Escraches ...

[Janet]

Escraches ... the word is Argentinian slang meaning to denounce someone — but these days, in Spain, it involves the direct targeting of politicians' homes and offices in an attempt to apply ever greater pressure. The pressure we're talking about is anti-eviction protests, everything from sticking stickers on members of the governing Popular Party (PP) homes and offices, or chanting slogans outside them.

The politicians don't like it ...

PM Rajoy has called escraches undemocratic, saying that "no-one deserves to be harassed, vilified, threatened or intimidated". Another prominent PP politician said they were "pure Nazism".

The politicians are trying to be careful, all the same, saying that they respect the protesters' demands even if not their methods. It was a Canarian PP politician, Sigfrid Soria, however, who was most extreme: he said that if he was approached by a "perroflauta" (I guess hippy is the best translation and it's how the politicians are referring to these protesters) he would physically attack him ... and then ask one of his daughters to rip the perroflauta's head off. 

With one repossession every quarter of an hour throughout 2012, though, pressure, including the escraches, has resulted in the EU telling Spain that its mortgage laws, as far as abusive mortgage clauses are concerned anyway, are illegal. They have to change them by the end of next month.

The question is, are direct and personal protests with politicians like this acceptable, given that they seem to be the only way of getting them to pay any attention to individuals, or are the outraged PP politicians right, that no-one deserves to be harassed in such a way, even if by those who are suffering worse harassment by the banks?

[Nova]

Harass, harass and harass some more.  It's hardly a very democratic system if direct protests the only way to make the politicians hear them.

[Guanche]

In almost any other country I would say it's a fine line the 'Escraches' are treading. But here, Stuff em! They deserve every bit of harassment they get past present and future. the lot. If they want to know why, they need look no further that Soria's comment!

I suspect that this sort of action may well take off in the coming year throughout the eurozone or EU Club Med at least.

There's going to be trouble at mill

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Yes.

[Guanche]

When you have politicians that say 'People that vote for the PP would rather go hungry than default on their mortgage' A female secretary from the PP party made the remark yesterday in a swipe at the families that have lost their homes due to the house repossession policy of the banks.