It's Autumn, but things are heating up in Cataluña (Es otoño, pero se está calentando en Cataluña)...

This last week or so a definite chill has crept into the morning and evening air - we’ve clearly left the summer behind us here in Barcelona.

But at the same time the air temperature has been dropping, the political temperature has been going in the opposite direction.

Always proudly Catalan, the Sagrada Familia is draped with the Catalan flag (la Senyera) for La Diada

To start with we celebrated La Diada – Cataluña’s “national” day – on September 11. I can’t quite believe it’s a whole year since I last wrote about it.

For the past five years, La Diada has shifted from a celebration of Catalan nationalism to a show of people-power for Catalan independence. Many Catalans who are not independistas say that it has been “hijacked” by the independence movement.

And perhaps they’re right. This year’s slogan was Via lliure a la Rebública Catalana (Road to the Catalan Republic). The word Lluire is quite significant here as although it doesn’t make it into the expression’s English translation, it means “Free”.

My local sign-up and information stall for La Diada and voting for Catalan independence

Once again an emblematic Barcelona street (this year Av. Meridiana) was the setting for the hundreds of thousands, all dressed in the year’s “uniform”, to take part in the choreographed spectacular, which I’m pretty sure is designed much more for the external (outside Cataluña) audience than the internal.

Crowds celebrating la Diada. Rather impressive, no?
Pic by Teresa Roca, Assemblea.com. Creative Commons license

La Diada 2015. I think the arrow being run up the street symbolises moving forward to a new future.
Pic by Jordi Ventura i Plans, Assemblea.cat. Creative Commons license

Can't get much more Catalan than this: Castellers at La Diada, 2015.
Pic by Assemblea.cat. Creative Commons license

I ventured down amongst the throngs for a little while and was struck by two things. First was the crescendo of Catalan. Barcelona is such a tourist city that walking around its streets is normally like a trip to the Tower of Babel. Not that day. The young, the old, the groups of friends, the parents calling their children to attention, the punters ordering cervezas in the bars - it was all being performed in Catalan.

I’ve yet to work out whether this was because I am just not used to being in such a mob of Catalans undiluted by the usual foreigners, whether it had to do with the “national” pride of the day lending more people to converse in their “national” tongue (rather than Spanish), or whether the types of Catalans who would make the effort to take part in the La Diada are those most likely to speak Catalan all the time anyway. I suspect it’s probably a mix of all three.

The other thing that stood out to me was the plethora of Blue Estelada flags – little ones on sticks clutched in children’s hands, large ones on poles slung over shoulders (of pedestrians and scooter riders alike) or, personally something I find quite distasteful, being worn like a cape (I loath it when I see it done with the Australian Flag on Australia day too).

I am really NOT a fan of flags being worn like capes. To me, no matter where I see it, it smacks of a rabid nationalism

The interesting thing about so many Esteladas is that it is not even the Catalan flag. It’s the flag for Catalan independence; perhaps another point for those who subscribe to the hijacked Diada thesis.

The Estalada being flown from the Arc de Triomf. 
I was surprised to see that as the Arc de Triomf is a city monument as the Estalada is not an official flag

This year’s Diada was a sort of unofficial campaign kick-off for the other reason the political temperature is souring – it’s election-day for the Catalan parliament today.

The pro-independence parties have billed these elections as a plebiscite on independence, so much so that the two main ones (polar opposites on just about every else else) have joined with pro-independence community groups to form a unified ticket, Junts Pel Sí (roughly, “Together for It”). 

And they've promised to start the process to achieve independence from Spain if they get a big enough result. 

The non-independence parties claim that the independistas are deliberately deceiving the electorate by calling this regional parliamentary election a plebiscite on independence - something that is illegal under Spain’s constitution anyway, they argue.

The last few sondeos (opinion polls) are calling an absolute majority for the independence parties in Cataluña’s Parliament, but only just (although that “just” does get a little chunkier with each poll).

But at the same time, it looks like the voter turnout is going to be historically high and traditionally a higher voter turnout augurs better for the non-independistas.

It's going to be a nail-biting count-night for both sides tonight.

As an extranjero, not only in Spain but also in Cataluña, (or should I say Catalunya) I’m not sure I have a right to an opinion - I’m sure I don’t understand all the social and historical intricacies of the arguments.

But if I were to venture an opinion, and this probably has a lot to do with my first seven years in Spain being spent in Madrid, I don’t really like the idea of a broken-up Spain.

Having said that though, since I moved to Barcelona I haven't quite felt that I was living in the same Spain anyway.

***

If you’re interested, here are a few links in English that offer some insight into just how complex the situation really is:

From an ex Spanish Prime Minister to the Catalan Premier:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/08/30/inenglish/1440940912_708978.html

The Catalan Premier’s response:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/07/inenglish/1441638834_017628.html

Another Catalan politician’s (nationalist, but not independista) response to the ex-Prime Minister’s letter:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/09/02/inenglish/1441191377_614823.html

Living in l'Eixample

My building. There Those flags hanging from the 3rd set of balconies are for Catalán independence

This is my building and those three Juliette-type balconies on the top floor there, that’s my flat. Sadly the building is not one of Gaudi’s creations, but it certainly has modernista (art nouveau) touches. I think it’s rather pretty.

Barcelona is renowned for it’s modernista architecture so I feel quite privileged to live in a building that somewhat lives up to that reputation. Here are a few other nearby examples:

This part of the city is called The Eixample – pronounced like “eshampla”. It’s a Catalán word meaning “widening” or “extension”, which is exactly what the area was when they built it in the late 1800s and early 1900s – an extension or widening of Barcelona.

It filled in the gap between the existing city and surrounding towns, like Gràcia towards the mountains - which is why the famous shopping street Passeig de Gràcia (Gràcia Passage) is called what it is - or Sants to the south.

Of course over time, with the building of the Eixample these towns became incorporated into Barcelona itself – Sants is home to Barcelona’s main railway station – but you can still tell quite clearly that they were once separate: the Eixample’s art nouveau architecture and its distinctive road layout makes it pretty obvious when you enter or leave it.

The Eixample’s roads are long and straight and in a grid formation, very different from much of the rest of the city. But the most distinctive feature of the area is its octagonal city blocks. This means each intersection is octagonal also – a fact that completely infuriates a dear friend of mine when he visits from Madrid, for the extra walking it creates to cross each intersection.

The Eixample's grid is very obvious from the air

Closer up, the distinctive octagonal blocks stand out. You can also clearly see where the Eixample starts and stops. 
That's Gràcia on the right-hand side. Image by Alhzeiia (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilak/3187655762/) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

But despite what my friend thinks, this design is not just to annoy him. There was method to, Idelfons Cerdà’s design “madness”: extra visibility at intersections, light and air-flow.

One of the most impressive elements of this design you can’t actually see from the street. Cerdà’s small blocks and the fact that the buildings that line them don’t go back too deep means that a big open space is created on the inside of each block. This means that even from the back of the building, plenty of light and airflow gets into your flat.

The interior view from my flat. Shame the palm trees in the middle aren't doing too well

This is quite different to the older parts of town or Madrid for that matter. There, your view from the interior of the building is often a light-well! In the centre of Madrid, where many of the big older flats have been split up into two or even three smaller ones, some of which are completely interior-facing, you can be left with very little light and absolutely no view (apart from your neighbours, of course).

These days Cerdà, the art nouveau buildings that abound in the area he designed – along with their architects, like Guadì, but many more too - and the Eixample itself have all become, quite rightly, treasures of Catalán culture and sources of pride. And the Eixample’s distinctive layout has become something of a symbol for the whole city.

The modernista Sant Pau hospital complex. Apparently it's the biggest art nouveau area in Europe. It's quite beautiful

Of course one drawback to the grid-layout, and one that Cerdà probably wasn’t thinking about in the late 1800s, is modern-day traffic. On my particular octagonal corner of the Eixample there’s a hell of a lot of it.

Now traffic noise you tend to get used to, and we have, but I do wonder just how much of that traffic I’m breathing in when I sit inside with the balcony doors open, enjoying that breeze that Cerdà had in mind with his design. If the dusting that’s required in this flat is anything to go by: a lot.

And then there are the ambulances. But I’ll let my dog Eddy tell you about that in his own words, in the video below:

But hey, that’s life in the city, no?

Hot! (¡Que calor!)...

It's hot. Really hot. Unusually hot. Not that Spain isn’t used to the heat, it’s just that it's started really early this year. Since the end of June, it's been one ola de calor (heatwave) after the other. And there was also a heatwave back in May that saw 40°C temperatures in many parts of the country. This really shouldn’t really be happening until August.

In Madrid, the temperatures have got the hosteleros (bar owners) worried. Their terrazas (outside areas) have been deserted during the day, meaning they’re losing a tonne of money – although I suspect they’d be doing a roaring trade once the sun goes down. 

More worrying is the damage to agriculture. The Galician potato crop has been decimated, as has the corn. The sea temperature in the Mediterranean has already hit 30°C in some places along the coast, which has sent the Lubina (sea-bass - a favourite here in Spain) scurrying for colder waters.

Back in Galicia, in some parts they haven’t even been able to drink tap water as the high temperatures have led to a increase in a certain sort of toxin. 

It’s the effects of cambio climático (climate change), the government has admitted.

I'm writing this post sitting in the shaded terraza of a bar with a cerveza bien fria (nice cold beer). It's a favourite way to beat the heat for me.

Writing this post with a cerveza bien fria. That's some interesting balcony furnishings in front of me

Here in BCN we've also got the beach for that - although if you're a local you'll most likely head slightly out of town for a dip. Barcelona's city beaches (like the Barceloneta) are great for a walk, jog or cycle along their wonderful, palm-lined broad walks, but swimming is mainly for the tourists.

Las Platja de la Barceloneta (Barceloneta Beach)

A good hint that there might be a lot of tourists here: the information signs are in English.
Oh and yes, you can still smoke on the beaches here

You will find some locals at Bogadell or Mar Bella beaches, but most will head out of town if they can - just a little north to places like Ocata or south to Gavá or Sitges (all of which are really easy to reach by the local trains).

La Platja de Gavá (Gavá Beach). If you're looking for a wide, kms long, sandy beach, this is a great choice

We popped down to a place not far from Gavá called Garraf the other day – it’s a gorgeous little beach lined with little wooden holiday shacks. There’s a great beach-side restaurant there too called El Chiringuito de Garraf that does a sensational paella. 

Just a bit on from Gavá is Garraf. Much smaller but very cute. Check out those little wooden holiday shacks lining the beach.

My favourite beach though is Balmins Beach in Sitges. Balmins is just a little north of Sitges’ main beaches and much more natural and relaxed - although that doesn’t mean there’s not a chiringuito (beach-side bar) right there on the sand for that cerveza bien fria when you need it.

Balmins at sunset. That's Sitges' stunning old-quarter in the background. 

Balmins is officially a nudist beach, but in reality it’s very mixed and a favourite with all sorts – young, old, gay, straight - swimsuited or not.

In Madrid, reaching the beach is somewhat more complicated, but not impossible as in the AVE (the high speed train), it's only 90 minutes to Valencia. Still, that takes a bit of planning (and it’s not exactly a cheap day at the beach), so a lot of people head to the municipal pools or the pantano (dam) for a swim.

I made the trip to the Pantano de San Juan just once. It's a beautiful spot to the south-west of Madrid - a huge expanse of water surrounded by lovely bushland. But - and it's a big but - it's dirty. Not enough bins and too much of a propensity for the punters to dump their picnic and BBQ leftovers in the bushland ruined it for me.

What I used to do most when it was hot in Madrid was head to El Retiro, Madrid’s fantastic city park. I’d lie in the shade of a gum tree (surprisingly the park is full of them) or to really knock two or three degrees off the air temperature, take a wonder through the park’s forested grottos. You’d be amazed at how much cooler it is there.

There's a surprising number of gum trees in Retiro, especially down on the lawns at the Atocha end.

Retiro has stunning woodlands right in the centre of town. 

Despite all this talk about keeping cool, I’d much rather be hot than cold. I’ve always been that way, although 8 years in London did confirm it.

Still, being so hot from so early in the year is a bit of a concern. Even more of a worry is that while one government department here is acknowledging that this heat is a result of global warming, another of that same government is cutting subsidies for renewables and even worse, is planning to introduce new taxes to penalise those who have bothered to install rooftop solar with storage capacity!

It’s enough to make you wonder if the government is suffering a bout of heatstroke from this ola de calor…

Ten years of equality in Spain (10 años de igualdad en españa)

America should be very proud. #LoveWins pic.twitter.com/qH1OA1BV2j

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 27, 2015

There’s been a lot of excitement this past week to do with the US Supreme Court’s finding in favour of marriage equality in that country. And quite rightly too, as the finding means that the West’s most influential country has made same-sex marriage legal across the length and breadth of its land. It is a big deal.

But let’s not forget that 37 states of the Union already enjoyed marriage equality and, more importantly, the United States is country number 21 to legalise same-sex marriage.

My adopted home, Spain, celebrated 10 years of marriage equality this week. During this past decade 31,610 same-sex couples have married here (and I’m proud to say that G and I are included in that statistic).

The voting board in Spain's congreso (Parliament) showing the historic win for marriage equality on June 30, 2005

And Spain wasn’t even the first county to embrace marriage equality: Holland (in 2001) and Belgium (in 2003) beat it to it and Canada was pipped to the 4^th position by Spain by just a few days.

Of course with America’s decision the sad-old predictions have been trotted out: the erosion of family values, the devaluation of the institution of marriage, the "slippery slope" towards state-sanctioned incest, bestiality or polygamy – the latter, embarrassingly, was just repeated by a senior member of my own Australia’s government. 

But let’s be serious for a moment. Have any of these things actually happened in the 14 years since marriage equality has been a fact in our world? Of course not.

In Spain, the 31-odd thousand same sex marriages that have been performed in the last decade, in my eyes, can only strengthen marriage as an institution - that's 62-odd thousand extra people embracing marriage who never would have had the opportunity without marriage equality.

Recent polls here suggest that between 68 and a whopping 85 percent of Spaniards are in agreement with the right to marry having been extended to same-sex couples. It was around 58% ten years ago when the law was introduced.

Perhaps even more telling is that almost 60% of conservative voters, whose political party of choice voted against marriage equality and even took the law to the Constitutional Court (Spain’s version of the US’s Supreme Court) – and lost – now support marriage equality.

I would imagine that if the institution of marriage had been damaged here over the past decade, these numbers would not be nearly so positive.

With my own marriage, not once in the whole process – from filing the paperwork and picking up our marriage licence in the registro civil (Births, Deaths and Marriages) to the wonderful service in the ajuntamiento (town hall) - were G and I made to feel by anyone that this was somehow an inappropriate or unusual thing that we were doing. At our little reception afterwards, other diners at the restaurant went out of their way to come over and congratulate us.

Oh, and just to be clear, Spaniards are still not allowed (and not asking) to marry their brothers and sisters, dogs, cats, ferrets or more than one person at a time either.

So on this 10^th anniversary of marriage equality in my adopted home I want to raise a glass to Spain, the USA and to the 19 other nations of the Earth that have embraced equality and, sadly, waggle my index finger at my birth country who, in the face of an unstoppable tide, seems determined to hold out for as long as it possibly, petulantly can (despite the wishes of its own people).

Here's a little snippet from (rather fittingly) the movie version of Hairspray, that sums up quite nicely where I think we are today...

Adiós Botella...

I love this video - and not just because its protagonists are three scary-fabulous drag queens working it in some of the most emblematic locations of my beloved Madrid. I love it because it represents to me a lot of what I admire and, as an extanjero, find so interesting about the Spanish.

In order to explain what I mean by that, I need to give you a bit of background.

Kiki Lorace and her lovely ladies of the video are welcoming Manuela Carmena, a seventy-one year-old ex-judge to the alcaldía (Mayorship) of Madrid and politely saying “bugger off” to Ana Botella (drag on left), the previous Mayor who was not actually contesting this time, and her party-mate Esperenza Aguirre (drag on right), one of the most powerful and divisive forces in Spanish politics, who was hoping to keep the city in the hands of the conservative People’s Party (PP).

The fact that Manuela is now Mayor of Madrid is a pretty big deal.

On a local level, because it brings an end to 24 years of PP rule in the Spanish capital, something I imagine most drag queens (and anyone else of a progressive tilt) is pretty happy about.

On a national level it represents something extraordinary that has happened in Spain recently: the apparent end of the two-party dominated system that has characterised Spanish politics since the transition to democracy in 1978.

Manuela is a member of a party called Ahora Madrid (Now Madrid), which in reality isn’t exactly a party, but rather a collective of left-wing parties and community organisations. Very importantly, Ahora Madrid is backed by Podemos, a new political party that has emerged with a bang of Spain’s political scene.

Here’s a pretty in depth story from the Guardian about Podemos, so I won’t go too much into it, apart from to say that the party evolved from a grass-roots movement that was, amongst other things, fed up with what they saw as the inaction of the traditional political parties to alleviate the misery that the financial crisis has wrought on the people of this country.

Spain’s second city, Barcelona, is celebrating a new alcaldesa (Mayor) too - Ada Colau. Her group, Barcelona en Comú is similar to that of Manuela and also has connections with Podemos. Colau entered public life as the controversial leader of a community group dedicated to stopping the evictions of people unable to pay their rent or mortgage.

Campaign poster for Ada Colau's successful run for Mayor of Barcelona

And in Spain’s other major cities, Podemos and other new political parties and coalitions have taken the top jobs or facilitated the changing of the guard.

The truth is, nobody really knows whether these new parties and coalitions will be stable enough to actually work, but a great many voters are obviously prepared to take the risk in the search to for something they feel is better than the traditional politics.

Now back to the video. It has always been in the best traditions of drag to be political. “Men dressing up in women’s clothing and mouthing the words to other people’s songs,” as Guy Pierce’s character says in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is not just about men wanting to dress up in frocks (although I’m sure there is a lot of that). It’s also about making a statement, challenging the accepted gender roles in society and everything that that represents.

But having said, I’m finding it hard to remember any recent time when a bunch of drag queens got so excited about a political party that they bothered to make a music video celebrating it – at least one with such good production values.

Kiki & Co's excitement wasn’t an isolated incident either. Graphic designers and artists developed pro-Manuela imagery and uploaded it to social networks, taxi drivers donated the sides of their cabs for campaign posters, all manner of people organised themselves to lend their time and skills in support of Manuela.

An animated gif from an artist involved in the Madrid with Manuela collective
- a sort of unofficial campaign group for Manuela's bid to be Mayor of Madrid

It is this get-up-and-go, this ability to self-organise in the most creative, interesting and effective ways - so often with the good humour shown in the video - that I find so admirable about the Spanish. In fact, I've written about it before.

And whether or not you agree that this new politics is the way forward for Spain, or anywhere for that matter, I don’t think there is any denying that the courage and optimism it conveys, let alone its recent successes, is very exciting.

Road-trip to Italy! (¡A Italia! por carretera)

I know it’s a bit of cliché to say so, but one of the things I enjoy the most about living in Europe is the proximity to different cultures and languages.

From just about anywhere you can hop on a plane at breakfast time and by lunch be choosing (if somewhat unsurely) what you want to eat from a menu written in a different language. And what’s more, from many places you can do the same just by jumping on a train or in the car.

We did just that the other week: breakfast in Barcelona and lunch in Montpellier. I got the biggest thrill out of it. It would seem that all these years in Europe still haven’t robbed this son of an island continent of the wonder of being able to drive to another country.

500 metres to France. Driving into another country still gives me a thrill

This whole trip was actually a little longer than just BCN-Montpellier-BCN though: we were on our way to Italy. I wouldn’t drive to Montpellier from Barcelona just for lunch – it’s about a 4-hour drive, which makes it a bit of trek just for the day.

A much better choice from Barcelona is Perpignan – it’s just north of the border, two hours-drive away. We did that this Easter. It’s a very pretty little town, the centre of which is a lovely mix of southern French, Catalan and Parisian-style architecture; small enough to have a good walk around and a nice unrushed lunch before heading home.

Some views of Perpignan

But back to the Italian trip: we were off to see G’s family in Florence for the first time since we got married. A big party was being planned for us. And when I say big, I mean My Big Fat Greek Wedding-style big. G is one of 13 brothers and sisters!

The drive from Barcelona to Florence is about 14 hours or so if you do it non-stop. It’s basically all motorways – or to be more precise: Spanish autopistas, French autoroutes and Italian autostradas - so it’s not exactly a difficult drive, but unless I were in a huge rush, I wouldn’t do it non-stop.

In fact, if I were in a huge rush, I wouldn’t drive in the first place. It’s a 90-minute flight from Barcelona to Florence - and it’s cheaper than driving. We worked out that we spent about 100€ each way in tolls, around 100€ each way on fuel and, so far, 135€ in speeding fines (3 speed-camera fines in the space of just 20 minutes in France!) I say “so far” as these fines came in just the other day and only pertain to our first day of driving. I’m a little concerned.

Anyway, we weren’t in any great rush and were looking on it as a bit of a road-trip adventure. We wanted to check out some scenery, I wanted to indulge my thrill for driving between countries, and G had a whole heap of stuff he wanted to bring to his family.

The route took us past the vineyards of four French wine regions - the Roussillon, Languedoc, lower Rhone and Provence - all surprisingly different in appearance. We drove over the mighty river Rhone itself, across the top of the stunningly beautiful Cote dÁzur, past the countless monasteries and villages perched so precariously on top of Liguria’s coastal mountain ranges and skirted the white mountains of Tuscany’s marble quarries. Finally we were amongst the rolling olive groves, vineyards and villas surrounding the home of the Renaissance. A visually spectacular trip.

A cruise ship in the bay in front of the beautiful (if very touristy) village of Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice

Nice's old-town (Vieille Ville) reminded me a lot of Italy. This is the Cathédrale Sainte Réparate
in the Place Rossetti (which sounds Italian too)

A village perched on top of a mountain in Italy's Liguria region.
(Not a great photo as taken through the barrier whilst driving over a viaduct, but you get the idea)

All that white is not snow (which I though it was at first), it's marble. The Carrara marble quarries in Tuscany

Although you wouldn't guess it, this hill looks right-over central Florence

Driving on the motorways themselves was something of an adventure too, especially in the mountainous regions where viaduct-after-tunnel-after-viaduct carries you deep through mountains and ridiculously high across valleys. The engineering is impressive (and helps explain why these roads are not cheap to drive on) and a wee bit scary at times too as you share some rather narrow lanes with monster trucks barrelling along way too fast.

We didn’t do the whole drive in one go. We stopped for a couple of nights in Menton (not far from Nice) to soak up the beauty of the Cote d’Azur. While there we stayed off the autoroute and explored the area via the winding, cliff-hugging coastal roads that offer the most stunning views of both the beautiful villages and the blue, blue sea that gives the area it’s name.

Menton. It's the last French town before Italy, which is literally a one minute drive from where I took this photo 

The view from one of the cliff-top roads between Nice and Menton. Spectacular

If we had had more time, I would have also stopped a night or two further back to sniff around some of the wine country, as well as a night or two along the Liguria coast - Portofino or even Genoa. You could make a great trip out of that.

Portovenere, on the Liguria coast. We stopped here for lunch on the final leg to Florence (and brought some excellent pesto too)

Stunnning Florence. My dad's family actually came from here hundreds of years ago. Now I've married into another Florentine family

Although we weren’t in a rush, we were on a timetable: we had that big family party to get to. It was after all the main reason for our trip. And it was sensational too. G’s family are the most welcoming of people and they do love to have a good time – all 46 of them! I felt most welcomed to the family.

My new Florentine family. Phew!

Shutting-up The People (Callar al pueblo)

Last week, the New York Times published a scathing editorial about a recently passed law here in Spain, officially called “The Law for Citizen’s Safety”, but popularly known as La Ley Mordaza (The Gag Law).

In the editorial, entitled “Spain’s Ominous Gag Law”, which is well-worth reading by the way, the New York Times opined that the law’s purpose appears to be “to help the ruling party maintain its hold on power by discouraging the anti-austerity protests that have snowballed into widespread support for the populist Podemos party”.

I couldn’t agree more whole-heartedly with their assessment, although I’d even go further and suggest that it is an attempt to quell any show of opposition at all to the government’s policies.

As the editorial states, the law introduces massive fines for demonstrating in certain places: 30,000€ for demonstrating in front of government buildings, 600,000€ (yes that's five zeros) for spontaneous demonstrations in front of other places considered “strategic”, 30,000€ for filming or photographing police and soldiers doing stuff(!)

Police blockade at the end of my old street in Madrid. They were blocking the way in case protesters wanted to get close to the HQ of the Partido Popular, the party of the current government

With the new law, I could very well not be able to take a photo like this, or even the one above, for risk of copping a 30,000€ fine

I find this new law both infuriating and terrifying. How is it possible that the government of a western European democracy could even contemplate such a law, let alone actually implement it? To me it reeks of something that belongs in the dark days of 1930s Europe.

The government’s excuse for the law (as it’s name suggests) is security for its citizens and institutions. To me, that sounds like something straight out of the propaganda chapter of “Fascism for Dummies”. It’s also utter rubbish.

For much of the time I have lived in Spain, the country has been gripped by a relentless and brutal economic crisis that has seen general unemployment rise to more than 26% at one point (currently it’s not much better at over 23%).

The degradation and depravation that has accompanied this has been heartbreaking: desahucios (evictions) in their tens of thousands resulting in skyrocketing homelessness; well-dressed pensioners begging in the street; people rummaging through the bins to find something to eat or sell. These are still every-day sights here.

But despite all this, the Spanish have maintained a dignity and control that, as an extrajero, has truly impressed and astounded me. Spaniards don’t just get mad, they get organised. Throughout 2013, there were close to 4500 manifestaciones (demonstrations) on the streets of Madrid alone. I was living right in the centre of that wonderful city that year and I saw plenty of them.

The placard translates to "Organise your rage". 
The Spanish don't just get mad, they get organised

People demonstrated against the crisis, against the government’s responses to it (like cuts to social services, privatisations, new labour laws), against the seemingly never-ending corruption scandals that were bubbling to the surface just about every day, against the foreclosures and evictions.

This 2011 protest was against the crisis in general and the capital that caused it 

This group from a Madrid 2013 protest was in support of the miners from the north of Spain. The big banner reads:
"We're not just indignant, we are "up to the balls", which is a pretty strong was of saying "fed up"

But what was even more striking than such community organisation and action was the lack of violence: in the vast majority (and I'm talking 90-odd percent) of these demonstrations there just wasn’t any. 

That’s what makes the government’s excuse for the Ley Mordaza so unbelievable. Why, if the vast majority of demonstrations in Spain are peaceful, even carnival-like at times, do such draconian measures need to be introduced? They don’t, of course.

A great many demonstrations I saw were attended by whole families...

And all ages.
The placards read: "Use of Common Sense Permitted" and "Enough with the Economic Violence"

Although the reasons for demonstrating were serious, there was often a "carnival" atmosphere.
The top photos is from 2011, the bottom from 2013

I believe with this law the government is attempting to squash this spirit of organisation and action of the people. They don’t want dissent in the streets – especially organised dissent that actually brings results.

The Marea Blanca (the White Tide) were demonstrations by Madrid health workers who managed to stop mass-privatisations in the Madrid region’s health service; the Marea Verde (the Green Tide) were demonstrations by educationalists, students and parents that have caused no end of problems to the government’s education “reforms” and, as the New York Times noted in their editorial, the 15M demonstrations actually spawned a new political party and it is seriously threatening the two-party system that has characterised Spanish politics ever since La Transitión (Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy) and hence the government’s grip on power.

The white coats of health workers in a demonstration of the Marea Blanca in 2013 

Huge crowds attended many of the demonstrations, as here in Madrid's Paseo de Prado in 2011

The 15M (May 15th, 2011) protest camped out for weeks in the central Madrid square,  La Puerta del Sol.
This protest would eventually spawn the new political party Podemos.

Spain’s democracy is young - not quite 40 years old – but I always thought it was strong. That this law is being introduced is making me question that.

What I hope is that the many people still around who remember Franco’s dictatorship will smell the reek of authoritarianism in this law and using their skill at organisation and action, put an end to it. 

It is an election year after all.

Some memorable pancartas (placards) I have seen at Madrid demos

No translation necessary

"They (the politicians) don't represent us".
That's the Prime Minister having unspeakable things done to him by a banker

Cigarette pack warning: "Cuts to Health Kill" 

The typical "For Sale" sign that people peg to their balconies when selling their flat. Here is reads:
"For Sale. The Welfare State"

The big red thing is meant to be the famous chorizo sausage. The chorizo has come to represent corruption and waste.
The banner underneath reads "Looking for honourable and committed politicians. Are there any around?"