The Spanish movement: from the squares and into the streets

Assembly took place that night, as it did on every Friday and Saturday night, usually gathering an audience of over 1000 people. These meetings allowed any person to put forward their own individual opinion, as the crowd sat in silence, waving their hands in applause so as no words of the next sentence were inaudible. Though I could understand few words, the crowds silence spoke of solidarity.

The movement was started with the ideas of eight people. One of those was Dani, a humble and inconspicuous man, who lives in Santiago. He came home one day after many months unsuccessfully looking for work, downcast and wanting change. He locked himself in his bedroom without food and emerged three days later with his computer. Using social networking sites he created the movement '500,000 in Parliament' - in reference to a more representative political system.

In early May representatives from different groups gathered in Madrid, and the protests came to life in Spain's major cities on the 15th of May in response to a call from the 'Democracia Real Xa' (Real Democracy Now) which called for demonstrations a week ahead of local and regional elections. Twenty indignados camped out in Santiago, with far greater numbers in the larger cities of Madrid and Barcelona. The leadership of the movement was described to me as a kitchen in which rotating chefs oversaw what was being created, with no one person in total power.

On that first day, 8 points for change were developed in Madrid:

• Elimination of political privileges

• Against unemployment

• Right to decent housing

• Quality of public services

• Control of major banks

• Overhaul of tax system

• Protection of citizen rights and participative democracy

• Reduction of military expenditure

In Santiago those from the movement have built up a strong relationship with the ever present local police who can sympathize with their words and see the effort being made. In the first week of the demonstration the noisy cleaning trucks circled the camp, the dry stones to sleep upon were wet, and police sirens sounded and spot lights flashed throughout the night in an attempt to clear them out. But the government's policy changed since it's use of force in Madrid and Barcelona only strengthened the demonstrators numbers, and saw protests at Spanish embassy's worldwide.

There is a strict protocol to be followed by the demonstrators in the event of forceful eviction, that has been rehearsed, and whose strict basis is pacifism:

• The police must announce that the we have two hours to leave the square. The first action taken by us would be to remove any sensitive documents that could be seized. Those who leave with this sensitive material can, under no circumstances return, but must remain hidden. Furthermore, the building infrastructure would be removed for the possibility of returning it later.

• People are free to stay or leave, based upon the conviction that 'if you don't want to see the police hurt your friends you should leave' - because the feeling of communal pacifism must be stronger than ones own feelings of anger and retribution.

• All those who remain must sit in a spiral with their arms linked within the camp. In the event that a demonstrator is broken from the person next to him, he must pretend he is dead - a symbolic gesture that without the support of the person next to you, you cannot survive. Such physical treatment would be considered police brutality.

How long did the demonstrators intend to stay? (after all, little more could be achieved from the camps beyond awareness for their cause). I was told that their actions had spread to the surrounding social and cultural infrastructure - the schools, and universities, with whom they regularly have meetings. Though many would be sad to leave the square, they realized there was more progress to be made outside of it. As Santi put it: "It is almost time to leave the square, and take the city".

Before I left I asked Santi what his personal motivation for protesting were. He will soon have a son, he explained to me, and it is for this reason that he is truly fighting - not for himself. This world of competition and exploitation, in which people feel overwhelmed and powerless, is the one he knows, but he wants his son to know another - a world of collective compassion. Santi left me with the words 'live and fight, compañeras!' (partner), and I truly felt like I was leaving a family - a family whose loud voice would be difficult to stifle.

The voluntary pullout finally took place on Sunday the 3rd of July, nearly a month after I had left, after a mammoth 16 and a half hour meeting, and weeks after protesters left Camp Puerta del Sol in Madrid.