Gary Younge of The Guardian was asking on Twitter today why there is no reaction in Spain against a youth unemployment figure of 43%? The responses he got varied from some typical "mañana" stereotyping to people suggesting that there are particular cultural factors which cushion to some extent the lack of employment opportunities for young people. The support of the family for example. Perhaps the submerged economy also has an influence. The problem I have with what could be called the Southern European cultural explanation is that just 10 days ago there was a huge demonstration in Lisbon by Portuguese youth. Now Portugal is not so dissimilar from Spain in terms of its culture, although it is a significantly less equal society.
I was thinking on similar lines to Younge when I was down in Madrid's Puerta del Sol yesterday watching the arrival of a demonstration called by Izquierda Unida against the government's cutbacks and in favour of a different economic policy. The demonstration was not a failure, there was a healthy enough turnout, but it was a long way from what happened in Lisbon. Despite claims to the contrary by the organisers it came nowhere near to filling the Puerta del Sol as I found myself with plenty of space from the position where I took the photograph of the speakers on the stage. That's a bit depressing, with everything that's happening you would have thought there would be more reaction.
Izquierda Unida doesn't seem to be attracting those voters who are disenchanted with Zapatero's administration, at least on the evidence of the polls. The trade unions, following their pact with Zapatero over the pension cutbacks, have effectively abandoned active protest for the rest of this parliament. There's no shortage of people who will tell you that they would have protested a year, or 6 months ago; but they don't suggest much intention of doing it in the future. I don't know what the answer to the question is, although I suspect that a significant part of Spanish society is simply not ready for the idea that the good times won't automatically return. The Portuguese, who never really had it as good as the Spanish anyway, perhaps have a more realistic appreciation of the kind of society and lack of opportunities that they have to contend with?
I was thinking on similar lines to Younge when I was down in Madrid's Puerta del Sol yesterday watching the arrival of a demonstration called by Izquierda Unida against the government's cutbacks and in favour of a different economic policy. The demonstration was not a failure, there was a healthy enough turnout, but it was a long way from what happened in Lisbon. Despite claims to the contrary by the organisers it came nowhere near to filling the Puerta del Sol as I found myself with plenty of space from the position where I took the photograph of the speakers on the stage. That's a bit depressing, with everything that's happening you would have thought there would be more reaction.
Izquierda Unida doesn't seem to be attracting those voters who are disenchanted with Zapatero's administration, at least on the evidence of the polls. The trade unions, following their pact with Zapatero over the pension cutbacks, have effectively abandoned active protest for the rest of this parliament. There's no shortage of people who will tell you that they would have protested a year, or 6 months ago; but they don't suggest much intention of doing it in the future. I don't know what the answer to the question is, although I suspect that a significant part of Spanish society is simply not ready for the idea that the good times won't automatically return. The Portuguese, who never really had it as good as the Spanish anyway, perhaps have a more realistic appreciation of the kind of society and lack of opportunities that they have to contend with?
11 comments:
I agree... it's down to inertia. Everything will be alright. The youth will just stay with their parents until they are married and the combined parents´nest eggs will provide thereafter. Sadly, much of that nest egg is still in second, third or a portfolio of real estate properties the actual market value of which has yet to be realised and liquidated. That impending shortfall and the knock-on impact on the broader economy of a further leg down in teh housing market does not bode well. One day heads will have to come out of the sand and deal with reality and that will not be at all easy.
But surely not everybody has the possibility of that notional "nest egg" solution? Even if they do it's at the price of surrendering many of their aspirations in life.
Hi!
Good points raised.
The reality is that almost everybody has a relative that will help. That is the nature of the traditional Spanish culture. Parents do not particularly encourage their children to leave the household unless they have a permanent partner and even then..
After retirement, most couples stay at their original house, it is rare when they retire and live somewhere else.60 y olds in Spain do not feel it is a problem to have their already graduated kids at home, grandparents are seriously exploited to look after children. 60 -70 y old women work very hard looking after kids and doing general housework not being allowed to retire and feeling is their obligation to do all these.
As a 30 something year old Spanish woman with a degree, it was difficult to leave home. There was an untold expectation that after finishing my training I will find a job near my parents. Even though I had already lived away for 6 years before. It is very hard to severe these ties. Most of my generation manage to do that only by marrying or similar.
Another thing to consider is the lack of civil society in Spain. Though we are good at creating associations to party and share hobbies, very little is done to do lobying for any policy. THis is probably social inmaturity, people got deislusion after theh Transition, and since the 80's there has been very little interest in political involvement for most of us.
Finally, Spanish youth is really under pressure. Studying a good degree in Spain (at least when I finished some years ago) is very hard. I could not work part time when studying, some months I would make an average of 10 hours of study a day, and then classes, practice time , etc. Some of my friends who were working were doing 8+ hours a day and not getting paid overtime. Most of my colleages now are doing 8+ hours a day, and 24h on calls at least once a week, and half of weekends. And these are the priviledged ones who work for stable government related organizations. They will not complain because the mortgage is there waiting to be paid...
I think there are some interesting points being made here, but then I still ask myself what the difference is between the Spanish situation and the Portuguese one? Maybe many young people in Spain don't relate to or feel represented by the political parties or other institutions like the unions. But that also seems to be the case in Portugal where the large protest was organised outside of the traditional political structures. Some of the points mentioned, like people working long hours for little reward, are arguments for protest rather than the lack of it. But then maybe we assume that people react more in times of crisis when it's often the case that situations like the present one end up demoralising more than mobilising?
well, I do not know Portuguese youth enough to make a fair comparison. I am not sure about what is different. Youth is Spain is certainly demoralized. There were some big strikes in the 80's and 90's. The last one I remember was to try to stop a youth employment plan that eventually developed into "contratos basura" and the famous "mileuristas". Despite the strike being largely followed all around the country the plan still went ahead (I think they may have done some cosmetic changes)so I guess all this just brought more demoralization. Corruption in trade unions did not help either. In addition a lot of the young people with any entrepeneurial skills has left the country. 50% of my school class ( graduated in 1992-93) is now living abroad, all of them have some sort of University education.
I don't know enough about the Portuguese situation either, but I do think it makes for an interesting comparison given the existence of some cultural similarities. It occurred to me talking to others about this issue that the young in Spain haven't abandoned activism - many are involved in all sorts of campaigns. Think back a few years to the Iraq war or the Prestige and there's no doubt that there was activism and commitment. That doesn't seem to transfer to the employment situation and maybe you'e right about demoralisation setting in.
The ones who have a job are the lucky ones. We know that, therefore we have little reason to complain. And we also know that it may not last forever, so the mentality is enjoy it while you can. Live the present, baby! The ones on the dole or without a job have no reason to complain either. Who are they going to complain to? To the economy? It's an abstract entity. Sure, they could complain to the government, but at this stage it is obvious to everybody that the government is completely clueless as to what to do to create jobs. I don't think anyone knows how to fix this mess. So, complaining makes little sense.
I wonder to what degree the Portuguese never participated in the ´boom´. It may be that when the Spanish find themselves in the same situation as the Irish, which could happen at any moment, the ¨we´ll just have to wait until the situation goes back to normal´ line of thought is proven bogus.
As to immigration - where are they going to go? Germany´s ¨recovery¨ will only last as long as no-one defaults and ruins their banks. The US - laughable. China is about to have their own bubble burst.
We'll see what happens this week, on Thursday there is a demonstration in Madrid organised by Jovenes Sin Futuro.
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