spain’s own indignados protesters, who have been clamouring for economic and political change since May 15, are claiming the credit for the demonstrations held in around 1,000 cities and 80 countries worldwide at the weekend. This may sound fanciful, but, amazingly, it is close to the truth. When the indignados occupied Puerta del Sol in central Madrid during Spain’s local election campaign, it was clearly a new phenomenon for … [Read more...] about Spain’s greatest export: protest and outrage
Malcontents in search of democracy
It is a voice of alarm that brings together the feelings of several generations, nationalities, political colors and economic classes. It is probable that we are witnessing in these gatherings an exercise in real and participatory democracy. Others, however, consider that the protestors are living in a utopia outside of the reality imposed by the market economy. Nonetheless, there are some who foresee a new phase in Spanish democracy. For that reason, the protests that took place on Sunday, June 19 are a breath of fresh air in a society threatened by the economic crisis, unemployment and the indifference of the justice system to cases of corruption in certain political circles. Putting to … [Read more...] about Malcontents in search of democracy
What will follow the Spanish Spring?
“They have gathered 30,000 signatures but have forgotten what they are for.” Besides being purely mischievous, there is also a shade of truth behind this headline from satirical website El Mundo Today. Over the last month, Spain has seen a swelling of civic outrage at its dysfunctional political system, expressed through the 15-M, or Democracia Real Ya, protest movement, whose members have occupied squares around the country. Those sleeping-bag protests are now ending and the most symbolic one of all, that in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, has voted to pack up and move on. Now, still bristling with outrage, 15-M is organising neighbourhood assemblies and one-off demonstrations, such as … [Read more...] about What will follow the Spanish Spring?
15-M: Spain’s lost generation finds a voice
They toughed out heavy rainfall on their flimsy tarpaulin roofs, they defied the electoral authorities’ prohibitions of their demonstrations, they even stole the limelight from Spain’s campaigning politicians, but can the 15-M movement survive and make a difference? Many – probably most – of the hundreds of protesters camped out at Puerta del Sol, and also those demonstrating in the centres of other Spanish cities, are educated twenty-somethings, a common profile of those who vote for the governing Socialists or the United Left. But radical, or even moderate, politics is not what is fuelling this movement; instead, economics and disenfranchisement are. “What is driving this is the … [Read more...] about 15-M: Spain’s lost generation finds a voice
It’s the economy, stupid
The young protestors who have converged on Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square – and, increasingly, on squares in cities across Spain – under the banner of the 15-M Movement have myriad demands. They want political change, a more open participative democracy, corrupt politicians out of office, the repeal of “unjust” laws, a reform of benefits for the political class, tax reform, a referendum on the monarchy, a higher minimum wage, the full separation of Church and state… the list goes on. But although the protestors’ demands are heartfelt and sweep across many socio-political areas, it is ultimately – and understandably – the protestors’ wallets that have driven them to camp out in Madrid and … [Read more...] about It’s the economy, stupid