George Orwell wrote that political language is meant to give “solidity to pure wind.” Are politicians and economists simply liars? Or do they speak a different language? Using the example of the European debt crisis, we are able to actually translate political language into the understandable. First, you examine the rhetoric, then the policies, and then the results. If the results do not fit the rhetoric at face value, yet the same policies are pursued time and time again, what we have is a problem of translation. Thus, you take the effects of the policies and apply those as translations for the rhetoric used to justify them. Austerity becomes poverty, structural adjustment becomes exploitation, growth becomes profits, labour flexibility becomes cheap labour, and competitiveness becomes control. This episode examines the uses of political language in the European debt crisis.

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The Indignados movement was sparked in Spain on May 15, 2011. In part inspired by the Arab Spring, young Spaniards, who face a 46% unemployment rate, occupied the Puerta del Sol in Madrid for several weeks, protesting against the socio-political and economic system that benefits the few at the expense of the many. Sparking solidarity protests in dozens of cities across Spain and Europe, the Indignados quickly became a continental phenomenon. Their direct action evolved over time, protecting immigrant neighborhoods from police harassment, and preventing court officials from evicting individuals and families from their homes.

The Indignados provided the inspiration for ‘occupation’ and encampment, as well as subsequent grassroots direct actions that have come to embody the Occupy Movement, which emerged in September and October of 2011. As these movements continue today, their horizontally-organized structures may provide an increasingly important forum for discussion and action as our governments increasingly punish the people into poverty through austerity.

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This site depends exclusively on readers’ support. Please help us continue by SUBSCRIBING, and by ordering our EXCLUSIVE BFP DVD .