Spain protesters turn anger against Brussels

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Spain protesters turn anger against Brussels

By Victor Mallet in Madrid

Published: June 19 2011 23:31 | Last updated: June 19 2011 23:31

Protests in Spain took on an anti-Brussels flavour on Sunday when tens of

thousands of marchers converged on the centre of Madrid to protest against

economic austerity measures backed by the European Commission and northern

members of the eurozone.

Previous demonstrations – in a series that started five weeks ago and became

known as the May 15 movement – claimed to be non-partisan and directed their

criticism more towards Spain's two main political parties and the country's high

level of youth unemployment.

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On Sunday, however, some leftwing protesters specifically attacked a " pact for

the euro " , agreed in March to strengthen economic co-ordination in the eurozone

and to support budgetary austerity measures and other economic reforms being

implemented in various eurozone countries.

One group opposed to the euro pact called on workers to prepare for a general

strike. Its declarations were greeted with cries of " Long live the working

class! " .

Thousands also demonstrated in Barcelona and other cities. The mood was peaceful

and relaxed and there were no reports of any violence by the afternoon.

Spain's three-year-old economic crisis appears to be deepening the historic

political divisions between left and right.

In regional and local elections across Spain on May 22, both the rightwing

opposition Popular party (PP) and the hard-left Izquierda Unida gained votes at

the expense of the Socialist party, which runs the central government.

Rightwingers, including PP leaders, said recent street protests were organised

by leftwing extremists.

Leftwingers said some of the few violent incidents that had marred the

demonstrations might be the work of extreme right " agents provocateurs " .

Neither the PP nor the Socialists of José Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime

minister, are likely to benefit from the popular unrest now that it has begun to

concentrate on economic austerity measures which are supported by the European

Union.

Both the PP and the Socialists are determined to cut Spain's budget deficit by

curbing public spending, in order to restore Spain's credibility in the

international sovereign bond markets and avoid the need for a bail-out,

following the rescues of Greece, Ireland and Portugal by the EU and the

International Monetary Fund.

But after three years of economic recession and stagnation, many ordinary

Spaniards said they have become tired of suffering a crisis which they believe

to the fault of others, including governments, capitalists and the big banks.

" We're not going to pay for this crisis " and " Nobody represents us " were common

chant in Madrid on Sunday among the protesters, who have become known as " los

indignados " or " the indignant ones " .

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[Guest guest]

I've been reading more and more articles that say the Euro is about to come apart at the seems. Europe really would have been better off with the old currencies. If that has still been the case, Greece, Spain and the others wouldn't likely be in the fix they are in now. One big reason is that the Euro commissions standardized interest rates, which saw lots of capital flow into Spain, Ireland and Greece when it should have, not so much anyway, and caused bubbles in those nations that are collapsing. With their own currencies and interest rates, such radical spending would have been controlled on its own and not gotten so bad.

All the Euro has done is spread the misery to all nations as the healthy nations are forced to prop up the sick ones who have no real incentive to reform, that is until the entire Euro collapses.

Its just the same bad economists who think they are wiser than all the economist to have come in the thousands of years of human history and jump right into the same bad policies that have never worked thinking they are so much better than those others that it will work this time.

In a message dated 6/19/2011 8:11:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Spain protesters turn anger against Brussels