Spain Protests Against Euro-Pact Austerity Deal
By Concha Mateos
(Madrid June 20, 2011) two burning Sundays in a row…
We were thousands in the camps in May. We are hundreds of thousands in the streets in June.
One week later, the 15M movement has taken out to the streets thousands and thousands of “indignados” (outraged) march in cities all over the country. Peacefully and brimming with joy and reasons against the Pacto del euro (Euro Pact austerity measures dictated by the European Union), social budgets cuts, political privileges and corruption – clamouring for a new frame of political relations.
During the week of June 13th-19th eight evictions have been stopped in Madrid, Valencia and Cataluña with hundreds of protesters blocking the buildings. Housing is a human right, not a business.
Assemblies have gone on shaping the demand tables on the economy, education, political system, etc.
We the outraged know what we want.
The politicians have been sworn in — with the protesters in front of the councils and parliaments shouting, “You don’t represent us”.
The local groups have been connecting with each other and planning their programs for summer:
– “People united can work without parties”.
The marches have been roundly hailed as unquestionable success even by the corporate media.
– “We are not going to pay your crisis”.
We were 200.000 persons in the country all agree with the same idea: “This is not a crisis, this is a fraud”.
Agreement, convergence and union are not only words, but also the way we have acted.
The march started June 19th in Madrid from six different points on the outskirts. Six columns [fo people] walked, advancing towards downtown, gathering more and more groups of the outraged. The press has had to acknowledge that the march was perfectly well organized.
A real peaceful protest against the violence of the system – to pay miserly salaries is violence.
To dismiss people when the company is producing profits is violence. To spend our collective economic contribution (money from our taxes) ensuring the banks profits is violence. To pass laws people cannot understand or even don’t know is violence.
To pay for luxury cars, clothes, food, and palaces to princes and/or princesses and presidents when people have to wait months for appointments in the public health care system Human beings have fought for centuries to end economic and social oppression. The financial dictatorships are taking us back to the past: history in regression.
Wasn’t it violence when Woodrow Wilson said in 1909:
“We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks”.
Markets distort democracy. Markets force governments to force us.
That is violence.
Our response has been peace, union and dialogue.
Injustice produced anger. Anger is producing an organized response.
The 19J march (June 19th) has concluded successfully and has made us stronger.
Today, June 20th, the new marches, larger ones, are yet moving from different cities to Madrid.
The sun of a fair protest is burning the fear to protest in Spain. And not only here …
“We are changing the world, we apologize for any inconvenience caused”.
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