Arianna wrote an interesting article on Los Indignados and Occupy Wall Street:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/spain-indignados-protests_b_1029640.html

Interesting article indeed… and Arianna so rightly says, what the world is looking for is change… Not the kind of change proposed and enacted by Obama, not the kind of change proposed and enacted by Cameron and Clegg but a fundamental change of the attitudes of the worlds politicians towards the people who put them in office. A realisation and acceptance on their part that it’s the people that matter. For the most part politicians have absolutely no idea of what work is about; most have never ‘worked’ in their lives. A typical arrogant political response from a former Spanish prime minister reflects exactly what goes on in their minds…

I am reposting here comments that I made on another post

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/english/Global/indignation/elpepueng/20111016elpeng_4/Ten

and a response from former president Jose Maria Aznar…

“...Meanwhile, former Prime Minister José María Aznar of the opposition Popular Party (PP) described the 15-M demonstrators as “no more than a poor anti-establishment movement that is linked to groups on the extreme left.”

“Their representation isn’t important to Spanish society,” the former prime minister was quoted as saying in an interview with the Ecuadorian daily El Universo on Sunday.

Is he that misguided? The whole world is turning to ratsh*t and this arrogant little P.P. weasel has the effrontery to suggest that these people ‘are of no concern’. His is the voice behind Rajoy, the guiding hand, the former leader of a far right party that was deposed immediately after the Madrid bombings.

The sad thing is of course that the P.P. will almost certainly win the next election and the reason that they will win has nothing to do with their popularity… it’s to do with the unpopularity of the PSOE. Just as the double act of Cameron / Clegg winning of the last UK election had nothing to do with their popularity and was all about the unpopularity of Labour. We have all seen what happens as a result of these knee-jerk elections. If you think things are bad in Spain now, just wait and see; they can and will get worse just as they have in the UK.

Its high time that former leaders of any country were permanently gagged and put out to pasture; they all cause problems that they can walk away from both in and out of office. They are like babies diapers, so full of sh*t they need to be quietly disposed of. Thatcher, Blair and Brown are prime examples from the UK; Blair is still at it, mouthing off at every opportunity just as Aznar is over here.

For Aznar to suggest that “Their representation isn’t important to Spanish society,” and “no more than a poor anti-establishment movement that is linked to groups on the extreme left” is dangerous to say the least and shows just how out of touch he really is; these protests were mounted by people from all walks of life, students, lecturers, white and blue collar workers, public service workers, housewives, pensioners.

I have some news for you Mr. Aznar… These people ARE Spanish society. Society isn’t the protected elite and that is what they are trying to tell you.

They are certainly cracking down on the protestors - have you seen the news from today? I can only think that this will make the whole movement stronger and attract more people.

Too bad that there mostly homeless and unemployed people taking part of the Occupy initiative.
This makes that there is less support among the general population.
Although they are support the ideas.
If there were just a few more people with suites and luxury watches supporting the Occupy initiative there would be be a lot more support.

Although a frequent forum poster I have never posted on politics in my life but I strongly feel that I (and I think many others) are truly fed up with sleezy politicians who only have their own self centred interests at heart.
Their constant mismanagement and poor decision making has now brought whole countries economies to their knees and consequently severely disrupted the lives of most of their populations through homelessness, reduced pensions and investments, poorer quality social services incl education and health and reduced our standard of living.
We are all paying more taxes (increased IVA/VAT) increased costs for essentials of life like electricity and car fuel not to mention higher food prices and what are we asked to do - pay MORE (diesel up 3cents yesterday)
We need honest logical thinkers who are able to run the EU so that waste and corruption is eliminated and the people - who voted them in and pay their salaries, are put first.
Perhaps the world is too complicated - we were sold the global economy, big is better (yes for the politicians)  and as my deceased father correctly predicted it will all come down like a deck of cards, and it is. 
As always whether by war or economics the people have to pay.
We need a new system and I wish I was clever enough to know the answer but democracy and capitalism does not seem to be working. I just hope governments realise that we need fundamental changes which once and for all establish government with morals and integrity and not constant sleeze, then retiring on full inflated pensions to take directorships and write best selling books (who buys those!)

Rob… well said. I couldn’t agree more. One small point though… do you actually know of any country these days that actually has a democratic government. Seems to me to be a contradiction in terms!

Here in Spain under the PSOE and Zapatero we had something approaching a democracy until the bottom fell out of the financial world.

Rajoy, dancing under Jose Maria Aznars puppet strings is using the catchphrase Sumate al Cambiar which for the uninitiated means ‘Join the change’.. pretty well the same line used by Barak Obama and “Call me Dave” Cameron and look what’s happened in the US and UK as a result.

Aznar said of the Spanish indignados that they are not a part of Spanish society; just how arrogant can you get? These people represent the true Spanish society; the spoon-fed elite are well in the minority but as with every other country the serfs will just do as they are told.

The whole damn world is going to ratshit and they don’t care… they don’t listen.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

“Politicians are like seagulls. They arrive from out of nowhere in a fluster, squawking, sticking their beaks in…. crapping all over everything and then flying off leaving a mess.”

“Politicians are like nappies / daipers…They should be changed frequently, and for the same reason.”

Billy Connolly: ‘Anyone who wants to be a politician should be automatically barred from being one.’

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