Hope Lives in Puerta del Sol
Hope Lives in Puerta del Sol
Brandon Storm: Hope Lives in Puerta del Sol
¡Madrid será la tumba del neoliberalismo! Madrid will be the tomb of neoliberalism! Arriving at the city center from my university in the suburbs of Spain?s capital, this bold declaration?hand-written on a large banner in Puerta del Sol, the geographic center of Spain and busiest plaza in Madrid?was my first exposure to the massive popular demonstrations, or asambleas populares as their participants call them, that sprung up across Spain in the days leading up to municipal elections on Sunday, May 22.
Like most new political developments, this initially provoked only cynicism in me. I had heard similarly audacious statements from larger groups of people in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles?and the political scene back home seemed as dire and depressing as ever.
Yet sitting on the hot concrete in Sol on election Sunday, I couldn?t help but be infected with a strange and uncharacteristic sense of hope and determination. This really was unlike anything I?d seen in the United States. Although the asamblea had been billed by most of the media as a youth protest?and there certainly wasn?t any shortage of hip students and makeshift banners with strident, leftist mottos?it really did feel, more than anything else, like an impromptu community. Plenty of irate, if well-put-together, older Spanish women with umbrellas to block out the sun had joined the young men donning newspapers folded into makeshift sun hats at the center of plaza. There, a young woman with a microphone and several people translating into sign language conducted the assembly with a precision and openness more characteristic of a board meeting or diversity workshop than a popular demonstration.
A strong sense of solidarity and decorum also separated the asamblea from demonstrations I had attended in the United States. In the cramped and hot space, good Samaritans with spray bottles had placed themselves strategically throughout the crowd to spray mist in the air around their compañeros; an intricate form of mass sign language seemed to have taken hold, replacing raucous applause with the surprisingly satisfying gesture of tens of thousands of jazz hands being raised into the air and shaken vigorously; shouts of ?¡Agua, agua!? came not from vendors taking advantage of the huge crowds (such as the people hawking rainbow flags at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. in 2009) but from people walking around, apparently of their own initiative, to make sure nobody was dehydrated in the dry air of late May.
The level of organization of the assembly was also very surprising. Dozens of working groups?from Feminism to Communications to Public Health to Neighborhood Organization?had been created to articulate the initially somewhat nebulous demands of the demonstrators. Sunday in particular was an important inflection point in the movement. After having come together to demonstrate before the elections, it remained unclear what would happen when results were announced that night. One by one the leaders of the working groups came up to deliver the same basic answer: ?We will stay until our goals are met.? By that evening word had spread that the demonstration would go on for another week, and signs had been plastered up saying that the following Sunday there would be asambleas en cada barrio y pueblo de Madrid (assemblies in every neighborhood and town in Madrid.)
While these determined proclamations were met by much enthusiastic waving of jazz hands, it wasn?t clear how these goals would be accomplished. While many, such as the reform of the Spanish judiciary and political parties, are concrete steps toward a more just and open political landscape, the discontent with Spain?s main two political parties that sparked the demonstrations has deeper roots. As many American politicians have been fond of saying since 1992, it?s the economy, stupid! With an unemployment rate above 20 percent?the highest in the Eurozone?it?d be difficult for any administration to remain popular.
It was no surprise, then, when the conservative Partido Popular (PP) won sweeping victories across the country on Sunday. While this is certainly not good news for the more than one in five Spaniards out of work, it is hard to imagine how they could do much worse than the governing Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). Forced to implement austerity measures to stave off an EU-IMF intervention like those that have taken place in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, the Socialists would be met with approval by even the most ardent budget-slashing Republican in Washington.
So perhaps the PSOE needs a bit of time out of power for some soul searching. If the 2012 elections result in a prime minister from the PP, it certainly won?t be good news for Spanish society, but if we don?t begin to see some fundamental change, then a PSOE victory won?t be either.
Perhaps it is just the lingering effects of adrenaline and fraternal love carrying over from my afternoon in Sol, but I do see some green shoots springing up from the tired terrain that is the Spanish Left today. While the historic victories of the Right last Sunday are certainly sobering, there remain encouraging signs. The deeply unpopular prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, has said he will not seek reelection in 2012. While it is hard to say what the long-term impact of the current demonstrations will be, at the very least they are a sign of the dynamism and desire for change on the Spanish Left. And if there is one thing I remain deeply cynical about, it is the ability of the PP to bring down the unemployment that drove the Socialists from power.
So while I?m skeptical of the claim that Madrid will be the tomb of neoliberalism (although it does have an impressive tomb for fascism, or more specifically for Francisco Franco) and worry about Spain?s immediate future under the PP, I can?t help but come out of Sol feeling that these demonstrations, which have largely eclipsed the elections in the media, are a push in the right direction. As one upbeat poster plastered onto a building surrounding the asamblea proclaimed, Sol nunca había brillado tanto! (The Sun has never shined so bright!)
Photos courtesy of the author
