15. maj – Ignacio Escolar om konsekvenserne af det spanske valg

Juan Cano i Madrid opsummerer sin egen oplevelse af den sidste uges “spanske revolution”:

I think that one aspect that is usually overlook is what is really happening in there. There are no leaders, no person in charge, everything gets done by agreement between everyone implicated. Tents have been built to protect people from rain and overexposition to the sun and different committees have formed to deal with cleaning, food supply, communication and legal problems. Everything they have was donated by the people.It started as youth movement, with 50 young people camping in the place, but as the police cleared the camp a global conscience emerged and since that night (from Monday to Tuesday) Puerta del Sol has never been empty for a moment. Each day it attracts more and more people, from different backgrounds, age and ideologies, and it has spread across Spain and Europe.

To be there is incredible. You can see punks talking with retired people, anarchists debating with conservatives. Everyone is getting involved because it is not a movement against democracy, it’s a pro-democracy movement. In a democracy you have different opinions and all of them are welcome.

Even with such a variety there is a sense of community. Violence is prohibited as well as any political sign or flag. We are all together in this and we are all persons, we don’t fight for our ideology and we don’t represent any political party or movement. We are there as citizens who want a fair system and reject any corruption.

Maybe you don’t agree with the ideas of this revolution, but what was achieved in the plaza is worth seeing. A real community as you have never seen, a place for all the ideas. This is a small version of what we want for our country and, being a little ambitious, for the world.

Ignacio Escolar, forhenværende chefredaktør for det venstreorienterede dagblad Público,  mangeårig fortaler for fri kultur, Creative Commons-licenser og åbenhed på Internettet samt som musiker forfatter til en prisbelønnet opfordring til at piratkopiere hans sange, analyserer hele situationen i  The Guardian. Socialistpartiet har indkasseret en syngende lussing fra vælgerne, fordi de har svigtet deres eget bagland, skriver han blandt andet:

Why such a huge defeat for the socialists? One thing that’s clear is that people haven’t voted simply on the basis of regional or municipal issues, and Prime Minister Zapatero’s announcement that he would step down before the next elections seems to have had little effect. Behind the socialists’ defeat lies Spain’s dire unemployment, their denial of the financial crisis at its outset, and, without a doubt, the events of the month of May.

Not the events of this May, though – not the sit-in in Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol square a week ago which has quickly turned into the national protest movement popularly known as 15-M, nor the arduous election campaign itself. I’m referring to May 2010, when Zapatero, having just slashed public spending in order to prevent the markets from derailing Spanish bonds, promised the country that he would carry on, “no matter what it costs, and no matter what it costs me”. The cuts probably staved off a bailout, but that month unquestionably marked the beginning of his end.

Om de demonstrationer, som har rystet Spaniens politiske liv, og som Escolar selv har kunnet studere på første hånd, hedder det:

Meanwhile, at the protests in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, everything is being debated. Absolutely everything. The madrileños who have turned out are realists – and that’s why they’re asking for the impossible. People are discussing how to renounce nuclear power, abolish bullfighting, implement a secular state. Anyone who has turned out at these gatherings – and seen how all kinds of different people, megaphone in hand, are putting forward ideas about how to improve the world – will have seen that something truly exceptional is happening in Madrid.

Nevertheless, beyond the Puerta del Sol there’s the rest of Spanish society. And if we want the momentum which the “Spanish revolution” has generated to continue and have a real impact, we need to distinguish the short term from the long term, broad goals from specific ones. Firstly, we need to establish which principles we all (or nearly all) agree on; in doing so we can begin to create a clear framework in which democracy can improve, rather than a specific electoral programme.

I propose that we reform our electoral law, by introducing a system of open lists for voting in members of our Congress, and by making parliament reflect the reality of electoral results according to the “criteria of proportional representation”, as demanded by the constitution. We need a freedom of information law, too. Spain is one of only five countries in the EU which still lacks this, and it is fundamental if we are to control how public money is spent and stop its misuse. The PSOE featured the proposal in their 2004-2008 electoral programme, but, like so many other promises, it came to nothing.

I would like to see a referendum over the bailout of the banks. And how about we reform the laws governing the financing of political parties and people in public office, making their income and expenses more transparent.

Links: Spain’s impossible realists, On the Spanish Revolution