dagblog - Comments for "Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings"

Meanwhile, in the Spanish

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:51:55 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

Meanwhile, in the Spanish periphery...
By Tracy Alloway,Financial Times Alphaville blog, May 23 09:42.
....The FT reports on Monday that initial results from the weekend’s Spanish regional elections show hefty losses for the ruling Socialist party — with the right-wing opposition making inroads into towns run by the Socialists since the 1970s....
Citigroup’s Michael Saunders, for instance, warned before the elections....
...For example, while attention is now grabbed by the regional deficits, we believe that the dynamic in the social security system is also crucial....
Don’t say we didn’t warn you market participants might think this way.
When it comes to debt and austerity, tension between Spain’s central government and its regions has been rising in recent months....
That might be worrying enough, but Nomura’s Laurent Bilke points to tension of a different sort....
Spain’s political situation is getting traction by the market....

The results of the election

David Seaton — Mon, 23 May 2011 06:11:50 +0000

In reply to Stop worrying ArtA, the

The results of the election were exactly what the polls projected: the 15-M Movement appears to have had no affect on the voting... Whether this movement consolidates into something meaningful remains to be seen.

The Socialists got trounced because they applied neoliberal recipes and their voters deserted them, preferring the original to an imitation (Democrats take note).

And yes, Spaniards still have their happy families, because if they didn't, with those levels of unemployment, the 15-M Movement would have been violent, not Gandhian. The United States could certainly benefit by studying the stability of Spanish society under stress.

As to bullfighting, the Mexican bullfighter, Ignacio Garibay, got gored badly in Madrid yesterday by a bull from the ranch of Pablo Romero that weighed 672 kgs. (nice Hemingway touch, nu?)

Stop worrying ArtA, the

quinn esq — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:36:57 +0000

In reply to Socialists lose BIG TIME and

Stop worrying ArtA, the Spanish have their families, their happy happy families, and 21%-41% unemployment, complete fiscal collapse and political corruption matter not a whit to our beloved commentator on Spanish politics, who can see no ill at home, and no good abroad.

Oh yeah. And bull-fighting = GOOD!

Socialists lose BIG TIME and

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:10:41 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

Socialists lose BIG TIME and the protests are continuing:

The Atlantic Wire: Ruling Spanish Socialist Party Suffers Worst Defeat in 30 Years

Deutche Welle: Spain's ruling Socialists suffer election losses as protests rumble on

Reuters: Spain's ruling socialists crushed in local elections as mass public protests continue

The Austrailian: Spain's ruling Socialist party reeling from weak outcome at local elections

AP: Spain's Socialists trounced amid economic woes

BBC: Spanish socialists suffer heavy election losses

New York Times: Spain's Governing Party Suffers Heavy Losses

Xinhua: Spanish Socialist party suffers crushing defeat in local and regional elections

Bloomberg: Zapatero’s Socialists Routed as People’s Party Takes 38% of Vote in Spain

Zapatero as quoted in several of the above: The results of the vote show that the Socialist Party has clearly lost today's elections. We have suffered a broad setback compared to four years ago.

Latest results and

David Seaton — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:59:46 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

Latest results and projections are coming in at 9PM Madrid time. These results, with a normally high turn out are exactly what the opinion polls have all been predicting for weeks... Sooooooooooo, I would say that the protests have had little or no effect on the election at all... Much ado about nothing, I'm afraid. What the long term effect they may have on this generation remains to be seen... at this point we can only say that a fine time was had by all.

Right now, interesting news

David Seaton — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:46:14 +0000

In reply to Good to see you writing about

Right now, interesting news at 1:40PM Madrid time.... The voting in working class neighborhoods in higher than normal and lower in middle class neighborhoods. This goes against normal trends, as middle and upper class people, usually get up early on election day Sundays, go to mass, leave mass, vote and than buy their lunch baguette and then meet friends in a tapas bar for an aperitif. Most of their heavy voting is over by early morning... so this figure of low early turnout in their neighborhoods may prove significant.

Sorry Stars, this article by

David Seaton — Sun, 22 May 2011 11:41:12 +0000

In reply to You DO seem to be writing

Sorry Stars, this article by Pablo Ouziel is bullshit. Spanish people, excepting the fascist element, given half the chance, are the most moderate, family obsessed, don't put their nose in other people's business, people in the world. To know this is to know how bad things were in the 1920s and 30s to get a civil war going. They have come out in force every time that democracy was in danger after the death of Franco, but generally they live their lives in their families and their circle of inlaws and friends. The idea that Spain is very "dramatic" is a 19th century romantic, cuasi-orientalist idea. If you want to know what Spanish people of today are really like, study their national soccer team.

Good to see you writing about

artappraiser — Sat, 21 May 2011 23:44:18 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

Good to see you writing about a country you actually know.

Edit to add: look forward to some "after the vote" opinion, even if I don't agree with it.

You DO seem to be writing

we are stardust — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:57:55 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

You DO seem to be writing about it, but...

I put this Pablo Ouziel piece up a few days ago; Spain's Tahrir Square. Favorite graph:

"Spain is finally re-embracing its radical past, its popular movements, its anarcho-syndicalist traditions and its republican dreams. Crushed by Generalissimo Francisco Franco seventy years ago, it seemed that Spanish popular culture would never recover from the void left by a rightwing dictatorship, which exterminated anyone with a dissenting voice; but the 15th of May 2011, is the reminder to those in power that Spanish direct democracy is still alive and has finally awaken."

I forgot to thank you for

Richard Day — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:28:35 +0000

In reply to Updated: Protests in Spain: waiting till the fat lady sings

I forgot to thank you for this.

You are our Spanish correspondent!

Good job!