May 15 sees the first anniversary of the 15-M protest
movement. It was a public protest movement that was angry and fed up with the
inaction and corruption of politicians, the bailing out of banks that caused
the financial crisis in the first place and those made homeless as mortgage
companies had reposed their homes. The latter had lost the roofs over their
heads yet still owed the banks huge amounts of money.
The movement started with huge street protests and
encampments in Spain’s major cities and town but smaller groups were also to be
found in every community. Indeed it was a community movement that coincided
with the municipal and regional elections held in May 2011.
The manifesto message of last May was “not a euro more to
rescue the banks, education and public health of quality, withdrawal of labour
reform, guaranteed access to dignified housing and a universal basic income.”
As the 15-M movement started when socialist PSOE was in
government in Spain the opposition centre right Partido Popular tried to jump
on the protest bandwagon. However it soon became clear that the PP wanted the
camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol removed and there were scenes of violence as
police removed the encampment in Barcelona’s Plaza Cataluña. In the latter case
there is convincing evidence the police acted as agent provocateurs.
Hence it comes as no surprise that now the PP is in
government the minister of the interior, Jorge Fernández Diáz, has declared:
“in no circumstances will we permit these camps.” It was a clear warning to the
15-M movement that their intention to retake the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and
set up other camps in various cities and towns would not be tolerated. “The
cities are not campsites,” warned Fernández Diáz.
The world has moved on but the plight of those
represented by the 15-M movement has got worse; the banks have received further
bailouts; political corruption remains rife, the king’s son-in-law is on trial
for misappropriating funds and money laundering with the protests moving from
main street to main stream.
15-M has now been joined by other groups such as
Democracia Real Ya and all can be expected to stage demonstrations over this
period. Their protests are being coordinated online at tomalaplaza.net and via
Twitter using #15M and #SpanishRevolution.
It was the foreign media correspondents in Madrid and
elsewhere in Spain that brought the news of the 15-M movement to the wider
world and have kept them updated on its progress. This led to Spanish residents
overseas holding protests outside their country’s embassies and the movement
soon spread. The French, Greeks, Portuguese, Italians and indeed Britons,
amongst others, would establish their own movements. There are also links to
the Arab Spring protests in North Africa.
Since the 15-M movement was born Spain has now had a new
centre-right government for six months. Yet what started out as the protests of
Los Indignados – The Indignant in town squares has spread to various national
protests and a General Strike. The nation is angry and will not be silenced by
the threats of a centre right government in Madrid.
(Versions of the above article appeared in The Morning
Star, London Progressive Journal, Panorama and other online publications on May
15 2012.)
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