Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011, as an opinion piece written while the 15-M protest camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol was still standing. Rajoy and Zapatero were then the opposition leader and the prime minister.
This will probably be the last article I write about the #spanishrevolution movement (which today is less a movement than a dead stop) unless something changes. Something has happened that leaves people like me agreeing with the original cause that set this movement off, but not with the way it is being carried out. The other day I offered some advice on how to go about it from a different angle, and one of the indignados (the “outraged”, as the protesters call themselves) called me a “posh little stooge of the financial mafia”. Obviously I’m not going to pigeonhole all of them because of one person who isn’t the sharpest.
I spent a few hours on Twitter following their assembly and the comments pouring into its hashtag, #agsol, and ended up reaching one conclusion: they don’t listen to people who give them good advice. They keep only what they want or like to hear, which leads them to fool themselves and towards imminent failure. And bear in mind that if they fail, in a way, we all fail.
Of course, you can’t win if you don’t understand the game you have to play, and little by little, instead of winning more supporters and followers, they are making more enemies. Because, I’m sorry to say, DEMOCRACY is freedom of expression, but it is also freedom of trade (something the shopkeepers around Madrid’s Puerta del Sol are already being denied). And no, you can’t call that collateral damage, as some have.
Watching the assembly reminded me of political rallies, with Rajoy speaking on one side, Zapatero on the other and their MPs, with the usual applause and booing. But the sad thing about that assembly is that, far from focusing on how they are going to press their case, they focused on how to reorganise their camp and its rules for living together. Let’s say a small country is being built in Sol. And as a country, as a democracy and as “rulers”, they already have the following (and I don’t mean to generalise):
- They have undesirable people I would never hire for any job.
- Inside their community they already have thieves who steal from one another.
- They already have cases of “sexual harassment”, which the feminism committee has called “sexual assaults”.
- They already have clashing opinions that lead to endless arguments.
- They already have political differences: #nolesvotes, #democraciarealya and #15M are no longer united, so within their own country they have formed, let’s say, three political parties with ideological differences.
- They have let everyone in, and not everyone is right for a team. Democracy is also the freedom to choose the people you don’t want beside you because they damage your group’s image.
- And the saddest part, the one thing they all share by now: they have forgotten why they started this revolution.
- They have turned into an “expo” of grievances where anyone can set up a stand for whatever they represent.
In short, they have become exactly what they want to get rid of: a government with “MPs”, rallies and assemblies, which in the meantime takes measures that hurt part of society, in this case the local shopkeepers. Governing isn’t easy, folks. Of course, that doesn’t excuse current governments for the abuses they have committed.
Back to the beginning: make those responsible for the crisis pay.
You didn’t take to the streets to debate closing arms factories, or whether to build or shut down nuclear power plants, let alone to talk about expropriating homes or to say which three political parties not to vote for. This is about people voting for whoever they damn well please, while surrounding ourselves with politicians who are honest with their people.
You took to the streets inspired by Iceland. If that country inspired you, follow its example. One of the differences between Iceland and Spain is that when Icelanders demonstrated, there were about 100,000 people out of a country of 350,000, while in Spain the protests haven’t even reached 100,000 in a country of 47 million.
In Iceland they didn’t camp in a square or sleep in the street. They didn’t draw so much attention and didn’t chase press headlines. Remember that by the time the headlines reached Spain, the government had already resigned and its bankers were wanted by the police.
However fast you run, if you run in the wrong direction, you’ll get nowhere.
If you think about it, they have already heard you, just like the girl who silenced NATO for five minutes. Lots of applause, but nobody paid her a damn bit of attention, and the world carries on the same.
See also: #Nolesvotes, #Spanishrevolution and #Democraciarealya now have concrete proposals to present
“Success starts with the quality of the people you surround yourself with.” Like it or not, by now your ranks already include many people who don’t represent a society with a future. When you put mice, dogs and cats in the same box, it usually doesn’t end well.
Featured image: Zarateman, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
