Spain’s Crisis Leads To Rise Of Grass-Roots Groups

A year and a half ago, recession-ravaged Spanish society reacted to the economic crisis with the “Indignados,” a mass protest that inspired the worldwide “Occupy” movement.

The “angry ones” are long gone from Spanish streets, but they’ve evolved into many grass-roots associations now filling the gaps left by the eroding welfare state, spawning a new form of anti-austerity resistance that embraces all branches of society, from those who have lost homes to foreclosures, to the entire judiciary.

Hardly a day passes in Spain without a noisy demonstration by one sector of society or another. One day, it’s doctors. With drums beating, thousands of white-clad health workers protest government plans to overhaul the country’s highly respected public health system.