The fight back continues and grows

Protests against Spain's economic crisis took a new turn as social media networks fueled calls for demonstrators to take to the streets. Demonstrators are protesting Spain's 21% unemployment rate and a record 4.9 million jobless.Nearly 1 in 2 young people are unemployed. Protesters say a plethora of temporary labour contracts offer few or no job benefits. On 15th May 2011, around 150,000 people ( dubbed "los indignados" - the indignant) ,took to the streets in 60 Spanish towns and cities to demand “Real Democracy Now”, marching under the slogan “We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians”. The protest was organised through web-based social networks without the involvement of any major unions or political parties and are now on their sixth day of demonstrations

Elena Ortega, who says she's managed to find only a part-time secretarial job, helped spread the word on Facebook about the protests .
"If this is happening, it's because the unions weren't doing what was needed, when it was needed. They haven't delivered," she said. She is worried about her 20-year-old son, who has only found temporary jobs in the past four years.

Alicia, an unemployed psychologist told Channel 4 News: "This is not specifically a movement against the current government. It's against the system. Against the way bankers and large businesses have been given carte blanche to do as they wish. It's a movement against politicians of any sign who look after their interests rather than ours, who embark on absurd electoral campaigns where they bring up irrelevant issues to try to win voters and attack their opponents, when we're more concerned about getting a job and getting back our earning power."

A regular WSM Forum poster describes how in Granada a relatively small city and traditionally somewhat conservative, "There were a succession of speakers making short snappy contributions. My Spanish is not great and my hearing is even worse but, from what I gathered. there was a very strong determination to ensure that the whole thing remained peaceful and democratic and not be subverted for violent purposes (interestingly enough, I only spotted a single cop car parked discretely in a back street). Something Ive never come before either was a form of instant feedback to speeches from the crowd by means of hand signals. Agreement was signified by raising arms and flapping hands, disagrement by crossing arms at the wrist and when you were really pissed off with the speaker and wanted someone else to speak you rotated your arms around each other. Really bizarre to look at - but effective."
He goes on to observe that
"The Real Democracy movement sweeping Spain is essentially a reformist movement but I think it is more than that. It is, or at least seems to be on the way to signifying, a cultural transformation - the utter exhaustion of capitalist politics compounded by years of city hall corruption that has engulfed both the main PSOE and PP parties (Spain has 3-4 millions homes standing empty, a living testament to the recklessness and stupidity of urban speculation). The Real Democracy strikes me very much as being a groundswell movement of ordinary people , not just students, who are just sick and tired of the empty platitudes of the politicans and grubbiness and greed of the banks."