When a new Spanish protest movement spearheaded by young people began calling for far-reaching changes in the Western political and economic system, many people dismissed it with a scornful smile, according to dpa. The movement was overly idealistic, heterogeneous, without clear ideas or leaders, critics argued. Two-and-a-half months on, however, the movement is being taken more seriously as it has started having a concrete impact on Spanish politics. The government is taking decisions in line with some of the movement's demands, politicians are adopting its language, and even bankers are beginning to lend an ear to the protesters. "We are living through times comparable to the (1930s) Great Depression," sociology professor Jose Felix Tezanos said. "The system has to change throughout, and the Indignant Ones have taken the first step," Tezanos told the daily El Pais. The Indignant Ones is a name for the movement also known as 15-M, in a reference to the date of May 15, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to vent their anger and frustration. Those feelings are the driving force of the movement in Spain, where the 21 per cent unemployment rate is the eurozone's highest, 45 per cent of people between 16 and 25 have no jobs, and hundreds of thousands of people have lost or are in danger of losing their homes because of unpaid mortgages. The recent economic crisis plunged 800,000 more people into poverty between 2007 and 2010, according to the Catholic organization Caritas, which puts the number of poor people in Spain at nearly 10 million. The 15-M was launched by young internet activists, but it has drawn all sorts of people, ranging from the elderly to families with children and intellectuals. The movement has staged a string of protests with strong media impact, ranging from protest camps on city squares to rallies, one of which drew an estimated 35,000 people to Madrid recently. Hundreds of the protesters had walked hundreds of kilometres to the capital from points all over the country. They were fed and lodged by residents of villages along their route, in a reflection of widespread popular support for the movement. Nearly 80 per cent of Spaniards see the protests as being justified, according to one poll. "The economic crisis has revealed the problems" suffered by modern capitalism, said Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning US economist who attended a 15-M meeting in Madrid. "The experience of the past three decades shows us that there is a need for states to recover an important role and for markets to be regulated," Stiglitz told about 300 protesters at Madrid's Retiro park. Many thought the movement's neighbourhood assemblies would get bogged down in endless debates, but 15-M representatives recently handed over a document of proposals to parliament. The demands included an end to corruption, greater political and economic transparency, better public services and a system allowing citizens to participate more directly in politics. Increasingly conscious of the potential of the movement, Spanish politicians have begun taking it into account. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the Socialist Party candidate to succeed Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in the November 20 elections, pledged to make banks renounce a part of their profits to create employment. Banks also should not demand mortgage repayments "at the expense of people who are having a hard time" economically, Rubalcaba said. A few days earlier, the government had adopted measures increasing the financial protection of people unable to pay mortgages. There are also plans to increase the transparency of public finances, and to make it more difficult for politicians to take lucrative posts. The Indignant Ones have joined forces with campaigners targeting mortgage foreclosures, staging rallies in front of homes of people about to be evicted. Protesters have already prevented the expulsion of more than 60 families from their homes. Recently, however, the movement suffered a setback when Spain's Constitutional Court ruled that evictions over unpaid mortgages did not violate defaulters' right to decent housing. The movement blames the economic crisis largely on banks engaging in speculative practices. The mounting criticism is now forcing banks to "improve (their) image," in the words of Alfredo Saenz, chief executive officer of Banco Santander. Spain's biggest bank will now allow unemployed or impoverished people to delay their mortgage payments, making it possible for them to pay only the interest on the loans, Santander announced this week.
