Plaza Catalunya, in the very centre of Barcelona. The site of the May 15 / Spanishrevolution encampment, occupying the square to demonstrate their protest against the social consequences of the financial crisis. It's a hot Sunday lunchtime, and the acampados are re-organising themselves after the square had been 'cleaned' some 36 hours before. This 'street-cleaning operation' involved a couple of dustcarts, and a deployment of some 150 police in full riot gear. This … unconventional approach to urban hygiene led, predictably, to disturbing film on the news of police laying into stubborn, but determinedly pacific, demonstrators.

Everywhere, there are slogans, crudely scrawled or painted on cardboard or sheets of paper, and hung on clothes lines around the space. Some are, understandably, anti-police – one of the politer says something like 'You have the truncheons, but we fight with peace'. Others are classics – 'El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido' : 'The people, united, shall never be defeated' … from Chile, more than 40 years ago. And then there are the diaphanously idealistic, of the 'This is the start of a new and better world' type. Several are quotes from Ghandi, emphasising the power of non-violent protest – the means of pre-independence India being used for the aims of a movement in 21^st century Barcelona. Everywhere, political statements are blowing in the wind.

The square is bustling with people. Large groups sitting in rings listening to speakers who pass a hand-held megaphone around. Huddles around the various stalls that organise events, education sessions, supplies for the encampment, cleaning rotas. People with mops, swabbing cheerfully at the marble flagstones. And the mixture of passers-by – young and radical, elderly and conservatively dressed, tattooed or carefully made-up, a sprinkling of the frankly deranged waving hands and shouting. A few arguments in the Hispanic way, loud but not actually aggressive.

The main activity is the erection of a new awning over most of the south end of the square. This consists of a vast sheet of heavy-duty plastic with some vague design of red and dark blue. Three corners have already been attached to lamp posts, and a tawny, dreadlocked guy is dangling half-way up a fourth, trying to make a knot with chunky rope. Below him, a line of good-humoured helpers are hanging onto a long rope in order to keep everything from collapsing. Underneath the awning itself, twenty more people are supporting the bellying structure with broomsticks and planks of wood … human pillars in a rather floppy cathedral.

Actually, I wonder, will the whole thing ever stay up? The angles of the guy-ropes seem wrong. No matter how tight the ropes, the fabric will sag to the ground. Will the willing supporters stand there permanently, keeping it up? For how long? Is it a design that will work? Can work? What's the point? ...

Handout:   Acampados  ... this blog is available as a student handout: with article format + worksheet