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Case Study: 15M Movement/Real Democacy Now!
Overview
In early 2011, Spain Unemployment rates were high - especially among youth (Varsavky, 2011), and housing prices increased a lot - together with the loss of jobs, this resulted in the foreclosure of many homes as people could not keep up with their mortgages. Not to mention, many people felt that they were in a way, “owned” by the banks as they would be in debt to the bank if their home (or any real estate for that matter) “sold for [less] the loan amount" (Varsavky, 2011). Finally, the way in which politicians addressed, and the government handled, these problems left many people annoyed (Varsavsky, 2011). They were angry because of unfair treatment and because of the widespread corruption within the government that was becoming ever more apparent to the citizens of Spain (Elola, 2011). I will speak more of the political context later in the report.
The organization Democracia Real YA! (DRY), or in English, Real Democracy Now!, DRY was borne from the minds and ideas of Fabio Gándara, a 26 year old lawyer and two of his friends. Inspired by the movement in Iceland and the Arab Springs (Elola, 2011), they too wanted to see change by staging demonstrations. They decided on a date to stage the protest, May 15th 2011, and they came up with the hashtag “#15M” or “#15-M, ” which is symbolic of that date, for promotional purposes (they would later do this for other protest dates too). This hashtag caught on and it soon became the name for what would soon be called a “movement” as literally hours after the protest on May 15th took place, other demonstrations were borne. DRY had two main slogans that summed up their plight as an organization. The first being, “We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers,” and the second, “They call it democracy but it is not" (Egypt Independent, 2012).
During the three months of preparation leading up to the protest (and even moreso on and after that date), they garnered support from a number of people and other organizations throughout Spain, with different objectives but still supported their cause. According to Elola, “Youth Without A Future, the Association of the Unemployed, ADESORG, Don’t Vote for Them, and the ATTAC platform, platform for the Coordination of Groups for Citizen Mobilization,” members of the citizens’ movement State of Discontent, the Don’t Vote for Them platform, Oxfam and various bloggers such as Enrique Dans (2011). Finally, on the 15th of May, 2011, thousands of demonstrators took the street in support of DRY.
People that generally took part in the protest were said by many sources to be rather young (youths) however, based on what was being protested, for example the foreclosure of homes, it is safe to say that there was still an older presence there. People who were disappointed with the political system, the banks and those with the most money influencing the political realm/the government, those unemployed and having trouble finding work and those who owned homes that were foreclosed or currently own and have the threat of losing their home. It was suggested that over 80, 000 people took part in the protests on May 15th (Elola, 2011), spanning all over Spain in various public places (mainly plazas and squares), with the biggest protest happening in Plaza del Sol in Spain’s capital, Madrid.
Political Context
Spain is a parliamentary monarchy. The King of Spain is Juan Carlos I, and the current prime minister is Mariano Rajoy Brey of the People’s Party (Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the Socialist party was the prime minister during the prior to, and during the DRY’s protest) (BBC: UK, 2011). In Spain, there are two main parties that run in the general elections: “the center-right People's Party and the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party” (Varsavky, 2011).
The general elections took place on December of 2011, but the regional and local elections took place on May 23, 2012 days after the 15M movement began (BBC: UK, 2011). In both elections, there was a shift from left, to right.
Technology
This movement was thoroughly made possible by technology and the internet. Several forms of technology were used. These included computers (used mainly for internet usage, setting up websites, etc.); cell phones/smartphones for both internet use (which would enable the use of twitter, e-mail, facebook, etc.) and for making direct phone calls and instant messaging between individuals; recording devices (to capture video from the protest to be posted and shared with others online later, and also for live streaming purposes).
Through these outlets, mainly web platforms such as twitter and facebook (which can be controlled through both smartphones computers) were utilized for organizational purposes as well as a way of spreading the word to as many people as possible. Whereas, videos were mainly utilized after the protests had started, as a means of spreading the word and giving people a visual sense of what was going on, as was the case with their Ustream channel online (Varsavky, 2011) - not necessarily as a form of organization. DRY did however make a promotional video prior to May 15th titled, “# 15M | STREET TAKES | REAL DEMOCRACY NOW,” which was uploaded to Youtube (Democracia real YA!, 2011). For the most part, citizens of the younger generations seemed to be involved in its usage more so than the older generations however, the protests themselves hosted mixed crowds.
Outcome
Was DRY successful in achieving their ultimate goal? Not really. There have been no known changes that have made the government more transparent, nor have the mortgage rules changed. However, they have been successful in creating awareness for their cause, carrying out mass protests and organizing the mobilization of citizens - it was almost like an awakening of civic engagement that snowballed and bounced around to different organizations who used the example set by DRY as a blueprint for organizing their own protests (many of which DRY lent their support).
Yet, the movement continues with new protests having been held all over Spain by a number of groups including DRY. Since they orchestrated their first protest in May of 2011, DRY have organized and carried out protests other dates such as May 12, 2012 (#12M), and most recently October 13, 2012 (#13O)(Democracia real YA!, 2012).
Bibliography
BBC: UK. (2011). Spain: Socialists suffer heavy election losses. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13496038.
Beas. D. (2011). How Spain's 15-M movement is redefining politics. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/15/spain-15-m-movement-activism.
Democracia real YA!. (2011). #15M | TOMA LA CALLE | DEMOCRACIA REAL YA. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDP_CSrKRY&feature=plcp.
Democracia real YA!. (2012). Democracia real YA!’s Facebook Page. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/pages/DRY-Democracia-real-Ya/133019106835358.
Egypt Independent. (2012). More than protest: The story behind the Barcelona Congress clashes. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDP_CSrKRY&feature=plcp.
Elola, P. (2011). 15-M movement shakes the system. Retrieved from http://roarmag.org/2011/05/15-m-movement-shakes-system-el-pais-spanish-revolution/.
Varsavky, M. (2011). "Spanish Revolution" of 2011 Explained. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-varsavsky/spanish-revolution-of-201_b_867156.html.
Background
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Geographic and political data
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Application and Outcome
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Rationale: Spain was facing an economic crisis, and the citizens felt that decisions weren’t being made in their favor.
Objectives: Mainly for the people to garner more housing rights and for greater transparency within the government.
Target Audience: People of Spain and, more specifically the government and policy makers
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Geographic scope
Region: Various public spaces in a number of different cities throughout Spain; the biggest one, however was in Puerta del Sol
Country: Spain
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Types of Technology used WebHosting Platform
Social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, websites, instant messaging, ustream
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Time data
Ongoing:
Started on May 15, 2011 but is still ongoing. The latest protest organized by DRY was on October 13, 2012
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Country level indicators
Political regime: parliamentary monarchy[1]
Press freedom: index score of 9.75 (2011-2012)[2]
Internet penetration rate: 65.6%[3]
HDI: 0.878, ranked #23 in the world[4]
ICT Index: 6.62 (as of 2011)[5]
Education/literacy: >97% literacy rate[6]
Gini Coefficient: .30-.34
Others?
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Framing and Strategy
Motivational frame: Arab Springs and Iceland
Mobilization strategy: to stage a peaceful protest throughout Spain but most specifically, Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Spain
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Actor Data
Who is behind:
Demacracia Real YA! (DRY), or in English: Real Democracy Now!, a grassroots organization founded by a 26 year old lawyer and two of his friends
Who provides Support:
Many unions and other organization who were fighting for other causes and rights gave them their support in the months and days leading up to the protest
Funding
Other?
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Outcomes
Social change: greater civic engagement
Awareness: of corruption within the government and lack of housing rights
Mobilization: People are coming together in public places to stage protests
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[1] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sp.html
[2] http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html
[3] http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm
[4] http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/ESP.html
[5] http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/material/2012/MIS2012_without_Annex_4.pdf
[6] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/WorldMapLiteracy2011.png
Comments (1)
Becky Hillyer said
at 11:43 am on Nov 5, 2012
Hi Jenna,
This is definitely a good example of a citizen-driven mobilization effort, which utilizes ICT's. My only concern is that I feel your report is not quite detailed enough. You described the ways in which ICT's were utilized to bring people together for a protest, but you didn't explain the protest itself at all. Who actually attended the protest? How wide-spread was the movement? Why do you feel the protest was not particularly successful? Please try to answer these questions more clearly in future variations of the project.
This definitely has the potential to be a great case study, with a bit more attention to detail. Thanks Jenna!
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