While you were all sitting around chortling about how fundamentalist Christians are going to have to eat crow big-time today, things have been heating up here in Spain, both literally and figuratively. After a prolonged rainy spell, spring weather has arrived here in Barcelona, lovely sunny days and mild nights, blessed by a huge golden moon rising over the Sea, inspiring the locals to begin the famous Mediterranean all-night summertime lifestyle. This year, though, it is already taking the form of massive protests against the current economic situation and the do-nothing attitude politicians, both at the local and national level. As you read this, under banners proclaiming "Yes We Camp!", the central plazas of both Madrid and Barcelona are completely collapsed by tens of thousands of people camping-out in protest in direct defiance of official orders to disperse, calling themselves “the indignats”.
Smaller protests are also taking place in many cities throughout the country. Last night there were also manifestations in Girona, Lleida, and Mataró. More protests are quickly being organized for today in a number of other cities. Unlike the controlled media of the States, which turns a blind eye to events such as this, the front pages of all Spanish newspapers and the opening stories of all new shows are about nothing else than the massive protest movement sweeping the country.
This weekend is especially important, since tomorrow local elections will be held throughout the country. Officially, any and all types of electioneering are prohibited both today, considered to be a “day of reflection” during which the citizenry can ponder all they have heard up to now and decide how they will vote tomorrow, and on the day of the elections. Thus the Central Electoral Board stated that the demonstrations, even though they are completely a-political in that they neither blame nor support any particular party, violated the election laws, and the organizers and participants were liable to fines of as much as 1000 euros.
Illegal since this past midnight, the protests of the "outraged" will not be dislodged provided they are peaceful. That is, initially, the will of the Catalan and Spanish governments which they insinuated yesterday by ignoring the resolution of the Central Electoral Board which prohibits the concentration today, officially a day of reflection, and tomorrow, the day of elections.
Behind the determination is the belief that the eviction of Plaça Catalunya and Puerta del Sol, as well as other encampments, would be counterproductive, especially with the sympathy the movement has picked up. And the conviction that it could have repercussions on the demonstrators and the returns on 22 March. The CEB ban had the effect of a rallying call, multiplying the presence which is concentrated in the Catalan and Spanish capitals. Thousands of people massed together last night in the Plaza de Catalonia and the Puerta del Sol.
My translation, original in Catalan at:
http://www.avui.cat/...
The protesters immediately morphed the official statements into a version favorable to their cause, claiming that the protests are “encampments of reflection”. The protests were initially begun by young people discouraged by the massive unemployment in Spain among young adults, which is around 40%, the highest level for this age group in the European Union. Many have at least one and sometimes two degrees, but are incapable of finding any decent work, either nothing at all or jobs which only pay about 1000 Euros a month, creating an entire group referred to as the “miliaristes”, the “thousanders”, with the explicit implication that this is hardly enough to scrape by on. The surprising thing is that they have received massive support from the older economically more secure generations.
Young people have started this spontaneous movement out of indignation, but immediately they have been joined by people of all ages, profiles and social levels. Among them, many middle-aged people, witnesses of May 68, who also wanted to participate in these days of another spring social uprising.
This is the case of Jaume, who was 18 when the students went out on the streets of Paris to protest. He went to Paris after a few weeks, and now he has tried not to miss-out on camping in Plaça Catalonia. "I'm already at the end of my career but I'm here for the future of our children, because they are a generation that will have it worse than us," he says. Beside him, Carmen, about fifty years old, added herself last night to the “casserole” [a traditional form of protest where the citizens march through the streets beating on pots and pans]. "I am a victim of the crisis, I was fired from my job, but I'm not here for that but to support our youth, " she explains.
My translation, original in Catalan at:
http://www.ara.cat/...
The last nights encampment included speeches by various anti-system activists and a professor of economics. The square is full of booths were people can get information regarding the shortcomings of the capitalist system, the need for no-growth, the dangers of nuclear energy, the advantages of solar and wind power, etc etc etc. The encampment has spontaneously generated its own social order, including areas for children to play, trash collection crews, and “police” in the form of people who circulate through the crowd discouraging the consumption of alcohol and asking anybody exhibiting violent or destructive behavior to leave the square.
Video of last nights protest on Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Today and tomorrow will be a watershed, depending upon how the governments, both regional and national, react. Stay tuned!