Fighting City Hall

[EduPerez]

Just some context info:

Here in Spain, when someone cannot pay for hist mortgage, the property is seized and auctioned; then, the money obtained goes first to the bank, to cover what was still unpaid, and the rest to the owner. However, if the property cannot be sold for an amount greater than the debt (as almost always happens nowadays), then the property goes to the bank, and the debtor still has to pay most of the debt.

There was some recent "recommendation" from the government to the banks to "ask" them to cancel the debt under certain circumstances (like the debtor being unemployed, for example, if I recall correctly). What this man is asking for is to make that "recommendation" an "obligation".

Both policemen at the background wear the Catalonia's police uniform, not the Barcelona's police uniform; so the building behind them must be the Catalonia's Parliament, not the City Hall. Easy to mix the buildings, as they face each other.

[Rob C]

Interesting explanation, Eduardo.

That's the sort of thing (our non-Spaniard interpretations of the image) that underlines the dangers of taking positions on someone else's fights. As with so damned much, we don't really always know why we take to the streets and demonstrate, other than that our friends are doing so too. (I never take to those streets, of course, because I seldom know much about anything that's going on anymore; I'm just too honest to pretend that I do.)

If you think about Iraq in any serious way, I imagine that hindsight would suggest we'd have been far, far better keeping out of it and not confusing one terrorist faction with another. Macho responses seldom solve anything but always fill Emergency wards. Is the world a better place since Saddy left it? I wonder if many would think so; will Syria turn out better if we get involved? Has/will Afghanistan? Maybe if we just left all those cultures alone to run their affairs as they have for centuries, stopped trying to find diversionary demons in other, non-our own situations, we'd be better off than we seem to be right now. Political systems that have evolved in the 'west' have so evolved for their own specific situational reasons - those are not universal so why assume the rest of the world wants or even needs to embrace the same set of rules or thought processes?

I imagine that had we left those peoples firmly alone, we'd have all the affordable oil, petrol and gas that we need: why would it be otherwise when trade has always been a two-way street that flourishes only when both parties feel they get value for money?

You mess with people, they inevitably mess back.

Long way from Barcelona... or is it?

Rob C

[Tony Jay]

Interesting thoughts Rob.

Luckily, I feel that in Syria, and other Middle East countries, currently, the motivation for change seems to originate in-house.
The Syrian government deserves condemnation but their actions certainly call into question their legitimacy in the eyes of their own people.
If the groundswell for change is big enough the Syrian government will not be able to resist it.
Sadly a lot more people will die in the interim.
As in Egypt and Libya each will have to work things out for themselves - the results almost certainly will not equate to politics a la a Westminster parliamentary system of representational politics.
The best thing for the western democracies is to keep the soldiers out however only time will tell.

Regards

Tony Jay

[seamus finn]

Both policemen at the background wear the Catalonia's police uniform, not the Barcelona's police uniform; so the building behind them must be the Catalonia's Parliament, not the City Hall. Easy to mix the buildings, as they face each other.

I think you are correct, Eduardo. There were two similar civic buildings in the same square so I may have confused them.  Thanks for the context. In any event, I think it validates my man powerfully and vindicates the theme 'you can't beat City Hall'.

Right now, there must be hundreds of thousands of people just like him all over crisis-stricken Europe - and certainly, very many in his  shoes here in Ireland.