Slashdot Mirror
Spain's Hologram Protest: Thousands Join Virtual March In Madrid
An anonymous reader writes Thousands of people marched past a parliament building in Madrid to protest a new law that they say endangers civil liberties. But none of them were actually there. From the article: "Late last year the Spanish government passed a law that set extreme fines for protesters convening outside of government buildings. In response to the controversial Citizen Safety Law, which will take effect on July 1, Spanish activists have staged the world's first ever virtual political demonstration. After months of massive flesh-and-blood protests against the so-called 'gag law', thousands of holograms last night marched in front of the Spanish parliament in Madrid."
The Law is restrictive, for sure, but so are the reasons for its existence. Spain is afflicted by both an old-fashioned right and a just-right-of-Stalin left. We have nothing like the social-democrats of Nordic countries. When the left rules, there is absolute peace and nobody protests, no matter how badly the government is mangling the economy and destroying jobs. When the right wins, there are protests within the protests whether they're doing OK or not. And not peaceful, civil protests, no, violent and extremist ones. It's pure 'Agitprop'. The right, then, issued this law to take a powerful tool from the hands of its political enemies, and the left is enraged. Spain remains, sadly, as divided as ever...