Protests In Madrid Turn Violent
Protesters have been gathering around the parliament building in Madrid this week to protest the governments actions. Truthfully it is hard to understand exactly what the protesters want (as is the case with many protests) but one thing is clear they do not want the Spanish government to accept continued bailouts, and they want a stop to many of the austerity measures that the government has enacted. It is hard to understand how you can have both but that seems to be what the protesters are asking for.
The protests turned violent with some police using batons and rubber bullets to keep the crowds under control. So far the violence has been kept to a minimum but it is hard to tell how long patience and common sense will prevail at the gates or parliament.
Unemployment in Spain is at or above 25% in most regions and their own housing crisis has forced middle class families to turn into squatters There is growing discontent in Spain and it is beginning to show some of the signs of social strife that we saw in Greece earlier in the year. Today Spain’s banks “passed” their stress tests demonstrating that they have enough cash to hold out a while longer for the economy to turn around, but with another “soft” recession predicted for 2013 it is hard to tell if Spain is really beginning to turn a corner or if they will continue to spiral further and further down.
Source: Spain austerity protesters clash with police in Madrid
Catalonia Presses Votes For Full Independence in November
Spain’s next big challenge is going to be to preserve the unity of their country. Spain at one time was a global power house that controlled half the world but centuries later is facing the very real possibility of a break-up. Spain has only been a democracy since 1975 after the death of Francisco Franco, a fascist dictator and since that time Spain’s autonomous regions (similar to US States) have been drifting towards independence and away from the central government in Spain.
The strongest calls for full autonomy or independence historically has come from Catalonia in the north-east, Galicia in the north-west and Basque Country in the north. Of these three groups only the Basques ever engaged in continued violent actions and terrorism to seek independence. Andalucia (the region where Granada is located) is also considered a 4th nationality but they have never expressed a strong desire for full independence.
What makes the Catalan’s renewed calls for independence most striking is that there is a growing majority of Catalans who actually support independence and their local government leaders are calling for an early election November 25th that would give them the opportunity to place full independence on the ballot as a referendum.
Source: Spain’s next crisis: Regional splits?
Drought Hits Andalucia
Andalucia, the region where Granada is located, is in the middle of the worst drought in almost 75 years and the lack of rain is effecting one of Spain’s major exports, oil. Not crude oil but olive oil. Oil production makes up a significant portion of the Spanish economy and a poor olive harvest will have lasting implications on the regional economies.
Spain is the worlds biggest olive oil producer, however they have a significant stockpile of olive oil to keep up with production, but the immediate economic impact will be felt by the laborers and farmers.
Source: ‘Biblical’ drought bites into Spain’s olive oil harvest
Financial Concerns Continues To Play A Central Role In The News
It is hard to find anything in the news about Spain that is not related somehow to economics. I purposefully left the “pray for” part of the article to the end to highlight the message of the Centro Familiar Cristiano. In the hard economic times people are losing sight of what is important and that is seeking Christ. In the hard times the people of Spain are looking to their government or to themselves for solutions when the only person who can provide the relief they are looking for is Jesus Christ.
Pastor Dani at CFC has been posting his sermons online for the pastoral team of the church (which we are a part of even though we are still here in the US) and the message has been consistently that we need to first direct our focus to Christ, and then to direct people to seek Him as well.
Please pray that this message is preached with boldness in the CFC churches and that the people who are reeling and looking for solutions will look to Jesus first as HE is the only one who will lead us all through these difficult times.
