Towards the end of 2013, popular protest in Spain was in an anti-climactic state. The economic crisis had unleashed a legitimacy crisis of the so-called “Regime of ’78” instituted after the transition to democracy. The political class was generally disaffected, and corruption scandals spread to almost all political agents: the monarchy, the parties, the employers’ associations, and even the unions.

The movement of the indignados (outraged), which emerged on May 15, 2011, gave this general malaise a transformative and progressive, though not particularly coherent, voice. The common-sense criticism of the economic “austericide” gave way to mass skepticism of the accords that had guaranteed the hegemony of Spain’s economic and political elites for more than thirty years.

However, neither the political parties nor the social movements seemed able to transform this indignation into a tool for institutional change. Mass demonstrations in defense of public health or education did not reach their goals and left a bittersweet aftertaste. The unions, which had lost a great deal of their legitimacy, seemed to be more interested in currying favor with the government than in joining the wave of protest. The danger that loomed at the end of 2013 was that this impasse would end with a resolution of the crisis from the top down, preserving the status quo.