Spanish Youths Take to the Streets

[Ben Kenobi]

I like how this is patently obvious.

Don't tell him to run his business!

[C0ckney]

I don't think thess kids demonstrating are construction workers, they are educated middle class people who want middle class jobs.

when nearly 1/2 of young people don't have work, i would say that it affects all sections of society. it's not just middle class kids who feel like they don't have a future. what will happen is many of these people will leave, and it will the educated middle class kids who will leave first because their skills will be more in demand in other countries. i don't see how this can be good for spain.

You shouldn't minimize some cases of endemic lazyness in Spain (like the food stamps people in the USA, or some peronists in Argentina) people who are used to only working during the tourism season, and then resting for half of the year getting the unemployment subsidy. Or the PER in Andalucia. If i recall correctly, in the north unemployment is below 10%, only in the southern half it is a disaster.

i don't see any evidence that young people in spain are lazier than young people in other countries. this is a nothing argument.

also you don't recall correctly, here are some figures for catalonia, which show that the unemployment situation is slightly better than average, but only by about 2%.

[VetLegion]

I'm with Barnabas here. I think many of these youths are spoiled. The same
phenomenon is visible in Greece and similar countries. Young people go get
their university degree, they take ages to get it, but afterwards they feel
entitled to a good paying job. Most of those degrees are in law, economics,
comparative philosophy, philosophical comparison and interstellar travel. Not
in great demand in best of times.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The satire on display in this thread is delicious. You really should expand this skit, suggesting that getting off your arse and protesting for the right to work in a job is a symptom of laziness, and turn it into a full-length comedy.

[VetLegion]

I propose that south-European youth are much less realistic than north-European youth.
This is because of several different factors at play. One very important factor is that
northerners get kicked out of home early, when about 20 or so, while southerners nowadays
tend to live with (and off) their parents till they're 30 on average. Also, most families in
the south have some sort of rent income, whether from government transfers or simply
from position. It is not uncommon for southern families to have several apartments in
possession and rent them to tourists during the summer. Even families who don't own
something directly get some spillover from this rent economy which raises their income
above their productivity.

[C0ckney]

in a hilarious twist the electoral commission succeeded in getting the protests banned in time for sunday's elections, because of fears that protests about the terrible job the government is doing might affect the results of the the elections. you really couldn't make it up.

the protesters though have stuck two fingers up to this bull**** move and the protests continue.

Spain: Protesters defy ban with anti-government rallies

Thousands of people have taken part in protests across Spain's main cities, defying a government ban on political protest ahead of local elections.

In Madrid, some 25,000 protesters occupied a main square. Others gathered in Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.

The protesters are angry with the government's economic policies and the country's high youth unemployment rate.

Spain's electoral commission had ordered those camped out in Madrid to leave ahead of Sunday's elections.

But, as the ban came into effect at midnight, the crowds started cheering and police did not move in.

The protest began six days ago in Madrid's Puerta del Sol as a spontaneous sit-in by young Spaniards frustrated at 45% youth unemployment.

The crowd camping out in the square overnight grew and the protest has spread to other cities across the country.

According to Spanish news agency, Efe, a total of some 60,000 protesters has gathered across Spain, in Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao as well as the capital.

The protesters, dubbed "los indignados" [the indignant], are demanding jobs, better living standards, a fairer system of democracy and changes to the Socialist government's austerity plans.

"They want to leave us without public health, without public education, half of our youth is unemployed, they have risen the age of our retirement as well," said protester Natividad Garcia.

"This is an absolute attack on what little state welfare we had."

Protest growing

Another protester said she was taking part because she had no employment prospects despite having a degree.

"This should make the political classes aware that something is not right," said 25-year-old Inma Moreno.

Many of the participants have drawn parallels between their actions and the pro-democracy protests in central Cairo that revolutionised Egypt.

Political rallies are banned under Spanish law on the day before elections to allow for a "day of reflection" - a ruling which was upheld by the electoral commission.

Some protesters had said they feared a police crackdown, but Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the police were "not going to resolve one problem by creating another".

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The protesters' demands, pasted up all over Puerta del Sol, are impossible to ignore”

As the midnight deadline to disperse approached, many of the protesters wore tape over their mouths to imply they felt they were being prevented from speaking.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in Madrid, said there was a moment's silence as the ban came into effect, before the square erupted in jeers, cheers and chanting.

Police were on the scene but did not intervene and the outdoor sit-in appears to be growing rather than ending, says our correspondent.

What started as a spontaneous movement now looks like it could be here to stay for some time, she says.

Spain's 21.3% unemployment rate is the highest in the EU - a record 4.9 million are jobless, many of them young people.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has expressed some sympathy for the protesters, noting their "peaceful manner".

"My obligation is to listen, be sensitive, try to give an answer from the government so that we can recover the economy and employment as soon as possible," he told radio Cadena Ser.

However, his Socialist government is expected to fare badly in Sunday's local and regional elections.

[Fake Boris]

I propose that south-European youth are much less realistic than north-European youth.
This is because of several different factors at play. One very important factor is that
northerners get kicked out of home early, when about 20 or so, while southerners nowadays
tend to live with (and off) their parents till they're 30 on average. Also, most families in
the south have some sort of rent income, whether from government transfers or simply
from position. It is not uncommon for southern families to have several apartments in
possession and rent them to tourists during the summer. Even families who don't own
something directly get some spillover from this rent economy which raises their income
above their productivity.

Yes, renting an apartment summer months is such an interesting alternative to having a real job and occupy it year long.

[VetLegion]

So what is your explanation for 40% unemployment among the youth?

[C0ckney]

what's yours vet?

[Fake Boris]

How about you go to Spain and try to find a job VL?

[Fake Boris]

VetLegion must think that the Slacker Conspiracy gathered and decided to resign their jobs to extort the government's money.

[giblets]

Recessions are caused by cyclical epidemics of laziness.

[DanS]

Spain has a lot of labor rigidity problems. Companies are reluctant to hire because they cannot fire people without paying a large amount of compensation. Also, some employees game the system, where they work only long enough to become entitled to unemployment. There apparently is not much difference money-wise between working and collecting unemployment. Employers see this happen and are not eager to hire in these kinds of conditions. Then, of course, the general economic condition stinks.

I imagine that these protestors won't like the cure to the disease, but it's tough to say. They don't seem to have a clear platform of opinions.

[DanS]

VL says that most Southern Europeans live at home with parents until later in life. I can confirm this. But is it true that most Northern Europeans don't live with their parents through early adulthood?

[Fake Boris]

People wouldn't work long enough just to get the unemployment if the jobs were actually decent.

Then again, you've got to start somewhere.