Spaniards rise up to shield their basic economic rights

Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:51PM GMT
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Interview with Ian Williams.
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It’s interesting that the protesters are fixing very much on… health, education and the social benefits, which workers and unions and politicians have fought together for years and now suddenly they’re threatened by this rigid economic government, which is not only unfair, it’s ineffective.”

An analyst says Spain’s national uprising is a fight to keep the people’s hard-fought rights and it is damaging confidence in the Euro.

In the background of this Spaniards have held nationwide rallies against government-imposed austerity measures, tax hikes and the stripping away of the people’s rights. The rallies combine the forces of unions, teachers, students and the working class. The official unemployment rate in Spain is currently at a record high of 26 percent. There are also corruption allegations leveled against various politicians and the royal family.

Press TV has interviewed Ian Williams, Senior Analyst from Foreign Policy in Focus, New York about this issue. The following is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Just how bad is the economic situation going to get, I mean, with protests happening on an almost daily basis. Is this the beginning of a massive uprising?

Williams: I would almost like to think so, but probably not. It’s put tons of pressure on the government because basically what the government is doing is wrong.

It’s strange that they’re practicing a neo-Liberal economic policy, which originated very much in the United States and the United States is escaping the worst aspects of the recession because it’s ignoring that policy.

There are people like the Republicans in Congress who would like to use the same policy as Spain, but it’s been resisted and sort of side-stepped by the Obama administration so far.

The idea that you can tough your way out of a recession is absolutely counter intuitive, counter logical, suicidal almost. It really is the economic equivalent of, “we’re in a hole let us dig deeper”.

It’s interesting that the protesters are fixing very much on… health, education and the social benefits, which workers and unions and politicians have fought together for years and now suddenly they’re threatened by this rigid economic government, which is not only unfair, it’s ineffective.

Press TV: So, what does the future hold for the integrity of the EU and the well-being of its economy?

Williams: The rest of the EU is in better condition then Spain. Somehow you have the German bankers who are the biggest followers of neo-Liberalism who regard fiscal austerity as the key.

Every where else… when in fact the German economy is being pumped up by the transfer of Euros from everywhere else from Germany’s booming export industry.

Remember that although they’ve had some cuts the Germans have not tried to inflict this type of economic governance on their own people, they dominate the European Central Bank.

It’s possible that the European Central Bank and the European Union might well reconsider because although Spain, Italy and Portugal and Greece are a small part of the European economy, in the end it’s extremely damaging to the whole idea of confidence in the Euro.

In the neo-Liberal world the confidence of bankers is worth more than vaults filled with gold.