Posted on 03/20/2022 8:01:10 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Madrid (AFP) – As many as 150,000 farmers, ranchers and hunters marched Sunday through Madrid to protest the Spanish centre-left government's failure to tackle soaring prices exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The mass demonstration came a day after thousands of demonstrators, called by the far-right Vox party, protested against rising food, energy and fuel prices.
Hoisting Spanish flags and blowing whistles, demonstrators walked Sunday through the central avenues of the capital, often led by tractors blaring their horns.
Slogans stamped on protest banners read "Costs continue to rise," or "We are ranchers on the way to extinction" and "S.O.S rural world."
Producers complain of rising fuel and fertiliser prices at a time of low profits.
They also denounced Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government for pushing animal welfare regulations that restrict dog breeding or limit hunting.
"Today animals are protected more than people," said Fernando Saez, a farmer from the southern city of Cordoba, accompanied by his hunting dog Cera.
Last year, energy prices soared by 72 percent in Spain, one of the highest increases within the European Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Many over there keep on voting for socialism. They are now getting the divisive and self contradictory reality.
What it has to do with “Russia’s war”? I don’t see Putin messing with markets, it is Europe blocking trade and slapping sanctions.
Imagine such a thing in Washington these days. Spain at this point has more free speech and general political liberty than the US.
Vox is a far-right party that is worthy of the name. Its platform is much more explicitly nationalist and traditionalist than nearly any US Republican politician. They are pretty much where Zemmour in France is, and somewhat further right than Le Pen.
The Spanish center-right party, the PPP, is about where US Republicans are.
“... Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government ...”’
Okay, stop right there. It’s fine for the Spaniards to protest against inflation, but if you have a socialist government it’s no mystery why you’re screwed economically. We have the same situation with the Biden government which has spent 14 months implementing Bernie Sanders’ economic agenda.
Their argument is over inflation over 2021, this Ukraine thing has only exacerbated it. Exactly the same as in the US. France24 is a center-left outlet and will try pin inflation (also in France) on the war.
Well, thats the point. This is a political demo by an opposition party against the current Spanish government. Which is their right.
I will be in Madrid in a couple of weeks. Things might get interesting.
Hey, we have some trucks driving around, does that count?
You are absolutely right. From what I read, we are heading for a perfect storm of calamity regarding the harvests here and abroad this year. The inflation, supply chain disfunction and oil shortages coupled with the American West drought forms the base. Factor in the loss of fertilizer, oil and food exports (excluding BRICS partners) from the Russian Federation, Belarus and the Ukraine and bread riots are a distinct possibility in America.
I get that it was organized by an opposition party. But the excerpt above is all about the protesters decrying the disease’s *symptoms* (e.g., high fuel prices, high fertilizer prices, farmers going broke, etc.), rather than the disease itself (socialism). And that’a fine; as you say, it’s their right. But unless and until they explain to their neighbors not just that they’re in a mess but how and why they got into the mess, the stupidest of their neighbors are going to keep voting in the same clowns.
What’s to protest? It’s a business opportunity. Make stuff and sell it cheap. Oh, not so easy, huh?
Well, thats the electoral hook - inflation, caused by a mistaken government policy. And its the same one being used by the US Republicans.
Arguments about ideology arent election winners, certainly not in the US, nor in Spain. Its too theoretical.
Nearly every western (US and Europe) politician is a subversive liar. They’re blaming Russia like they did Covid, nothing but a bunch of liars. They have facilitated the loss of freedom and prosperity, and they want more loss of each as their globalist oligarchs demand. Western democracy is a fiction.
I feel like Ronald Reagan was so successful because he had a knack for not just telling the public that the left’s policies were screwing them but also explaining why those policies didn’t work and would never work. To a large extent, Trump has this ability, too.
The mass demonstration came a day after thousands of demonstrators, called by the far-right Vox party,
Observations: they refer to one party as "centre-left", but the other party is "far-right". Also, they try to shift the blame to Russia.
In case you didn't already know, see Tagline.
RE: Spain hit by yet another mass protest over rising prices
Exactly what do these protesters want their government to do to lower prices?
They vote for socialists, and the result is declining living standards.
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