Not a day goes by without current events giving us a reason to think deeply about the state of the country and arrive at some pessimistic provisional conclusions.

There has been no agreement, and ultimately there will be two demonstrations over the commuter rail chaos. The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) accuses the Network of Train Users' Platforms of Catalonia of staging a counter-protest with an alternative march, but the coordinating body downplays the fact that both demonstrations are on the same day and believes that it, not the pro-independence movement, should lead the mobilization. "We told them we were open to collaborating and supporting their demonstration as long as they didn't call for it on the same day," denounced ANC President Lluís Llach on Friday.

The commuter rail chaos will not turn into a large, unified demonstration like the one in 2007. Back then, thousands of people—200,000 according to the police and 700,000 according to the organizers—responded to the call of the Platform for the Right to Decide (PDD) and brought the center of Barcelona to a standstill to protest the arrival of the AVE high-speed train. The Network of Train User Platforms of Catalonia, which includes about ten organizations, announced this Tuesday that it is calling a demonstration on Saturday, February 7, at 5:00 p.m. In doing so, the network is distancing itself from the march called by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) for the same day at noon. In a conversation with ARA, the platform's spokesperson, Adrià Ramírez, explained that they don't want the march to be pro-independence, but rather to focus on railway issues: "The demonstration should be sector-specific, and the ANC links trains with independence." The representative of the organizations emphasized the diverse range of users to underscore the need for the demonstration not to be pro-sovereignty: "We have people with different perspectives, and we want it to be inclusive." In fact, the Network of Train User Platforms of Catalonia asserts that they spoke with the leadership of the Assemblea before they called the demonstration to inform them that they had planned to organize one, but that the ANC didn't want to wait. "We respect their decision, but before they called it, we told them to wait," says Ramírez, who regrets that they couldn't reach an agreement.

Demonstration yesterday afternoon in Barcelona, in support of those detained by the Israeli army during the Flotilla. And as in Barcelona, ​​the protests spread to other Catalan cities and dozens of European cities.

The 2003 demonstrations against the Iraq War were massive and numerous all over the world. The one in Barcelona was so resounding that a couple of generations will never forget the "No to war!" that thundered in the streets and filled the balconies with banners. So much so that former President Bush Sr. said that the Barcelona protesters would not decide US foreign policy.

Last weekend, there were once again major demonstrations in some forty cities across Spain. This is quite right, because Spain is a country that has decent housing (the adjective, here, is a noun) as a right recognized by the Constitution, so the citizens who go out to demonstrate for access to housing are merely exercising a constitutional right. This is where the discussion and ranting of supposed liberals (in reality, speculators and friends of speculators) denouncing alleged Bolivarian dictatorships or woke. We insist that citizens are merely demanding the exercise of a constitutional right, in Article 47, which states the following: "All Spaniards have the right to decent and adequate housing. The public authorities shall promote the necessary conditions and establish the pertinent regulations to make this right effective, regulating the use of land in accordance with the general interest." That is to say, the Constitution not only enshrines and guarantees the right to housing, but also foresees and urges the public authorities to prevent speculation with that right. Therefore, the false discussion about what weighs more, whether housing is considered a right or a market good, is also already closed in the constitutional text.

The deep crisis of political legitimacy exhibited by the Serbian government may soon begin to take its toll on the already weak influence of the European Union in the Western Balkans. What credibility can an EU accession process have when it seems to prioritize geopolitical stability over democratic principles?

A demonstration against pension cuts in Argentina erupted this Wednesday in the largest bout of police repression yet witnessed by the government of Javier Milei. What began as a protest against the Argentine president's austerity measures in Buenos Aires escalated into a pitched battle between protesters and police, resulting in 124 arrests and 46 injuries. One of them, photographer Pablo Grillo, is in critical condition after suffering a skull fracture from the impact of a tear gas canister.

This Saturday, the feminist movement is preparing for another major mobilization for Women's Day, March 8. If rain permits, the agenda is full of rallies and demonstrations in cities and towns throughout Catalonia, as well as a labor and care strike called by the CGT union at workplaces. The novelty in Barcelona is that, for the first time, there will be two demonstrations, as has been the case for years in Madrid. This is due to the division of feminism over issues such as the regularization or abolition of prostitution and the rights of trans people. We explain the routes of the mobilizations and review the history of the movement. International Women's Day.

The rain as a metaphor of patriarchy threatened the day of the happy resumption of the International Women's Day mobilisations but, in the end, feminism prevailed for a few hours. Up to 15,000 people –the vast majority women of all ages– paraded through the centre of Barcelona in the movement's first demonstration since pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Two days after the Constitutional Council has given the go-ahead to the extension of the health passport, which from Monday onwards will also have to be presented to enter bars and restaurants, some 240,000 French have taken to the streets across the country for the fourth consecutive Saturday to protest against what they consider "a health dictatorship". Even so, according to polls, the majority of French people see with good eyes the initiative of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who pushes citizens to vaccination points.

Protests have been called for International Women's Day in a year in which the pandemic has hit women hardest. Precisely because of covid, this year won't see any of the marches we have seen of recent; instead, static demonstrations have been called. It is paradoxical that precisely jobs most often done by women - those of care, cleaning, services or health - have proved essential to overcome the crisis and, however, are the least valued socially and the most precarious. Women's organisation insist there are plenty of reasons to demonstrate and go on strike, whilst trade unions have called for a day's strike in protest over the gender gap which, far from closing, has increased in the last year. Women's work is essential but precarious.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of Arc de Triomf in Barcelona in the seventh night of protests against the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél. The protest saw fewer demonstrators, with rain dampening the spirits and attendees, mostly young people, huddled under the monument. There they improvised rap songs and headed towards Marqués de l'Argentera street in the midst of a festive atmosphere in which chants in favor of the republic and against the monarchy could be heard.

"The images are hard and we do not like them, it could have been done better. But it was the worst night of looting and riots". These are the words of Pere Ferrer, general director of the Catalan police - known as the Mossos d'Esquadra - on the police operation that on Saturday, the fifth night of riots in the protests over Pablo Hasél, ended up kettling a group of demonstrators in Carrer Gran de Gràcia in Barcelona, an action that has already generated criticism from Irídia, an organisation which defends of human rights. Ferrer said that they are now analysing the operation, which "left room for improvement", but has claimed that the protesters had "a way out at all times", although the images show simultaneous charges from one end and the other of the demonstration and protestors not knowing where to flee.

Third consecutive day of protests across the country over the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasel. In Barcelona the demonstration began at 7pm with a few hundred people gathered in Tetuan Square, where they sang rap and there was a rather festive atmosphere, before moving through the centre of the Catalan capital. They stopped in front of the Department of Home Affairs, which was guarded by numerous vans and agents of the Catalan police. Some demonstrators, when they were in front of the headquarters of the newspaper El Periódico, painted graffiti and threw stones at the newspaper's windows and broke them.