Tough Times For The TDT Party

Continuing with the media theme that I posted on yesterday, it's worth taking a look at how things are going for those on the right to the very far right of the political spectrum. With the Partido Popular expected to return to power either later this year or in the first quarter of 2012, a change of government can't come soon enough for the now numerous ultras in Spain's media scene. 

The principal problem is that the generosity of PP controlled regional governments in handing out digital (TDT) TV licences to their political allies has led to a situation of severe overcrowding. In areas like Madrid you could get until recently Libertad Digital, Veo7, Intereconomía and even Popular TV for the over religious. This of course in the area where we already have Telemadrid, under the ever tighter political control of Esperanza Aguirre.

Even for the most rabid sections of Spain's less than moderate right-wing, there has to be some limit on the number of shouting match political tertulias with more or less the same band of participants screeching their hatred of Zapatero night after night; year after year. Something had to give as none of these stations attracts huge audiences and there has been a dramatic decline in income from advertising. Strangely the first to go was Veo7, owned by Unidad Editorial which also owns El Mundo and Marca.

You would think that such a powerful media group would be able to sustain a presence amongst the new digital channels, but these are hard times and the group is not doing well. El Mundo's attempt to inflate the number of users for it's Orbyt online news platform by handing subscriptions out on Twitter doesn't disguise the fact that it is not covering the sharp decline in revenue from newspaper sales that is affecting almost everyone. 

The cracks have shown elsewhere too, with Intereconomía reduced a few weeks ago to asking its viewers to support them with donations, truly a test of faith. The video explaining the move has its funny side as they go to enormous lengths to try to claim that the move has nothing to do with the precarious nature of their business. They don't offer anything at all in return for the money, not even shares. The economic liberalism these channels profess is quickly tested when it comes to being given money by viewers or given free licences by political allies. Just as it will be if they get to remind an incoming PP government about where all that lucrative "Gobierno de España" advertising money can go. 

Since we're on the subject of Intereconomía I think La Gaceta deserves a special mention for emphasising at the weekend that the extreme right wing terrorist who killed so many in Norway was allegedly a freemason. So that that was why he did it. Watch out with Prince Philip. I've never really explored the roots of the Francoist obsession with the masons, but the fact that Intereconomía finds it to be the most relevant factor tells its own story about their ideological roots. The right in Spain is generally very uncomfortable with what happened in Norway, some even attempting to suggest that the ideology of hate that inspired the attack shouldn't be linked to the actions of its followers. Now why would they say that?

Who Needs Murdoch Anyway?

With the phone hacking scandal in full flow in the UK last week, we got a useful reminder here in Spain that media abuse of power is not just confined to Rupert Murdoch. Whenever El País carries an editorial on its front page these days it almost always means that Juan Luis Cebrián, executive president of the group owning the paper, has decided to launch another attack on Spanish prime minister Zapatero. So it was this time, turning to the inside pages and unsigned editorial apart there was a separate full page article from Cebrián calling on Zapatero to go now and call for early elections.

It never used to be this way. When the then Grupo Prisa wanted to get its way with PSOE led administrations in Spain they just had to pop round to the prime ministerial residence like Rupert does in the UK and tell the man what they wanted. That worked with Felipe Gonzalez, and to some extent with Zapatero. But there has been a breakdown in the relationship as Zapatero's government played footsie with the up and coming Mediapro, locked in a bitter battle with Prisa over lucrative televised football rights. So Cebrián has been making it clear for some time his dislike of Zapatero, and given that Prisa, now owned by the Liberty group, have the much more friendly Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba as PSOE candidate for the next election they are keen for the natural order of things to be restored.

Of course Cebrián didn't put things this way. His article was dressed up in calls for action to deal with the sensation of crisis in the country with the possibility of the markets getting their evil way at any moment. But nobody who keeps even half an eye on the news can seriously try to sustain that holding elections does anything at all to lift those pressures. The simple answer to anyone who tries that argument is Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Cebrián tried even to make a few nods in the direction of the 15-M movement in his piece, but he as much as anyone else is part of that generation from the post-transition period that had the chance to make a difference and decided not to do it. The self-interested exercise of corporate power that Cebrián and company have specialized in has no common meeting point with 15-M. Both of the possible candidates to be the next prime minister of Spain are also relics of that same generation with nothing fresh to offer the country.

A Rajoy victory in the election will simply swing the position of favoured media group sharply to the right. In this context the decision of El Mundo director Pedro J. Ramirez to bet in 2008 against Rajoy holding on in the Partido Popular is starting to look unwise. Ramirez enjoyed cozy dinners chez Aznar the last time the PP was in government, and will be keen not to lose influence to rivals. El Mundo's position as the biggest selling right wing paper is under threat from a revived and more loyalist ABC, but they can still use their influence to put pressure on a government that will in any case be entirely open to that way of doing business. Meanwhile Aznar, in his position as a Murdoch employee, is amongst those contracting expensive lawyers to deal with the possible legal consequences of the UK scandal.

Tres Tristes Trajes....The Downfall Of Francisco Camps

The pressure finally told. Ever since it was formally announced a few days ago that Francisco Camps would definitely face a trial for having accepted gifts of expensive clothing from the companies involved in the Gürtel corruption case, the Valencian president had almost completely disappeared from view; all official engagements were cancelled. Then, following what seems to have been some very intense behind the scenes negotiations with the national Partido Popular, he suddenly announced his resignation yesterday afternoon. 

On his way out of the Valencian presidency Camps has created an even bigger judicial mess than that which existed before his resignation. The plan for yesterday, as pacted with the national PP, was that all four of the accused in the case were to submit a document admitting their guilt with the aim of avoiding completely an embarrassing trial. Camps and the others would pay their fines and that would be the end of this part of the story, even though it would have left Valencia with a president convicted for corruption. All the signs were that the national party would not force Camps out even if he was found guilty.

It was probably the doubt about whether he could really accept the rap and still remain as president that forced Camps to change his mind after a day of uncertainty. All a bit sad for two of the other accused who had already turned up to the courts to sign their admission of guilt. The only way of avoiding a trial altogether was for all four of the accused to do this, but with Camps still refusing to take that step there will now have to be a trial. Those who have now formally accepted their guilt will find it hard, if not legally impossible, to retract. The two, Camps and Ricardo Costa, that still formally refuse to accept the accusation against them are now tainted by those that have.

The man who had really taken the full measure of Camps was Costa, previously well known for having resigned but not really from his position in the Valencian PP. Costa refused to sign the admission of guilt until after Camps had done so, demonstrating in  the process just what levels of confidence the people who really know Camps have when it comes to trusting his word. Costa had in any case been the most unwilling to sign up to the supposed deal, apparently seeking assurances from the PP that his sacrifice would be compensated and he would not be left out in the cold if he did so. 

Finally Camps has had to face harsh realities that he thought for so long he could just wish away. The truth is he almost got away with it, only the Supreme Court ordering the Valencian courts to carry out a proper investigation after the initial acquittal has forced the situation that we now have. We know that Camps has not told the truth, but he still can't do anything that publicly acknowledges this fact. Last week it was reported that he had changed his defence strategy from claiming that he had paid himself for the clothes to admitting accepting the gifts but with the excuse that he was wearing the hat of leader of the Valencian PP at the time, rather than that of regional president. Leaving aside the bizarre distinction between his different roles when presents are being handed out, he can't simultaneously try to sustain both versions. 

The national PP has done little so far to force Camps to act. The problem has been there for two years but that is a short time for someone like Mariano Rajoy. The PP's leader could simply have refused to accept Camps as a candidate in the May elections, but instead the two men stood side by side in a grotesque end of campaign rally in Valencia. In the end it has been the prospect of a trial coming either before or even in the midst of an autumn national election campaign that has forced the national PP to put pressure on Camps. It's worth remembering that this is the small part of Gürtel in Valencia, the real meat comes in that part of the case dealing with serious accusations of illegal financing of the PP in the region. Then there are the other corruption cases affecting the Valencian PP. Mr Camps and his fine clothes are in some ways just a headline grabbing sideshow.

Rajoy supporters claim yesterdays events as vindicating his do nothing style of dealing with problems, letting people be dragged down by the force of circumstances rather than acting directly against them. Many are starting to wonder whether Rajoy's way of dealing with the internal problems in the PP is also going to be his way of dealing with important questions of government. The signs are that it will be, try asking any Rajoy supporter for a list of the man's achievements in the eight years he spent in senior positions in Aznar's administration. The man who leaves no footprints has just dozed his way through another crisis. 

The 19J In Madrid

I'm getting further and further behind with my posts on this blog, a mixture of other commitments, summer laziness, disastrous time management and an occasional inability to write all come together to create this situation. So here is a much delayed post on the 19th June demonstration in Madrid, the last major mobilisation from the 15-M movement.

The march was divided into several geographical "columns" which converged as they got closer to the finishing point, the Neptuno fountain just down the road from the Spanish parliament. I joined the group leaving from the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, which made its way through the streets of Malasaña until it met with another group coming from Chueca close to the Metro station of Tribunal.

This was a meeting of the barrios, the district level groups that have now taken up much of the campaign work since the protest camp in the Puerta del Sol was dismantled. The enlarged group then made it's way up to the Glorieta de Bilbao to meet the sizeable contingent coming down from the barrio of Chamberí.

The preceding week had seen a torrent of propaganda from the right-wing press about how violent the 15-M movement was following some not really very violent at all incidents outside the Catalan parliament. It's worth pointing out that there wasn't even a single police officer in sight until the march united with the Chamberí contingent. Then they put a car and officer in front to control traffic as the larger and noisier demonstration made its way down to the Plaza de Colon. On the way we had to pass the national headquarters of the Partido Popular where a single van of the national police was stationed to deal with the supposedly wild anti-system hordes.

The success of the idea of dividing the protest into columns became apparent in Colon. The part of the march I was on stopped and many took the chance for a welcome chance to sit down on a very hot Saturday afternoon. I wandered across the square to the bottom of the Castellana to see the Northern Madrid column of the 19J just about to arrive. The atmosphere as this column united with the Malasaña-Chueca-Chamberí section was tremendous, and what was by now a march of many thousands set off down Recoletos and the Paseo del Prado.

Arriving in Neptuno there were already people present, although the columns from the south of the city had yet to arrive. Unlike the set-piece protests beloved of the PP and their front organisations, this was a march that started in one place and ended in another; one of the columns from the south covered around 13 kilometres. Many of those in Neptuno took refuge from the sun underneath the huge trees that the combined forces of Aguirre and Gallardón have not yet succeeded in chopping down.

Where there was a serious police presence was in front of the Congreso, Spain's parliament. The access was blocked but in any case a huge banner reading "Respeto" had been strung across this point and a sort of no-mans land had been defined between demonstrators and police. The hopes of Intereconomía and other ultra media groups were dashed as the atmosphere in the demonstration continued to be festive. There was even an orchestra playing. The columns from the south arrived to a fine welcome from those who were already there, and it was clear from the numbers attending that the movement had not lost any of its momentum from that march on the 15th May that finally nailed the idea that Spaniards were not interested in protesting about their situation. Other cities around Spain also saw large protests.

The 15-M movement isn't stopping for the summer, there is still a lot of activity going on in Madrid's barrios and marches of "indignados" have set off from different points around the country, converging on Madrid on the 23rd July. The campaign against evictions for mortgage arrears has forced the issue of home repossessions onto the national political agenda, and the Madrid police are no longer finding it so easy to stop people in some Metro stations based on the colour of their skin. Meanwhile a difficult debate is taking place in Madrid over the way to coordinate the initiatives taking shape in the barrios without compromising the democratic principles of the movement as the focal point of Sol has moved more into the background. The movement mutates and adapts in unpredictable ways, a reflection of that horizontal structure.

Breaking Camp In The Puerta Del Sol

Arriving far later than originally intended, a photographic summary of the dismantling of the protest camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. The decision to leave the camp on Sunday 12th June was taken after a long assembly the previous week. Long because every attempt was made to accommodate the opinion of the minority who were against leaving the square. Eventually a consensus was reached which consisted of those who wanted to remain having to make proposals acceptable to all if they wanted to stay in the name of the 15-M movement. That didn't happen, and on a hot Sunday morning the work began to clear the camp.

Huge amounts of material were removed from what had become quite solid structures during the lifetime of the camp, as well as the hard task of removing traces of posters and stickers from the Metro entrances and other structures in the square. The people from the camp took the task of clearing up very seriously and the municipal cleaning services provided the containers and lorries to move the debris away.

Not everything was removed from Sol, and there was even a bit of new construction. The movement had decided to leave an information booth about the campaign in the square, and here it is in construction.

Alongside the information booth there were a series of other reminders of what had been here since the middle of May.

The vegetable garden was still there in Sol when I passed by on Sunday following the big demonstration in Madrid. Doing surprisingly well considering the hostile environment in which it has to survive.

After the dismantling of the camp there was still time for an assembly to mark the occasion and to make clear that the campaign that took off on the 15th May is far from over. 

This is the information booth in the square once it was up and running.

Some of those who opposed leaving the camp claimed that the extension of the campaign to the barrios of Madrid wasn't yet ready. In reality, it had been running well already for a couple of weeks and the proof of that was there to see in the successful protest held on June 20th, as well as in the huge range of activities that are now being organised at local level around the city. 

Whose Square Is It Anyway?

To stay or not? This is the issue which is dominating much of the discussion about the protest camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol. After 3 weeks the camp looks a much more solid and permanent construction after successive changes, but its role as as a focal point for what has become known in the press as the 15M movement has undoubtedly declined. It seems clear that there are those within the camp who feel that the time has come to move on to other tactics, yet there are also those who are determined to keep it going.

What makes the decision harder to take is the participatory democracy that has also been one of the factors making the camp so successful. This idea that anyone can participate in any assembly, and that consensus rather than a simple majority is needed to take a decision. This system has been criticised for failing to produce the set of concrete proposals that so many critics of the movement demand, presumably as a homage to their own lack of ideas. But it has undoubtedly helped to make more cohesive a movement that, despite media stereotyping, is simply not composed of people who all think the same way about everything.

The problem now is that the determination of a few can mean that no decision on the future of the camp can be made, and there are claims that some of those who have joined the protest have done so more for lifestyle reasons than any interest in participating in the movement itself. Friendly voices have pinpointed this issue, which may well just lead to those who are tired and have had enough packing their tents and walking away. This, I think, is a pity. A decision, perhaps also involving the camps in other cities, to move on voluntarily and with the possibility of mobilising again many of those who initially supported the camp seems a much better way to go than just hanging on grimly until the police are sent in.

That latter option is certainly what Madrid's city and regional administrations would love to see. The calls got louder on the very day of the hugely violent, and terribly misjudged, attempt by the Catalan government to evict the camp in Barcelona. The desire of Esperanza Aguirre's administration to see similar treatment meted out in Madrid was evident as wild accusations were launched about "chabolismo" in the Puerta del Sol. A strong campaign has also been launched by those representing businesses in the area with equally exaggerated claims about the effect of the camp on the nearby shops combined with nonsense about the danger to hygiene represented by a supposedly filthy camp.

In reality it is probably these same organisations that have done the most damage to the local shops in Sol by making untrue claims. The camp already cooperated with shopowners a couple of weeks ago by clearing the posters and banners from the shops and the simple fact is there are no obstacles of any kind preventing people from shopping in the zone or circulating around the square. The camp has always been clean, which given the state of some of the streets in the centre since the ayuntamiento got difficult about paying for rubbish collection is something of a contrast. It's cleaner than my street. For some the Puerta del Sol will always be much better as a haven for pickpockets than as a place where citizens can freely express their discontent.

It's funny, the city authorities constantly hire out the squares of Madrid for all sorts of mercadillos and events sponsored by any company prepared to pay to do a bit of advertising. All of this fine to the city's rulers, despite the way in which such events obstruct the use of this space by ordinary citizens. Meanwhile the sacred "right to shop" is added near to the top of the post-modern charter of human rights, just behind the right to travel anywhere you want on a puente.

Those responsible for the assault on the camp in Barcelona have continued to lie freely about the events on that day, despite the vast amount of audiovisual evidence available. False claims of violence against the police have been launched, just as there were lies on the day itself about the use of extreme tactics such as rubber bullets. Lies are told about an image that has become famous of a man in a wheelchair caught in the midst of a police charge, with laughable claims made that the police were just trying to help him. The fact that the police broke their own regulations by not displaying any visible identification (a common practice by those claiming to uphold the law) is almost an incidental detail compared to everything else that happened. A criminal case has been presented against those responsible, test the democratic health of the society by seeing how far it gets.

Regardless of what happens in Sol or other acampadas the campaign has already spread beyond this tactic. Successful assemblies have been held in many barrios of Madrid, the intention being to build local campaign bases with initiatives that combine neighbourhood activities together with support for national action. Another national protest has been organised for the 19th June, and it promises to be a significantly bigger one than 15th May. There will also be protests in several places where newly elected city administrations take power this week. Many people outside of the traditional parties or structures are now involved around Spain in activities calling for change and the momentum is still there. It's not over yet.

Españistan

I'm off walking in Madeira for a few days, but I wanted to post this fantastic video. Entertaining but as good an explanation of the crisis in Spain as you are likely to find anywhere.

Police Violence The Response To Peaceful Protests In Barcelona

I was planning to post what would have been an almost routine update on the protest camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, but events have intervened. In Barcelona the authorities have launched an operation this morning to clear the camp in the city's Plaça de Catalunya. The pretext for the operation has been cleanliness and hygiene, but what we have seen over the last couple of hours live on Spanish TV have been been scenes of extraordinary and unprovoked police violence against peaceful demonstrators. This is a taste of what has happened this morning.

Antena 3 has interrupted it's normally bland and awful morning programming to cover more than any other channel the police charges. We've seen people being repeatedly struck with batons, being kicked by police whilst lying on the ground and many other incidents of violence from the police. The only hygiene that is missing here is democratic, in any truly free society many of the police in action this morning would be facing prison for their actions. Their bosses too. Following an interview with the police chief of Barcelona where he attempted to deny shocking scenes that viewers were seeing with their own eyes, the police tried to move journalists away from the scene. There have even been reports of volleys of shots being fired in the air. All this just so that lorries could carry away the contents of the camp, including the personal belongings of those who were there.

We now wait to see the response to this operation, it should backfire against the authorities. A camp in Lleida was also cleared this morning, although it seems to have happened without the appalling violence of Barcelona. Today at 19:00 protests have already been called in all the squares to protest this morning's events and the Plaça de Catalunya is now surrounded by demonstrators. There was a reasonable chance that the camps in many Spanish cities would have voluntarily brought their protest to a peaceful conclusion in the next few days, with the campaign adopting new tactics. The brutal crackdown this morning could now change that, just as the police eviction last week in Madrid brought more people out onto the streets.

In Madrid over the last couple of days I've noticed an increasing police presence in the Puerta del Sol. Until a few days ago there was just a row of police vans in front of Casa Espe, the headquarters of the regional government. The truth was that these police had nothing to do, no role to play. The camp in Madrid has been extremely peaceful and self-policing. Two days ago I noticed that there were now police stationed on every corner of the streets leading into the Puerta del Sol. Last night there were police vans in these positions too. It's as if they are slowly taking a tighter grip on the square. The shameful brutality of Barcelona's police this morning has now changed the outcome. The police don't create problems, they solve them was what interior minister Rubalcaba told us the other day. Doesn't look that way to me.

Chacón Steps Back From The Brink

As a follow up to yesterday's post on the PSOE's leadership vacancy, the defence minister Carme Chacón has just announced today that she won't be contesting the job; at least not this time. She didn't look at all comfortable in the press conference, and at points even seemed to be close to tears. After detailing her project and saying that she took the decision months ago to be a candidate, Chacón has claimed that she changed her mind in the interests of party unity in the wake of Sunday's disastrous election results. 

She would say that wouldn't she? It's widely assumed that Chacón has been under very heavy pressure not to get in the way of Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who has still not officially even stated his interest in the job. It was reported this morning that Chacón's car had been stolen, but I'm resisting the temptation to suggest that this was a warning of what could happen if she stood as a candidate. It's still possible that there could be a primary election instead of a coronation, but it will be a brave candidate who takes the step forward. Nor is it so easy, you need a minimum level of support to be able to stand. 

The whole process is beginning to look like an example of old politics winning the day. Can Rubalcaba really present a fresh vision of the country to those who have been protesting over the last week or to those PSOE voters who have opted for abstention? It was the police under his control that evicted the first campers in the Puerta del Sol. He's a throwback to the PSOE of Felipe Gonzalez, and whilst nobody doubts that he is an effective politician there's no sign of what sort of vision he can offer a country that needs change. 

Chacón's decision is almost impeccable politically, when viewed from her own interests. She can now let Rubalcaba or whoever else gets chosen take the brunt of the expected electoral defeat, and then stand as a candidate for the future in the next contest. The only risk being that by this time there may be more candidates with the same idea. There is intense speculation that the government may not see out its full term and that we could get a general election in the autumn. Despite the calls from some for early elections it can't realistically be before then, Spaniards don't go to the polls in their swimming costumes. 

Did You Say Real Democracy Or Steal Democracy?

The dust has barely settled following Sunday's crushing defeat for the PSOE in the municipal and regional elections, and the party is in turmoil over how to select their new leader. Nobody has yet declared themselves as a candidate, and this seems to be because of the behind the scenes manoeuvres to either try and avoid a contest or to keep the choice of Zapatero's successor in as few hands as possible.

It's been known for some time that those who favour the interior minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba have been looking for ways to force their candidate into pole position. What they fear most of all is a primary election process which could potentially see Rubalcaba lose out to another candidate; the most likely contender being the defence minister Carme Chacón. The argument they use is that this process would create too much uncertainty.

So we've had the idea floated of a "dream ticket" where of course Rubalcaba would be number one with Chacón as his deputy, presumably in return for a promise that the older Rubalcaba would stand aside in the event of an election defeat. Some have argued that there could still be a process of primary elections, but with only one candidate! Even this seems to be too much for some powerful figures in the party who have been pressing for the primaries to be avoided and for a decision on the succession to be taken more quickly by the party's executive or by a special congress. The latter idea was floated yesterday by the Basque regional president Patxi Lopez. 

It looks as if those who are trying to prevent primaries may have jumped the gun, Zapatero has stated today that there will be a primary election process involving the party's members. In such a situation the question arises of whether there might be other candidates. Zapatero himself stood as a virtual unknown when he was elected via the primaries. Perhaps Lopez could be one of those candidates too, a close reading of the Basque election results suggests he may well be out of work in a couple of years time - but he is not a member of parliament and cannot become one whilst he holds his current job.

There may be some legitimate fears about a long drawn out contest sapping even further the PSOE's fragile electoral base. A Rubalcaba-Chacón contest is unlikely to be very inspiring, the absence of ideological content will reduce it to a choice between experience (Rubalcaba) or the novelty for Spain of a potential female (and Catalan!) prime minister (Chacón). It's still a far better way to choose your leader than that used by the Partido Popular where the almost life president talks to the honorary life president and then names the candidate. 

The PP is pressing hard for the general election to be brought forward following their victory, although they won't present a motion of censure against the government unless they know they will win it. Zapatero clearly wants to serve his full term and give some time for his successor to prepare for the elections. The key to these plans doesn't lie within the PSOE itself, it is the Basque nationalists of the PNV who will decide whether to continue honouring the pact that saw the government through to this point. 

El Lunes Al Sol

When I saw the newly planted vegetable garden in the Puerta del Sol on Sunday evening it occurred to me that this is not the sort of thing you do if you're planning on going anywhere.

Although many may have assumed that the protest acampada in Sol was just there for election week the reality is different. The camp is still very much active even if the big crowds seen at the weekend have now diminished. Not only is it still there but it continues to evolve and expand. Every day the camp seems to change shape as new activity commissions are set up, or as new campaigners arrive to add their voice to the protest. The structures become more solid and secure as some of the improvised constructions are improved. The camp is kept clean and continues to work amazingly well. Those who believe nothing can ever be achieved unless you have a set of bosses sitting on top of a hierarchy would hate what is happening in Sol.

Equally the range of activities and debates has broadened enormously, a white board displays details of all the activities planned for the day. Yesterday I popped down for one of the general assemblies at the camp. It was hot, very hot, but again the spirit of collaboration that exists in the camp means that water sprays, drinking water, umbrellas, hats and sun cream are all passed around for those who want them. Madrid is a city that to say the least can often feel a bit "in your face", the collaborative atmosphere at the camp is a welcome antidote to that.

The assemblies are there to discuss general organisation of the camp, future strategy, proposals from the different commissions and what to do if the police are sent in to clear the camp. Contrary to what some seem to think, anyone can take part in these meetings. What's more, the aim is consensus. Proposals that meet strong objections are not put to a majority vote but are instead returned to one of the commissions for further work. Somebody stood up at yesterday's meeting to tell us all that he had voted PP and what he most disliked about the camp was the word "consensus". No surprises there, but he was allowed to say his piece and any attempts to shout down speakers down meet general disapproval.

Looking at the reduced numbers in yesterday's assembly, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how much longer the camp can last. The lack of any noticeable impact on the elections may have dampened the enthusiasm of many. However, I was down again in Sol last night and there were plenty of people around. The place was buzzing with activity. Leaving aside the question of possible police intervention, the question of when to move on from the camp is going to be a tough one. But the next stage of the campaign in Madrid is already taking shape, assemblies are being organised in different barrios of the city for this weekend; the aim is for the campaign to develop local roots.

Anyway, it's time for a short video dedicated to those who criticise the protesters but who offer no proposals of their own or any sort of vision of the future except that of blindly following the pain caucus.

It's ironic that the text in the video comes from an advertisement devised by Apple. I wonder what that company thinks about the look of what is due to become Madrid's new Apple Store?

I leave the last word to Mafalda:

2011 Regional And Municipal Election Results In Spain

I looked for the El País elections results widget yesterday and couldn't find it. Here it is, along with an ominous blue look to that electoral map. I imagine in PSOE headquarters they have trouble even looking at it.

Could it have been much worse than this for Spain's ruling party? The story the opinion polls have been telling has been confirmed, and more distressingly for the PSOE it seems the announcement that Zapatero will not stand again has made little impact on the result. It's been a traumatic night for them. In only one regional election did the PSOE emerge as the party with most votes, and that by a handful in Asturias where they will struggle to govern. The only region where they look likely to remain in power (of those that voted yesterday) is Extremadura, but even here the Partido Popular (PP) got more votes and the PSOE will have to reach an agreement with Izquierda Unida to govern.

The yardstick for success or failure for both of the big national parties was Castilla-La Mancha. If the PSOE had retained power here it would have been seen as a failure for PP leader Mariano Rajoy, especially as the PP candidate was the general secretary of the party, Maria Dolores de Cospedal. In the event the PP took control by a single seat but with a voting advantage of several points. This region tells the story of the election. The outgoing president, José María Barreda, got significantly better approval ratings in the polls than his opponent, but the PP have fought these elections on national issues and these have clearly prevailed over local conditions in most areas. Barreda was one of the regional barons in the PSOE who had pushed hardest for Zapatero to make his announcement before election day; it wasn't enough.

In Madrid both regional president Esperanza Aguirre and mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón have won comfortable victories, but it's worth noting that the PP in the capital has got a lower percentage of the vote at a time when the party is achieving spectacular results elsewhere. There is now a fourth force in the regional assembly, Union Progreso y Democracia (UPyD) have achieved their best result in the city and will be represented. We will now get to see where they stand on issues like the creeping privatisation of public services or Aguirre's increasing application of segregationist policies in education. They can't have it both ways on everything, a position they've managed to maintain whilst not having elected representatives.

The odd thing in Madrid is that probably neither of the winning candidates wants to do the job they have stood for. The compulsive attention seeker Aguirre is going to be frustrated at being confined to regional affairs if the PP win power nationally in 2012. Gallardón will almost certainly leave his post to serve in a Rajoy government. We lucky Madrileños will be left with Ana Botella as mayor! Again, the local and national factors were confused in the Madrid campaign. Take a look at Aguirre's huge campaign poster from the Plaza de España if you can take it (young children and the sensitive should probably look away at this point). It calls for "change"; this from a party that has governed Madrid continuously for 16 years! Some change.

There are some very interesting results from other regions. In Cataluña the conservative nationalists of Convergència i Unió are now firmly in the driving seat and even seem to have displaced the PSOE's Catalan wing from the town hall in Barcelona. They now combine control of the regional government with that of the Catalan capital. A significant change, coupled with another terrible result for nationalist rivals Esquerra Republicana who just a few years ago seemed to be on the point of challenging CiU for the nationalist vote. It's worth noting, as a warning for the future, that the PP ran a nasty and repulsively racist campaign in Cataluña. No other description fits.

Elsewhere, there was another resounding victory in Valencia for a PP list packed with candidates facing corruption charges, including of course the regional president Francisco Camps. No surprise there for those of us who take it for granted now that corruption doesn't erode the PP vote, but in fact something has changed. Compared with 2007 the PP has lost support in percentage terms in Valencia even as the PSOE vote has slumped. Not a huge change but still happening at a moment when their support elsewhere is hitting levels not seen in years. Valencia more than anywhere else exemplifies the adoption of Berlusconi type politics in Spain, because of the insistence from the corrupt that the ballot box will absolve them.

In the Basque Country there is another fascinating situation. The political force which has the largest municipal representation in the region after the elections is the coalition Bildu, which the government and the PP tried to illegalise for alleged links with ETA. The right-wing nationalists of the PNV are the party with the most votes but Bildu has taken around 25%. It's an ominous result for the regional PSOE led government which relies on PP support to govern, and a reminder that these parties only achieved power in the first place in the Basque Country because previous illegalisations disenfranchised part of the nationalist vote. Will a PP led national government attempt again to remove the second largest Basque political formation?

Then there is Asturias. The PSOE finished the night just a few tens of votes ahead of the new party led by the former PP secretary general Francisco Álvarez Cascos. Anyone who imagines that this party is just a personal vehicle for Cascos would be absolutely right, the initials of the formation are FAC. It's a depressing result, because FAC stands for the most obsolete, cacique style of politics that you can imagine represented by a political dinosaur. But Cascos is now there as the kingmaker to decide whether PSOE or PP will govern alongside his party.

Although the night looks like a huge victory for the PP, it's worth noting that the percentages of vote obtained would not give them a majority in a general election. The difference on the night is caused by a slump in support for the PSOE. Some of those votes have gone to the PP, some to UPyD and some to Izquierda Unida who have experienced a small increase in support. But many of these votes have disappeared into abstention and the PSOE is failing to mobilise much of their core vote. This situation goes back a year, to the point when Zapatero did his great turnaround on the economy. With the PP pressing for early national elections the PSOE currently doesn't have a candidate. The current favourite, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, doesn't emerge well from these elections. Carme Chacón, at the moment his only known rival, has kept a lower profile but could be damaged by the defeat in her Catalan base. We will know very soon who intends to stand as Zapatero's replacement, that campaign was on hold until today.

Some observers have also tried to present the election as a failure for the protestors camped in Madrid's Puerta del Sol and many other cities around Spain. With so many voters sticking to the traditional and in many ways discredited parties it's likely to be disappointing for some. At the same time it was never very likely that a campaign that was virtually unknown just over a week ago was going to have a significant effect on the electoral outcome. It seems like a good moment to correct some misconceptions too. Democracia Real Ya, and the other protest platforms, are not an electoral movement. Just because the Junta Electoral decided last week they were doesn't affect that reality, and the campaign continues. 

This campaign may well have more to deal with soon, there is an expectation that many regional governments have been holding back on making severe cutbacks until after election day. Likewise, I listened to a commentator last night on Spanish TV attributing high abstention to the campaign. This is nonsense, the protesters have continually called for people to go and vote. On the other hand, there has been an unusually large number of blank votes cast and this could be partly due to the protests, people who want someone to vote for but don't find a party that represents them.

Plaza Solución....Messages From The #Spanishrevolution

All the photos shown here have been taken in the camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol or in the surrounding area. Próxima parada: