Banks & euro backers are relieved & thrilled at the $125 billion Spanish bank bailout; Spanish working people not so much since it will entail even greater attacks on their standard of living, increase unemployment, homelessness, & impoverishment. While European finance ministers lauded the rescue, one media source reported with pitiful understatement “some protesters in Madrid shouted slogans against labour reform & the deal”. How about thousands have been protesting in the streets of Spain for days--not counting the striking miners in northern Spain!? Protestors are banging pots & pans & carrying placards which read, "This isn't a rescue, it's a fraud", "Hands up, this is a rescue", "Why should they rescue the banks when our children are starving?", "We don't owe, we don't pay". One woman protestor said, "This is not a rescue for Spain, it's a rescue for the rich. The poor will only get poorer and suffer even more in the months to come.” There are few photos that capture the scale of popular resistance to the strings-attached bailout but this photo of the miner’s strike captures the mood.
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