Police and Civil Guard members join massive spontaneous protests in Spain
The protest movement against the conservative Spanish government's latest austerity measures swelled on Thursday as public sector workers stepped up demonstrations in Madrid and around the country after more than a week of spontaneous action.
With parliament, besieged for the last week, voting on a package of 65 billion Euros of spending cuts and tax hikes, civil servants stopped traffic and invaded ministries ahead of marches called by trade unions in more than 80 cities on Thursday evening.
The sight of protesters on Spain's streets is nothing new. Young “Indignados” (Indignants) protested in their thousands against mass unemployment last year.
But since Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the austerity steps last week there have been daily demonstrations drawing groups that have previously stayed away.
On Thursday, policemen and members of the Civil Guard took the unusual step of joining the protests.
Civil servants, whose pay was cut by between 3.5 and 7% when their Christmas bonus was cancelled, have used their daily coffee break this week to protest outside the ruling People's Party (PP) headquarters in Madrid, often shouting “Hands up! This is a stick-up!”
While anti-government protests are not unusual under conservative governments in Spain because the PP is seen to side with employers rather than trade unions, public workers had accepted several cuts or freezes in they salary over the last three years with a sense of resignation.
But the latest round of belt-tightening has spurred widespread anger.
“It has gone beyond an ideological issue... and it's moved beyond the traditional groups that demonstrate. We have seen even the military threatening a demonstration,” said Ramon Pacheco, a lecturer in Spanish politics at Kings College London.
Rajoy announced the cuts as thousands of miners and supporters, some of whom had marched hundreds of kilometres from northern Spain to protest a reduction in coal subsidies, staged a rally that ended with police firing rubber bullets and making arrests.
Civil servants poured out of their offices to block Madrid's main arteries following Rajoy's announcement and have protested without fail every day since, organizing action through emails and by co-ordinating at work without any clear leaders.
The cabinet was expected to approve on Thursday a parliamentary motion categorizing “urban violence” as a specific crime, which could empower police to detain suspects preventively before being charged with the offence.
The government is also looking at ways to curb the organization of protests that disrupt public order.
The spontaneous protests now taking place recall the 2004 demonstrations, though the profile of the protesters has changed to extend from young people to middle-aged workers.
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I know Aesop said “the unhappy derive comfort from the misfortunes of others” but I can’t help feeling a little, if not happiness, maybe righteousness at Spain’s situation.
Back in the mid 90s the Spanish showed up down here in Chile buying up everything. They bought the national phone network, they bought the national power generating company, they won contracts to build new highways and more. They made similar acquisitions in other Latam countries. The Spanish professionals who invaded, strutted around liked they owned the place. They were arrogant and thought themselves very superior to us. In many conversations I pointed out to Spanish colleagues and acquaintances that only 20 years earlier Spain had been a 3rd world country and their recent purchases were only possible because of low interest funding flowing from Europe.
They squandered all that low interest borrowing on a spending spree, puffing themselves up like a cockerel and really believing in their “economical miracle”. Well I don’t believe in miracles, whatever the pope may say. Now their chickens are coming home to roost. Now their bubble has burst it is plain to all that Spain is still an underdeveloped nation relying on tourism and agriculture for foreign earnings.
Now, after Peruvians, Columbians and Argentineans, the Spanish form the largest group of immigrants in Chile - a lot more humble than 15 years ago. Misery lies ahead in Spain and the only way out is to accept it, dig deep and work harder...or accept German fiscal control and credibility.
An interesting idea. If the police and the government's armed paramilitary thugs (Guardia Civil) are joining the protests, who is going to do the detaining?
Or will there be A 5th .,???
I don’t have political colour or ideology to cling to. I believe in doing what is right and pragmatic in the circumstances. I am in favour of many socialist policies up to the point they do good. But I am also in favour of maintaining choice in society and prioritizing enterprise.
Nationalisation of resources can be a good thing when done right, that doesn’t mean that it is always the right thing to do and it can be disastrous. The Chilean case of CODELCO is particularly interesting. It is a success story in that it delivers a huge amount of revenue in to public coffers. But you have to dig deeper to find the key to success. Codelco operates alongside many large private mines which have much better productivity. For example Escondida (the largest private mine) is 400% more productive than codelco. Due to its co-existence with private mines, codelco can continually recruit professionals from private industry. If this weren’t the case, codelco would be a basket case with a horrible safety record and dismal production.
This successful co-habitation has come about by chance. There would be no Codelco if Allende hadn’t stolen the mines and there would be no private sector if the Right hadn’t created the correct conditions for foreign investment. If it was all codelco or all private we would be worse off.
That is why blinkered following of any political ideology if foolish. The key to all survival is diversity.
On YPF: until CFK pays Repsol its market share it is theft. Spain was a soft target and victimised. Chilean & Argentinean held shares were not stolen. If YPF remains a monolith with no competition it will struggle and be an unsafe place to work for the working man. If she can find a creative way to introduce competition and enterprise it will succeed.
If you are ever in Argentina and you need a nice clear example of what I am saying, take a flight on Aerolineas Argentinas and then take the return flight on Lan.
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