Inside the Camp: Spanish Protesters at Plaza de Catalunya

Spaniards are considered by the world to be unorganised, or individual, but maintaining a protesting campsite consisted of 500 camps and more than 800 people isn't something to be achieved through a mess of individualistic anger, protest and camping.

After the housing crisis triggered by the forced expel of Maricarmen, angry Spanish left-wingers united to form camps on major plazas to protest against the raising rent and housing that is harder to get every passing day. In Barcelona, with the increasing amount of tourists, and the slow development of new apartments, the average rent has risen for over 20% over the past 5 years(already considered inflation) with the wage increasing at a much slower speed.

Today, I visited the camp in the center of Barcelona with the company of one university student in charge of communications. He spoke fluent English and is an anarchist. The camp, he told me, consists of people from very different ideologies. Communists, anarchists, separatists, and young people with no clear political view but is just angry about housing. Today, I visited the camp in the center of Barcelona with the company of one university student in charge of communications. He spoke fluent English and is an anarchist. The camp, he told me, consists of people from very different ideologies: communists, anarchists, separatists, and young people with no clear political view who are simply angry about housing. After a short pause, he quickly added that although they have vast ideological differences, on this issue they think the same and act as one.

The camp has been set up for over a week, and to maintain the order and running of such a big site, there has to be some division of labour.

The young man told me that all attendants are separated into commissions. There is one for food, for communications, in which he belongs, and many more for sanitation, donation, posters, and others. He proudly told me that, "food and resources are free here, but everyone has a responsibility".

Most protesters at the campsite have been busy discussing. Some are talking over a beer, some are sitting around a table to debate. Our guide told us that he and his comrades think that this is the "principal", or the opening, of a big revolution.

In France and Brasil and United States and many more countries, protests have culminated with people from all over the spectrum to be, some united some separated, to fight against the establishment. But how, and will the unrest lead to a better future, is question for all citizens of the world to answer--and answer in time.