Unravelling: Protests and opportunism

On one day, events come together that forge the impression of an unravelling. The word unravelling, in its literal sense, means an undoing or an unknitting of fabric. In an abstract sense, and as the word is often applied, it is an undoing of a different type of fabric, that of society for example.

The one day in question was Monday. The events that came together were a protest against non-payments to ambulance workers, a threat of legal action against the Balearic Government over non-payments to public transport operators, an announcement of sit-ins and a strike by university and secondary education students, and news of alleged over-reaction by police against protesting students in Valencia.

Charges of disproportionate measures being adopted by police in Valencia are not new. They were also made in respect of efforts to clear "indignado" demonstrators last year. The protests staged in many Spanish cities by the indignados and the responses by some police forces were, though, against a political backdrop that had yet to be properly coloured in. It now has been. And this is how it begins. Protests of different types. An unravelling.

At the weekend, there had been another protest, that against the national government's labour reforms. To the fore was Lorenzo Bravo, secretary-general in the Balearics of the UGT union, a Dereck Chisora-David Haye of industrial relations trash talk, upping the ante in publicising the fight with the government by labelling President Bauzá a fascist.

The allusion to Spain's history is a dark colour to be added to the swatch with which the political backdrop is suffused, one embellished by a legal system that permits a tarnishing of Spain's reputation. The actions of a right-wing union with undeniable Francoist sympathies, in forcing the pursuit of Judge Baltasar Garzón and in also seeking the subpoena of Princess Cristina, were born out of democratic sophism; the targets - Garzón's brand of legalistic independence and the royal family - are integral to Spain's democracy and they are being hounded.

The events of Monday and at the weekend and the manipulation of the legal system are not coincidental. They are an opportunistic and inevitable collision within the unravelling framework. Yet, the inevitability of, for example, the public transport operators' federation seeking legal redress might not become reality. Nor is it inevitable that individual bus companies might actually stop services, as they are threatening to.

There is always brinkmanship, and suspension of bus services by companies responsible for places such as Pollensa and Can Picafort, just as the tourism season starts to get underway, would be unlikely to happen. It is not as though we haven't been here before. Pharmacies threatened to pull down their shutters in protest at not being paid by the IB-Salut health service, but the threat didn't materialise, or at least, it hasn't materialised yet.

Things have moved on, though. Pharmacies not being paid was an issue soon after the change of regional government last June. The strains are far greater than they were and the roll call of services being cut or finding themselves without funds grows longer.

At some point, one of the threats will be realised. If it were that of the bus companies, notwithstanding the government's pre-emption by declaring a suspension of services illegal, the ramifications would be significant; in terms of tourism reputation if nothing else. And while the ambulance workers are protesting and the pharmacies remain unpaid, what of another element of the health service - hospital emergency units?

These units have become overstretched as it is, leading to resignations, such as that of the director of Son Espases' emergency department. When the units start to fill up with tourists who have either chucked themselves off balconies, had too much to drink or suffered a severe reaction to a mosquito bite, the last thing the hospitals (or the government) would want would be a "Sun, Sea and A&E" film crew hovering in the background, showing them struggling to cope.

The unions and the students are playing their expected roles as usual suspects when it comes to protest. Their actions will be easier for governments, nationally and regionally, to handle in terms of PR. But these actions are only beginning. Valencia for now, but over the next months?

When hospital directors, pharmacies, bus companies, ambulance workers - to name but a few - add their voices to those who might simply be dismissed as regular agitators, protest is less easy to handle. And all the while, lurking somewhere, is the opportunism of the non-governmental right and further right. On one day, events come together that forge the impression of an unravelling. How about 23 February? Do you know what anniversary this marks?


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.