thebadrash.com
25Jan/120

Freedom for Francisco Camps! Death to Garzón!

Francisco Camps, former PP president of the Valencian autonomous community was today acquitted of corruption after a witch-hunt in Valencia's courts that has lasted nearly three years. The put-upon ex local party leader was ruled not guilty in a near-unanimous verdict of 5-4 by a jury this evening, after 15 hours deliberation. Today's events bring to an end what has been a living nightmare for Camps, whose innocence we never doubted. Last year, he nearly pleaded guilty to the corruption charges just to end this farce of a kangaroo court; but on second thoughts (and after his two friends pleaded guilty that morning), he changed his mind and valiantly fought on. For justice, for liberty, for free gifts that definitely didn't affect his decision making skills.

The devil behind this horror story of a near travesty of justice is none other than Baltasar Garzón, the crusading Marxist-Leninist investigative judge, famed for his collection of anti-PP tattoos. Camps will no doubt find some solace in the fact that Garzón remains on trial himself, for having the temerity to investigate the deaths of a paltry 114,000 people during Spain's "long transition" (1939-1978). It's a shame that Mañuel Fraga didn't live to see the verdict delivered.

"Quin país de merda, tú!" - a traditional saying from Cerdanyola which roughly translates as "Freedom for Francisco Camps! Death to Garzón!".

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13Jan/123

Catalan fascists PxC: Immigrant kids want all the sweets

It wouldn't be a 'traditional' time of year without the Catalan fascist Plataforma Per Catalunya party making an absurd racist statement on Facebook. This year's Reis (Kings' day, in which Catalans celebrate the arrival of the wise men at the end of the Christmas season - the kings throw boiled sweets from their floats, always eagerly and boisterously collected by local kids of all ages) has seen an extra special bit of gibberish published, courtesy of one Jordi Casanova* of Tortosa.

In a post entitled "IMMIGRANT INVASION AT THE KINGS' PROCESSION IN TORTOSA" (his caps), Casanova observes how yet another tradition has been ruined by immigrants. He writes:

INDIGNANT over what I saw at the Kings' procession in Tortosa. A swarm ['eixam' - I think 'swarm' is best, but you could almost use 'plague'] of immigrant children - mainly moros [Moroccans - kind of like saying 'Pakis' for Pakistanis in England] - interrupted the collection of sweets thrown from the kings' floats to the point of putting at risk our children's physical safety due to the savagery and brutality they displayed while trying to get all the sweets. What - if it can be known [sic] - are these moros doing to our traditions?

(My apologies for a slightly dodgy translation).

What follows is a charming discussion between Casanova and some of his acolytes. Among the first comments:

Raquel Iseres: Gum sweets are normally made with animal gelatin, often from pigs. We need to spread the word about this so they realise they've been eating pork without knowing it.

Mayka Miras González: What a shame they didn't die from eating so many sweets, the scum.

Now, I know it's easy to point out the failings of fascist diatribe, or the inanity of Facebook comments. But seeing Mayka Miras González saying she wished some little kids were dead, makes me really angry.

Happy new year to you, too. Let's support smashing the PxC in 2012.

PxC on Facebook

__

*It is really a cruel twist of fate that a man named Casanova should be quite so... lacking when it comes to physical beauty. Kind of like Lord Adonis.

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20Nov/112

UPDATED: 2011 Spain election results live #20N

Spain election result: The right wing PP (Partido Popular) has won a massive victory in Spain's general elections today. They have achieved an absolute majority, as well as controlling all of the regions of Spain except Catalonia and Euskadi (Basque Country).

Live updates below.

21:53 - With 67% of the vote counted, the PP has 187 seats for the PSOE's 109.
In Catalonia, CiU looks like it could beat the PSC.

20:28 - Andalucia is the most important victory for the PP. They've achieved more voted there than the PSOE for the first time ever. The PSOE has lost about 10 seats in Andalucia. This is one of the poorest regions in Spain and many PSOE voters feel they have been forgotten about by the Madrid government.

20:23 - The Socialist PSOE has dropped by 14 points in Spain ('2 million votes') whereas the PP has increased its share of the vote by only 3.5 points. The PP will govern not because they've been chosen by a plurality but because the Socialist vote has withered so seriously.

Today's elections in Spain will probably result in a significant PP victory. I'll be updating this post from time to time with tasty morsels of doom. I'll probably find some sort of widget to help me out too. My last blog post, about who will win Spain's elections, why, and what that means, can be read here.

20:00 - First exit poll results: The PP has a clear absolute majority in Spain's elections with up to 185 seats. The PSOE is down to 119.

In Catalonia: the PSC leads, followed by CiU and then the PP. The results here are not surprising: the PP has failed to overtake CiU or PSC. Iniciativa (Green/Communist) has done well. ERC maintains 3 seats. UPyD and fascist PxC have failed to win any seats.

19:44 - IMPORTANT: until 2000 (8 pm), the Spanish government prohibits actual results of the elections being reported. So we have to wait just over 15 minutes for first results.

19:30 - TV3 is also reporting that the cost of this year's elections is 6% below 2008's. Austerity in action.

19:00 - Catalonia 'leads the decline in turnout' according to TV3. They always find a way for Catalonia to be ahead of Spain.

18:30 - Voter turnout is down 3.3 points on 2008. This will likely benefit the right (PP).

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19Nov/116

Spain elections: the view from the edge of the precipice

Mariano Rajoy's PP will win tomorrow's general elections in Spain. The size of the majority it achieves will shape Spanish and Catalan politics for the next few years.

The prospect of seeing the PP in power again after 8 years is not a happy one. While I'm no fan of the PSOE (I think I called them 'the very worst party in Spain' at one point, though I can't find a link), my suspicion is that before long many who loathe the Socialists will remember how much more they loathed the PP last time they governed.

In Barcelona, the general mood seems to be one of totally ignoring these elections. After a swing to the right in recent Catalan and city hall elections, most people here seem to be trying to avoid thinking about having the PP in government. My prediction is that the turnout will be very low.

It is once the PP take over government (in a few weeks' time, according to Spanish electoral law) that the dread will really set in. This is a party running for office in a country on the verge of massive economic disaster which has failed to express any coherent economic policies whatsoever. Their posters include slogans like "Primero, el Empleo" (Jobs First) but their policies will doubtless be savage cuts and successive rounds of redundancies and privatisation.

At the same time, it looks increasingly possible that Spain could be forced into needing a bailout from the European Central Bank or the IMF. I say 'forced' because categorcially, this does not need to happen. The pressure being applied to successive European countries is organised, focused and has at its core the aim to destroy the Euro. Politically, I'm no great fan of the EU. But forcing Spain's exit from the Euro along with other countries in 2012 could threaten the very existence of the EU. I'd rather try to make it better for people.

In Catalonia, there are already some hints that the PP might try to buy an end to the Linguistic Immersion education policy with a fairer share of tax revenues. CiU, craven demagogues that they are, may well go for this. I worry too that fascist groups like 'Plataforma Per Catalunya' (Catalan fascists whose electoral pamphlets are seemingly only published in Castilian Spanish), may win a seat or two.

Finally, I expect this PP government to be faced with huge protests and strikes. One of the many problems with a PSOE government pushing through neo-liberal policies was the failure of the unions to properly challenge them. Now that the PP will be in government, there will be more inclination on the part of unions and workers to fight back. The Indignats (which inspired the Occupy movement in the USA) will also probably fight back harder: I'll bet that more than a few Indignats have voted PSOE in the past and will do again, but that basically none of them are PP supporters. Also, the harder left wing party Izquierda Unida might fare better at the polls this year than for the last decade or so: they may be able to use this to force a more left wing opposition.

So here we are on the edge of a precipice, you and me. We face the prospect of a government which will not have won on merit but by default, with no policies for saving Spain's economy, but hopefully with broad opposition from a curiously revitalised left. People might not be interested in these elections but the next four years will be anything but boring.

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25Oct/115

thebadrash.com and branching out

Hello there! Long time, no see!

Over the years, this blog has evolved. At first I shared links (that's what blogs used to be for), talked about books and music, and explored some of my innocent ideas about politics. Some time after March 2004, I felt inexorably drawn into the debate on Catalan language policy and the Catalan national question in general. And we've had some fun debates here. Who could forget the heady days of the Spain Herald folding, and Iberian Notes closing down? Or the excellent response I got to my 'Some questions...' posts?

The problem was that whenever I wrote about other topics - books, music, links, food, travel, etc - I'd get hardly any response at all. Which is pretty frustrating because of all the topics I ever write about, Catalan independence is... well, it's not the one that interests me the most.

Over the last few months, I've been toying with different solutions to this problem. I decided that I'd either rebrand this blog and try to branch out into other topics of discussion, or I'd keep thebadrash.com for Catalan politics and related topics and start another blog for stuff that everyone else in the world is interested in. I've gone for the latter option.

tombcn.com is my new 'homepage'. It'll be about just about any topic I can think of, except Catalan and Spanish politics. It needs some design and lots more content but it's fresh and new and exciting*. Look, it already has a short post about Martiniquan jazz!

Meanwhile, I do intend to update this place from time to time. Però, poc.

See you at the other place. Until then, adéu siau!

____

*OK that's pushing it a bit.

Visit my new blog, tombcn.com for my articles about travel, books, food and music

24Sep/115

Some thoughts about San Francisco, California

I've been in San Francisco since last Saturday and I leave this today. It's a short visit and work-related but as my first visit to the USA, I thought I'd jot down some thoughts.

The City

It's a pleasant place. No one would say that the city itself is particularly beautiful (the towers of the financial district are particularly foul) but its surrounding geography is gorgeous, as are the portals that link the City with the outside: the Bay and the Golden Gate bridges. SF sums up that late 20th century ideal of a business-oriented city with a sporty, arty, foody vibe. It's kind of like Sydney, or at least that's the place it most reminds me of. The difference is that SF is apparently fed by new technologies while Sydney banks the wealth obtained in vast mines.

Earthquakes

San Franciscans do not enjoy jokes about earthquakes. Or even jokey remarks. Many people here seem to be expecting the Big One which, depending on how big it is, could realistically destroy the whole place. It's "long overdue" but I hope that it never strikes, at least not while there are people living here.

Food and Beverages

San Francisco considers itself to be something of a 'foody' city. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I didn't get to eat at Boulevard, just up the road from my hotel because I couldn't get anyone to come with me. Likewise, the French Laundry, out in Napa. Most of what I did eat here (a couple of gourmet hamburgers, some Thai curry, a couple of traditional brasserie dinners, Chinese - twice) was very good and quite affordable. The local beer scene is lively and tasty, and even the city's standard brew - Anchor Steam - is pretty good. I really enjoyed Napa Smith's Organic IPA, with which the hotel cunningly stocked my room's minibar. I didn't get to try much local wine but I enjoyed a Conn Creek cabernet sauvignon (2008, I think), over a couple of nights.

Districts

I stayed at the Harbor Court hotel, on the embarcadero (old port). It's close to our US office and so was pretty convenient for work. This is quite a touristy area, but it's at the bottom of the financial district, which is where I found an Apple Store kind enough to sell me an iPad (over €100 cheaper than in Europe). Chinatown is fun, but I suspect it would have been a lot more fun 30 years ago. The Mission is my favorite district. It's traditionally a latino neighborhood and has also played host to a range of great restaurants, galleries, bars and stores for decades. We ate some pretty good Thai food here and I also had dinner with Chris Barr from Yahoo in a place called Grub. The meal there was good, but I was suffering slightly from the Korean kimchi burrito with hot sauce that I'd eaten for lunch. Also in the Mission is the Pirate Store, 826 Valencia Street. This is also the spiritual home of The Believer, my current favorite periodical (I'm going to keep pushing this until you all subscribe). The Pirate Store has all the supplies any pirate might need, from lard to fathoms and siren silencers. It's next door to a taxidermy store. These are two of the best shops I've ever been to. I didn't see much of the Castro, though we did drive through it.

Technology

My reason for visiting San Francisco should be evident to anyone with even an inkling of what I do for a living. As the world capital of 'new technologies', especially web services and mobile devices, it's at the center of my work day. Indeed, it was practically absurd that I hadn't visited before. But there you have it. People here frequently exchange tips and recommendations for apps, and more than in Barcelona or London (that I've seen at any rate), all decisions are predicated on the advice of an iPhone or Android device. I had kind of hoped there'd be some city-wide high-speed wireless offering but this wasn't the case. Facebook had a major event in town while I was here (in fact, I was supposed to be there bit due to a mix up, that didn't happen). The local newspapers often report corporate stories at Yahoo, Twitter, Apple and Google on their front pages. This is a city imbued with a technological optimism. I shudder to think what could happen to the industry if an earthquake really does strike. I suspect that this may be one factor that encourages some firms to prefer Palo Alto and other cities further away from the faultline. Well, that and taxes.

And now I must put my California-designed notebook away and check out of my hotel. I'm coming back to Catalonia. That's a great feeling.

There are a few photos from my visit on Google+ here. You don't need to be a member of Google+ to view them. But you should sign up anyway: it's a pretty good service.

Visit my new blog, tombcn.com for my articles about travel, books, food and music

10Sep/116

Radio FIP rules

One of the best things about the modern holiday is disconnection. Many of us spend our work days and nights tethered one way or another. So the holiday provides us with an old-fashioned life: we cook with gas, we suffer the small refrigerator (we still waste food, weirdly), we get our news from the papers or the radio, like in olden days.

This summer we spent a week in Brittany in July and a fortnight in Menorca in August. Neither house has television or internet.

The area around Josselin in Brittany is perfect for lazy cycling: the Nantes-Brest canal has lovely towpaths: I saw an otter on one bike ride, and only about two metres away too. We stayed in a village in the middle of nowhere, without street lights or other light pollution sources. We had two cloudless nights and had as good a view of the Milky Way as we'd had in ages. Loads of shooting stars too.

The three of us sat in the car bound for La Rochelle, but still in Brittany. Our car has a cassette deck for which we have a flimsy shop-bought device that also plugs into an iPod. Said device (the 4th we've bought) failed as soon as we departed. What this meant is that we discovered FIP radio. A radio station that plays Bach, then Gillespie, then JAE, then some country, then some funky shit, then tons more jazz. It took me hours back home to work out what station we'd been listening to.

FIP was a revelation. It still is. I know that tons of other people knew about it (particularly in Brighton) and this might seem like saying "I've discovered that I like air!". Like it ought to, FIP provides good archives of its playlist. Which is mostly great. I'm working on having the station play permanently on this site. I think it's only fair that I inflict this on as many people as possible.

In Menorca, we connected an Android phone to some speakers we bought and listened to FIP online. I listened to the World Service as I read my le Carré. We also listened to some Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. I like jazz, but don't really know enough about it. I always love Coltrane, Davis, Bird, Ornette, and I adore the old-timey stuff you can find on Spotify.

We also listened to a fair bit of Magnetic Fields, tons of Talking Heads, and the odd Stones or Royal Trux song when in need of rock.

Visit my new blog, tombcn.com for my articles about travel, books, food and music

8Sep/112

Like a haircut

I've got stuff to do, stuff to write, stuff to discuss. But rather than get on with that, here's a haircut of sorts. While I decide on whether or not I'll be rebranding this blog and retiring 'thebadrash' to millennia of purgatory. Have a nice diada on Sunday, by the way.

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Filed under: General 2 Comments
22Jul/111

thebadrash.com is on holiday

...not that you'd notice. We'll be in Cerdanyola, but also visiting some places here and there from time to time. Behave yourselves and try to enjoy this abysmal summer.

I'll leave you with this paean to Steven Segal, 'Stevie (for Steven S.)' by the ever wonderful Royal Trux.

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20Jul/113

Francisco Camps resigns Valencia presidency after admitting bribery

The PP president of Valencia, Francisco Camps, has finally resigned today [link in Catalan] after two years of outright lies in the Gürtel corruption case.

He started changing his story last week, after he said there 'was a chance' he received several suits and other items as gifts from companies involved in a huge corruption racket with the Valencian Generalitat. Today it became clear that Camps would 'admit' the charges of illegal bribery and pay a €46,000 fine - but avoid a trial which could take place during national elections in Spain this autumn. At first it seemed that he might also try to hold onto his office but that seems to have been ruled out either in Valencia or in Madrid.

Three other accused PP officials will also apparently admit the charges.

Did Rajoy finally pull his finger out and take control of the situation? Does Camps have dirt on lots of other PP members (as we have suspected for years)? Only time will tell: it will take one hell of a scandal to stop the PP winning this autumn. Bring it on.

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Filed under: Politics, PP, Spain 3 Comments
16Jul/112

Why some control of the press does not mean Hitler

Boing Boing is one of the most enjoyable blogs around. It combines silly shit with genuinely interesting shit in a format that people like me have loved for years. From time to time, editors of Boing Boing, respected as they are as media experts, get a chance to comment on current affairs on newspaper websites like that of The Guardian. This is cool because new media arseholes like myself yearn for old media recognition. Well, I don't. But the rest of them do.

So Cory Doctorow, the dude from Boing Boing, gets to write a column from time to time for The Guardian. Which is something I'd love to do (except for the rooting around in my private life, the tall poppy syndrome mentality and the likelihood of my words being twisted by some scumbag on a personal blog: kudos for avoiding comments on your column, Cory: that's the best way to stop dissent).

In his column, Doctorow celebrates the downfall of the News of the World because of its revolting tactics [it's the paper's attitude which was even more revolting as far as I'm concerned], but warns that such a case ought not be used to "rein in the press".

Doctorow, full of the fear of fascism, agonises:

For me, the phrase "the press is too powerful" is as chilling as "these elections are too time-consuming" or "this secret ballot is just a farce" or "due process is too expensive; we know who's guilty and who isn't." It is a contradiction in terms: for while it's possible for a particular company or cartel to be too powerful, the idea that the institution of the press is too powerful is Orwellian. If a media company grows too powerful, that generally means the press is not powerful enough: an all-eclipsing media empire blots out press freedom by monopolising distribution channels, distorting discourse and allying itself with this party or that in exchange for favours and (of course) more power. A powerful press is one built on vigorous, pluralistic debate, one that allows new voices to emerge and new points of view to be heard. The more diverse the press is, the more powerful it becomes.

 

Sadly, this is his response to suggestions that the press (that old dog we can't quite bring ourselves to shoot) ought not regulate itself, but that someone else should take a look at the whole mess and... sort shit out.

When I say "the press is too powerful", I do not mean, "there ought to be a commission what decides on what, how and why a newspaper reports a story". No, I mean to say: "the press, outside of its service of information to the people, and reporting important news and suchlike, ought not exert such power over Government that said Government is rendered entirely at the mercy of a foreign man hellbent on a personal crusade whose ideology is exactly that by which he became the most powerful media magnate in our history".

I hope the entire empire comes tumbling down.

Incidentally, England already has very attractive and lucrative libel laws. So Doctorow clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

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16Jun/1126

Catalan police use agents provocateurs in attempt to trigger riot

Numerous pieces of evidence have surfaced that seem to prove that the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's autonomous police force, used agents provocateurs during yesterday's #15M movement protests outside the Catalan parliament. The protesters had gathered in the parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona in an attempt to prevent MPs from accessing the parliament, where they were scheduled to vote in a raft of austerity measures and tax cuts.

The most complete video on YouTube (below) shows 'protesters' attempting to stir things up, then donning balaclava-style masks, before being escorted by police to safety, after they had been identified as troublemakers by other protesters. Equipped with hands-free devices, which might have been mobile phones or radios, the infiltrators seemed to be well organised.

This is, of course, an old tactic. Since time immemorial, police agents have attempted to trigger violence in otherwise peaceful protest movements in order to weaken popular support. With support from politicians and the media, it seems like the police have achieved their aim. The media, of course, is basically not reporting this news. The #15M movement insists that it does not support violent protest... indeed, in its Twitter feed yesterday, it pleaded with protesters to remain peaceful. A later protest at plaça Sant Jaume (seat of the Catalan government) proceeded entirely peacefully, which lends further credence to the protestors' claims. Meanwhile, the budget was approved without amendments, with some Catalan MPs forced to fly into the parliament with police and fire-rescue helicopters.

YouTube Preview Image

I think it's important that as many people as possible see this video... indeed, since last night, more than 100,000 people have watched it. Pass it on, as it's vital that popular support for the indignats isn't washed away on a lie.

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13Jun/110

Linksplash

Some of the stuff I've been reading/doing recently:

"Article is all wrong" - the Vietnam War remains a controversial topic for some, as this Wikipedia discussion illustrates

Babylon Falling - 60s counterculture, 90s hiphop, underground press - one of the best Tumblr sites I've seen in ages

Diaspora - this is the new Facebook, so they say. It's early days, and I have no friends on there, but it has potential

A Visit From The Goon Squad - Pulitzer prizewinner, entertaining novel by Jennifer Egan. It's about punk and time

Iran And The Bomb - by Seymour Hersh. The real enemy is Saudi Arabia

Menorca apartment reviews - summer vacation beckons

Visit my new blog, tombcn.com for my articles about travel, books, food and music

19May/1127

Protest Camp, Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona #acampadabcn

Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcnFood commission, Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcnDeclaration of protest, Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcnPlaça Catalunya #acampadabcn"We've lost our fear" Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcn"Plaça Tahrir" Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcn
Capitalisme a la mierda Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcnCCOO a la mierda Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcnTourists still able to enjoy Plaça Catalunya #acampadabcn

Protest Camp, Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona #acampadabcn, a set on Flickr.

I had the chance to spend a little time in the protest camp in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona today. I'm no good at estimating the size of crowds but there were many more people around today than there were yesterday. Here are some snaps I took with my phone.

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19May/1113

Spain: Youth in revolt?

Many people who live in Spain, as well as lots of observers outside the country, have been asking the same question for the last few months: where are the young people?

With youth unemployment as high as 46% and the PSOE ('Socialist') government using the economic crisis as an excuse to force through radical changes to the country's social framework, why weren't Spanish youths protesting on the street? The clues to the answer lay in the failure of September's general strike. Young people weren't interested. This lack of interest in officially organised and accepted methods of protest (the strike was organised by major trade unions, generally seen to be partners of the PSOE) wasn't the same as apathy, though it did initially appear similar.

The events of the last couple of days in Madrid, then, are heartening. Thousands of young people, using Facebook and Twitter to organise, converged on the capital's iconic Puerta del Sol square and protested against the lack of real democracy, the spending cuts, the incredibly high youth unemployment (higher than in many of the north African countries where revolutions were fuelled by similar complaints), new copyright laws, and much more. Hundreds have also camped out in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya, mingling with bemused tourists and surrounded by itchy-looking Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police with a reputation for enjoying beating-up students and anarchists). The protest camps are organised: popular commissions have been established to distribute information, food, blankets, legal advice.

The Spanish political establishment, focused only on this weekend's municipal elections, was taken by surprise. Its response has been telling: Barcelona city hall switched-off the city's webcam of Plaça Catalunya. Then the Junta Electoral, Spain's elections commission, noted that the protest camps would have to be cleared because they are in breach of Spain's electoral law. The PSOE (PSC in Catalonia) has tried to make it sound like they sympathise with the protestors, Barcelona's mayor bemoaning "international speculators and the damage they do" (the same speculators he sees it has his job to entice into our city). In Madrid, the police have moved to close access to the protest camp apparently in preparation to fulfill the Junta Electoral's controversial and unpopular judgement.

What will happen over the weekend remains unclear. It is likely that the police will attempt to clear both camps. If they only clear Madrid's, then Barcelona's might grow. Whatever happens, it would be wrong to continue to ask why Spain's youth has done nothing to oppose the country's corrupt politics. The kids are on the streets. And they want radical change.

Visit my new blog, tombcn.com for my articles about travel, books, food and music