A CLEAR EXPLANATION
The Spanish revolution,"time for outrage", explained to foreigners (and foreign media)
junio 8th, 2011
Seeing how unclear it is everything about the camps and demonstrations out there…
The beginning: on May 15th there was a demonstration in Spain against the main political parties and the cuts we have to face with a 20% of unemployment. Those demonstrations ended in Madrid with the Police arresting and hitting people. The demonstrators reaction was to go to Puerta del Sol (an emblematic place in Madrid) and sit there. Just sit and stay there. Which became in the next days in people camping and sleeping there. They’re still there. The intention is to stop sleeping there on Sunday (details are to be discussed in a future assembly).
This all happened one week before the local election, which became in fact a campaign and run for “national” elections between the main parties: PSOE and PP. Some people in Sol and in other camps all over Spain made a campaign called “no les votes” (don’t vote for them), asking for people to vote with responsability… or not to vote at all. Were they the main force of the so-called 15M movement? Not at all. They were just a part.
During the previous days to the elections popular assemblies and demonstrations were celebrated not only in Sol, but in all the camps all over Spain and some cities of Europe. Despite the settled press prejudices, it was not just hippies and squatters, but people of all ages who attended the demonstrations asking for fair politics and economics, not just those that only enrich the rich.
What happened in the elections? Predictable: PSOE (now “ruling” Spain) lost and PP won. There was also an important victory of Bildu in Euskadi (the Basque country), but that’s another issue… And there were also a lot of people who didn’t vote or voted null or blank. All those blank, null and abstentions, put together, were the third political force.
So, why didn’t people leave the camps after the elections? It’s clear: it’s a movement against a political system that’s totally unfair (Portugal, Greece, Iceland, bailouts, restructures, prices, salaries… do you still need more hints?). Assemblies were celebrated each day, from morning to dawn. Camps bloomed all over Europe too.
And ideological confrontation came into the camps too. In Madrid (I can’t talk for the cities I haven’t been to these days) there were commissions for everything. Even a controversial commission of “love and spirituality” and a commission of commissions to solve problems between commissions. Complicated? Certainly. Especially if the big media don’t explain it properly or just ignore things or give the version that suits them better. Young journalists have been doing a great labour in those media, even in their free time. Blogs and Twitter became essential too.
With so many commissions and the movement declaring itself non-political, they started losing the support of many people and there was a huge debate on what to do next. And then came the Police: they went to the camp in Barcelona and “cleaned it” hitting people with brutal violence. The excuse was horrible: Plaça Catalunya had to be “clean· for the celebration of the victory of Barça against the Manchester United. Illegal too: the policemen had no ID.
Reactions in Madrid? The camped people would stay in Sol in support of Barcelona. Demonstrations took place all over Spain supporting the people camped in Barcelona (who camped there again next day, needless to say).
At the same time, small towns and neighbourhoods started celebrating on Sundays their own assemblies in order to have a political ad civic dialogue and try to improve their livings: the movement wasn’t dead, it was just the camp in Sol that didn’t know where to go next. After three assemblies, yesterday night it was decided to stop camping in Sol on Sunday. The idea is to promote the demonstrations and claim the streets and our rights. How will people leave Sol? That’s yet to be decided.
Today has been a key night. The same day when the Unions are negotiating a new laboural model with the Government, people have gone to the Congress to protest. They are still there. What will happen next? Well, there are some planned demonstrations for Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of June. But the rest is yet to be decided and written.
