London's Burning, Police Found Guilty.

On Saturday in Hackney an individual was stopped and searched by police, on the same day as a peaceful vigil was held commemorating the fatal shooting of a civilian again by the police. Later, police in riot gear were attacked.

What connections do we see? Police, Pigs, PoPo. Though titles on the BBC read: 'Police Attacked', 'Mobs in London', 'Violence hits new parts of London'; they should read 'Police behind it'. Can we actually believe the sensationalist reports saying it's 'an absolute war-zone'? or misleading ideas saying shop-owners are losing their livelihoods? were police just walking around, casually on a weekend stroll, in their riot gear when they were attacked?

I've been following the reporting by the BBC. It says who: criminals/youths; when: Saturday, yesterday, today; where: London; what: rioting; how: through violence... But why? Journalism follows a series of conventions, as a to-be journalist I will not follow them. Objectivity benefits the right, the status quo and authority. Moreover it is a myth. Foucault would say it is part of a media discourse, itself a product of the discourses of capitalism and government. Reality is subjective, I see things personally, I project my experiences and ideas to every news story I read. The events in London are done by people.. angry at the way they are constantly mishandled by police.

The Met Deputy Assistant Comissioner says: "When we have large numbers of criminals intent on that type of violence [i.e. burning, looting, protesting], we can only do that, get lots of officers there quickly and try to protect local businesses and local people."

A misconstrued reality, the people are on the street. Business will be payed back by insurers.

We have to look at the reasons why the police are being attacked. Last week an individual was shot, this week someone was being searched. What authority do they have? I have often seen police speed, I have been stopped and photos have been taken of me. I never did anything wrong but go to protests. London has been protesting for much more than just three days. Last year there were 50.000 on the street, the year before as well. It's always youth. What are they unhappy about? Is generation Z anarchic and ungrateful? Or are we having to push the boundaries to express a systematic reality. Climate change, education and the economy are all constructed in a certain way. Neo-liberalism runs wilder and burns faster than and doubledecker bus in London. It's in our food, we spoon it for breakfast, at school, on the couch watching TV. 

The markets are currently crashing, this double-dip has been predicted but the brunt of the hit will again go to beneficiaries and workers, while corporations will receive yet another budget bail-out like the one recently approved by "Left-wing" Obama.

I don't agree with attacking the police, there should be a clear differentiation between attacking property and people. Property is inanimate, it represents the state's authority. People act knowing these institutions exist. I don't think the police should have as much power as they do, but this is not their fault as individuals, the police body stands in front of the government in its protection. Any individual policeman is innocent of the way the system works, so they should not become targets. What if they attack Tottenham blacks and jews? London has not fully integrated these populations, nor has the rest of Europe. From here we see the violence these groups of the population suffer from, like in Sweden. Jews were once scapegoats, now Islam is.

Attacking property though only gives the state an excuse to repress and create culprits. On the other hand it brings the point across. The media love a class-based conflict with burning stores.

A protest scam.

Yesterday there was a protest to keep Hillside jobs and work in Dunedin. It was a failure. I arrived and the Octagon was full, I'd say with around 500 people although the media has said 1000. Talking to socialist comrades, we noticed that the majority of protesters looked as if it had been their first protest ever. There were families and kids, grandparents sitting on benches and then of course hillsiders in their suits and a multitude of unions. This is good and bad. Good because it looks as if solidarity amongst unions is increasing also because many have reached a point which they can no longer stand, and they have become aware that protesting is an effective way of standing up. It is bad though because many protesters had never protested before. The protest was rigged and the wind was blowing wind into the sails of the labour party. It was not democratic and people did not have a voice- their representatives did. There were three Labour speakers, a Green, for some reason someone from Greenpeace and then about three Hillsiders. No open mic, it was electoral propaganda for Labour. It was hardly even against the National party, it was just Labour saying we would not do this. Notice the would not, it is always followed by an if. Labour's trajectory says that Labour would in fact have done the same. And they never stopped the privatisation of KiwiRail, even though they said they would have if they could to the masses.

I have to say I left early, the speeches were seriously boring- going on for 5 or 10 minutes. Chants were worse: "Jobkiller Joyce, Give us a choice". Cringeworthy.
No one else was allowed to speak, all the protesters got was an event prepared for the news, with the last full stop included. On the meanwhile though, the protesters were slowly escaping yawning. It was bad, seriously bad. And bad because people who seemingly have never protested before took part in it. They left probably not ever wanting to participate again, disapointed maybe. I almost did. This event was not democratic. It simply relayed the story we have heard again and again, give your power to representatives and every now and then they will pretend to listen, they will come down or maybe just send down a letter, and they will bore you to death. Politics you see is not a thing for you and I. We shouldn't have to know what's going on. An example of this is the speeches themselves, which sometimes got quite technical. They want us to leave it to them, ransack the countries not on our behalf but to our loss. Protesting and striking shows who has the real power, you and I can stop this groth-focussed profit-driven economy. We are the ones who get to choose when machines start and stop and we too can block the roads and demand a true democracy.

Youth Rates Speech.

Last Saturday I was at the youth rates protest in Dunedin. There were about 50 other people so it was good to see such a turn-out in such a small amount of time. At the same time there were two other protests going on in Dunedin, one against oil drilling and the other to save jobs at the Hillside train factory in South Dunedin. Funny how nothing goes on for weeks and then three separate protests are organised for the same day! At the protest I was shouted at by the ISO. I'm sure you know I'm not part of the ISO anymore. I have co-founded the organisation OGNA- Organisation for Global Non-Violent Action, thus splitting from the ISO. We still aim for socialism but for us the only way we can truly achieve socialism is through non-violence. The revolution to overthrow capitalism has to be non-violent. If not you are empowering a select few, better and probably male individuals to mow down those filthy capitalists. We are against killing, animals included (I've got some improvement to do on that one!), you only live once but most importantly, who is to decide who shall and shall not live? That in itself is unjust. Even that filthy capitalist has a right to live, with dignity. He is as much a product of the system as we all are. We are taught to behave as individuals in a competitive world. I think this is against human nature and so does Aristotle and Plato and Marx and all those current revolutionaries in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain and beyond. Proof that refutes this capitalist notion happens every time there is a natural disaster, or when communities start to face the worst. We all go back to those who we can trust- we belong in communities. The only reason these communities are divided is because of the system.

The ISO shouted at me because I publicly advertised our group- as well as the protest- on the radio. They say we have not given a letter of resignation, "that's what political groups do". Well we thought we'd made it clear enough, not attending meetings and anouncing the creation of our new group.. to them... But some people are just too keen to read upto that last full stop, which is redundant

Here is my speech:

I worked a graveyard shift last night, I've only had three hours sleep but I'm still here. I and we shall not remain passive before these laws, we will not buy into these neo-liberal theories of trickle down effects or recessions.

While production rises, while we are forced to work more hours our wages effectively decrease due to gst and inflation.

I'm here as a student, a socialist, a worker and I find it hard to pay my bills. It doesn't matter if I'm young or about to retire, where I work or where I'm from I find it hard.
The truth of the matter is this [youth rates bill] fits into the system. It's here to divide us into age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. But we shall remain united... Only throughh unity can we achieve justice. Through union cooperation and worker's protests.

I do not want 30% less pay.I'm worth more than that and I earn more than I pay already!

The indignation within you and I is a cross-cultural experience, fruit of capitalism in desperation.

On the 15th of May a movement started in Spain, still active now almost a month later. In this article I will look into the reasons for the movement, these are embedded in history but are also a fruit of the capitalist system. The indignant who claim to be “autonomous” and “a-political”, have been left unemployed by the austerity measures imposed by the IMF. The autonomous and a-political nature of the protests though can be seen as a threat. They are tags imposed on the protesters by the media, protesting is political and the idea of autonomously and coincidentally coming together for the same cause is irrational. Wanting a better future is being  political and mass strikes are one of the many ways to achieve it, what this better future looks like and who envisages it is the key. I will argue that only socialism can achieve a better future for the working class and the majority of the people, but to do this socialists have to be not only involved but also leading the movement with their ideas and experience. This movement is currently not present in Spain to a significant enough degree. As a last point I will talk about socialism’s role in the future struggles of Aotearoa.

This movement did not spring out of nowhere, Spain has a long history of mass movements. In the ‘far-left’, anarchists, communists and socialists had successfully put their ideas into practice on a large scale in the 1930’s. In 1931 Spain got rid of the monarchy and within a couple of years had put the foundations of one of the most ambitious social projects in Europe, with reforms to industry, education, marital laws, religious laws... The government though, intent on keeping control of the power void it created tried to put restrictions onto the social revolution that was taking place. Whole communities became fully independent of the state and fully self-sufficient too. Individuals were no longer subjugated to the orders of the nobility and the church. The government though, run by the new bourgeoise class, was mired with corruption and inefficiency. Ministers were being sworn in and out continuously. Its inability to hand out the benefits Spanish society had been promised and so eagerly needed led to widespread dissatisfaction. Anarcho-syndicalist, socialist and communist ideas were spreading, promising a better society. The rising number of strikes and the powerful union movement derived from these ideas became objectives of a government which had quickly failed. The Spanish republic relied heavily on the old military apparatus, thanks to this the generals, who had interests with the old sources of power saw an opportunity to take control of a state which was on the verge of breaking up, economically (as 7 million Spanish were living in communes by 1936 and factories had been appropriated by the working classes) and politically, as Catalonia and the Basque Country threatened to become independent. The military organised a wide-spread coup d’êtat in August 1936. Even though the Anarchist movement had foretold of the date and time, thanks to its spy network, the Republican government was caught by surprise. The efficiency of workers councils, organised by Anarcho-syndicalists and socialists stopped the fascist coup on its tracks but lead to a bitter civil war.

In short the civil war was a failure on the behalf of the Republic. At the time the European powers were wary of the costs of war so the Republic was left to recuperate a country it never fully controlled by itself- until the USSR got involved. As Franco’s military possessed more arms and had the aid and support of Mussolini and Hitler, the Republic called for the military aid of the USSR. Stalin was opposed to the more democratic nature of the anarcho-syndicalist and socialist troops fighting for the Republic. He actively fought against them, instead of actually fighting the common enemy: Franco. Many anarchists and socialists were executed, if not by Stalin by Franco once he won the war. This decimated the number of Trotskyist and anarcho-syndicalist groups working around the country. The fascist dictatorship, which lasted as long as 40 years in some parts of the country imposed a culture, a history and sense of unity which have only started to be questioned now. To understand Spain now we have to be aware that it has only had 30 years worth of ‘democracy’, moreover its transition to a democratic state took place when the UK and the USA were jumping onto the ideas of neo-liberalism. Spain has had low-salaried jobs for decades, unions have never had much strength since the late thirties and the introduction to the EU in 87 forced it to become even more of a low-wage economy with few incentives for a higher education. Nowadays a ‘good’ job in Spain is one earning a 1000 euros a month and the minimum wage is 624 euros, incomparable to the rest of Europe. In France the minimum wage is above 1350 euros a month. Housing in Barcelona or Madrid can easily cost around 600 euros, add on to that the relatively high price of food, the price of electricity, transport, education... It is no wonder Spanish youths live at home until they’re thirty. Low-paying jobs, high rents, an awful system of education and the constant bombardment of capitalist products makes it difficult, but more so if unemployment is at an average of 21%, 45% for youths. In this aspect Spain resembles Northern Africa, the series of governments have happily abided the orders of the IMF- making Spain a heavily poor and indebted society- a lapdog of US interests since Franco’s time. In the last couple of years there have been job losses in the public sector, cut-backs in education, a raise in the retirement age and some unemployment benefits have been done with.

Where Spain doesn’t resemble Northern Africa though is in the fact that Spain is supposedly democratic. Democracy is relative, when the citizens don’t have any actual input into how society should run, when there are only two parties who represent the same set of companies, when the benefits of society are not reaped by those who overwork for little pay and when the individuals ‘participating’ in the democracy are constantly being lied by media sympathetic and benefited by a system advertised as pluralistic and free; democracy starts to resemble an oligarchy, or a dictatorship by a handful of individuals. Spanish are starting to wake up from their somber mid-day nap to realise they are being robbed. These protests, with protesters ranging from high school kids to grandparents, are against the current parliamentary system.

In the squares the protesters almost seem like an amorphous range of individuals with nothing in common but a desire for a job, a flat and some money. There is no actual, concerted, goal. Some groups within the ‘plataformas’ are demonstrating for a better electoral system while others are wanting to create an actual revolution out of the spurs of fury. The media and the politicians have used this to their advantage. It is hard to find objective news articles in the Spanish press that do not call the protesters anti-system, rebels or “ni-nis”, a term used to describe Spanish youths, who “neither work nor study”. It is also difficult to find news on sites such as the BBC, CNN or even Al-Jazeera; there has been an effective media blackout. The anarchist group FAI, present at the protests, says that though the political and media circles were initially shocked: “Naturally, we couldn’t be hopeful, we knew there was the danger of the situation becoming midiatised: criticising the more radical propositions and reducing the situation to a simple critique of bipartisanship and the financial system without shaking the foundations of the state and capital”#. It definitely does look like the media have taken control of the situation to say it is run by the “fringes of society”, this way giving legitimacy to any police or government action. They go on to say that the right has in effect always been in power to differing degrees at different points in time. A case which in Spain is very much true and the Anarchists of FIJA agree, going so far as to say that the current protest movement is “suspicious” and aims to “dissipate frustrations”#.

Although these ideas seem to verge on the side of wacky conspiracy theories, what is true is that political groups and campaigning has been banned. This is because the organisers did not want mainstream parties to use the platforms as a rallying point for the 22nd of May elections (In which by the way the ruling party lost 40% of its vote).FIJA points out that there is an inconsistency with the platforms position as by protesting you are being political, however these protests are not actually imposing too much of a threat to the capitalist system for the time being. The government could simply call for a vote to change the electoral system, thus appeasing many of the present.

These two anarchist groups are calling for a social revolution: “a radical change at all levels to decentralise politics and the economy through direct action”. These two groups have been involved in the protests, the direct action they call for verges on the IST idea of an armed insurrection. At OGNA we agree that political organisations should be able to show a presence at the protests but we disagree with armed insurrection: this will only alienate the majority of the ‘indignados’, who are admittedly apolitical individuals. Socialists though have not had much of a say. En Lucha, a trotskyist organisation, has had some involvement, mainly in Madrid, but other than that there are many groups that are even rejecting to participate- as the ideas held by the organisers are reformist. These groups that are against participating are Stalinist and their position is similar to that taken by Stalinist groups in Greece a couple of years ago. In our view, it is upto socialists to point out the injustices of the system and call for a concerted struggle against the ruling top echelon. We have to point out that unions “signed agreements with the ruling Socialist Party which attacked workers’ rights. [Making] it easier to sack people, attack[ing] pensions and rais[ing] the retirement age.#” At the same time though we have to prove that unions are the only protection mechanism the working class has and that it is through the cooperation amongst unions that we will achieve an educated proletariat ready to confront the government non-violently. What’s more, we have to show that this recession is an inevitable downfall of capitalism, it will happen again in 10 years time and again and again until we defeat the system, worldwide.

Socialists in Spain have hitherto not seen the potential of these protests. One month on and we still have people on the streets, still largely ignored by politicians and the media. Although recently police have been more violent against the peaceful gatherers. The youths in Spain, like in Tunisia and Egypt, have nothing to lose as they admit they cannot see a future as a part of capitalism. The potential lies in how far Marxist ideas can be spread. As a general rule the protesters see the problem as lying in the system. For now though they have been given no alternatives. As the days go on, numbers are stagnating. While the police violence used to get rid of protesters in Barcelona caused them to come back in multiplied numbers, after a couple of hours the protest was back to its usual size#. The failure of socialist organisations to see the importance of these protests and also to show up with significant numbers is a key to the slow decimation of the movement.

Only with the spread of socialist ideas can the movement increase in size and span.Youths are unemployed and furious. Quite reasonably, Spanish workers are disenchanted with unions, it is up to socialists though to prove the unions’ worth. Spain has been hit hard by the IMF, but only because it is in the interest of capitalism to seek for profit instead of humanity. Socialists should use the platform to spread their ideas to youths and to workers, this way we can achieve a conscious working class. Socialists must also promote ideas of tolerance in terms of sex, sexuality and immigration- the inability of Spanish society to accept these is a remnant of fascist Spain. It is curious to see how little immigrant involvement there has been, compared to their percentage of the population. We must also see the spread of ideas as the only way to achieve an equal and fair world system. Spreading the ideas through Spain will push the ideas to Portugal, France and Central Europe. For now Greek and Italian ‘indignados’ have already started to protest.

For OGNA, the only way forward for Spain is to keep the protests strong and to remain non-violent. Non-violence attracts more followers and non-violent direct action is much more difficult for governments to confront. There has been talk of dismantling the platforms, in Barcelona there was a decision to pack up. Even then, 80% of tents are still pitched#. We think this is a mistake, these platforms provide the opportunity to express the widespread dissatisfaction society feels and the symbolic presence in central squares of cities across Spain will be like a thorn constantly jabbing the ribs of the politicians. It will be a forum for debate. Breaking up the presence counts as a victory for the ruling class, a pat on the back of the policemen who have brutally battoned protesters, this way showing the true nature of democracy in Europe.
In New Zealand the situation would be treated much the same by the media, for this reason it is up to unions and revolutionary organisations to lay the seeds for revolution and disseminate the truths of who does and who should hold the power in society. The large number of revolutionary organisations and the emergence of working class oriented unions and parties such as Unite and Mana is a significant development. The situation here is not too indifferent from that in Spain, youth unemployment is at 26% and there are some obviously underprivileged sectors of society, namely Maori and Pacifica. As socialists we have to break down ideas of racism and unite forces across Aotearoa. The government is not supplying jobs and is raising the hurdles to get in to education and for decent health care, it is time for Kiwis to protest too.

If we want a true democracy socialists have to direct the working class, history has shown that privilege belongs to the rulers but it is being handled by the working class, we must take grasp of this privilege and distribute it fairly to society as a whole.

Scottish independance would open up the European march for freedom.

On the 5th of May the Scottish election took place. A while back now. That the SNP won with an overwhelming turn in vote was surprising. After full scrutiny, it took 69 seats out of 129, a significant majority- with seats they stole from the Libdems and Labour. Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, is openly pro-worker but also pro-independance, and the you can see the connotations in the speech he gave when he was declared winner: "I'll govern for all the ambitions of Scotland and for all the people who can imagine we can live in a better land. This party- the Scottish party - the national party- carries your hope and we shall carry it carefully and make the nation proud".

Now there are only a couple of reasons to explain why the SNP achieved such a turnaround, despite its support for independance. Either it was simply a product of an anti-coalition vote, or the number of Scottish in favour of independance is increasing. Your choice but it is mine to hope for the latter. We cannot say that those who voted for the SNP weren't at least expecting a referendum for secession.

Scotland is of course like so many other hidden nations of Europe. Both Catalonia and Scotland were empires in their own right, they ended up losing their territories due to monarchies intermarrying. Of course, your average person at the time was no more than a slave, with no freedoms nor any rights. The culture of many territories got at least difused, if not surpressed and/or lost altogether.

What is important though, is that when Scotland actually calls the refendum, which is scheduled for the second half of the five-year term, it will be very hard for nations like Spain to not allow the Basque Country and Catalonia to hold one, or France one for Northern Catalonia and Brittany. There is also the Val d'Aosta, Sicily, Corsega, Napoli, Flanders. the Suomi people, Chechnya... There are so many nations across Europe looking for greater autonomy or independance; what will happen to Northern Ireland? Scotland is just the blow of air that can help reignite seemingly dying embers.

Those opposed to independance give economic and social reasons. I'll address the economic reasons first. It is simply not true that independance will cut-off markets. Capitalism will continue to make its ties regardless of borders or lack therof. I rather think the new international projection will boost the tourism and industry of many of these nations. I'll step in to say that I am looking to argue against the reasons against independance set down by imperialism, and not really from a socialist perspective this time around. Many of these nations mentioned above are currently deemed dependant on central governments because the taxes of these nations go into the treasure chests of these central governments. The Basque country is an exception which many nations are jealous of, as it manages its own taxes. 
In terms of social factors, I doubt many of the states would spiral into war. Even though I think Spain could- clause 8 of the constitution says that if the unity of the country is under threat, the military is legally obliged to step in (They have certainly done so every other time Catalonia has seeked greater self-determination). I don't think people would necesarily leave the country even if it does become a new one. Physically your situation hasn't changed, you haven't been thrown in a tumble dryer! People will still live in Catalonia or Scotland and the biggest mistake on the behalf of any new government would be to create differences between the 'natives' and the 'foreigners'.

The way people is going to potray Scotland in the near future is important. Like they already say of Catalonia, they will say Scotland is already breaking up the state. To see how far the nonsense goes in Spain, watch this investigative report. What is a nation though, if there is no shared sentiment of cultural unity?

Libya and Europe.

The revolutions in Northern Africa have recently escaped our news, first because of Christchurch and now Japan. However we all know that libya is still struggling in a situation of de facto civil war.

Gaddafi is being told to leave by the EU and the US. He now seems to have the upper hands against the rebels, who at one point in time occupied more than half the country. However Gaddafi won't budge because of some western threats, the US and the EU may have to get involved. For democracy of course, or that's what they'll tell us... Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and it has significant amounts of natural gas as well. Any US and/or European involvement will be for two reasons: to protect the sacred tenet of democracy which would stabilize the country and in the short run protect Europe and for the large oil companies to win a new share in a new land with the possibility of finding new reserves. Again it is back to oil. That black crud we all rely on.
The authorities may even be open about it and say that they're going in to stabilize oil prices as well as democracy; the barrel of brent has gone up by more than 25% in the last couple of weeks. Any involvement will also be for the oil, for the markets and for the people. Those who own everything we have and need of course.
Don't get me wrong, I also believe that it is sad that Libyans face shooting if they walk out of their houses and that bombs will be dropped on protesters but with direct foreign involvement, Libyans will become Iraqis with another name. The rebels are still strong and every day that passes more join the forces. I believe they can win, if we want to help, we should give them arms and medical supplies but no doctors unless asked and especially no soldiers. Libya doesn't want to be a colony again.

Elsewhere in the Middle East the US is more influential. In Bahrain human rights groups are under threat, in Yemen the protesters are being attacked by police. The US is losing its grip on the region just as it wants to take troops out of Iraq, and while American democracy does seem to be winning, the new governments won't kowtow as easily.

Venturing into Racist Land.

I left the house to take a few photographs. I walked towards the old national police building, built in Franco's times it is imposing. The arquitecture is a colonial Spanish style, put into a lesser known colony of Spain, Catalonia, as a reminder of who we are and should be. Then I went to the medieval walls and St Martin's church belonging to the 12th century. It limited the jewish quarter, which was destroyed centuries ago when the jews were kicked out. Then I walked towards the Seu Vella [the old cathedral]. The streets underneath it are too small for more than one car at a time and they are shaded. Times have changed, now they are difficult to drive through and the shade is no longer a good thing. While before it would have served as a protection from the sun, now people are scared of walking through them. There are drugs and 'yonkees' in them.
Sure enough, the city centre changed 300 years ago, when the Castillians tore down the old one and converted the cathedral into military quarters. From then on we would live under their eyes, with the shadow of the best of the city, what made it important, turned into a watchdog's. Now the city centre's streets are wide and full of trees, modern. The old part became cheap, because nobody wanted to live there and the only people who could afford to were immigrants. People don't walk around here anymore. People are scared. I have always known that Spain was a racist country, this is one of the reasons why I moved. If you aren't Spainsh here, you are a second-class citizen. "Jobs should be given to Spanish first, then we can give what's left to the rest"- these aren't the words of a white power group, I heard these words from someone who I always thought was pretty tolerant. This is what happens when there are no jobs, for anyone. Even though immigrants are needed in Europe, because society is ageing, in small cities jobs are given to those you know, who tend to be friends from school, etc.
The thing is, Spain is such a mixed land that defining who is and isn't Spanish can't be done by merely looking. There are very dark people in the south, very white people in the north and a bit of everything in between.

The old section of Lleida is said to be that of immigrants because they are either predominantly black, jobless or both. At first I felt followed when walking around, but then I realized that it was stupid. Everyone goes to the same places, and I only felt threatened because people say its a bad area. They say this not because it is, I bet they've never been robbed and they haven't been insulted or anything. It's just that they are racist. This zone, with its 12th century buildings and potentially romantic small streets is bad because they live here. "They don't do anything", meaning they don't work. Likewise then, Spanish people who are from here don't do anything, because there are no jobs for them either. There simply aren't any jobs. Like everywhere, while the CEO's and directors pocket more than ever, the rest, all of us, have to make do with the remains. People die or starve because they can't afford what's going to be thrown out. Spanish people who are white hitherto lived in a priveleged situation, but they are starting to realize that there are no jobs and they blame the Roma, Africans, Arabs, etc. for no reason. How have they stopped you from getting a job? They are in fact in an even worse situation, because they are not 'Spanish'. It is even more unlikely for them to get jobs. You say they don't do anything? What should they do, protest? If they do they'll end up in the prison, or deported. Immigrants have less rights then the rest of people here in Spain and they are only allowed to obey. Moreover, immigrants aren't allowed to succeed. While poor immigrants are considered thieves, richer immigrants are called drugdealers, "because they aren't doctors".Spanish people cannot understand why immigrants recur to crime. The answer: we take away their dignity, give them no chances or opportunities and don't allow them to express themselves. We make them criminals.

I've heard people say that they don't want to fit in, but they can't. In Spain to fit in you have to be white. The underlying problem is reflected here: "before you could walk down the streets and you'd know everyone or at least recognize them"... There is this small town mentality in Lleida, Barcelona and all over Spain. Spanish want society to be like it was but it isn't. I'm sorry, the world has changed. It doesn't stop spinning. Immigrants cannot fit in to this small town mentality because they weren't here before. Spanish on the other hand, can't fit into this big world mentality because they aren't here either. They have to move on and recognize that immigration isn't a problem but an opportunity. We can all learn from each other but to do so we have to be able to accept reality: that we are all the same.
There are no jobs because the system is corrupt. The only people that matter in capitalism aren't important because they are Spanish but because they own Spanish people. In the 12th century society was feudal, in the 21st it has changed little. Serfs revolted then as we should now, but now there are more of us, each one of us different, but the same.

Spain Reverts to Fascism.

Fascism has bever been far off the maps in Spanish politics. For a long time the "Socialists" won elections by calling the right fascist, this time they've shown that they are no better. Both "Socialists" and the right are extremely similar in their politics. This shows that reformism, or the parliamentary way, doesn't work. The 'Popular Party' in Spain, the right-winged, actually descended from Franco - the Spanish Fascist dicatator in power for close to forty years- has done a lot of criticising in the last 8 years the "Socialists" have been in power, but at no point in time have they given any advice or said what they'd do. Zapatero [President] has asked the PP if they would like to help, many a time. He has said that the recession is the worst that has hit the country and for this reason both left and right should work together. The PP, more interested in votes and the subsequent money they'll get from having more MPs in the chamber, have said no again and again. And have not given any advice. What annoys me most is that people actually believe that the PP will know what to do, they believe that the leader has ideas which will improve the country's economy. I think that the PP has not said a thing because it's surprised that the Socialists are doing everything they would have done. A small minority has complained that the "Socialists" are doing the work for the PP, they are giving them extra time to fill in all the laws and resolutions possible to stuff the workers; a majority believes that we are in a recession and therefore must strain our belts.
On Thursday the government again showed its back to its voters and to the Spanish people. It demonstrated that it lost its marxist roots very long ago, and that it in fact could even erase the social part of its name. It put down more austerity measures, now against the unemployed they created. There will no longer be any sort of benefit for those unemployed indeffinetly. So after 3, 6, 12 months or whatever (In Spain it changes depending on the duration of someone's work) people will get no money. This isn't austerity, it is murder. People will die: gas is expensive, water is expensive, rent is expensive, food is expensive and people will now have no money. People aren't stupid. They associate the "Socialists" with unemployment, because they have not done anything to improve the economy, but have instead done everything the IMF has told them. People have not benefited. However, they are starting to look at the right instead of the left. The far left I mean: real marxism, revolutionary politics.

This recession was expected. It is part of the capitalist system. At regular intervals world economies collapse. This allows the richest to get rid of the competition, and swells the number of poor in the world. Recessions allow the rich to keep their hold, keep the money and stay in power. The IMF and the World Bank exist to keep this system 'working'. It will always give more money to the world's richest, because they are the maximum contributors of these two institutions.

In Spain the air controllers decided to go on strike. The union managed to get 90% of workers to call in for a mass sicky. Thus Spanish airports were left without anyone who could organize the runways. For 17 hours there have been practically no planes flying over the Spanish airspace, which is effectively shut down. They are striking about working conditions, their pay and the new austerity measures put in. Their strike is one for the whole of Spain, the union is going against the "Socialist" party it would normally support. The problem is that this strike has come in on the first day of a 5 day holiday. Perfect timing, I'd say. They have chosen the moment they are most needed. But it also means that the year's savings of many have gone down the drain. So most of those affected are indignant. There have been no complaints so far at aeroports because people understand, but people also want a holiday. This is the reason the Spanish government has used to call in the military. The left-wing government have allowed the army to take the jobs of those brave workers striking and they have warned them that if they are still striking by 7pm, they will be arrested. For striking, legally, workers will be imprisoned. People will be imprisoned because they are defending their rights. I hope that this is the 'gota que colma el vaso' [the drop that makes the vessel fall]. It is about time that the Spanish workers go out onto the streets in solidarity. This 'recession' has only enriched the bankers. Subsidies have been given to companies. Money has been given to CEOs, I mean. Workers have been shat on. They have lost their jobs, they have no pensions and will have no unemployment benefit. Meanwhile the government is giving the military power. Soon they will be told to take over local councils and regional governments, and when workers start demonstrating, the government will tell them to shoot the country's citizens. After all, aren't there too many? This government hides itself behing a friendly mask, but it was payed for by the banks and by those old rulers.

This government has shown that it is undemocratic. Soon the military will take over again, explictly. Implicitly they've had power for 500 years. The fascists called Spain 'Una, Grande y Libre' [One, Strong and Free]. It wasn't then nor is it now.