Darker Net
Spain
Protests engulf Spain in lead up to general strike
protesters last night in central Madrid
Last night over a million took to the streets to protest against the austerity measures. In Madrid, police used rubber bullets and tear gas to attack the protesters as they marched on the congress building. In other areas, activists set garbage containers on fire and tried to block police access. The protests were triggered by the Spanish Parliament’s approval of a new package of spending cuts and tax hikes. Protests also took place in Barcelona, Valencia, the Canary and Balearic Islands, Seville, Alicante as well as another 80 cities and towns across the country. On Saturday, the 15-M movement is organizing a march of the unemployed. A general strike is projected for the 25th of September.
See also a report from Roar Mag.
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Asturian miners march on Madrid: first the welcome, then the bullets… thousands more to protest in cities on coming weekend
On Tuesday evening several hundred striking miners from Asturias arrived in Madrid after walking 250 miles from their villages. They were cheered all the way as they passed from one village to another. As they arrived in the capital, with headlamps on their miners’ helmets lighting the way, over 150,000 applauding onlookers were there to welcome them (see video above). The next day, the scene could not have been more different. On Wednesday the miners regrouped for a demonstration, only to be met by riot police. Within minutes, the police began attacking the miners and their supporters. Then the police fired rubber bullets. More than 70 persons were injured (see video below).
Then came the reaction… On Wednesday evening over a million people took to the streets in Madrid to protest the police violence and to show solidarity with the miners – see image below.
See this excellent article in Roar on what happened in Madrid and on the background to the strike. Here, also, is a photo gallery. And here is a Facebook page specifically on Solidarity with the Spanish miners.
Meanwhile, the following letter (translated from Spanish) from an Asturian miner and taken from the SolFed website provides an insight into what the strike is all about…
Letter
I’ve worked for twenty five years in the mines. I first went down the mine when I was 18 and I would like to say that I am amazed by a lot of comments that I’m reading about mining and early retirement. I’m going to give you my perspective.
1. The struggle which the miners are carrying out at the moment isn’t to ask for money. It is that they respect the agreement that was signed last year between the Ministry of Industry and the miners’ unions, and which had subsidies designated until 2018. This money was from the European Community and not from the Spanish government. It isn’t money that came from any Spanish people to help us as many people who are criticising us so much seem to think. Regarding this money what I, like almost all mining families ask myself is, where is the part of the money from the Mining Funds that was supposedly going to the creation of alternative industries in the coalfields, after the closure of the mines? Well, like in many other sectors, this money has been handled by the politicians and the unions. With part of this money, for example, Señor Gabino de Lorenzo, the ex-mayor of Olviedo, paid for new streetlights in his city, the new Palace of Expositions and Congresses and many other projects. Señora Felgeroso, the ex-mayor of Gijon, spent it on the Technical University and other projects. In the Valle de Turon, in the Caudal coalfield, where I live, there have been 600 deaths in the mines (the ones that we know about, as in the civil war they burned the previous archives) from 1889 till 2006 when they closed them. Of course they did build a sports centre, which when they opened it didn’t have any toilets and is practically unused. All around us everywhere there are heaps of rubble, which bit by bit they are trying to clear up. But re-industrialization, which is what will create stable work so that there is still life in the region, almost nothing.
2. I am amazed to see that lots of people object to this subsidy, I didn’t want to write this but there are subsidies to other sectors like livestock farming, agriculture, fishing and many more. Personally I am happy about that, I would rather that the subsidies went to workers than that they went to those thieves who rob us every day.
3. After the end of the civil war, I think that many of you don’t know that the miners worked an hour a day for free for many years, to repair what Francoism destroyed, when in our houses there was not enough to eat.
4. In 1962 the miners started a strike which spread all over Spain, in which we won many of the rights that all the Spanish people have up till now and which they are trying to snatch away from us. In this strike there were many beatings, many people imprisoned, and many people who were exiled to other provinces of Spain, separated from their families, and who only returned in 1980.
5. Regarding early retirement, it is a myth that miners can retire at forty and you talk about quantities of euros as if we had won the lottery. The reality is different, in the payments which people who have retired early receive, a part is made up of their extra payments. We make social security payments of 50%, so every two years we work, we pay an extra year of social security, for example I have worked in the mines for 25 years and I have paid 37 and a half years of social security payments, how many of you think you have made the same level of payments?
6. You say that the coal they bring from abroad is cheaper than Spanish coal, I’m not convinced but taking it as true, do you want to see us working like slaves like in other countries? I don’t want any worker anywhere in the world to be a slave. I’m going to write this because it really happened. I’ve worked alongside workmates from Czech Republic and Poland, when they came to Asturias and started to buy things in the shops, they were amazed because they could buy the amount they wanted and in their own country they couldn’t do that. The first Christmas they spent with us they bought a bar of turron (traditional Christmas sweet) in each hand. We asked them why they did that and they said in their country they couldn’t afford it and their wages only gave them enough to eat, and that badly. What I want to say is that if we don’t defend our rights we will suffer the same.
7. Regarding the roadblocks on the motorways I will say to everyone who is complaining because the miners have made it difficult to get to work or study and who say that when they have problems in their company, they will go to the workplaces of others to “annoy them”. I will say to them that whenever other comrades from other industries came to ask for help do defend their jobs, we stopped work for 24 hours, giving support here and abroad.
Spanish miners deploy bazookas and guerrilla tactics as general strike looms
Above video from 12 June.
Outside of Spain there has been little publicity of the miners’ strike in Asturias, even though the region is now in a state of near civil-war with armed clashes daily and the majority of the local population supporting the miners. Spain is also preparing for a general strike, involving all the main unions, including the CNT and the UGT. Below are details of the Asturias campaign, plus video footage.
Despatch provided to Darker Net from the Asturias frontline… “Over 8000 miners in Spain have been on strike since May 23… our protests have been met by Guardia Civil firing tear gas and rubber bullets… two days ago we retaliated by using a bazooka against the Guardia Civil. The strike was prompted by an announcement by the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy of drastic cuts in subsidies to the mining industry, which will threaten the livelihoods of around 8,000 miners and endanger another 30,000 jobs. We are holding sit-ins, occupying the main square of Oviedo, the provincial capital of Asturias and the centre of the Spanish coal country, and are blocking and barricading highways connecting Asturias to the rest of Spain. Sixteen main roads in Asturias have been blockaded and two rail lines have been shut down by the strikers. In some areas of Asturias and Leon the clashes have escalated into near civil war. We are appealing for support and solidarity from around the world.”
To see more clashes between miners and Guardia Civil: click here
Here is an account of the historic 1962-1963 Asturias miners’ strike by Guy Debord (Situationist International).
Another video (from 4 June):
Greeks organising parallel economy
All across southern Europe the whiff of revolution is in the air. From Spain to Italy, to Greece and beyond, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets. In Greece, the elections will play out, though whichever party forms the next government is to a large extent irrelevant as people have been organising for years via street committees, assemblies and similar groups, setting up a parallel economy – ‘government’ based on mutual aid.
This remarkable film, below, by Reel News, which will shortly be releasing a series of similar films about life in Greece, provides an insight into how people in Greece are organising at community level to bring about this quiet revolution.
Here, too, is an article in The Guardian on the revolutionary tendencies across southern Europe… Quote re Greece: “In a country with a thriving anarchist community and anti-establishment bloc, ‘resistance’ is a word that is never far away: it is scrawled in graffiti, large and small, over the facades of buildings nationwide.”
Interesting times ahead…
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Spain… Indignados demand revolution
All over Spain hundreds of thousands of protesters are continuing to occupy the cities. Last weekend 100,000 occupied central Madrid. Similar numbers have taken to the streets in Barcelona. Arrests have been made, the police violence is as usual, though the protesters are partying and not leaving. 1000′s are expected this weekend too. Their demand is nothing short of revolution. Here is a report. Let the pictures speak for themselves.
Here is a video of the events in Barcelona.
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Summary of Spain’s general strike
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/29/spain-general-strike-rebellion-austerity
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