During my last few months in Spain there was a protest/revolt/don't know what to call it, demanding that Spain function in a more "real" democracy. Maybe kind of like our Occupy, but more oriented towards government than Wall Street. It started in Madrid in the main plaza there, but many of the smaller cities held their own sit-ins. Ourense had their own at our Praza Maior.
I was wandering my city one of the last days there to do some last minute documenting, of a city I now dearly miss. I snapped a few photos of the movement. A lady passing by saw me and asked what I was going to with it. I said I was just taking pictures to remember my year in Spain. I don't think she got it. She pushed it further asking what I was really going to do with it and I gathered that she thought I was some kind of journalist. Flattered though I was, I assured her that I had no intentions to do anything with the photo other than document my surroundings. She told me I should send it to "someone in my country." I asked her what I would even say with the photo to which she remarked, "Tell them we don't have a real democracy in Spain." Then she proceeded to share her passion for her Galician homeland with me. It turned out to be an enriching conversation. However, I still left laughing thinking about how anyone with a camera who looks foreign can be made to look a little more powerful, like they're going to tell a story with it. I honestly never got a full grasp on the movement and have no political comments to make on it, and think it wise to not form strong political feelings about a country's system when I'm not actually a citizen and could probably never understand their sentiments fully as I'm not subject to their laws, taxes, and systems. I was impressed by the participants' willingness to step up for something they want to see changed.