Sights and Sounds of the #SpanishRevolution

This post is part of an on-going TNGG series on youth movements. Check out more about the Children of the Revolutions.

After the events of the Arab Spring, it could be said the Eurozone is experiencing a Student Summer, with cities across the continent setting up centrally located, mini city-states to house the revolutionaries in an imitation of the tent city seen in Tahrir Square in Cairo earlier this year.

Barcelona’s Plaza Catalunya was transformed from an open expanse full of tourists and food carts in city center to, as resident Kevin Beneteau described it, “Half revolution, half Woodstock.”

Indeed. Beneteau, a 23-year-old French national studying in Spain, is one of nearly 150 citizens of a tent city erected in mid-May that spanned the whole of the plaza for most of this summer. (It has since been half-abandoned as residents migrated south in July and August to rally in Madrid and to come to the aid of residents at the Malaga camp.)

Beneteau, who arrived in Barcelona at the end of May, became enthralled by the energy in Plaza Catalunya and decided to stay for good after two days. “If people stand in this square like in Tunis and Cairo, I will stand with them,” he said.

As my friend Abbey Moore and I traversed the square (known online as AcampadaBCN) we observed in awe. Most of the “tents,” which are really just basic tarps, crudely taped onto beams or PVC piping, were filled with the youth of Europe’s countries, eating, pontificating, and plotting revolution. They call themselves The Indignants.

A wonderland of color and nationalities, Plaza Catalunya has captured the spirit of Barcelona’s international student population. The coastal city, known for its nightlife, is traditionally a top destination for European students to study, a trend that lends itself well to the feeling of a truly international movement operating out of the square. Not to mention, in a country where unemployment for those under 25 stands at nearly 43 percent, there isn’t a lot else for young people in Spain to do.

What differentiates the Barcelona camp, from the rest of the Spanish tent cities is the foreign flavor of students from all over the world. According to research by Barcelona Centre Universitari, an organization that promotes the presence of foreign students in Barcelona, there’s been a 72.5 percent increase in international students in the last five years. Recent numbers put foreign nationals aged 20-30 living in Barcelona at 192,000 people. The city’s total population is just over 1.6 million.

Ege, a 25-year-old Turkish masters student who didn’t want his last name published, gave a short speech in support of the movement during an open mic hour before a five p.m. march officially got underway on June 19.

Tweeting from the tent city. Photo by Abbey Moore

“The oldest idea of change is international,” he said, explaining that at home in Turkey, the same problems and frustrations exist with unemployment, internet monitoring, and an unpopular government. Ege is constantly in touch with friends at home, sharing news and attempting to prompt similar action there. But, so is everyone else camped out at Plaza Catalunya. “Anyone here working in Barcelona is also working at home. We have to unite – it’s the only way to make changes.”

The Plaza operates the way a good, old-fashioned commune would. A soup kitchen has been set up with donated food and day-old bread, along with a library, a greenhouse full of fresh vegetables and herbs, and even a separate tent full of toys and dollhouses for children.

But it’s not just your average communal living affair. The air is filled with the feeling of revolt and the sounds and bright colors of rebellion stem out from the canopy above, where Neverland-esque tree houses have been set up. (See photo below.)

The group has also set up an immigration office with Arabic and Farsi signs tacked onto the front, police barricades to keep out the riot force that has stormed the Plaza before, as well as a vibrant, 24/7 communications and translations department, where blog posts, tweets, Facebook statuses and press releases are written in English, Spanish, French and Catalan via a jungle of laptops and wires.

Johnny Lobo is part of the communication operation. He spoke to me, shirtless in the humid Barcelona summer air, with a shaved head and a muscular torso. His English was tinged with a Dutch accent as he explained the camp’s leaderless dynamics.

Tents in the trees in Plaza Catalunya. Photo by Abbey Moore

“This is how democracy really starts,” the thirty-something insisted. Everyone involved offers what they can, what they’re good at. The hundred or so people who stay in the Plaza come and go as they please, sometimes staying for days and weeks before heading back to their flats on the other sides of the city or to their home countries to spread the word about what’s happening in Spain and setting up their own little metropolises.

Some of the camp’s residents are what you might expect: mohawked, tatted, with ripped clothes and spikes, of indistinguishable ethnic origin. But others are professors, bankers, doctors, and small business owners. Anonymous also has representation, and the infamous Guy Fawkes masks (the symbol of the notorious hacktivist collective), are used by lounging protesters to block out the sun.

It’s the kind of thing you hear about on the news, but seeing it, and being involved gives this kind of movement a personal feeling. It’s almost impossible to encapsulate the depth of meaning surrounding these protests sweeping the world – this generation has stood up, and refuses to back down. In Spain and elsewhere, it’s that spirit of the youth that has encouraged the older generations to join in and help, which is really the only way any lasting change has a chance at success.

I suppose the point is this: people from all over came together this summer to start a movement, take some action, and show their governments that enough is enough. Being in Barcelona inspired me, and I wrote this to inspire you.

Follow @AcampadaBCN on Twitter for more updates and read the Spanish Revolution’s Declaration of Principles here.