anti-austerity movement in spain Anti-Austerity-Movement-in-Spain | Page 11

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6
6.1
2015 events
March
The day before a closely watched Andalusian parliamen-
tary election, 2015, thousands of people took part in a
“march for dignity” in Madrid on Saturday March 21,
2015 to protest against austerity measures. [141]
6.2
April
The reason the gag law is so brutally damaging this mo-
ment in Spain is because the exercising of freedom of
speech and assembly have been the Spanish people’s only
means of responding to this regime and affecting change.
These gatherings have been fundamental in shaping the
narrative of Spanish politics both in the media and in pol-
icy over the last few years. [142] In response to this restric-
tion, Spanish citizens launched a protest that questioned
not only the People’s Party but how the internet and digital
media have changed the way the world changes. On April
11, 2015, Instead of marching in front of government
buildings in person, they created recordings of themselves
marching and projected them as holograms instead. [143]
The project was largely crowdsourced, reaching out to in-
dividuals across the internet to add their face and voice
to the mass, collapsing digital space to physical space in
defiance. This type of subversion creates new modes of
action that promise some higher degree of equality by en-
abling the creation of an entirely new type of space where
individuals can freely enact the rights they are fighting for.
One of the most interesting questions this kind of protest
raises is how the political space, the digital space, and the
physical space intertwine, how that is changing with the
rise of technologies such as the internet and the hologram.
By extension, it raises questions about the differences be-
tween digital and physical presence and how these are dif-
ferences are manipulated in this type of political action.
7
Political response
The main political parties issued statements on 16 May
2011, following debate. On 15 May, the day of the
first demonstration, almost every party was willing to be
quoted on the situation. [147] Jaime Mayor Oreja, Member
of the European Parliament representing the Partido Pop-
ular, was critical of the alleged intention of activiststo
not cast ballots in the coming election. So was Spanish
Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) member and Minister
of Public Works and Transport José Blanco. [148] United
Left had a positive view of the activists’ demands, but ad-
mitted to being incapable of connecting with them. The
communist party’s political coordinator Cayo Lara de-
fended the refusal of the activists to become a “lost gen-
eration” and criticized their removal from the Puerta del
Sol on 16 May. [149] Other politicians, such as José An-
tonio Griñán, showed sympathy for the movement while
insisting that abstaining from voting was not a solution.
Esteban González Pons, general vicesecretary of the Par-
tido Popular, linked the demonstrations to the “antisys-
tem far left.” [150]
Former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González com-
pared the movement, which he considered “an ex-
traordinarily important phenomenon,” [151] with the Arab
Spring, [152] pointing out that “in the Arab world they are
demanding the right to vote while here they are saying
that voting is pointless.” [151]
On 25 July 2011, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph
Stiglitz participated at the “I Foro Social del 15M”
organized in Madrid expressing his support for the
movement. [153] During an informal speech, he made a
brief review of some of the problems in the United States
and Europe, including the high unemployment rate and
the situation in Greece. “This is an opportunity for eco-
nomic contribution social measures,” argued Stiglitz. He
encouraged those present to respond to the “bad ideas”
not with indifference, but with “good ideas.” “This does
not work, you have to change it,” he said. On 15 Septem-
ber 2012, Stiglitz said “accepting the bailout would be
suicidal” for the country. [154][155]
8 See also
• 15 October 2011 global protests
• 2009 Iranian presidential election protests
• 2011 Chilean protests
• 2011 Israeli social justice protests
• 2013 Bulgarian protests
• Anti-austerity movement in Greece
• Anti-austerity protests in Ireland
Presentation new Spanish party Partido X, 8 de enero de
2013. [144][145][146]
• Anti-austerity protests in Portugal
• Anti-austerity movement in the United Kingdom