Spanish protests after PM Rajoy denies slush fund claim

[Bosonic]

Source: BBC

Protests broke out in Spanish cities after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denied claims that he and other party members had accepted secret payments.

"I have never received nor distributed undeclared money," Mr Rajoy said earlier, vowing not to resign.

An online petition demanding the leader's resignation has gathered more than 740,000 signatures.

El Pais newspaper had published images of ledgers showing payments to members of the governing Popular Party (PP).

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21310570

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[xtraxritical]

1. He should have used a Cayman account to setup a political action committee (PAC).

NO

[DeSwiss]

2. K&R

Earlier, Mr Rajoy denied the media allegations in an extraordinary session with the PP national executive. "It is not true that we received cash that we hid from tax officials," he said in a televised speech.

- So he didn't hide the cash he received from the tax officials? Maybe they should investigate the tax officials too.....

[Ghost Dog]

3. Massive Political Corruption Causes Outrage in Spain (link to social movements...)

Follow links at source.

...The case has caused strong reactions that have led to protests on the streets and on the web. Even though Twitter was down because of an overload several times during the day, netizens managed to call a sit-in infront of the Popular Party [es] in Madrid. As it had already happened before, the police surrounded Génova street, where the party headquarters are located, but the massive amount of citizens that protested chanting “Quit Government”, “There it is, Ali Baba's cave” and “The president is a criminal.”...

...The international press has echoed the severity of the situation [es] that Spain is going through, and several netizens have pointed out that the government, and not the protesters, are the ones harming Spain's image overseas, in reference to an accusation made by the government.

?@LivingInGreen: Cuando nos manifestamos dañamos la imagen de España. Cuando el partido del gobierno roba no. #lospapelesdeBárcenas ver para creer…

@LivingInGreen: When we protest, we damage the image of Spain. Not when the government's party steals. #lospapelesdeBárcenas see to believe.

Spanish bloggers also had a say on the scandal. Principia Marsupia published an article with the title “4 modest proposals for a revolution in Spain” [es]. The post makes a call to the party members and employees, to the citizens with a bank account, and to administration and strategic industry bureaucrats to denounce irregularities and take on the streets to end the financial scandals that hurt the country so much. It seems that this protest is already taking place since some mayors and party members have already presented their resignation and have defected the government [es]. The blogger introduced the case as follows:

Algunos seréis de derechas y otros somos de izquierdas. Ojalá eso no cambie nunca: la tensión de ideas y el debate riguroso son los requisitos fundamentales para que una sociedad avance. Pero creo que muchos estaréis de acuerdo en que la putrefacción de nuestro sistema político ha alcanzado su límite y que en este proyecto podemos trabajar juntos.

Some of you are right-wing and some of us are leftists. I hope that never changes: the tension among ideas and rigorous debate are the fundamental requirements for a society to move forward. But I think many of you would agree that the our rotten political system has reached its limit and that we can work together in this project.

/... http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/02/02/massive-political-corruption-case-causes-outrage-in-spain/

GD Note: Global Voices is a George Soros outfit, is it not? I mean, it's not the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller, or such, right?