My advice: read Le Monde Diplomatique, you have different language versions at the online edition. If you can understand some spanish, the June edition has something about the youth revolution in Spain.
For more information:
The New York Times, 7 June 2011
In Spain, after two decades of dizzying growth, the party is over.
Since 2010, Spain has been among a handful of European economies that have been in investors’ line of fire because of a ballooning budget deficit. The country has the highest twin deficit, or combined budget and current account deficits, of any country in the world except Iceland, a reflection of how dependent it is on increasingly fickle foreign investors for financing. Spain had 225 billion euros in debt that came due that year — an amount that is about the size of Greece's economy.
In response, the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has pushed through austerity measures intended to cut Spain’s deficit to 6 percent of G.D.P. in 2011 from 11.1 percent in 2009.
As a result of the financial crisis, Mr. Zapatero, the center-left prime minister, reversed past promises to spare pensions and public-sector salaries from the knife. His government's austerity measures hit a population already reeling from the highest unemployment in the euro zone.
In April 2011, Mr. Zapatero announced that he would not seek a third term. In May, the Socialist Party suffered heavy losses in regional and municipal elections. In conceding defeat, Mr. Zapatero said it was understandable given an economic crisis that had caused a 21 percent jobless rate, more than twice the European average.
Youth Protest Movement
The recession that has ravaged Spain, along with much of southern Europe, has had an especially hard impact on the young, with unemployment rates soaring to more than 40 percent for 20- to 24-year-olds, about twice the national average and the highest in the European Union. Many of them see limited hope of improvement unless they reshuffle the political deck and demand a new approach to creating jobs.
Until recently, young people in Spain were dismissed as an apathetic generation, uninterested in party politics. But an outpouring of young people who have taken to the streets since May 15 — at one point about 28,000 protesters spent the night in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square — has changed all that, forcing the country to take heed and reconsider.
Europe's Fifth Economy
It has taken Spain about 25 years to become Europe's fifth economy, Latin America's biggest foreign investor and an influential producer of films, sports teams and food. The country enjoyed a long boom after joining the euro zone, as low interest rates fueled a surge in construction that produced eye-popping growth. That crashed with the financial crisis, and the resulting recession sent Spain's unemployment rate soaring to the highest among euro nations.
The facts are grim: about half the age group under 25 out of work; €600 billion, or $820 billion, in mortgages outstanding after the end of a construction boom two years ago; and an exchange rate overvalued by 10 percent according to the European Commission. Productivity and competitiveness are low.
Economists partly have blamed politics for the continuing inaction, as the Madrid government maintained its own bloated ministerial structures while delegating more power and authority to regional governments.
A Decisive Change of Course
Mr. Zapatero was under increasing pressure from the markets, the European Union and even President Barack Obama to take "resolute action," when he announced the pay cuts in May 2010.
The measures were in line with those for other weakened euro countries like Greece and Ireland. But, as in Greece, the response from Spain's biggest trade unions suggested that the Socialist government's mettle will be sorely tested when it comes to implementation.
The Spanish Parliament approved cuts of $18.5 billion in May, but the vote was a tight one. The following day, the Fitch ratings firm downgraded Spain’s credit rating to AA+ from AAA, saying that the adjustments would “materially reduce the rate of growth of the Spanish economy.”
Fitch said it thought the Spanish government could find it difficult to carry out some of the cuts, adding that Spain’s unemployment rate, its high level of indebtedness and other factors would hurt private consumption and investment in the medium term.
Roundly Defeated Socialists
In late May, the Socialist Party was roundly defeated in regional and municipal elections. The defeat followed days of protests by a youth-led movment that had unexpectedly seized the initiative from established political parties, trade unions and other institutions.
The demonstrators, who called themselves the “indignant” and insisted that they have no party affiliation, wanted a more representative democratic system and were demanding an end to political corruption. Their anger toward established parties has been fueled by the debt crisis and the surge in joblessness, but their grievances also included a call for a cut in military spending, the closing of nuclear power plants and the end of some laws, like recent legislation aimed at punishing digital piracy.
At the same time, some of the campaign’s participants have been struggling to come to terms with their own success and grappling with the need to give more coherence to their wide-ranging grievances in order to keep their campaign alive beyond the election.
The Popular Party won 37.6 percent of the votes, compared with 27.8 percent for the Socialists, according to preliminary results released with 98 percent of the votes counted. Despite popular discontent with established parties, turnout rose to 66 percent from 63 percent four years earlier.
Also some pictures about what happened the 27th May in Barcelona:
In the following video you can see how the police tried to manipulate the demonstration in front of the catalan Parliament.
Also some pictures about what happened the 27th May in Barcelona:
In the following video you can see how the police tried to manipulate the demonstration in front of the catalan Parliament.
