Spain

Spanish Local Elections: Upstart Podemos, Ciudadanos Parties Shine

May 25, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Educate! Elections, Left, Podemos, Politics, Social Change, Spain

Preliminary results from Spain’s regional elections show big gains for upstart leftist and center-right parties and the Conservatives losing their majority. While receiving the most total votes, the ruling PP party may now face coalition politics. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted in Sunday’s elections, the ruling People’s Party (PP) appears to have secured most of the votes in many of Spain’s 8,122 municipalities. However, it also lost the majority in most of them. Notably in the Madrid city council, PP managed to win 21 of the 57 seats, while 20 seats went to The Madrid Now (Ahora Madrid) coalition backed by a number of left-wing movements, such as Podemos. The Socialist Party (PSOE) won 9 seats in the capital’s assembly.

Civil Resistance & The Geopolitics Of Impunity

May 11, 2015 Baltasar Garzón, www.opendemocracy.net Educate! Chile, Corruption, Fascism, Impunity, Latin America, Resistance, Spain

The first of these cases is probably the most unsavoury, and we have more than enough examples worldwide, especially in Latin America (Chile, Argentina, Perú, El Salvador, etc.). Here, the perpetrators employ relevant institutional powers to forge a renewed ‘democratic’ structure, in which they receive a guarantee of legal impunity for previous criminal activities justified by a misguided concept of national security and stability. Such is the case of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Despite the gradual democratisation signalled by the 1988 national referendum to remove him from power, he clung to his position as head of state for a further two years, and his subsequent appointment as a senator for life took place and was previously sanctioned under the terms of decree no. 2191 in 1978.

First Hologram Protest Held Against Spain’s Gag Law

April 12, 2015 Jennifer Baker, www.revolution-news.com Resist! Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Expression, hologram, Spain

Spanish citizens held the first hologram protest in history in order to protest without violating the new draconian guidelines of the National Security Act, the new amendments to the Penal Code and the Anti-terror law. According to the recently approved “triad gag“, the citizens of Spain cannot protest against the Congress or hold meetings in public spaces, plus they have to ask permission from the authorities whenever they wish to protest publicly “If you are a person you can not express yourself freely, you can only do that here if you become a hologram,” says a woman in the video released by the movement “Hologramas para la Libertad.”

Spaniards Refuse To Be Silenced By New Anti-Protest Law

April 5, 2015 Resist! Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Spain

Students and free speech defenders hit the streets of Madrid last week to protest two controversial new laws — one targeting students and the other dissent. Spain’s “3+2” law, which shortens undergraduate degrees from four to three years and extends masters degrees from one to two years, was passed by the Spanish government in January — angering much of Spain’s students. In response, students and professors in Spain began a three-day strike on March 24 accompanied with protests attended by 85 percent of the Spanish education sector, according to the unions that organized the protests. The actions included blockades of highways and campus entrances in Madrid. While students marched through the streets on March 26, the Spanish parliament, largely controlled by the ruling conservative Popular Party, was busy passing the controversial Citizens’ Security Law, known as “la ley mordaza” or the “gag law,” which would make that very protest illegal and punishable by fine. Despite this climate of political repression, Spaniards have continued hitting the streets and have also protested against the anti-protest law.

Spanish Parliament Passes Anti-Indignado Law Against Protests

March 30, 2015 Erin Gallagher, www.revolution-news.com Educate! Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Press, police brutality, Spain

Yesterday three laws widely criticized by the opposition and human rights groups were approved in Spanish Congress. The Penal Code, the new Anti-Terror Law and the Law on Citizen Safety. The three new texts challenge freedom of expression in the streets and on the Internet. All three laws are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2015. Under the new Citizen Safety Law or Ley Mordaza (Gag Law) as human rights defenders have renamed it, public protests, freedoms of speech and the press and documenting police abuses will become crimes punishable by heavy fines and/or jail. Some key points on the Ley Mordaza: Photographing or recording police – 600 to 30.000€ fine. . .

Spain: Popular Initiative For Basic Income Has 185,000 Signatures

March 24, 2015 Stanislas Jourdan, www.basicincome.org Create! Human Rights, Spain

For the past year, a grassroots movement in Spain has been very actively campaigning for the introduction of a basic income by means of a national popular legislative initiative (ILP). Thanks to the efforts of a growing number of basic income supporters, approximately 185,000 signatures were collected – less than the threshold of 500,000 signatures required for the initiative to be examined by the national parliament. The exact number of signatures still have to be counted by national authorities after a validation check. Although the number of signatures collected is considered lower than hoped – organisers said the campaign contributed significantly to spreading the idea of basic income across Spain.

Thousands Rally In Spanish Anti-Austerity Protest

March 23, 2015 Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com Resist! Anti-Austerity, Podemos, Spain

Thousands of people have marched in the Spanish capital denouncing the government and calling for an end to harsh austerity measures that have deepened poverty among the worst-off. Gathering under the banner of "Dignity" in Madrid on Saturday, protesters decried government financial cuts, housing rights policies, and high unemployment rates. Carrying banners reading "Food, jobs and a roof with dignity. Working for a general strike", the protesters packed much of the city's Colon Square and Paseo de Recoletos boulevard. Dolores Cerezo, who had arrived from southern Sevilla, said the government had cut back "savagely" on public services such as education and the national health service.

The Metamorphosis Of Podemos

March 15, 2015 Samuel Pulido, www.quilombodphere.wordpress.com Organize! Elections, Podemos, Spain

Since Podemos unveiled itself in January 2014 as a ‘method for participation open to the entire public’[ii], the initiative has evolved to the point that it has formalised as a political party. This constitutive process finalised on the 14th of February passed following the election of the different internal posts on a national level. However, with regards to the process of organisation, and in an electoral context where prospects are good, the debate frequently took the form of a war waged in personalised and binary terms, between fans and trolls. This internal rancour was fed in part by the establishment of a system of internal lists and voting that did not correct the existing inequalities in terms of access to media resources, but rather took advantage of these inequalities, albeit without acknowledging this openly. But it is not as simple as this.

What Europe’s Hopeful Left Can Learn From Latin America

March 9, 2015 Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, www.theconversation.com Strategize! Europe, Greece, Latin America, Left, Social Change, Spain

Hope is not just the ability to wish or fantasise. It is a tool for taking alternative realities seriously so that they might actually become possible. With hope, people can make mental space and concrete preparations for alternative ways of organising their societies – alternatives that are already lurking in the present, but which are simply not thought possible yet. Austerity is unrealistic because it demands that we abandon hope, which is an essential component of our humanity. Our inherent capacity to dream and aspire collectively is our only way to make a truly better world, and a political “reality” that does not accept the possibility of alternatives is not a reality at all, but a demented fiction. In Latin America, the eruption of hope in the face of austerity began with a real sense of injustice and frustration across different sectors of the population, quickly reaching beyond the dedicated activist to the ordinary citizen.

Repression & Demobilization In Spain

February 16, 2015 Yesenia Barragan, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Freedom of Expression, Spain

Passing through Puerta del Sol on a Sunday afternoon in late-January, I noticed how two policemen approached a group of about seven or eight elderly protestors holding a banner protesting cuts to social services. After what seemed like a bit of a tense moment, one of organizers pulled out a white sheet from his backpack and waved it in the face of the officers, who eventually walked away. For me, this appeared to be a rather strange sight, having attended many unauthorized gatherings and marches beginning in this plaza. But that has all changed since the passing of one of the Gag Law’s most contentious legislations that prohibits protest in public spaces without permission. Depending on the context, one can be fined anywhere between 30,001-600,000 Euros for not having received the proper authorization.

The Drumbeat For War Gets Louder

February 8, 2015 Patrick Smith, www.salon.com Educate! Greece, Media, New York Times (NYT), Spain, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism

As of Monday—as of Monday’s New York Times, to be precise—we are now on notice. In all probability, in a matter of months the U.S. will begin sending lethal weapons to the Ukrainian military. Those named as part of the deliberations for this turn in policy include Secretary of State Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Defense Secretary Hagel, Joint Chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey, and Philip Breedlove, the American commander of NATO’s military forces. Look at the list. Two soldiers, who by training and tradition think in terms of military capability alone, a Vietnam veteran turned Republican hawk who is not noted for his field of vision, and two Democrats of the breed lately achieving egregious prominence, the liberal interventionists. The take-homes here are two: One, be on notice, too, that there is little consequential opposition, if any, as Washington once more reiterates America’s right to pursue the providential mission in every corner of the planet. Two, this is not about Ukraine: It is about a greatly craved face-off with Russia with a long history behind it. I stand astonished we are hurtling toward armed confrontation at this speed, with no one in sight to check what starts to look like an obsessive-compulsive addiction to some kind of regeneration through violence.

Podemos Poses Major Threat To Spanish Political Establishment

February 5, 2015 Vicente Navarro, www.socialeurope.eu Educate! Europe, Greece, Left, Spain, Syriza

Something is happening in Spain. A party that was only founded a year ago, Podemos, with a clear left-wing programme, could well gain a majority in the Spanish Parliament if an election were held today. Following the victory of Syriza in the Greek elections on 25 January, speculation has been raised as to whether Podemos could achieve a similar feat in Spain’s parliamentary elections later this year, but what is driving the party’s success? Support for Podemos is intricately linked to the policies pursued by the conservative People’s Party government, led by Mariano Rajoy. These policies have included the largest cuts in public social expenditures (dismantling the underfunded Spanish welfare state) since democracy was established in Spain in 1978, and the toughest labour reforms pursued in the same period, which have substantially deteriorated labour market conditions.

Protests For Basque Political Prisoners

February 3, 2015 Xabier Letona, www.argia.eus Resist! Basque, Independence, Political Prisoner, Spain

The City of Bilbao was becoming crowded by people arriving from all over the Basque Country as the day went on. By noon it was impossible to walk around the city centre. The main streets surrounding the meeting points from which the demonstration was going to start at 17:00 hours were getting packed as this time got closer. “Sare” (meaning literally “Network” in Basque, a citizen network struggling for the rights of Basque political prisoners) was in the way of achieving the objective of the day. This article is a chronicle of that demonstration. 25 years ago the Spanish and French governments applied the policy of dispersal against the Basque political prisoners. Since then and according to the information given by “Sare” the family members and friends that visit the these prisoners travel 352.329 km every week, as much as turning around the earth 8.8 times weekly.

Is A European Spring Coming?

February 3, 2015 Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli, www.truth-out.org Resist! Austerity, Europe, Greece, Left, Spain, Youth

In the wake of the victory of the progressive party Syriza at the Greek general election on January 25, 2015, some have started talking about the coming of a European Spring, a democratic uprising against the political status quo in Europe. This status quo has imposed brutal austerity policies on countries like Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland. These policies have protected and advanced the interests of banks, and more generally, of those holding large financial assets. They have protected and advanced the interests of large corporations. They have generated unbelievably high unemployment rates, a huge squeeze on workers' wages and an astonishing number of bankruptcies among small businesses. They have resulted in dramatic cuts to social security and public health systems. These are economic issues, but they are also moral issues. Robbing a whole generation of European youth of the possibility of finding a decent job is stripping them of their hopes and dignity.

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