The protests here in Spain continue to cause controversy despite the main camp in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square finally decamping after 28 days. They have pledged to continue protests in other ways and I think have worked out that some people, such as local traders who were losing money from their presence, were losing patience.
After days of peaceful protests with little sign of trouble there are also signs of the protests radicalising and the authorities starting to take a heavier hand. Thus far politicians have avoided criticising the popular protests despite being accused of corruption by them. The first signs of disturbances have given some politicians an opportunity to speak against the protests, telling the demonstrators that they are being undemocratic. Feelings are running high and tempers are starting fray as the Spanish summer finally gets under way after an unsettled first half of June.
Last week there was serious disruption in Barcelona as protesters stopped deputies arriving at the parliament building by blockading it. Despite the president of the Catalan government and others being helicoptered in, they succeeded in stopping enough deputies from getting in such that the debate on the proposed cut backs has had to be postponed amid confrontations between protesters and police.
Meanwhile in Madrid a group of 500 protesters prevented the eviction of a local family who can’t pay their mortgage. This is not the first case of people power being exercised to stop a house being repossessed but there are signs of it becoming more common and of people starting to believe they can successfully throw their weight around. Having prevented the eviction, the mob turned their attention to the bank who gave the loan and made the staff feel pretty uncomfortable. The protesters are not buying the line that if you can’t pay the mortgage it is your problem and instead blame the banks for irresponsible lending, over-stating the value of property so they can lend more and making more money out of their unreasonably high charges. In short, they are accusing the banks of fraud and the national and local politicians of complicity and corruption.
With bigger demonstrations, national strikes and riots going on across the Med in Greece as that country heads for possible default on its debts, one can see a similar situation happening here. If the Greeks aren’t forced into really nasty cuts, everyone here will point at them and refuse to do the same. When push comes to shove (and its about to) I suspect that few governments have the political will required to put payments to faceless international bankers as their first priority when the mob is baying outside the door. Joining the euro looked good when everything was going up but there was clearly no plan for what to do when the bubble burst. Now locked into the strong single currency, the obvious route of devaluing the drachma or peseta to restart the economies of Greece and Spain respectively doesn't exist.
This week it looks like the Greeks may be back on course for negotiating another rescue package but even if the Government passes it, we will have to wait to see if the people will put up with it. Retiring at fifty and sitting in the sun by the sea with a full pension was a great option for middle aged Greeks but now the Germans and French are being asked to pay for it by working into their late sixties, it can't go on as there isn't political coordination across the eurozone. The water around Greece looks choppy and the waves are sure to reach this side of the Med before long. The IMF is already spelling out some unpalatable measures for the Spanish economy, so its a good thing that summer is here and everyone can forget about it for a few months and get on with the serious business of beaches, long lunches and evenings by the pool. Crisis? what crisis?
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