Here are some of the posters seen at the Spanish Revolution demonstration that's happening at the moment in Spain. Thousands of spanish citizens of all ages, specially young people, are camping at different squares in Spain (Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, but more and more cities are joining in) asking for political, economical and social change, only days before the local elections, movement specially encouraged by youth groups and social media.
The demonstrarions are banned by Madrid's electoral board, but thousands of people are defying by camping in the squares, with more and more people arriving every day. It all started as a support for the youth group Democracia Real Ya, Real Democracy Now.
The whole movement starts in response of Spains economical crisis. There is an unemployment rate of 21% (around 4.9 million people). The protesters manifesto states that politicians facing corruption charges shouldn't be able to run for election; the voting system should change to be more representative and the Senate should be scrapped.
The Manifesto
I thought it was interesting to recollect some of the posters seen at the demonstration (all found on Internet), and i've translated them
*(sorry if some of them are not completely correct, any complains post a comment :) )
"Politicians pee at us, media says it's raining"
Anti-alcohol posters are everywhere, to avoid the media to turn the demonstration into a "macro-botellón", a huge drinking party.
"Read more"
"If you don't let us dream, we won't let you sleep"
"The Revolution was in out heart, now it's flying free on the streets"
"Your vote is worth a lot, don't give it to them"
"We are aloud to camp days to see Hanna Montana but not to defend our rights?"
A version of the one above
"In this country we can camp for Justien Bieber's concert or to see the last Twilight movie, but not to defend our rights. We aren't moving!"
"You still think you can't do anything?"
"Our voice is our weapon"
"Real democracy now, without frauds"
"Real democracy now!
We aren't merchandise in hands of politicans and bankers"
"Violence is to get paid 600€"
"Law of political responsibility" "The power of non violence"
"Mum, send me some chorizo from Spain, since you have a lot!"
Chorizo in spanish is a type of sausage, but it's also used to designate corrupted politicians or business men.
New name for Puerta del Sol's subway station: "Solution Square"
"It's not too little money, there are too many thief's"
"A lot of chorizo and little bread" [chorizo=corrupted business men]
And here some first pages of the most important newspapers in Spain, from today, 19th of May 2011
El Mundo "The Government allows the prohibited demonstration and PSOE hugs the protest"
ABC "Agains the law"
And my personal favorite, Público's first page made of all the posters seen during the demonstrations :
You can definitely see the ideology of each newspaper just by reading their front page....
You can follow the Spanish Revolution live on Twitter with this hashtags:
#democraciarealya, #spanishrevolution, #acampadasol, #nonosvamos, #yeswecamp, #notenemosmiedo, #juntaelectoralfacts, #esunaopcion, #tomalaplaza, @#globalcamp
* If you are not happy with any of the translations, please leave a comment to make it better :)
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