Spanish Revolution is Written with a Hashtag
This is the visual tale of two incredibly intense weeks in Spain, when people took over the public spaces—streets and squares—and tried to imagine a healthier way to do politics. It all started on May the 15th with a set of demonstrations in different cities against the effects of the Spanish economic crisis, it’s root causes, and in general against way politics work.
Most of the gatherings were organized or coordinated through Twitter and Facebook. Both social media services helped the unstructured protesters and supporters stay organized throughout the two weeks.
The roots for the outrage in Spain—a country the size of California—are the high unemployment (20%, rising to 42% among young people) how big banks and companies are firing people while still earning lots of money, and the fact that several politicians accused in court were candidates again in the upcoming regional elections.
Two weeks later the movement, labeled with the hashtag #spanishrevolution, has started to put their ideas in motion. In the main cities the neighborhood assemblies have been created, giving birth to a more practical way to change society and seeding a new future.
Here’s a look at these two weeks in photos. Some mine, some from different Flickr users who posted them under CC licenses or have agreed to have them published for this article.
- On May the 15th demonstrations were organized under the Slogan “Real Democracy Now” all over Spain.
- At the end of the main demonstration a group of people in Madrid thought the demonstration was not enough. They decided to camp in Sol Square, the place that marks the start of all the roads in Spain. Mile zero. They organized by tents and areas of work: immigration, feminism, legal, communication, food, cleaning, volunteers…
- The people rose from hundreds to thousands and started to prepare lists of demands that were discussed in assemblies. One of their main concerns was to avoid the idea of youth being idle. One of the slogans was “We are not on Facebook, we are on the street.” In fact they were on Facebook, but only in order to take to the streets more effectively, an unintentional challenge to Gladwell.
- Some of the main influences they had were the “Arab Spring” uprising in Tunisia and Egypt, the protests in Iceland against their politicians and bankers, and Stéphane Hessel’s essay Time for Outrage!.
- The movement grew big in most Spanish cities, mainly in Valencia, Seville, and Barcelona. This picture, which was front page of the main Spanish newspaper, El País, shows the moment when a young protester renames Valencia’s Town Hall Square as May the 15th Square.
- Another of the main slogans was “They call it democracy, but it ain’t so”. Protesters argued that voting four times each four years—local, regional, national, and European elections—doesn’t make a real democracy.
- The occupied squares were full of opportunities for people to speak their ideas and frustrations.
- United, the demonstrators saw themselves able to fight the official powers, both political and economical.
- Cameras were everywhere, helping to spread what was happening.
- One of the peaks happened during Saturday the 21st, during the so called “reflection day,” the day before the local and regional elections, when political advertising is forbidden. This sketch shows the ambiance that day on Sol, with whole families walking around the tents.
- After the May the 22nd elections, the tension rose in most of the cities, with local governments trying to get the public squares back from the ‘campers’. Two very different images from the relations between protesters and the police. The first one is from the city of Murcia and shows a policeman holding a flower.
- The second one is from the confrontations in Barcelona, where local police tried to empty Catalunya Square in order to make possible that the soccer fans could celebrate there the victory of their team in the Champions League (essentially the European version of the Superbowl), which they won two days later but had to celebrate in a different location.
- Although the actual situation in Spain affects people from all ages, one of the focus was on giving the youth more job and housing possibilities. These girls say “Thanks for fighting for our future”.
- And the next chapter, which will be less colorful and visible, but a chance for making a real difference, comes with the neighborhood assemblies created in the main cities during May the 28th and the 29th, where the theory can be put into practice. It was also a chance for each participant to recognize the person she or he sits next to, building a link that can led to a real change.
…Will it continue?
Xurxo Martínez is a Spanish journalist and MCDM alummi.
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Antika
Thank you Xurxo for the great post.
It seems to me that Up-raising/demonstration is the newly trend of today social change. From my pessimistic side, I am always wondering about the state after the demonstration ended. Will the country really change to the better part? I’m not much familiar with Spanish politics and economics, but my country, Thailand, we still struggle finding the real definition of democracy after too many demonstrations; all claims that they are working for the real democracy. My experience shows me that nobody is the winner and the absolutely loser is the country. The economics was freezing. The international relationship was holding.
Social media tools are the great tools for using to organize the demonstration, making it faster and bigger than before. However, we should be aware of fast somehow. Some groups just take advantage of these for their own interests, raising the demonstration for their own benefits without considering about others. People, especially young people, tend to participate with the group without deeply consideration. At the end, not only social media is used as a tool but also the people.
Jun 1st, 2011
Alex
I don’t think one should think democracy when the people rise up. Democracy is used to keep us humans palpable, so we are easy to rule. It gives us the illusion we have a say and have freedoms. It’s less restrictive, but only because people allowed a little freedom (while denied real freedom) will be less prone to revolt and produce much better. Democracy is just another form to rule people.
What we as humans need is freedom, our own sovereignty, no government that tells us how we may live our lives or how we do our business. The restrictions need to stop. If we as humans revolt against the current politicians and bankers, the next ones we put in power will be as bad in a few decades. We need to learn we need to rule ourself instead of being ruled by others. Those who say humans are incapable to rule themselves, need to think about who should rule us then? Other humans? That are deemed incapable to rule themselves? If people say we can’t rule ourselves, then we can’t rule others either, so only rest to rule ourselves.
No state will give us freedom. No government will. Only ourselves will give us the freedom we need. Real freedom is something that scares people, people have been indoctrinated with things should be taken care by someone, be it a government an preferable a democracy, From the school on and by media we are taught that democracy is the best system. This is a lie. We should stop being people/consumers and become humans again. We are humans and sovereign, no other human should be at top of us or rule us. Stop being scared. Stop believing the lies taught. Open your eyes to the truth and chant for freedom instead of the democracy that was made to enslave you. Don’t go about overthrowing a system to install the same system back. Grab this chance and make yourselves be free.
Jun 1st, 2011
Xurxo Martinez
Strong opinions, here. Maybe the issue is to make clear what each one understands as ‘Democracy’. There is a long way from “voting each 4 years and having someone deciding things for me” to the ethimological ‘Demos Kratia’—Greek for people’s power—.
If the population (young or old) decide their vote because of some kind of power manipulations—both political, social or economical—, they are not free, and won’t be a real government of the people, but a government of the ones who can influence people.
What happened in Spain was not supported or organized by stablished powers, and the conversations and discussions that took place during those days were maybe naïve, but always thorough and focused on taking back a good chunk of the decission-making process we gave to polititians and they gave to economical powers.
Let’s see what happens in the future. I hope all the fuzz those protest created will show people they can stand up for their problems, get toghether, and reclame their (sleeping) power.
Jun 2nd, 2011
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