Protests and unemployment

Time for another small rant about things in Spain.

I try to follow the news in Spanish newspapers, and things are, as usual, bad. The latest report, from today, is saying that around 6.2 million people are currently unemployed in Spain. From the active population (people searching for a job or working), that represents around 27%.

This is retarded. I mean, the government is showing that they cannot do shit. The old government was exactly the same. Aleix Saló explained the problem very well in his last video, but it's still surprising how stupid and useless they can be.

Spain needs to make it easier to create companies and to make contracts. Last reforms only made it easier to fire people. Again, this is a faulty logic. The idea is that companies that do bad could fire more people so they get better. The problem is that said companies usually depend on people buying their stuff. That same people who do not have jobs any more. Ergo, you're just making the problem worse, not better.

Latest reports are also showing that the whole idea being followed against the crisis (to reduce public debt) does not work, and it was based in faulty studies. An important economist is explaining something quite evident and basic: countries in crisis have big debts because of the crisis, not the other way around. Things will not get worse just because your country has debt.  It's because things are getting worse that companies are closing, work-related taxes are not paid and the country has less money overall, thus increasing the debt.

Anyway, I'd like to talk about a form of protest that is lately happening in Spain, the "Escrache". This type of protest consists on bringing the protest to the house of the persons responsible for the problems. So, instead of making a demonstration in some central square, you do it in front of a member of parliament, explaining that their ideas are doing bad stuff, and trying to convince them to change their opinion and talk about it.

The main organizers of this type of protest are the people affected by the lack of consumer protection that Spain has regarding mortgages. The European union has already said that the Spanish legislation regarding mortgages is unfair and not compatible with European law. The current government has ignored this and hundreds of people are kicked out of their houses daily.

These people have started to organise themselves, to prevent police from removing them from their houses, and they have presented to the parliament a petition to eliminate the debt after giving the house. Basically, with Spanish laws, it's not enough with being kicked out, you still need to pay whatever you owe to the bank, minus the house price. These people are saying to modify that, so at least, if you give the house, your debt is cancelled. This is already done in other countries, but not in Spain. Besides, in Spain the bank has all the rights when executing these agreements, and the consumers have almost none.

These people presented this idea to parliament, and the ruling party has ignored it completely. So, these people have started going to the houses of the parliament members, to tell them and their families, in person, that not having a house is a big problem and to reconsider their vote.

The ruling parties (several of them) has started to scream that this is an outrage, this is antidemocratic, it's pure terrorism, and things like that. They have concentrated attacks towards Ada Colau, a spokesperson for the affected, as if she's their leader or something  when she's  only a spokesperson. They're following the traditional attacks against other parties, in a situation that doesn't fit, and it's confusing them, making them even more moronic.

This "Escrache" brings in me opposed feelings. They have a point when they say it's not very democratic. After all, if 100 people protesting in front of your home could change the opinion of a government, it would not seem fair. It's the majority of people the ones who would be able to change your opinion, not a few that  just happen to know where you live and go there to protest. They are free to do so, but if they could change politics like that, it could be abused. It should also be pointed out that they have been very pacific so far, and therefore considering them violent or "terrorism" is stupid.

However, this would be true in a true democracy, where the government actually tries to check what people want (with polls and referendums and votes), and tries to correct their policies to match the opinion of the majority of the population. Spain is not like that at all. In the newspapers it has been proved already that the current government accepted more money than what's legal from big companies, specially banks. The same banks that are rescued, protected, and have special laws that defend them and strip their customers of rights. These payments have been distributed among the leaders of the ruling party, and have not been declared. They are clearly illegal, and represent the fact that big companies are asking for favours to the government, which does what the big companies tell them. Last government probably did the same, it's just the evidence has not surfaced yet.

In this situation, where the big companies, a minority, is actually controlling the government, I think Escraches are the only possible protest. When you live in a dictatorship, the ethical thing to do is to overthrown the dictator. You cannot expect to do it nicely and legally, since the laws are imposed by unethical bastards who need to be kicked out.

If you are ruling only for your rich friends, dictator style, you need to be pointed out in the street and be told you're a bastard. And if (or when) somebody gets too tired of living in misery and poverty because of you and instead of killing themselves they just shoot you in the face, you will have it coming.....