Spain’s people’s movement has finally awoken. La Puerta del Sol in Madrid is now the country’s Tahrir Square, and the "Arab Spring" has been joined by what is now bracing to become a long "European Summer." As people across the Arab world continue their popular struggle for justice, peace and democracy, Spain’s disillusioned citizens have finally caught on with full force. Slow at first, hopeful that Spain’s dire economic conditions would magically correct themselves, the Spanish street has finally understood that democratic and economic justice and peace will not come from the pulpits of the country’s corrupt political elite.
Demonstrators are calling it the May 15 Movement for the day it started. Organized by a self-proclaimed 'peace movement' called 'Democracia Real Ya' (literally 'Real Democracy Now'), protests spread across the country on May 17 to more than 50 cities and towns.
More pictures and videos here.
We Canadians might wanna take notes.
4 comments:
And we better get our act together before all the shiny new jails are built.
I am starting to get the feeling that if we Canadians really want democratic reforms, we are going to have to have our own Tahrir square(s). We are not going to get anywhere with academic discussions about First-Past-the-Post vs. MMP vs. STV, or current Senate vs. EEE Senate vs. no Senate.
Did they get sponsored by L'Oreal?
Oh people up here definitely need to be taking notes. Were you there last summer? What happened here came perhaps too far in advance of what is happening elsewhere. People here are not trend setters when it comes to overt resistance. They wait and play the odds with care. There will be other opportunities. Queen and Spadian was no Tahrir Square. It was the indignant bleating of the morally outraged lambs demanding to be kept safe and sheltered. Next time, perhaps it will be a defiant roar of thousands. But I don't hold my breath. I just keep a supportive eye on what others will do when it is their lives and their rights on the line.
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