Our local squatters are a bunch of middle-class punks who are playing terrorist. Check out this poster that I tore off the front door of a squat near the Plaza del Nord. It's professionally produced on glossy paper, about the size of an A3 sheet, and there's a blurry black-and-white photo of a riot-squad cop in a helmet with two TV cameramen wearing surgical masks standing behind him. (Obviously, they're wearing the masks in case of smoke or tear gas.) It's probably from that demo/riot they had last weekend downtown in which a squatter broke a cop's nose.

The text is:

Once upon a time those who wore masks
Were called STOOL PIGEONS
And their victims were those who resisted.
Now they have no shame
They show their faces on the screen
They are called JOURNALISTS
They report on torture,
Jails, and persecution.
Their hands are as clean
As their consciences
If their guilt does not disturb their sleep
Fear will
THEY SHOULD BE WORRIED
The road to freedom runs over them
Provocateurs of public opinion

This looks to me like a terroristic threat. Where I come from we throw your ass in jail for that, and good riddance. Of course, it's a threat against freedom of speech and freedom of the press as well. And these guys dare to call themselves "libertarian self-managing anarcho-eco-socialists" or some crap like that. It's a good thing there are only like a thousand of them, counting sympathizers. The rest of Barcelona is completely fed up with them; La Vanguardia denounces squatter vandalism and violence every day, which might be one of the reasons behind this most recent squatter threat.

Spanish society is very permissive, which is excellent for those who know how to enjoy their freedom while not bothering other people. You really can do pretty much whatever you want here except like kill your mom and bad stuff like that. You can walk the city streets naked while smoking a joint and soliciting transsexual prostitutes, if you want.

Of course, almost nobody does that. The problem comes along when people like the squatters abuse the freedom we have here in Spain, and certain elements of society (Chemical Inma Mayol and the Communists, your typical left-wing academics and El País reporters, and the Perenially Indignant (P.J. O'Rourke dixit) or Do-Gooder Internationale (dixit Jordi Barbeta)) try to justify the crap they pull on the grounds that they're really just liberals in a hurry working for societal change.

What they are is a bunch of nihilist terrorist wannabes.