Stealing food for need and as a social protest

 [Photo: LaFura.cat]

An interesting new form of direct action came to town recently.

Last week in Vilafranca an unemployed woman named Marian Fernández was fined 90 Euros for unlawfully taking 241 Euros worth of “essentials” from a Maxi Dia supermarket. 

She was there as part of a group called ‘PAH’ - people affected by mortgage problems who went there to make a statement about not being able to afford life’s’ necessities.

Ms Fernández, a mother of three children and having no present income, had  apparently presented a credit card with a zero balance at the checkout.

This action follows from a similar act last month by JuanManuel Sánchez Gordillo, a mayor in Andalucia who also stole food but with the plan of passing it on to others who could not afford to buy their own.

Spain through the eyes of Robert Hughes

[Hughes at his New York City Loft, 1996 David Corio/Redferns]

A very readable article (from the The Global Mail, an excellent new website) about that extremely rare creature - an Australian intellectual, who amongst many other things wrote an excellent book on Barcelona long before it was a fashionable city to visit.

The [supposed] importance of bullfighting in Spain

I will be talking to Sarah McDonald [mainly about bullfighting (!) in Spain] on Australia’s 

ABC Radio Sydney 707 at 5.45 tomorrow morning local time.

"One in three kids will be without text books this year"

...according to the Federation of Associations of Parents of Pupils (CEAPA). 

 After the Rajoy government’s VAT increase and a further reduction in financial help for low income families, returning to school this year works out at an average of 640 Euros for each child, and the largest expense is the purchase of the text books. 

An online petition at Change.org has been created, asking the Secretary of Education to regulate the prices of text books and for a widening of the policy of recycling books.

Free e-book for downloading: "Europe in Crisis"

After further disturbing news today that the government of Catalunya is asking for €5 billion from the Spanish central government (which may well prompt a full bailout) in a very timely moment Global Voices online has released its first e-book titled “Europe in Crisis.” 

It is promoted as “a collection of best material from the wealth of social conversation, participation and mobilization boosted by going through the tough of austerity in the Old Continent and beyond."

We may need more than books to get through the coming years but understanding this mess is a good start.

Europe's leading anti-Muslim party now also becoming anti-Jewish

Last week, the normally cautious Jewish community of Amsterdam took the unusual step of describing a member of the Dutch parliament as a "serious danger to Jews in the Netherlands and consequently Europe as a whole..."


Read more here.

"The Pain in Spain"

[Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images]

Back from a month-long visit to a former homeland [Australia] it seems to me that Spain has only just survived further economic bailouts...

A simple and unflinching account of exactly why this country got into so much financial trouble can be found at a new, impressive non-profit website called The Global Mail, which is employing some of down-under’s most experienced journalists.

Their European correspondent Eric Ellis, has also examined the “potentially explosive conditions in south-eastern Spain, where illegal African immigrants slave for a pittance in Europe’s salad bowl.

What is to be done?

As protests deservedly rage in Madrid, Barcelona and elsewhere in this blighted land, it’s worth remembering that here in the 21^st century there are other equally legitimate ways to get a point across.

While I completely support the right to go out into the streets (I have done it a few times myself) I have also seen the effectiveness of on-line activism.

I have signed up to several organisations who will email you a letter to simply be read and signed, if you agree with the contents, and one click on a “Send” button electronically sends it to a government head, a minister, a company head or whoever has the greatest responsibility for the issue at hand.

One of the best reasons for this type of activism is that it works. It is not time-consuming, it costs nothing, but most importantly, if enough protesters send enough letters then decisions are often completely reversed.

When this kind of success does happen the organisations let you know by email and the internal celebrations begin.

Two recent cases I can think of are that of two poor Mexican women who were raped by soldiers but the corrupt government was paid off and refused to investigate her violation. Eventually, after thousands of protest emails from people both in and outside Mexico they decided to bring the accused to trial and damages were finally paid to them both.

Another example is that of the Ukranian government introducing laws to make homosexuality a criminal act. Again, after thousands of people across the world signing on-line petitions against this absurdity, they dropped the law.

Having worked for a politician in Australia, and knowing a thing or two about how governments and corporations are concerned about public perceptions of them, now more than ever before there is a climate where faceless power-mongers are increasingly called to answer for their actions.

It is quite simple to start your own on-line petition as well.

This kind of participatory politics is becoming more influential and serves as an excellent complementary activity to physically protesting in public places.

Here are a few current ones to consider:

Put criminal bankers behind bars!

Questions for Spanish President Mariano Rajoy

THIS WILL PROBABLY BE THE LAST POST UNTIL MID-AUGUST AS I WILL BE IN AUSTRALIA, WHERE THE INTERNET IS COMPLETELY UNKNOWN.

"La meva Barcelona"

Eugeni Forcado's evocative collection of black and white photo’s of Barcelona in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Letter from a young Spaniard

An articulate and thoughtful piece about the past, present and future in this country:

"Spaniards in their thirties have grown up in enviable circumstances: democracy, a generous state, material wellbeing. Now the crisis has returned them to a cruel reality: that they may have to live with less than their parents did. Whether they alter their expectations or try to stop the clock will be decisive, writes Ramón González Férriz."

Read more here.