| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (28 min. 2 sec.) ; 163780781 bytes |
| Summary |
Millions of people had lost their homes to the banks. Millions more were jobless. Disillusioned and desperate for change, they clogged Spain's streets and squares in protests that ran for months. It came to be known as 15M, in a nod to the day it all began: 15 May 2011.Now, four years on, through organisation, persistence and social media savvy, the 15M protesters have become the politicians in the country's biggest cities."We have 8200 towns and cities and villages that have new governments, so Spain right now is like a field of experimental democracy" - recently elected Madrid councillor Pablo Soto"Politics doesn't belong only to the political class. It belongs to all of us" - newly elected Barcelona councillor Gala PinNewcomers like Soto and Pin never imagined that the police they had confronted in the 15M protests would be awkwardly saluting them as they now make their daily entrances into town hall.Their idealistic platform is total transparency and a pure democracy where policies are made from the bottom up. Citizens, not politicians, will decide where and how public money is spent. A top priority is stopping the plague of foreclosures which left up to 3.5 million homes sitting vacant - and sent a bolt of anger through the country."Citizens have realised that our destiny in our own hands. If we don't step forward and share responsibility we are going straight into the abyss" - Ada Colau, Barcelona's first woman mayorForeign Correspondent follows the newbie politicians as they explore their offices and suddenly discover that they have stepped into a shark pool. Their opponents are hungrily trawling their social media histories for indiscretions."The powers that be are diving on the Internet looking for anything to say that we're terrorists. It's crazy!" - Pablo Soto On the very first day of Madrid's new council one of Soto's colleagues is forced to resign, and Soto himself is under pressure to quit."If we don't do things well, kick us out" - Ada Colau, new mayor of Barcelona |
| Event |
Broadcast 2015-08-25 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Apartment houses -- Social aspects.
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City council members.
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Political activists.
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Politicians -- Attitudes.
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Protest movements.
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Spain -- Catalonia.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Sara, Sally, reporter
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Carmena, Manuela, contributor
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Colau, Ada, contributor
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Floriano, Carlos, contributor
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Pin, Gala, contributor
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Soto, Pablo, contributor
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Zapata, Guillermo, contributor
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