Podemos’ Marcha del cambio January 2015. Image: Flickr/Vicente Nadal
On a Monday evening I visited the meeting of the Circulo Podemos Manchester as a representative of Assemblies for Democracy. I had been given an invite after being introduced to a member of the group, a kind gentle mannered young man called Albert. We had exchanged a few emails where we shared briefly the experiences of a first generation immigrant and a second generation immigrant. Something in those communications told me that the people I was going to meet weren't as painted in the media. I didn't know exactly what to expect but was expectant of something like political energy and desire for change.
The last message from Albert told me that he was working late and wouldn't be at the meeting but he gave me the contact name Alex. As a second generation immigrant I was familiar with shortening names to an Anglicised form. I arrived at the meeting in a popular Spanish restaurant called La Tasca. Not knowing the faces of the people I was there to meet, I could only clumsily ask a waitress for the Podemos meeting. Luckily that was enough and she showed me to Alex. We briefly introduced ourselves and I went downstairs to wait whilst he finished his discussion with a new member of the Circulo.
