Spain isn’t on the point of revolution, any more than Ireland, or even Greece. But a situation in which the young feel excluded by existing political structures is not a sustainable one. Looking around Europe, it is hard to find countries in which you couldn’t see the similarities. To claim that we in the West should congratulate ourselves on an Arab Spring which looks to us as its example is just to misunderstand its nature and our response.

The protesters in the Arab squares are demonstrating against autocracy and corruption. The demonstrators in Spain are saying the same about their democratic structures.