{"id":17336,"date":"2012-05-04T06:23:52","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T04:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=17336\/"},"modified":"2017-01-21T01:42:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T01:42:06","slug":"pain-in-spain-wont-go-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/pain-in-spain-wont-go-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Pain in Spain won’t go away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students graduating from universities in Spain were already desperate before things really started going wrong with the economy in 2008. Now, as the European crisis drags on through 2012 and beyond, youth unemployment in Spain is at 50.5 per cent \u2013 yes, 50.5 per cent according to the latest statistics from Eurostat \u2013 students are distrustful of anything that comes from government.<\/p>\n

Spain was a frontline state in the economic crisis. First to feel, and first to react to the real consequences of what economists have called the \u2018double dip\u2019, the return of recession to Europe after what turned out to be false hopes of revival. This February and March, thousands of disaffected citizens took to the streets of Valencia and later on other cities like Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla, to demand a stop to government cutbacks and perceived corruption, with students particularly protesting cuts in grants, tuition support and university services. <\/p>\n

Commentators say that the Spanish government is losing patience with these waves of protest, linked to the so-called 15-M movement or Indignados movement, the spontaneous series of demonstrations and protests that started two years ago. According to the students, the police responded to these new protests with brutality on many occasions.<\/p>\n

Cuts tough on students<\/h2>\n

In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez is a student of engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and volunteers as an international officer for CREUP, an association of Spanish university students. She was not directly involved in the original organising of the 15-M \/ Indignados uprising, but started to participate later. She interprets the movement as a student movement, spontaneously organised through social media. The protesters include all who are disaffected, but the student grievances are, if anything, some of the most real and with more concern, she says.<\/p>\n

\u00bbOnly recently the government announced more cuts in education and health. Up until now, medicine was free with a prescription by a doctor. Now you have to pay part of it. This is just not fair because we do pay taxes to have a free health system and this is a primary necessity,\u00ab she says to the University Post, before turning to the issue of the cutbacks in education.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government has cut scholarships for Erasmus students by 50 per cent, suspended loans to students, increased tuition fees, and set up new administration fees for students to pay universities.
\nIn this way, the government has \u00bban excuse to reduce the financing of universities,\u00ab In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez says \u00bbbut we believe that it is better for the government at this time to invest in education. If they don\u2019t do this, they will never get Spain out of the crisis. Investing in education is investing in potentially more qualified future employers and workers\u00ab.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe underlying premise of the government\u2019s policy is that students are privileged, belong to the middle and upper classes, and should pay for their education. But families will have to make a harder effort to send their children to university, at the same time as their education will not even assure them a decent salary once they end their studies,\u00ab In\u00e9s says.<\/p>\n

Reforms good, or bad<\/h2>\n

The cuts that hurt the students at university come at a time when the outlook for students that leave university is even worse. \u00bbI have got friends who have two Master\u2019s degrees, know four to five languages, and they still can\u2019t get a job,\u00ab says In\u00e9s. The raw facts – that there are just no jobs – are hard to accept even for her.<\/p>\n

\u00bbI don\u2019t know, maybe they see your CV, and are afraid they will have to pay a high salary,\u00ab she says pensively.<\/p>\n

Those that do find jobs, make do with work that does not use their skills, giving rise to the term \u2018mileuristas\u2019: Educated Spaniards who can\u2019t earn more than 1,000 euros a month. These mileuristas are starting to look further afield. According to recent news reports thousands of Spaniards are seeking visas to countries like Chile in South America.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to unclog the labour market, the Spanish government has instituted reforms that have cut the number of days employers have to pay severance pay and allow them to lay off workers that are outside a collective bargaining agreement. According to Ines, the effects of these policies are maybe bad, maybe good for students.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIn the short term it will let employers fire even more people, but in the longer term it may contribute to youth employment opportunities,\u00ab she says, adding that CREUP as a student organisation has not yet formulated a policy on this.<\/p>\n

Paranoia<\/h2>\n

Governments finance their public spending by lending from domestic and foreign investors like pension funds. Now, these investors are demanding a hefty premium from southern European governments, fearing that they may not get their money back. As we write, the Spanish government pays more than six per cent interest on its debts, far more than countries in the north of Europe.<\/p>\n

This means that if the Spanish government is to continue financing students, universities and other public services, they have to pay extra. Maybe it is time that Spanish and other southern European governments just face up to the harsh financial realities and cut back? The University Post suggests to In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n

The response is abrupt. \u00bbHere in Valencia, corrupt politicians wasted a huge amount of money on things that are not useful. This is why Valencia has an even higher debt than the rest of Spain, and because of this we are paying more taxes, for example, our fuel is more expensive than in the rest of the country,\u00ab she says. <\/p>\n

It is not the students that should be paying, she says.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the national government has cut back on grants for Spanish students to learn languages abroad, removed loans to young people and increased fees. For this Spanish student activist you can excuse a bit of paranoia: \u00bbWhat with all the cutbacks, I sometimes think the government is trying to make a society of the less educated. In this way, they can govern easier, with fewer protests and less popular indignation.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Read an interview with another former Indignados protester, now a student in Copenhagen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by signing up for the University Post\u2019s weekly newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students can choose between nothing, and nothing, says student union activist in Valencia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nPain in Spain won't go away<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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cuts","filename":"pain_in_spain_wide_0.jpg","filesize":429587,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/pain-in-spain-wont-go-away\/strike-and-demonstrations-on-public-education-cuts\/","alt":"","author":"0","description":"Valencia, Spain. 29th February 2012 -- Thousands of students protest with placards, banners and drums in Valencia against educational and health cuts, and declaring a public outcry against police violence. -- Strikes and protests were conducted in institutions and schools across Spain against police aggression against student protests that have taken place in Valencia. They also protested against austerity cuts.","caption":"","name":"strike-and-demonstrations-on-public-education-cuts","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":17336,"date":"2017-01-19 09:51:03","modified":"2017-01-19 09:51:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2118,"height":1602,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-480x363.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":363,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-768x581.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":581,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-1280x968.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":968,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1162,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1549,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-290x219.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":219,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-700x529.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":529,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-990x749.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":749}},"style":"screen","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":false,"alternative_caption":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"","text":"Students can choose between nothing, and nothing, says student union activist in Valencia","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":false,"contributors":[{"use_registered_user":false,"user":false,"contributor_name":"Mike Young","contributor_title":" ","contributor_image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Students graduating from universities in Spain were already desperate before things really started going wrong with the economy in 2008. Now, as the European crisis drags on through 2012 and beyond, youth unemployment in Spain is at 50.5 per cent \u2013 yes, 50.5 per cent according to the latest statistics from Eurostat \u2013 students are distrustful of anything that comes from government.<\/p>\n<p>Spain was a frontline state in the economic crisis. First to feel, and first to react to the real consequences of what economists have called the \u2018double dip\u2019, the return of recession to Europe after what turned out to be false hopes of revival. This February and March, thousands of disaffected citizens took to the streets of Valencia and later on other cities like Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla, to demand a stop to government cutbacks and perceived corruption, with students particularly protesting cuts in grants, tuition support and university services. <\/p>\n<p>Commentators say that the Spanish government is losing patience with these waves of protest, linked to the so-called 15-M movement or Indignados movement, the spontaneous series of demonstrations and protests that started two years ago. According to the students, the police responded to these new protests with brutality on many occasions.<\/p>\n<h2>Cuts tough on students<\/h2>\n<p>In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez is a student of engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and volunteers as an international officer for CREUP, an association of Spanish university students. She was not directly involved in the original organising of the 15-M \/ Indignados uprising, but started to participate later. She interprets the movement as a student movement, spontaneously organised through social media. The protesters include all who are disaffected, but the student grievances are, if anything, some of the most real and with more concern, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOnly recently the government announced more cuts in education and health. Up until now, medicine was free with a prescription by a doctor. Now you have to pay part of it. This is just not fair because we do pay taxes to have a free health system and this is a primary necessity,\u00ab she says to the University Post, before turning to the issue of the cutbacks in education.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish government has cut scholarships for Erasmus students by 50 per cent, suspended loans to students, increased tuition fees, and set up new administration fees for students to pay universities.<br \/>\nIn this way, the government has \u00bban excuse to reduce the financing of universities,\u00ab In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez says \u00bbbut we believe that it is better for the government at this time to invest in education. If they don\u2019t do this, they will never get Spain out of the crisis. Investing in education is investing in potentially more qualified future employers and workers\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe underlying premise of the government\u2019s policy is that students are privileged, belong to the middle and upper classes, and should pay for their education. But families will have to make a harder effort to send their children to university, at the same time as their education will not even assure them a decent salary once they end their studies,\u00ab In\u00e9s says.<\/p>\n<h2>Reforms good, or bad<\/h2>\n<p>The cuts that hurt the students at university come at a time when the outlook for students that leave university is even worse. \u00bbI have got friends who have two Master\u2019s degrees, know four to five languages, and they still can\u2019t get a job,\u00ab says In\u00e9s. The raw facts – that there are just no jobs – are hard to accept even for her.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI don\u2019t know, maybe they see your CV, and are afraid they will have to pay a high salary,\u00ab she says pensively.<\/p>\n<p>Those that do find jobs, make do with work that does not use their skills, giving rise to the term \u2018mileuristas\u2019: Educated Spaniards who can\u2019t earn more than 1,000 euros a month. These mileuristas are starting to look further afield. According to recent news reports thousands of Spaniards are seeking visas to countries like Chile in South America.<\/p>\n<p>In an attempt to unclog the labour market, the Spanish government has instituted reforms that have cut the number of days employers have to pay severance pay and allow them to lay off workers that are outside a collective bargaining agreement. According to Ines, the effects of these policies are maybe bad, maybe good for students.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIn the short term it will let employers fire even more people, but in the longer term it may contribute to youth employment opportunities,\u00ab she says, adding that CREUP as a student organisation has not yet formulated a policy on this.<\/p>\n<h2>Paranoia<\/h2>\n<p>Governments finance their public spending by lending from domestic and foreign investors like pension funds. Now, these investors are demanding a hefty premium from southern European governments, fearing that they may not get their money back. As we write, the Spanish government pays more than six per cent interest on its debts, far more than countries in the north of Europe.<\/p>\n<p>This means that if the Spanish government is to continue financing students, universities and other public services, they have to pay extra. Maybe it is time that Spanish and other southern European governments just face up to the harsh financial realities and cut back? The University Post suggests to In\u00e9s S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<p>The response is abrupt. \u00bbHere in Valencia, corrupt politicians wasted a huge amount of money on things that are not useful. This is why Valencia has an even higher debt than the rest of Spain, and because of this we are paying more taxes, for example, our fuel is more expensive than in the rest of the country,\u00ab she says. <\/p>\n<p>It is not the students that should be paying, she says.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the national government has cut back on grants for Spanish students to learn languages abroad, removed loans to young people and increased fees. For this Spanish student activist you can excuse a bit of paranoia: \u00bbWhat with all the cutbacks, I sometimes think the government is trying to make a society of the less educated. In this way, they can govern easier, with fewer protests and less popular indignation.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Read an interview with another former Indignados protester, now a student in Copenhagen <a href=\"node\/14698\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\">signing up for the University Post\u2019s weekly newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":45,"name":"International","slug":"international","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":45,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":315,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11488,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/pain_in_spain_wide_0-1280x968.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35929,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17336\/revisions\/35929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}