Spain is one of the countries hit hardest by the recession. The credit crunch has had a massive impact on our property market, and our recovery is laboured to say the least (our economy remains well behind those of our eurozone neighbours). However, by far the worst problem is our level of unemployment, with figures rising again this February by 82,000, so around 4,130,625 people are affected in total. What’s more, the Spanish government doesn’t seem to have any kind of coherent plan in place to get things back on track.
So, it’s not surprising then that a group of people have decided to get together and do something about it – with a small but powerful campaign. In the beginning, this consisted simply of teaser ads with the following web address: estosololoarreglamosentretodos.org (literally in English: “this-can-only-be-fixed-by-ourselves.org”). On visiting the site, readers are presented with inspiring and encouraging real-life stories which can be shared and used in articles or speeches. The aim is for these accounts to filter their way into the media (in much the same way that all the negative recession stories do), and ultimately lift the spirits of the nation. In short, its purpose is to spread optimism instead of the pessimism that we have all been infected with.
And the truth is, the whole concept is proving really rather popular. It’s not just ordinary people who are getting on board – small and large companies, foundations, even TV personalities are joining forces through this innovative initiative to restore people’s faith and hope that things will get better.
The message is: when you and you and you and I become “us”, there is nothing we cannot fix!
Ferran from Barcelona, Spain