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by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 11:47 am
by lupercal » Sat May 21, 2011 11:49 am
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 11:53 am
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 12:05 pm
lupercal wrote:...
Another socialist discredited / defeated / assassinated / arrested, another dollar!
Call for global solidarity with the people of Spain
Author: Jérôme E. Roos (ROAR)
Solidarity protests and sit-ins are spreading around the world like a wildfire — find a rally near you and join the revolution!
From Santiago de Compostella to Shanghai, and from Wellington to Washington, D.C., over 520 cities in the world are witnessing protests in solidarity with the people of Spain this weekend.
Like Tahrir Square in Cairo earlier this year, the Puerta del Sol is Madrid quickly turning into the beating heart of a global protest movement for real democracy, economic opportunity and social justice.
The ongoing first world debt crisis is a glaring indication of the fact that our democracy has been hijacked by financial interests. The people are now being made to pay for a crisis that was caused by a reckless banking sector, corrupt officials and a defunct economic system.
Today, the people of Spain are bravely saying that enough is enough, we are not taking this anymore. Austerity measures around the continent are squeezing the lower and middle classes while a small elite continues to enrich itself off the very speculation that will be our downfall. This is unacceptable.
At the same time, a post-ideological establishment has all but embraced the sovereignty of the markets — caring very little indeed for the needs of the people. What real choice is there in a change of faces and party names, if all governments will end up pushing through the same market-oriented policies anyway?
As Europeans and citizens of this world, we can show our solidarity to the Spanish people by finding a protest near us on the website below. Over 520 solidarity sit-ins and rallies have been reported around the world so far.
The Spanish revolution is rapidly spreading: be part of the change, take action!
http://www.criticallegalthinking.com/?p=3365
Help US to change the WORLD and DEMOCRACY!
From #spanishrevolution to #worldrevolution
Currently over 629 places over the world revolutioning! and 250563 online campers watched this like you!
http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/
by lupercal » Sat May 21, 2011 12:41 pm
vanlose kid wrote:lupercal wrote:...
Another socialist discredited / defeated / assassinated / arrested, another dollar!
good riddance.
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 12:44 pm
lupercal wrote:vanlose kid wrote:lupercal wrote:...
Another socialist discredited / defeated / assassinated / arrested, another dollar!
good riddance.
No problem with your having an opinion, but let's not pretend this is anything but a covert intervention in a sovereign nation's politics. That may be something you're okay with, which is fine, and it may even be legal, but I happen to think it's unethical.
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 1:19 pm
lupercal wrote:fixed your pic:
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 3:31 pm
It’s the economy, stupid
You study hard, you get a university degree and that, you would think, should put you in good stead to land a decent job. Right? No. In Spain, unless you are one of a lucky few, at best you can look forward to years of underpaid work in a sector that has nothing to do with your chosen career, at worst unemployment. Oh, and living with your parents throughout.
By Andrew Eatwell
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 other cities.
What is surprising is not the fact that they are demonstrating, but the fact that they did not protest sooner.
Unemployment across Spain exceeds 20 percent but among the under-30s it is running at 45 percent and has been stuck at around that level since the global economic crisis erupted and Spain’s property bubble burst more than three years ago. But even before then, youth unemployment in Spain was tragically high; the result of an inflexible labor market that even during the country’s boom years over the better part of the first decade of the 21st century kept many young people from finding decent jobs and trapped millions in low-paying, temporary contracts.
As Iberosphere pointed out more than a year ago, given that half of all workers on temporary contracts are under the age of 30, even in good times, they are forced to live with a debilitating sense of job insecurity, which prevents many from moving out of their parents house, renting or buying their own home and puts them off starting a family – a major cause of Spain’s low birth rate.
Temporary workers can expect to receive little, if any, training from their employers, who don’t want to spend the money on building up the skills of someone who will be the first out the door should the business situation change. And, because of that, workers on temporary contracts find it hard to secure pay rises and progress in their careers, hence a large number of Spaniards in their 20s or 30s – many of them with university degrees – regularly find themselves jumping from job to job and earning €1,000 a month or less. Six out of 10 Spanish university graduates are not doing the jobs they studied to do, the highest rate in the EU.
The Spanish language even has its own word for them, coined, notably, not during the economic crisis but at the height of Spain’s boom years in 2005 in a letter to daily El País by Carolina Alguacil titled: “Yo soy mileurista” (“I am a mileurista”). The word caught on and mileurista came to encapsulate the problems and fears of a large part of an entire generation of workers.
As James Badcock notes on Trans-Iberian: “When I first moved here I was taken aback by the general acceptance among Spain’s middle-class youth of a kind of social contract whereby a period of exploitation was considered part of the rites of passage… It was like being an intern – but for a whole decade until you reached your early or mid-thirties.”
No wonder then that young people, led largely by mileuristas and the unemployed who if they could find work would all but certainly become part of that group, have taken to the streets. In their belated protest, coinciding with the run-up to local elections on Sunday, they are demanding long-overdue change. Spain’s entrenched political elite have no option but to listen – it remains to be seen whether they will act on what they hear.
http://iberosphere.com/2011/05/spain-ne ... rotests-it’s-the-economy-stupid/2880
by vanlose kid » Sat May 21, 2011 9:20 pm
Jeff wrote:19 May 2011: Javier Navascués reports on the youth movement occupying Spain’s public squares
We, the unemployed, the underpaid, the subcontracted, the precarious, the young … demand a change towards a future with dignity. We are fed up of reforms, of being laid off, of the banks which have caused the crisis hardening our mortgages or taking away our houses, of laws limiting our freedom in the interest of the powerful. We blame the political and economic powers of our sad situation and we call for a turn.’
When a new and unknown platform called Real Democracy Now called for a demonstration last Sunday, 15 May, few expected that something like 130,000 people would turn out across Spain. Around 1,000 of those attempted to occupy Madrid’s central square, the Puerta del Sol, overnight in a conscious imitation of Tahrir Square. They were violently evicted by police, but the next day similar camps sprang up in most major cities. They are still mostly there and intend to remain until Sunday’s local elections.
Of course, though the movement has taken even the organisers by surprise, it has antecedents and a context. Its roots include those groups and movements connected to the World Social Forum process as well as the protests organised by young people before the financial crisis over the high cost of homes as a result of the property boom. More recently, a ‘Youth without a future’ demonstration attracted up to 3,000 people in April, marching under the slogan ‘No House, No Job, No Pension, No Fear’. This was not a particularly impressive turnout, though it matched the unimpressive turnout for recent trade union mobilisations.
...
Then came the election campaign. A court battle concerning the possibility of pro-ETA candidates running in the Basque Country resulted in them being allowed to run (good news because it signals a better chance of bringing terrorism to an end) but provided the right with an opportunity to stoke Spanish nationalistic chauvinism. On the other hand the austerity policies and the high rate of unemployment have alienated a lot of the popular classes who would normally support the PSOE. As a result the polls were forecasting a landslide defeat of the PSOE to the PP. United Left (IU) is showing significant advances in the polls, but nothing to match the major shift away from the PSOE.
Then the marches last Sunday erupted. They were called mostly by word of mouth and through social networks. Thousands marched against the banks and for real democracy. Botín, CEO of Banco Santander, and other prominent businessmen were identified as responsible for the crisis, while one of the most popular slogans was ‘PSOE and PP are the same shit’. Corruption is also targeted. People shouted ‘no hay pan para tanto chorizo’ (there is not enough bread for so many sausages). As well as being a Spanish sandwich sausage, ‘chorizo’ also means ‘crook’ in popular slang.
Some are now advocating a ‘blank’ vote in the elections, but in most cases ‘real democracy’ is understood as the need to reform the electoral regulations and, more significantly, the primacy of elected bodies over the ‘markets’ and the accountability of elected officials.
...
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/nobody-expe ... evolution/
by freemason9 » Sat May 21, 2011 11:15 pm
by wintler2 » Sun May 22, 2011 7:48 am
by LolaB » Sun May 22, 2011 1:43 pm
by vanlose kid » Sun May 22, 2011 3:49 pm
Spanish voters head to the polls, as city square protests continue
Millions turn out to elect municipal councils and regional governments, despite calls from demonstrators to abstain
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 22 May 2011 19.46 BST
As tens of thousands of demonstrators continued to defy Spanish authorities by filling city squares to protest against establishment politics, millions more went to the polls to elect municipal councils and regional governments.
By early Sunday afternoon, voting turnout was up 2% on four years ago, suggesting that calls to stay away from the polls made by one section of the mushrooming protest movement had not had any wider impact.
By 2pm turnout had reached 36% of voters. Overall turnout at the elections four years ago was 64%.
"I have dressed up because I consider voting very important," said José Luis, a Madrid voter in his 50s who had put on his best suit for the event.
Only when polls close at 8pm on Sunday however, will the number of blank or spoilt ballot papers be counted to give any idea of just how deep disenchantment with Spain's political system runs.
Opinion polls showed the socialist party of the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was facing a resounding defeat at the hands of Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's party.
In the Puerta del Sol, the central Madrid square where the spontaneous protests began a week ago, crowds gathered to join or simply watch those taking part in the open assemblies at which the movement is trying to come up with a coherent set of demands.
Speaker after speaker insisted they did not want to leave the square yet.
"We must not go until we have firm plans and proposals," said the representative of one of the sub-committees and working groups that have sprung up as part of a sophisticated, if cumbersome, exercise in open democracy.
Early on Saturday afternoon, the Puerta del Sol protesters agreed they would camp out for at least another week. "The consensus is to stay until Sunday 29 May," organisers said in a statement. "Nobody from amongst the thousands of participants in the assembly opposed the idea."
The protesters also agreed to start spreading their influence to neighbourhoods across Spain's capital city.
A working group of computer experts and hackers told the assembly they were building online links to bring together the multiple protests. These have taken over dozens of city squares around the country and have been spread by both social networks and Twitter with the #spanishrevolution hashtag.
Organisers said the separate protests had decided to unite and work together to produce demands, which were likely to call for electoral reform and stricter measures to tackle corruption.
An open video conference involving demonstrators in various cities was also due to be held. Intense political debate did not prevent a festive air ruling in the tent city that has taken over the Puerta del Sol. Sunday strollers picked their way past exhausted-looking youths lying on mattresses, many of whom have now been camped out for days.
Signs pasted up in the square called on those who wanted to party to go somewhere else. "This is not a zoo," read a message to onlookers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... s-continue
by vanlose kid » Sun May 22, 2011 3:54 pm
May 22, 2011
Socialists ready to be slammed in Spanish vote
A man votes with a sticker on his shirt reading ' We are Indignant, Take to the streets' at a polling station in Madrid Sunday May 22, 2011.
Protesters camped out in the central Puerta de Sol square are using the same slogan. The ruling Socialist Party is bracing itself for stinging losses as voting begins amid protests in regional and municipal elections throughout Spain. The elections are a key test of how the party's support has crumbled due to soaring unemployment and its handling of the financial crisis, a prelude to general elections next year.(AP Photo/Paul White) (Paul White)
(AP) MADRID (AP) — Spain's ruling Socialists braced for stinging losses in regional and municipal elections Sunday as unprecedented street protests over the highest unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone refused to fade away.
The elections are a key test of how much the party's support has crumbled due to its handling of Spain's real estate collapse and its subsequent debt crisis, and are seen as a prelude to general elections next year.
A growing protest movement reflects the strong disillusionment felt by Spaniards toward both main parties and a political system they say that favors economic interests over ordinary people.
"My hope is that our leaders will react responsibly to the protests we've been seeing and learn how to spend with prudence on the things our society needs," said civil servant Inmaculada Alfaro, 54.
More than 34 million people were eligible to vote for seats in 13 of Spain's 17 semiautonomous regional governments and for more than 8,000 city halls nationwide.
"I call for, encourage and appeal for a responsible, big turnout in these May 22 regional and municipal elections in all of Spain," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said as he emerged with his wife from casting his ballot.
Voter turnout by 2 p.m. stood at 35.9 percent, 1.7 percent higher than in similar elections in 2007, the electoral commission said.
Polls indicate Zapatero's party could suffer the humiliation of losing historic Socialist strongholds.
The financial crisis has forced deep job cuts and left Spain burdened with 21.3 percent unemployment. The jobless rate among the young stands at 40 percent and a total of 4.9 million people are out of work in Spain, the highest number since 1997.
A large proportion of those who still have jobs earn just euro1,000 ($1,400) or less per month.
And there is little hope on the horizon for the rest of the year. Spain is forecasting limp growth of just 1.3 percent for 2011, but even the Bank of Spain says that prediction is optimistic.
Protest camps of mainly young people sprang up in cities around the country a week ago and swelled to tens of thousands of demonstrators who on Saturday defied a government ban on gatherings the day before an election.
The government did not act to disperse the demonstrators, including the largest group camped out in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square opposite city hall. Protesters on Sunday voted to stay in that square until at least May 29.
Many said they had been inspired by pro-democracy uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East that had toppled long-standing and corrupt dictators.
Despite the likely losses for the Socialists, Spaniards are also clearly disillusioned with the opposition conservative Popular Party.
"Politicians like the ones here in Madrid that go around spending money on official cars only seem to care about their own careers and about going one better than the opposition," said salesman Joaquin Ribes, 28.
Madrid has been ruled by the Popular Party since 1995.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/ ... 5138.shtml
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