In Madrid's Sol Square: Will the 'Spanish Revolution' achieve anything?
| 22:22 UK time, Wednesday, 25 May 2011
It has spread to become a nationwide movement, as broad - in aims at least - as it was sudden. No-one expects the Spanish revolution.
When do they want it? Now. What do they want? Well, it depends you ask; that's the main reason World Have Your Say are here in Madrid's Sol Square, where the protests began to turn into a full camp that fills the entireity of the area.
What is here now is part market, part peace march, part Glastonbury-in-the-sun. As well as the tents and the peace zones, there is a library, a creche and a massage area. The Spanish middle class want a different future too.
By a fountain there is a large effigy made out of coathangers and a vacuum cleaner. A Scarecrow For The Bankers, it says; Stay Away.
But other people here say it is about more than that. Next to the photo is the biggest banner around; written in English, it says People Of Europe, Rise Up.
Many of the Spaniards here feel particularly frustrated because it is "their" party that has been in power as the unemployment rates increased. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist party were swept in power not long after the Atocha train bombings here in Madrid in 2004 and have been in charge ever since.
Feeling let down by the leftist party but not wanting to vote for the right, a number of protesters have been expressing frustration with Spanish politics altogether.
"We blame all politicians - and especially the political system, a pseudo-democracy that long time ago distanced itself from the people - and banks for our precarious situation," says Laura, who has been travelling in to Sol Square every day since the protests began.
But despite the appearance of cardboard cutout amateurism and placard ideology, the protesters are not naive. They have official spokespeople - and you can only become one of those once you have received a course of media training.
There was one final twist I noted as I left the square tonight. Even at 10.30 pm, the place was heavily hot - and to cool down, some men are doing brisk business selling cans of soda and beer to the protesters.
The identity of these men? They are low-paid South American immigrants - the very ones some Spanish people blame the high unemployment on in the first place.
What do you think of the "Spanish revolution"? What is it about for you? And do you think it is likely to change anything?
