Hi Paul,
Sorry, but I think the pictures you show about Spain in the video are not from the demonstration the day before the national election process and the 11-M. "White hands" is a symbol that was born in 1995, when ETA killed Francisco Tomás y Valiente, Ex-president of the Spanish Constitutional Court and Law Professor. Since then, "white hands" are used in Spain to show the difference between ETA terrorist, groups surronding it and citizens. The day we held a demonstration in Madrid in front of the Conservative Party Building (PP), there were no symbols, we only sang "we want to know the truth" and some No a la Guerra, famous because Spanish people was against the War in Irak. Just have a look here www.noalaguerra.com
Amparo

Congratulations for this message. This video is fantastic, and I will definitely support it...
I actually wrote an article a few days ago about this topic : http://blog.localingo.com/2007/02/23/opening-of-the-arab-centre-in-madrid/ . I would definitely enjoy reading your comments.

Thanks John! And Amparo - you were there outside the PP building then? Nice one... you are a new superpower ;-)

The pictures in the video are from 2004, from the millions-strong protests that took place all over Spain around March 12 against the M11 terror attacks.

The story in the vid is based on what we understand of conversations with Spaniards like Natalia Fernandez, David de Ugarte and Diego Hidalgo, but we had to squeeze a lot in so maybe it's too compressed.

Of course you're right, Amparo, about the origins of the white hands symbol. Millions marched against terror on March 12, but that was when the conservative government was still refusing to entertain the possibility that it was an al-Qaeda attack and blaming ETA for electoral advantage. That's the "lie" we refer to in the video, as you know...

and it was your quiet assembly of a few hundred people, and your text messages, that helped get the truth out, discredited the PP's cynical disinformation, and swung the election. But it took the connection between those few hundred activists, the millions of marchers and people who spread the text messages, which goes to make this inspiring story of networked people power from Spain.

In memoriam M11 - the 191 who died at Atocha, and the 2050 injured

P

Hi Paul,
Yeap, I was there all night long (according to the some "politicians" we committed a crime) and taking part in the demonstration on March 12 2004, but believe me, white hands in these days were showed by those who supported the Goverment (PP) who insisted on blaming ETA, not by the rest of the Spanish people who thought that it could be a link between al-Qaeda and "our lovely former Prime Minister" Iraqui war. We just asked "who did it". There is still a great debate about it on the Spanish Press, especially these days, given the 11-M trial started two weeks ago.
Anyway, congratulations!!!
Best
A.

Thanks Amparo! and congratulations yourself.

I hear what you say, Aznar definitely made this polarising - though I'd bet not everyone who held up white hands supported the PP, just as not everyone who believed the government at first that it was ETA instead of al-Qaeda-inspired terror ended up voting PP......... popular symbols can escape their origins! (do you see the keffiyeh on one of those boys with white hands?)

So I prefer to think of those millions as united in saying No to terror, whatever its origins.

But thanks again! The fact that things are not always simple is another thing we can share in rejecting a clash............... we're all together in this rich and many-cornered world

I had a look at your 'Stop the Clash' ad. I love it. It's innovative, creative and strong without being the least bit earnest.

There are probably a lot of people like me. I care about issues. I'm informed but I'm mostly disillusioned by marches and fundraisers etc. I get sent a million petitions - usually by grubby student groups, 'I'll cut off all my dreadlocks at union square if you help us free Mumia'. As a result I rant at the paper and laugh at Fox News, but I don't do anything.

Your ad takes a common theme and makes it new and urgent. It has a clear message, and finally makes me feel included and motivated. I love that you used images from popular culture and icons that resonate for different reasons - Paris, Banksy (I get the sense the people behind this ad live in my world ) Brilliant graphics, good music... no earnest voice-over designed to make me feel guilty.

Perhaps you're stopping two clashes - the other one being between 20 somethings like me and 'radicals' with hemp necklaces and megaphones who tend to put me off believing I can make a difference to people who will listen. but my point is... perhaps 'cool' can finally co-exist with advocacy groups.

Of course, some of my best friends have megaphones.

Well done. where do I sign?

Emma

This is a documentary web series that follows the lives of a few Iraqi 20-somethings trying to survive in Baghdad. They portray the struggles of regular people and give a dignified human face to those caught on one side of the anonymous "clash."

www.hometownbaghdad.com

Excellent, well done. Watched and signed.
Slan agus Beannacht,
Siobhan.

The entire mess in the middle east has been fostered by egotistic western meddling over the last century. Remarkably, even then "blowback" didn't occur: The laws of nature say 9/11 was an inside job, while Washington maintains the opposite -- who is more deserving of your trust?

www.911blogger.com