Madrid's Sol protest camp winds down as committees pull out
The committees of the Sol camp in Madrid are leaving the site to focus on the November 11 strike, according to the announcement that opened the debate.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Sol committees leave the camp and throw their weight behind the November 11 strike
A thread of messages in which the Sol camp goes from being the epicenter of the protest to an empty lot that needs cleaning up. Most of the committees that kept the camp going have decided to abandon it to focus their activity on the strike called for November 11, according to the tweet from @Cadena SER that opens the conversation. The announcement comes after the media spotlight shifted to the train crash, and the coincidence does not go unnoticed: for some of those present, the voluntary withdrawal is proof that the protest had run out of audience.
The calendar rules. The November 11 strike becomes the new date to watch and the camp, a formality being closed out. Some read the move as a tactical retreat, others as a defeat without concessions. The discussion splits between those who see a transformation of the protest and those who speak outright of a rout.
What is left of the Sol camp?
The committees' announcement leaves the camp hanging. The question hovering over the conversation is how many people are physically left in the square and how many are leaving with the committees. The answer that prevails is that the camp had long been sustained more by inertia than by turnout. "There were only a handful of beggars. There was nobody there," one comment insists, adding that the camp was kept going on the orders of the government delegate (the Spanish central government's representative in the region). It is a claim circulating without verification and should be taken for what it is: one more opinion among the many being exchanged.
The cold and demobilization come up as underlying explanations. "It's cold, better to protest from home in the warm," sums up one reply that captures the general mood. The weather is not a political cause, but it weighs: an open-air camp in November has its days numbered without a constant flow of people willing to sleep on the street.
The November 11 strike as the new date
The shift of effort toward the November 11 strike is the least contested part of the announcement. The committees are not dissolving: they are changing stage. That allows their leaders to present the withdrawal as a strategic decision rather than a flight. The most charitable reading is that a general strike has more mileage than a camp that no longer generates news.
The least charitable reading is the forum's skepticism: "The revolution is over," one comment declares. Another points to the media calendar: the train crash swallowed the spotlight and, without cameras, the camp lost its reason for being. Protest as a news product works like that: when the evening news looks the other way, the camp is left orphaned.
The shopkeepers and the cost of a month of camping
The economic impact appears in the conversation from the angle of the local shops. "They made a circus of it but they really screwed over the shopkeepers," sums up one comment pointing to the accumulated damage of more than a month of camping. It is the least visible side of the camp: the surrounding businesses lived with closures, noise and fewer customers while the square was the protest's shop window.
Cleaning the square comes up as the next bill to pay. "I hope they clean it with plenty of disinfectant once they take away all the rubbish," one reply asks. Another jokes about the municipal workers and the overtime that will be needed. The cost of restoring the square is never quantified, and there the discussion ends: with the hunch that someone else will foot the bill for the party.
The political verdict: between tactical retreat and farce
The allocation of blame and credit is the slipperiest ground. "The reds win, the wristband right loses," one comment pronounces, in a partisan reading that explains little. Another prefers sarcasm: "The PSOE subsidy is over," hinting that the camp lived off public funds. These are claims thrown into the air without proof, and should be read as such.
What does emerge from the whole thread is a certain relief: "If anything, it's for the best. Let them make fools of themselves on their own until they get tired of it." Seen this way, the withdrawal is neither a victory nor a defeat, but the natural end of a protest that ran out of fuel. The November 11 strike will show whether the transfer of energy was real or just a change of shop window.
A thread of messages in which the Sol camp goes from being the epicenter of the protest to an empty lot that needs cleaning up. Most of the committees that kept the camp going have decided to abandon it to focus their activity on the strike called for November 11, according to the tweet from @Cadena SER that opens the conversation. The announcement comes after the media spotlight shifted to the train crash, and the coincidence does not go unnoticed: for some of those present, the voluntary withdrawal is proof that the protest had run out of audience.
The calendar rules. The November 11 strike becomes the new date to watch and the camp, a formality being closed out. Some read the move as a tactical retreat, others as a defeat without concessions. The discussion splits between those who see a transformation of the protest and those who speak outright of a rout.
What is left of the Sol camp?
The committees' announcement leaves the camp hanging. The question hovering over the conversation is how many people are physically left in the square and how many are leaving with the committees. The answer that prevails is that the camp had long been sustained more by inertia than by turnout. "There were only a handful of beggars. There was nobody there," one comment insists, adding that the camp was kept going on the orders of the government delegate (the Spanish central government's representative in the region). It is a claim circulating without verification and should be taken for what it is: one more opinion among the many being exchanged.
The cold and demobilization come up as underlying explanations. "It's cold, better to protest from home in the warm," sums up one reply that captures the general mood. The weather is not a political cause, but it weighs: an open-air camp in November has its days numbered without a constant flow of people willing to sleep on the street.
The November 11 strike as the new date
The shift of effort toward the November 11 strike is the least contested part of the announcement. The committees are not dissolving: they are changing stage. That allows their leaders to present the withdrawal as a strategic decision rather than a flight. The most charitable reading is that a general strike has more mileage than a camp that no longer generates news.
The least charitable reading is the forum's skepticism: "The revolution is over," one comment declares. Another points to the media calendar: the train crash swallowed the spotlight and, without cameras, the camp lost its reason for being. Protest as a news product works like that: when the evening news looks the other way, the camp is left orphaned.
The shopkeepers and the cost of a month of camping
The economic impact appears in the conversation from the angle of the local shops. "They made a circus of it but they really screwed over the shopkeepers," sums up one comment pointing to the accumulated damage of more than a month of camping. It is the least visible side of the camp: the surrounding businesses lived with closures, noise and fewer customers while the square was the protest's shop window.
Cleaning the square comes up as the next bill to pay. "I hope they clean it with plenty of disinfectant once they take away all the rubbish," one reply asks. Another jokes about the municipal workers and the overtime that will be needed. The cost of restoring the square is never quantified, and there the discussion ends: with the hunch that someone else will foot the bill for the party.
The political verdict: between tactical retreat and farce
The allocation of blame and credit is the slipperiest ground. "The reds win, the wristband right loses," one comment pronounces, in a partisan reading that explains little. Another prefers sarcasm: "The PSOE subsidy is over," hinting that the camp lived off public funds. These are claims thrown into the air without proof, and should be read as such.
What does emerge from the whole thread is a certain relief: "If anything, it's for the best. Let them make fools of themselves on their own until they get tired of it." Seen this way, the withdrawal is neither a victory nor a defeat, but the natural end of a protest that ran out of fuel. The November 11 strike will show whether the transfer of energy was real or just a change of shop window.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (25 replies).
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