The 2011 Spanish protests, also referred to as the 15-M Movement, the Indignants movement or the Spanish revolution, are a series of ongoing peaceful demonstrations in Spain whose origin can be traced to social networks and Real Democracy NOW (Spanish: Democracia Real YA) among other civilian digital platforms and 200 other small associations. Compared with the Arab Spring and May 1968 in France, it started on 15 May with an initial call in 58 Spanish cities.
The series of protests demands a radical change in Spanish politics, as protesters do not consider themselves to be represented by any traditional party nor favoured by the measures approved by politicians. Spanish media have related the protests to the economic crisis, Stéphane Hessel’s Time for Outrage! the NEET troubled generation and current protests in the Middle East and North Africa, Greece, Portugal (Geração à rasca movement) as well as the Icelandic protest and riots in 2009. The protests were staged close to the local and regional elections, held on 22 May.
Even though protesters form a heterogeneous and ambiguous group, they share a strong rejection of unemployment, welfare cuts, Spanish politicians, the current two-party system in Spain between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and the People’s Party, as well as the current political system, capitalism, banks and bankers, political corruption and firmly support what they call basic rights: home, work, culture, health and education.
What has emerged from the movement’s rejection of representative democracy (denounced in DRY’s manifesto as having klepto-plutarchratic tendencies) appears to be a form of grassroots participatory democracy based on people’s assemblies and consensus decision making. These horizontally structured assemblies are completely transparent and open to anyone who wants to participate. According to statistics published by RTVE, the Spanish public broadcasting company, between 6.5 and 8 million Spaniards have participated in these protests.

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