Democracy Real Ya

Inspired by the Arab Spring movements in the Arab world and movements in other places such as Portugal, hundreds of thousands of Spanish citizens have mobilized to demand real democracy or “Democracy Real Ya” in Spain under the banner of the “May 15th” or “15th de Mayo” which was the day the movement began. On that day 100,000 Spanish people marched in Madrid and tens of thousands in other cities around Spain, but what made this movement different to the phoney resistance to the austerity measures in Ireland, Greece and the UK was that the protestors have stayed on, setting up a protest camp in the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid as well as in many other city squares around Spain. They are uniting under many demands including opposing cuts to public spending and services and demanding more employment. They state that the bankers should pay for their own crisis. The movement is an independent one free of all institutional control, that opposes both major parties, the mainstream press and the Union movement for all supporting the attacks on ordinary people currently being carried out by the state in Spain. The movement is happening in the week preceeding a national election but many of the protestors reject the idea that the Parliament will bring the changes they demand. .This is exactly the kind of movement we need in Australia where all Parliamentary parties and the Union movement share the consensus that it is ordinary people not the banks and big business that should bear the costs of the financial crisis. Solidarity actions in Australia have now occured in Sydney and Melbourne.
Related: Madrid Indymedia --Democracyrealya website -- May 21st Solidarity actions in Australia -- tens of thousands protest in Spain (WSWS) -- Protestors occupy city squares(WSWS) -- Democract Real Ya video on Youtube -- BBC news coverage -- Spain takes to the streets youtube clip