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Syndicate
When people take over from the political class the results seem to be fairly consistent. Human beings naturally form into open and democratic groups to take care of each others needs. The term is mutual aid if you are an anarchist or empathy if you are apolitical. The result it the same, caring for each other in the face of adversity.
Lets not forget that some Canadians were making the same points and in the same manner. To bad most Canadians were all watching the hockey finals instead. Humans all want many of the same things as one of the women in the video clip says, "we all need love and respect."
Wake up Canada and embrace the streets.
http://blip.tv/vancouver-media-coop/olympic-tent-village-day-2-press-bri...
" Human beings naturally form into open and democratic groups to take care of each others needs."
Don't need a welfare state when that happens do you.
Once it happens at more than a fenced in area of temporary occupation then many things become possible. Did you watch the video? Some well spoken grassroots advocates willing to put themselves on the line.
..thank you RealD
June 11, 2011 · 12:38 am
Testimonial of Sebastian Ledesma on police crackdown at #AcampadaBCN #Spanishrevolution #15MTranslation of the testimonial of the person in a wheelchair in the pictures of the eviction of the Catalonia square (Barcelona). Published in the Vanguardia on the 1 June 2011
I am the person in a wheelchair who appeared in numerous photos of the attempted eviction in the Catalonia square in Barcelona, and I want to put a name to the controversial images. My name is Sebastian Ledesma Moran, I am 55 years old, and I want to make three things clear:
1) That the images are a true reflection of what happened there.
2) That the policeman (mosso d’esquadra, the Catalan police) was not defending me, as the minister Felip Puig and some media said, but that I was attacked as bumps and scratches left in the chair and caused by a baton blow certify.
3) I did not get any blow on my body because another mosso said to the one threatening with his baton (as shown in photo): “No, fuck not to this one, we would end up in the tribunals”
I also want to make clear that I am neither a hero nor a victim, not a “borroka” or, much less, an unconscious. I am only another outraged. I participate in daily activities at the Catalonia square, especially in the Functional Diversity Committee, which among other things, deals with issues of disability....
http://15mayrevolution.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/testimonial-of-sebastian-ledesma-on-police-crackdown-at-acampadabcn-spanishrevolution-15m/
by Jérôme E. Roos on June 11, 2011
Earlier this week, Spanish protesters voted to break up the camp they had set up at Puerta del Sol. They made the right decision. Acampada del Sol served its purpose. It made the symbolic statement it was meant to convey, it created the strong ties that revolution requires. Now is the time to organize and move on.
And this is exactly what’s happening. To anyone who might be so deluded to think that the end of the occupations mark the end of the 15-M movement, time will tell how gravely mistaken they really are. Because underneath the surface of the calm, a genuinely revolutionary movement has been born that will continue to evolve and develop over months to come.
For one, the indignados have already announced a ‘giant march to reclaim democracy‘. Five protest caravans departing from Barcelona, Donostia, La Coruña, Cádiz, and Valencia on June 19 (a day that European-wide protests are scheduled) will converge upon Madrid a month later, on July 17, when protesters are scheduled to paralyze the capital entirely.
The initiative, proposed by representatives from Barcelona, was applauded by representatives from over 56 cities who united in Madrid for a national assembly last Sunday. It is just one of many initiatives popping up everywhere as the 15-M movement seeks to broaden its struggle and make it more dynamic than the static occupations allowed for....
http://roarmag.org/2011/06/the-spanish-revolution-is-only-just-getting-s...
June 13, 2011
2011-06-13 Camps in Madrid and Barcelona dismount #AcampadaSol & #AcampadaBCN of #SpanishRevolution #EuropeanRevolution
The camps slowly disappear After weeks of tension and negotiations last week the General Assembly of Puerta del Sol (Madrid) and Plaza Catalunya (Barcelona) agreed to lift camp today. Starting early in the morning the squares have been progressively stripped bare and will be lifted completely this evening, almost 25 days after they started. In Madrid, the makeshift furniture, tents and posters have been slowly removed all week long. Today various trucks are being loaded and the last remaining parts are being taken down, the 4000 books donated to the library will end up in various social centers, while most of the furniture will be recycled or destroyed by a disposal vehicle brought in by the city authorities. Some of the protestors, in both cities, have decided to remain, arguing that initial idea was to stay indefinitely. Their freedom to do so has been respected but they fear that it will result in police action. Some of them also proposed the idea of making it an itinerant camp that could move through squares around the city but a consensus was not achieved on this matter. It is also to be seen if a permanent information booth will be installed and left behind.
A restructuring of the movement “We are not leaving, we are expanding” is the motto behind the lifting of the tents. This coincides with the idea that the central camp of Sol will hand over the baton to the neighborhood assemblies, who are in charge of local action, such as the ones carried our already: protests outside health centers that are to be privatized, gatherings before local government representatives or debates for specific action in each district. All of these smaller assemblies will carry the movement onward, while Sol square will remain as an extraordinary gathering place, a symbol for the movement and a space for the General Assembly. Other camps in Spain The camps in Huelva, Granada, Mieres, Langreo, Aviles, Gijon, Oviedo, Teruel and Salamanca have chosen to follow the examples of the main cities and leave the squares. Some of them, like Pamplona will have a permanent information point where people can ask for ways to participate. In other places such as in Tenerife, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia and Santander the camps will go on indefinitely.
Live feed from Madrid: http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/spanishrevolutionsol?layout=4&autoplay=false
..check out this awesome video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKAxOHnuk-I&feature=player_embedded
#15M to #19J Spain Rallies for Protests
Amaia Arcos 13th June 2011
The Spanish protest movement known as #15M has organised country wide demonstrations on June 19th - map with confirmed locations - in order to make a statement of purpose and to protest against the signature of ”A Pact for the Euro” or “Euro Pact”. The movement is rallying for European and global support:
THERE ARE REASONS; ONCE AGAIN, TAKE THE STREET
19th June, hour: 19:00 (GMT+1)
ALL STREETS AND SQUARES OF SPAIN AND EUROPE
NO TO THE EURO PACT: We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers.
The EURO PACT: New attack on democracy ONCE AGAIN.
ONCE AGAIN, the EU leaders endorse a policy misleading the public to the benefit of large financial corporations, instead of defending the citizens.
On 27th June, all European governments, including that of Spain, will sign in Brussels a major socioeconomic daylight robbery of an international scope: the so-called Euro Pact, by which the politicians of the European Union agree to legislate the orders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB) and the World Bank (WB).
Failure to comply with these orders means, the rating agencies that have led Greece, Ireland and Portugal to the ruins (Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch) will resume their attacks.
WHAT DO THEY SIGN WHEN THEY RATIFY THE EURO PACT?
- The public sector salaries should be consistent with the competitiveness of the private sector, WHICH MEANS: further cuts in the public sector as it must offer the same benefits as the private sector´s derisory wages and increasing working hours. Including a sharp cut in the numbers of public employees.
- Therefore all countries should adjust their laws to the dictates of the banks, WHICH MEANS governments are ONCE AGAIN not legislating for the protection and interests of citizens but in the favour of large banking corporations and the markets.
- The retirement age will be delayed in all the countries in accordance with life expectancy.
- Enhancing competitiveness: linking wages to productivity, just like what has already been done in Spain with the latest labour reform which calls for more flexible redundancy laws, more flexible labour agreements and more flexible contracts, thus endangering the current system of collective negotiation of labour laws.
- To foster cheap lay-offs and Temporary Employment Agencies (TEA). The banks will lower the financial strains to encourage the hiring of workers, and in doing so will demolish the Social Security system and will be introducing the figure of “the perpetual intern and the perpetual precarious worker”.
- The freezing of all pensions.
- Reduction of social benefits.
- Reduction of the social protection systems, worsening the Social Security system.
- Reduction of spending on education, resulting in poorer results, which are conditions that favour and promote its ultimate privatisation.
- Increased direct and indirect taxes for citizens, small and medium businesses and penalties for not complying with the payment of these taxes through fines, interest, fees, etc.
- Changes to our constitution and that of the signatory countries with the aim of “adjusting the economy within the parameters of the IMF, ECB and World Bank” resulting in the loss of sovereignty of the people....
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/19j-spain-rallies-for-protests/2011/06/13
June 15, 2011
#AcampadaBCN received this on 7th June… #15m #19j #spanishrevolution #europeanrevolutionhttp://15mayrevolution.wordpress.com/
Glad she's sending them support, although the hectoring, scolding tone was a bit over the top. Why chew people out when they've already learned the lesson the chewing-out was meant to teach?
BTW...as she used the word, does "Chorizos" mean anything other than sausages? Is that a slang term in Spain these days?
..they chose to post it. it must have meant something to the young'ins. maybe permission.
I realize they chose to post it. Perhaps, culturally, that's the way parents and grandparents speak to kids in Spain(is it recognizable to you?-I ask that because I've been assuming you're a Spaniard).
What's happening in Spain is new, and it's an outgrowth of the Arab Spring and the general rising tide of revolt. It will create models we haven't seen yet.
BTW, I'd like to take this opportunity to call on the Spanish Socialist Party to dissolve itself...it no longer represents socialism or "The Left" in any recognizable form, it's economic program is just like that of the PP, and it really has no reason to exist anymore.
..i understood you to realize it ken. i was prosessing which i do out loud quite often and came up with the permission thingy. i am french canadian actually though i have lost most of my french. i did spend 8 months in the south of spain around alicante in 2007-08. i do miss it. there was a market every sat around 10 blocks square.
..it is new and i've already adopted it as "the" way forward. i've got some thoughts that i will share once i get them together.
..you'll get no argument from me re the de socalizing the party. to be honest though i don't care what they call themselves. i haven't looked past behaviours for a long time now. i saw the tread you started and when i have more time i'll run through it. but i'll stop rambling now. luego.
At least 36 people have been injured after Spanish policed dispersed thousands of protesters blockading the first day of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona. The regional government is set to pass many measures that will cut spending to social services by up to 10 percent. The protests are a continuation of the M-15 movement, which is demanding a more participatory democracy and social justice. Late on Tuesday afternoon, June 14th, the police forcibly evicted hundreds of people from the public park, where protests were planning to camp. However, the people remained there, and a massive popular assembly of several thousand was held at the gates.
The gathering started last night and barricades we constructed blocking all entrances to the builiding. Early Wednesday morning police officers dispersed them blockading by force using rubber bullets, after many politicians, however acknowledging the right to protest, asked for their own legitimate right to work. The indignados, however, remained oblivious, and many stated that they would not let them pass, that they could go away or joing them. Even though the police tried to escort the legistlators safely into Parliament, the direct approach by many of them brought local outbursts of violence: objects such as banana peals were thrown, some of them were painted with spray paint and all of them were thouroughly insulted. As the violence grew, police decided to transport the remaining politicians by helicopter, twenty five of them arrived in this fashion, including the President to the chamber, Artur Mas. All the official sites for the movement have condemmed the violent actinos carried out in Barcelona, saying that they wish to remind the general public that these were only a few individuals and that they do not represent the movement as a whole...
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=539
The following video is coming up repeatedly throughout social media networks and other channels:
In it is the alleged evidence proving that the violence against politicians outside of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona was started by undercover police. This is not an uncommon tactic for police or government services, as it was proved true in several of the Arab countries that carried out their own revolts. The video shows the start of the incidents, and the cameraman is heard to be saying “those are the ones that started it, over there”. Various people in the video can be seen pointing towards a group calling them out as the agitators. A young man can be seen angrily reprimanding them for their actions and then the camera realizes that one of them is seen to be wearing a earphone. A small group of them gather together away from the protestors and are surrounded by cries that signaled them out as policemen. Shortly afterward the riot police escorted them away, proving their status. This coincides with various tweets, whose user´s stated that they had asked the police to intervene against the violent ones and received no response. There is also a photo that proves the same fact.
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=556
Spain's Protest Movement - by Danny Schechter
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25313
"They tend to think like anarchists and talk in terms of self-management as a principle of political economy. The 15th of May, 2011 is the reminder to those in power that Spanish direct democracy is still alive and has finally awakened.."
..the link has video as well. check it out as the numbers are awesome.
#Spain responds to the call, masses take the streets against the Euro-Pact #19J #europeanrevolutionAs the protests around Spain come to an end, the signs of weakness shown by the 15M movement over the past weeks: the frustration against the slow assemblies, the possibility of violence inside of the pacifist ideals (violence in Barcelona http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=539)or the lifting of the camps have been forgotten after the massive protest carried out in over 30 cities nationwide . According to the techno ant (map here )the protest happened in 98 cities internationally. The number of protesters is, as always, hard to know for certain. The main media source in Spain, El Pais, claims that around 200.000 people participated in the major protests, making the number probably higher.
In Barcelona a whopping 100.000 people marched according to most sources. It was larger than in Madrid where 35.000 to 50.000 people participated in the event. Some say, however, that over 100.000 were present throughout the day, it is truly hard to tell. Six columns initiated the protest marching towards Congress from different neighborhoods around Madrid....
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=657
by Jérôme E. Roos on June 20, 2011
http://roarmag.org/2011/06/photo-gallery-historic-19-j-protests-shake-spain/June 21st, 2011
Quote: It’s 2 in the morning on Monday, June 20th, and 1000 Indignados are still in the plaza, dancing, drinking, and watching Youtube videos of the day’s protests in Athens, Madrid, Lyon, and elsewhere on the camp’s projector screen. It is a well-earned celebration. The Spanish media is reporting between 100,000 and 150,000, but the Pirate Commission (Placa Catalunya’s resident hackers) have crunched the photographs, and are reporting that 275,000 people took the streets of Barcelona today. To put that in perspective, Barcelona’s greater metro area has a total population of three million. At the height of the march, around 6 in the evening, protesters filled the streets all the way from Placa Catalunya, the march’s starting point, to Pla de Palau, its end; a wall of protestors two miles long. Around the globe, early estimates predict that five million people took to the streets today in solidarity.
After two weeks of rain, conflict, delay, and media blow-back, this is a major victory for the Barcelona Indignados. They have led a global day of protest larger than any seen since the 2003 lead up to the Iraq war. There are weeks, months, even years of hard work and struggle ahead, but tonight, the men roaming the square selling one Euro beers and samosas are doing brisk business. Cigarette smoke hovers in the air, the leaders behind the commission desks are smiling for once, and couples sneak off to the tents for a little privacy.
What makes this even more incredible is that planning for today’s actions began only two weeks ago. The protests were coordinated to coincide with Monday’s EU vote on Euro management for the upcoming year. I have to repeat myself here: five million people were mobilized world wide in two weeks....
http://www.thenewsignificance.com/2011/06/21/willie-osterweil-spain-the-...
Madrid: Spanish Revolution Sol (Livestream)
www.livestream.com/spanishrevolutionsol
..excellent video
#SpanishRevolution: Explanation Of What Is Happening And What We Want
June 24th, 2011 | Add a Comment
A proposed conceptual explanation and understanding for strategy…
video:
http://www.thenewsignificance.com/2011/06/24/spanishrevolution-explanation-of-what-is-happening-and-what-we-want/
Epaulo, if you are French Canadian, why not join the movement in Canada? Real Democracy Now Canada is committed to constructing the same type of movement built on the principles of direct democracy. Please, come on board! We could definately benefit from your knowledge of the events in Spain, and your apparent passion for the real democracy now movement.
Cheers.
Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_221290107899467&ap=1
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/realdemocracynowcanada
Website
http://www.realdemocracynowcanada.wordpress.com
..mon i'm off on holiday and will consider it then. i thank you for the invite.
The 15M movement has started multiple long marches from all over Spain towards Madrid, the country’s capital, geographic heart and epicentre of the current participatory democracy movement. The Eastern route from Valencia is over 500kms long and started on the June 20th. In 34 days it will pass through 29 towns and cities, where they will hold many ‘Popular Assemblies’ to explain the movement and listen to peoples demands. Yesterday the second long march began, with over 100 protesters setting off from Barcelona. Toni, one of the ‘indignants’ explained that each day they will try and walk 21kms and that they are well prepared, but “today the sun is very strong”. In many parts of Spain temperatures are currently over 30 degrees celsius, the protesters have one support vehicle, which is bringing food, water, sun screen and other medical supplies....
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=785
As of July 7th, 2011, the outraged movement in Spain has already prevented almost 47 evictions, according to the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH in Spanish http://afectadosporlahipoteca.wordpress.com/), which aims to defend the “right to housing”. From their website they are constantly making to ensure that families with financial problems avoid becoming homeless, denouncing that real estate speculation has led many families to inhumane situations. They also denounce the fact that, in Spain, around 180 evictions are executed each day, too many to be stopped....
http://www.europeanrevolution.net/?p=931
by Jérôme E. Roos on July 27, 2011
Quote:
As the combined crew of EuropeanRevolution.net, TakeTheSquare.net and ROARMAG.org, we were in Madrid all weekend — talking to protesters and organizers in Retiro, taking notes, videos and pictures during the march from Atocha, shouting slogans at Parliament, and chatting the night away at Sol. What follows is our report on the incredibly inspiring events of the past three days, and the direction we expect the movement to go in the medium-term future....
Quote:
At 21.30, we arrived on Sol — the spiritual heart of the 15-M movement and Europe’s very own Tahrir Square. On our way in, we were greeted by a large banner that read “welcome dignity”. My anonymous Brazilian comrade and I ran ahead of the march and quickly scaled a high edifice to take some images and videos of the incoming marches. In a manner of minutes, tens of thousands converged upon the square from all six different entry routes....
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/indignados-struggle-goes-on/
by Jérôme E. Roos on July 27, 2011
Protesters walk to the heart of Europe to rally support and collect proposals in preparation of a major European-wide rally on October 15th.
“Vamos despacio porque vamos lejos” — we’re going slow because we’re going far. With that slogan, a few hundred indignados left Puerta del Sol yesterday afternoon to embark upon an epic 1,000 mile march to the heart of Europe.....
http://roarmag.org/2011/07/indignados-start-epic-march-to-brussels/
So maybe it is time to organize marches on October 15th in our cities. We are all under the same thumbs.
And in the cities on THIS side of the border, too.