Plataforma ¡Democracia Real YA!

Real Democracy NOW!

¡Democracia Real YA!
Protestors marching in Madrid on May 15, 2011
Abbreviation	DRY
Motto	"No somos mercancías en manos de políticos y banqueros." ("We are not merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers.")
Formation	March 2011 (2011-03)
Type	Grassroots organization
Legal status	Active
Purpose	Manifesto
Location	Spain
Official language	Spanish
Website	democraciarealya.es

¡Democracia Real YA! (DRY, Spanish for Real Democracy NOW!), also known as Plataforma Democracia Real Ya! (Real Democracy NOW Platform!), is a grassroots citizens' organization that was started in March 2011 in Spain. It sparked the political movement of May 15, 2011 (15M) whose protests gained worldwide attention. The protests been compared to the May 1968 social movement in France.¡Democracia Real YA! is associated with approximately 200 smaller organizations. ¡Democracia Real YA! states in its manifesto that it is a broad social movement, dedicated to nonviolent protest, and that maintains no affiliation with any political party or labor union. It has not appointed any single leader and is unwilling to join any of the existing political bodies. It is, however, not an entirely apolitical movement, (see:"Democracia Real YA Manifesto". ). ¡Democracia Real YA! considers the current political and economic system incapable of listening to and representing its citizens and therefore demands changes to the current social and economic policies, which have led many people into unemployment, loss of their homes, and poverty. The organization denounces the way big businesses and banks dominate the political and economic sphere and aims to propose a series of solutions to these problems through grassroots participatory democracy and direct democracy, which is based on people's assemblies and consensus decision making. The movement drew inspiration from the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, the Arab Spring, the 2010–2011 Greek protests and the 2010-2011 revolutions in Tunisia.