NOBODY expects the Spanish
Revolution!
Versión en castellano
aquí
There
has been a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about what is happening
in
Spanish revolutionaries gathering in
Castellón, one of the smaller provincial capitals. Photo: David Blázquez
Ferreiro If you’re expecting an objective
report here, you’ve come to the wrong place. But a bit of imbalance on my part
might help to correct an imbalance on the other end of the scales that exists
in certain sectors of the press and international opinion. And at least I’ve
actually been there (around the clock, not staying in hotels). Allow me to begin
with an obvious plagiarism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0b9pklfKQ8 “NOBODY expects the Spanish
Revolution! Our chief weapon is solidarity, solidarity and hope, hope and
solidarity. Our two weapons are hope and solidarity and ruthless equality. Our
three weapons are hope and solidarity and ruthless equality and an almost
fanatical devotion to the People. Our four… No. No. AMONGST our weapons,
amongst our weaponry are such elements as…” [with thanks and affection
to Monty Python] The points that I wish to make with
that plagiarism are that i) THE chief aim of this Spanish
Revolution is an elusive beast. The Revolution is many things to many people. ii) Reasons, aims, and demands are
being added all the time. But on one point virtually all of us
are agreed: Nobody has a right to decide for anybody else just what it’s all
about. Decisions are made on a one-person-one-vote basis and by/for each
local-group. There is no President, no Congress, no Central Committee. There are
[local and independent] parliaments. But we are all members of parliament… and
we parley and parley. (This leads to long and complicated local popular
assemblies, but everybody prefers that to handing over your voice to an elected
representative, who is then free to “sell you out”. THAT is one of the evils of
the present system that we’re calling for an end to.)
REAL Democracy in action
A speaker from the floor Photos: David
Blazquez Ferreiro As the opening paragraphs of ONE
manifesto [http://kontrolkaos.blogspot.com/2011/05/manifiesto-democracia-real-ya-ingles.html
] state: “We are ordinary people. We are like
you: people, who get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who
have family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better
future for those around us. “This situation has become normal, a
daily suffering, without hope. But if we join forces, we can change it. It’s
time to change things, time to build a better society together.” [That same manifesto – after a list
of grievances/demands – ends: “For
all of the above, I am outraged. +++ There is a popular misconception
that this all started in The original demonstration was
called for the 15th of May in cities and towns all over There might be some few in In the early 1960s, grassroots
organisations in the I have tears streaming down my face
as I copy and paste that. Only part of the reason for these tears is the fact
that I know that the next day King would be dead. But it’s the part that made
me copy and paste that speech fragment into this article. Because a single
bullet robbed an originally grassroots movement of its charismatic leader… and
set back the civil rights movement by about a decade. We can’t run the risk of not
learning from history. We can’t afford to allow the authorities – or ourselves
– to choose a leader who negotiates changing our focus, or who becomes so
important to the Revolution that if (s)he is co-opted, bought-off,
assassinated, or dies a natural death… the Revolution itself will die a kind of
death. Because we ALL – in these first days of the Spanish Revolution – have
caught at least a glimpse of the Promised Land. [I’ll tell you about some of my
personal glimpses below.] And we’re determined to get there. And yes, there have already been
attempts to co-opt us. There have been attempts by political parties to make
political capital out of supporting our aims. We welcome any personal
expressions of support from private individuals. But we wholeheartedly reject
any attempts to use us or co-opt us. In Castelló, a political party (which I
personally consider one of the better ones) offered the campers the use of
their headquarters’ toilet and photocopier. We voted – after debate - to turn
the offer down. A bit of political background helps
to understand the mood: The PP [Partido Popular (Conservatives)] attribute
their landslide victory in the municipal and [certain] regional elections –
held on the 22nd of May – to incompetence, poor leadership, and
plain bad politics on the part of the PSOE [Partido Socialista Obrera de España
(Workers’ Socialist Party of Spain)], as well as to their own popularity (if
you’ll excuse the pun), good leadership, and good politics on their own part.
They are – in one aspect – correct. Whereas the PP has a loyal following on
which it can pretty much depend, whatever it does (the president of the
Valencian Community [of 3 provinces] and the retiring – to the private sector -
president of the Castelló province are both facing criminal proceedings for
corruption, but that didn’t stop their supporters from handing the party
absolute majorities on both levels) the left-wing in Spain is more likely to
“show the red card” to politicians and parties that it feels have betrayed it.
PSOE’s wooing of Capital and right-of-centre voters has cost it a great deal of
support on the left. This is definitely political bungling on their part. This
disparity in loyalty vs. ethics gave the PP an absolute majority in regional
and municipal governments across most of But the PP leader, Mariano Rajoy -
echoing those who miss the times of Franco and say: “This sort of thing never
happened with Franco…” - has been quoted as saying: “With PP, there were no
‘indignados’ [indignant ones]”, as if to say either that PP wouldn’t tolerate
such insubordination, or that PSOE is to blame for the present state of
discontent. As one demonstrator stated:
“Marianito, Marioneta [Little Mariano, Puppet], if you think that when you
arrive at the presidency we won’t be just as indignant, you’re sadly mistaken.”
And if he thinks that PP is going to be able to slow down a movement that has
seen the Promised Land, he’s also mistaken. Five details of the election results
are revealing: Although the headlines here read “PP
sweeps the board”, a) PP only won about 25% of the
eligible vote. b) and although “levels of voter
participation are about the same as the local elections of 4 years ago”, the
number of blank and void ballot papers has been TRIPLED. c) in Vistabella del Maestrat, a
small town in the mountains of Castelló (proud of its slogan “just one step
from Heaven”), in 2007 – and just 40 days before the local elections – a
non-partisan group was hastily formed to put an end to council corruption.
There was no way that PSOE – or any other political party – could have won
against PP. But - calling itself “Candidacy For Vistabella [CPV]” and insisting
that it had NO party affiliation - it won enough support from PP voters who
were sick of the corruption of the governing council (and from other voters) to
win 4 seats out of 7. (The remaining 3 remaining in possession of PP.) This
year, d) 5km from Vistabella (as the crow
flies – it’s 14.5km by road) in Xodos, 38 people voted for PP, 37 voted for
PSOE. The seats on the council will be divided thus: 4 for PP, 1 for PSOE. I am
told that PSOE couldn’t find more than one candidate willing to stand, so that
– supposedly - even if the vote had been 74 for PSOE and 1 for PP, the council
would still consist of 4 PPers and 1 PSOEr. [There is nothing to prevent a
candidate standing in a constituency where (s)he doesn’t live (this caused
several outraged citizens to complain after earlier elections that they had,
completely unknown to themselves, been candidates for PP in
no-hope-of-actually-winning towns in Euskadi [the Basque country]), but -
theoretically – if you win a seat, you’re at least morally obliged to work for
that town.] e) Speaking of Euskadi, a region
where – by declaring illegal a whole series of parties in favour of all-out
independence – the 2 big national parties (taking turns in government) have
silenced the [parliamentary] political aspirations of hundreds of thousands of
voters, and managed at last to wrest from the nationalist PNV the regional
government (now an “unholy alliance” of PP-PSOE) in 2009’s regional elections,
SOMETHING WENT WRONG THIS YEAR! The newly-formed Bildu WASN’T declared illegal
and jumped into 2nd place with 276,134 votes region-wide and 1st
place in the Having just written that last
paragraph, the supporters of the Spanish Revolution have no intention of
turning to violence. We know that we won’t win that way. Most of us are
committed to non-violence. But we call ourselves the “indignad@s” [@ = a or
o, to avoid sexist, generic terms], which the English-speaking press has
translated as “angry”. I don’t like this translation. It can also be translated
as “outraged” [for which I, personally, have a soft spot – due to Steve Bell’s
cartoon strip, “If” and its Elvis-like penguin who used to say: “Outrage, Man,
outrage!”], but what is wrong with “indignant”? TOO obvious? We are indignant that politicians take our votes then ignore our
wishes for 4 years (until the next elections); Spanish politicians pass laws that make them
eligible for a life-long pension equivalent to 80% of their salary after 7
years in office, 100% after 11 years, while an ordinary worker has to work for
35 to get her or his pension… and the amount is MUCH lower; bankers are allowed to steer the rest of us
into a World-wide crisis (from which the banks actually benefit, being able to
foreclose on debtors who can’t make the payments), get bailed out by tax-payers’
money, which they use to pay themselves generous bonuses, and then retire with
not a golden, but a platinum handshake; they tell us that there is no money for
hospitals, schools, job-creation, or the aged… but there is always money for
arms, state banquets, and royal leeches; with an unemployment level that is among the
highest in Europe, Oh, I could go on and on, but surely
you get the picture by now? Do you understand now why we’re camping out? Would
you like to join us? And when we protest, we are accused
of being shiftless lay-abouts who refuse to get a job, unwashed hippies and
punks, disturbers of the peace, angry, selfish, arrogant. I really have no right to speak for
the whole movement. I have no right to write about what’s happening in But then that’s fair, because the
campers / protestors in I have no right to speak for
everybody who attends the protests and actions in València and Castelló. But I
do have the right to speak of what I have seen and lived in these 2 cities: the
former being the 3rd-largest city in Spain, where thousands come to
spend at least part of the day, about 3000+ people show up for the daily
assemblies at 8pm, and hundreds spend the whole night; the latter a small
provincial capital where a few hundred spend part of the day and come to the
assemblies, and a few dozen spend the night. Our Lady Of The Fountain I've had it up to HERE with promises that they never think of keeping!....I've had it up to HERE with b ankers who've known how to create a crisis that they then benefit from... while YOU and I suffer! Too right, MariAgu! You'll come, Little Bear, won't you?' 'I'll be here, MariAgu!' I have a right to tell you that I
haven’t needed to spend a cent on food for the last week because locals – who
haven’t got the time to come to the assemblies or camp out – are in sympathy
with what we are trying to achieve for everyone, and are generous with
donations of food, coffee, fruit juices, olive oil which they bring to our camp
pantries… I’ve been eating pretty well this week. I have a right to tell you of
the hard work that the kitchen staff put in to prepare and hand out meals
[about 20hours/day] in València. (Meals are somewhat more “self-service” in
Castelló, where there aren’t facilities for cooking, where people trust that
we’ll return the vacuum flasks and plastic dishes in which they bring their
offerings of coffee and potato omelettes...) I have a right .to tell of the
woman in Castelló who approached us and insisted on leaving us the keys to her
flat, because she was going to work, and if anybody needed to use her toilet or
have a shower while she was out… I have the right to tell you how we
deal with threats by fascists (I’ve witnessed one in each city [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/20/spain-protesting-angry-ones?commentpage=5#comment-10849128
]) peacefully, without recurring to the police – who might just be eager
for a chance to “restore order”. I have a right to tell you about the
work commissions – which anybody can join, without passing any kind of
examination or vote – in each city to take care of all aspects of these camps,
from coordination and dealing with the press to street theatre and sweeping the
square each morning. About their hard work in keeping us supplied with cardboard
and sellotape, with folding tables and ladders, with information and music,
with smiles and cheer. Photo: Carme
Ripolles I have a right to tell you about
people whom I didn’t know 8 days ago, who are now members of my family, who
smile and call out: “Hey, Jimmy! How did it go in València?” when I arrive back
in Castelló. Who lent me a tent on my first night there, before they knew me
that well. Photo: Carme
Ripolles I have a right to tell you about the
council street sweepers (a woman in Castelló, a man in València) who told me
that “the square is much cleaner since you people moved in.” I have a right to tell you about the
amazing quantity of imagination that goes into the slogans that people invent: “We’re not anti-system – the system
is anti-us.” “The IMF rapes all of us, not just
chambermaids.” “Another May is possible.” “I’m looking for my rights. Has
anybody seen them?” “Without a home. Without a job.
Without a pension. Without fear.” And so many more that make me burst
out laughing but would be completely lame in the translation. I have a right to tell you about the
people who ask for hugs from complete strangers – and to share the news that
I’ve NEVER seen the request being turned down. I have a right to tell you about the
8-year-old children who write compositions about their hopes for the future to
read out – often with a quite reasonable need for moral support from their
parents – at a microphone facing 400 people in Castelló… or And I have a right to tell you about
the clown dressed up as a snail [“We snails are finished when you take our
houses from us”] who took the microphone in València to say that: “There must
be something in the air or in the water in this square. I’ve been here for 3
days, and I’ve fallen in love on each day… and the thing is, I’ve fallen in
love with ALL of you.” Who’s got MORE right to tell you
about that? Because I was that snail. [I have to admit that I really prefer the
camp in Castelló, where I left a sign with the same message, so that it’s on
view 24/7.] Finally, I want to share with you a video. It’s
in Spanish without subtitles. But if I tell you that “un despertar” means “an
awakening”, and that “despierta” means “wake up!”, that’s all you really need
to know. I am not ashamed to tell you that it brings a lump to my throat and
tears to my eyes every time I watch it. Which I’m about to do again right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSS7J3lhRWA Stop Press!!! I’m so glad that I haven’t sent
this off yet, because I’ve just received an e-mail with a link-to-a-link to
this one. For those of you who don’t understand Spanish, if you click on the
upper left-hand corner at the beginning of the video, you get the version in
English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DXJ0qPXrCA … and leave you with our locally-chosen (in
Castelló) slogan: “Desperta! Ja ha començat!” [Wake up! It’s
already begun!] Jimmy Hollis i Dickson (You can find plenty of photos of the square in
València on Internet. The ones used here are from Castelló.) +++++++++ Well
well well: look at what’s happening now! ""Hands up! This is a crisis!!!" Since
submitting the above article to The Guardian http://guardian.co.uk
[it appears that they aren’t going to publish it] 2 pieces of news have reached
my ears: a)
Catalunya’s
regional police [els Mossos d’Esquadra] have tried to clear [Allow me a
snide remark here. There exists photographic evidence that in the past, at
other demonstrations, Mossos – and members of other police forces elsewhere
(but we’re dealing with the Mossos here) – in plainclothes have thrown stones,
smashed shop windows, and set rubbish skips alight in order to “justify”
heavy-handedness (and the Mossos are VERY tough!... and a police force with one
of the tallest minimum-height requirements in the World) “to restore order”.] Over 100
people have been wounded. I’m not sure if that includes the 20-odd Mossos
reported wounded by their Chief in a national radio interview . [Speaking of which, I’d like to report that I have a few questions of my own: 1) WHY did
this happen just in time to clear the square for a possible rowdy, jubilant,
drunk celebration of Barcelona Football Club’s [hoped-for] win of the European
Cup game against Manchester at Wembley [due later today, as I write], which
celebrations traditionally centre at the top of Les Rambles [and the top of Les
Rambles is a zebra-crossing away from the Plaça]??? The Roman
Empire had a saying: “Bread and Circus” – meaning that if the authorities offer
the people something to eat [even if not a very well-balanced diet] and some
form of mass entertainment [especially spectacles including injury and
cruelty], they can keep them quiet and submissive, and they [the people] won’t
worry too much about politics or about the “whole lotta corruption going on”. It
is evident that in 21stC 2) HOW is
clubbing a seated, unarmed teenager [or someone slightly older] self defence???
[I KNOW that I wrote that I had questions of my own, but this one needs to be
asked again and again.] 3) HOW is
shooting compressed-air charges from the open doors of speedily retreating
police vans self-defence??? That strikes me a 2) HOW is
clubbing a seated, unarmed teenager [or someone slightly older] self defence??? 4) I have
written above that we 15Mers take care of the cleanliness of our squares... and
do it well. If the authorities are so concerned about public heath, i)
WHY
are they themselves cutting back on public heath spending [a policy that we
15Mers protest against]??? ii)
WHY
were street-cleaning high-powered hoses used on the square in iii)
WHY
can’t they meet with the relevant committee of iv)
WHY
don’t the authorities offer free porto-cabin toilets and drinking-water
installations for the hygiene necessities of the campers??? 2) HOW is
clubbing a seated, unarmed teenager [or someone slightly older] self defence??? 5) Do the
Mossos draw lots to decide who throws the stones and who gets the stones thrown
at them? Or is this decided by the “superiors”? [“Head up, Lad! Good news:
Today you’re going to be a ‘Hero Of The Revolution’.”] 2) HOW is
clubbing a seated, unarmed teenager [or someone slightly older] self defence??? Let the
authorities be sure about 2 things: we 15Mers are here to stay!!! And every
time that the authorities have tried – in a variety of cities – to dislodge
us, that action has caused an even greater reaction on our part: thousands
flock to protect our squares, skipping classes at the university and
[some I suspect] taking the day off work if necessary. Are the authorities so
slow to learn? Or do they really get a rush out of banging their heads against
brick walls? When
pro-Democracy movements sprang up in Eastern Europe, China, Egypt, Libya, and a
host of other “politically backward” countries, the very authorities who govern
[and are about to govern] Spain were quick to applaud the protestors and lament
the sacrifices that they were forced to make, as well as to condemn the repressive
measures carried out against them by the authorities of those countries. WHO
among them complained that the tearing down of the Berlin Wall was “an act of
vandalism”? WHO among them complained that the protestors of I would
really like to ask them this: “HOW is clubbing a seated, unarmed teenager [or
someone slightly older] self defence???” i.e. Just WHAT makes you so different
from the “repressive regimes” that you have in the past been so quick to
criticise??? Photos from the clean-up action in Barcelona: Dangerous radicals in Barcelona. A "Mosso" [policeman] defending himself ............ Another "Mosso" [policeman] defending himself We're cleaning. Please excuse the inconvenience ............ Do your children know what you do for a living? b)
The second piece of news is that the PSOE “barons” are rallying around
the Interior Minister [Home Office Minister / Secretary Of State] – incidentally
the minister responsible for the Police and for permitting or forbidding
demonstrations – Rubalcaba as the only candidate in the up-coming primaries to
decide who takes over as candidate for the Presidency, now that Zapatero has
announced he won’t continue. Carme Chacon – a Catalan and first-ever female
Minister Of Defence – has announced that she won’t, after all, be running [and
is reported to be slouching around with a glum look on her face]. Suggestions
that this is a case of “succession by decree” [something that PSOE is only too
happy (and smug) to criticise PP for indulging in (Rajoy was handed the top job
by his predecessor, Aznar)]. “No, no, this is real democracy in action!” [It is
amusing to note how many politicians – of whatever stripe – are putting these
two words together these days: “Real Democracy”!] To anyone
with at least – as we say in [A word of explanation for those few
of you who may need this. If a citizen feels that (s)he is not being offered a
choice that (s)he can support in the elections, (s)he can do one of 3 things:
1) not show up to vote (abstention); 2) vote for a not-existing or illegalised
party (“spoiled” or “void” ballot slip – as mentioned above, hundreds of
thousands of these were returned in past elections in Euskadi, hundreds of
thousands less this year, because finally, a party that represents their
politics has been allowed to slip past the net); 3) drop a blank ballot slip
into the ballot box (blank vote). Now the use of language is interesting,
because “spoiled” conjures up spectres of vandalism, and yet this is a very
real expression of a voters’ democratic decision. In short: a blank ballot
paper might be explained away as the result of absent-mindedness, and a
“spoiled” one just might be covered in snot without any writing at all
(but who’s to say that that isn’t a valid political statement?) But keep
in mind that voting isn’t obligatory in Spain, that people take time off to
queue up to put these blank papers and papers with “you are all a load
of gangsters” (or the name of a prohibited party, or whatever) in a ballot box,
KNOWING that their democratic voice will be completely ignored by
those counting the votes and by those in power. And abstention might
mean that you don’t care a monkey’s... or it might mean “I’m not going to be
represented anyway, and I have better things to do with my time than to head
along to the polling station. I’m going to the beach!”] PSOE has a
long history of running around trying to gather up a few votes from people on
the leftish edge of PP and/or “the undecided” and to do so it is doing its
damndest to turn itself into a PP clone. If it would spend half that
energy in convincing the disaffected on the left [those whose grudges against
“the communists” won’t permit them to vote IU – Izquierda Unida, the United
Left], they could breeze into power again and again. But here’s the rub: convincing
us means that they’ve got to stop their traditional tactic of promises,
promises, during elections and smooth-talking explanations that “that isn’t
what we meant at all, that wasn’t it at all...” once they’re in power. Because
we’re waking up, and we’re insisting that “We Won’t Get Fooled Again!” [OK,OK: here's a video.] Still,
trying to get sincerity and honest dealing out of a politician is like trying
to get blood from a stone. ... And that, My Friend, is what we
15Mers have been saying all along.
11th June, 2011; I have just received a link to the following video and watched it twice in a row. It's VERY good!!! And answers those who think that the Spanish Revolution has played itself out. DON'T believe everything that you read in the mainstream press! [They don't want you to know the truth.] If you click on the red "cc" button on the right under the screen, you get English (or French) subtitles. "We're moving slowly [because we're going a long way]" 
Some of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us are
believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies, others are
apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the political, economic,
and social outlook which we see around us: corruption among politicians,
businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless, without a voice.
“I think I can change it.
“I think I can help.
“I know that together we can.”]Well, I don't
know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really
doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.
And I don't
mind.
Like anybody, I
would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned
about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to
the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not
get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will
get to the promised land!
'I've had it up to HERE with those politicians and media of communication that say that "that business of 15M has ended, it's clapped out." Come to see me here at the plaza this Sunday, the 19th of June. Bring me your daughters and sons, your mothers and fathers, your grandads and grannies. TOGETHER we'll take to the street at 19:15 and show those sillies that THIS DOESN'T END! 
