美国国家公共电台 NPR For Barcelona Activist Turned Mayor, The Anti-Corruption Goals Stay The Same

（单词翻译）

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

An activist¹ in Spain who has no experience in office is now the mayor of Barcelona. Ada Colau was swept into office on a wave of anti-establishment anger. And now almost two years into her term, she spoke² to reporter Lauren Frayer about her transition from activist to politician.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE³: A few years ago, at the height of Spain's economic crisis, protesters used to form human chains around houses to prevent authorities from serving eviction⁴ papers.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Speaking Spanish).

FRAYER: Often at the center of the crowd was Ada Colau with a megaphone.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

ADA COLAU: (Speaking Spanish).

FRAYER: She founded an anti-eviction group, protested in front of thousands of homes and banks and got hauled away by police many times. She was evicted⁵ from Spain's parliament after she interrupted a debate on banking⁶ laws in 2013...

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Si, se puede. Si, se puede.

FRAYER: ...With shouts of, si, se puede - yes, we can - from the gallery. Colau became such a folk hero that she was eventually invited to testify before parliament. A spokesman for the Spanish Bankers Association went first, though, telling lawmakers that bankers had played no role in the economic collapse⁷ here. And when it was Colau's turn to take the mike, her voice was shaking.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COLAU: (Through interpreter) This man is a criminal and should be treated as such. He's no expert. Bankers are the ones who got us into this mess.

FRAYER: Nearly four years later in an interview at City Hall, Colau recalls how she felt that day. She hadn't planned to be confrontational⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)

COLAU: (Through interpreter) My reaction was simply to say what I thought. Every day, I was with people who were losing everything, and this guy had no idea what was happening in our country.

FRAYER: Ada Colau is now a politician herself, barcelona's first female mayor and the boss of those police who once cuffed⁹ her.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) I'm the same person with the same goals - to fight corruption¹⁰ and solve problems - just in a different role.

FRAYER: Since winning office in May 2015, she's quadrupled public spending on social housing and fined banks that kept foreclosed homes empty. She slashed¹¹ her own salary, refused a government-issued Audi and rides the Metro¹² to work instead. Her latest target is President Donald Trump¹³. After Spain's conservative prime minister had a friendly phone call with Trump, Colau launched a social media campaign with the hash tag #NoEnNuestroNombre - not in our name.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) He questions human rights and says sexist and racist¹⁴ things. You have to put limits on diplomacy¹⁵ with someone like that.

FRAYER: Kate Shea Baird is a democracy activist who's worked with Colau. She says it's ironic¹⁶ that Colau's supporters are not unlike Trump's or even like Britons who voted to leave the European Union. They're people who felt underrepresented in politics.

KATE SHEA BAIRD: They all feed off a similar hunger for what in Spain we've called real democracy, what in the U.K. has been called - take back control. That kind of frustration¹⁷ can be channeled into positive projects or nationalist authoritarian¹⁸ projects, so it can go either way.

FRAYER: Colau denies any ambition for higher office, though she's more popular than most national politicians here.

COLAU: (Through interpreter) People think being a mayor is like being on the lowest rung on the ladder of politics and that you always want to move up.

FRAYER: But she says she disagrees with that classic vision of politics. Being a mayor, she says, is where you're closest to the people.

For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Barcelona.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYMBYC SYSTYM'S "PRAIRIE SCHOOL")