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Seville - General strike and EU summit protests.
"No one is illegal" was the demand of the masses of people on the streets of Seville. But that wasn’t the agenda of the European summit. Meeting behind a chainlink fence and a personal protection force of over 9,000 police, Blair, Aznar and Berlusconi attempted to tighten control on immigrant workers, asylum seekers and refugees to make it harder for them to come to any port in Europe. There is even talk of patrolling the Mediterranean with gunships to prevent "swamping" of illegal immigrants. Since June 15th, 575 illegal immigrants have occupied the Pablo Olivade University here in Seville. These workers, mostly from Senegal, Morocco and Algeria, are demanding that the government sort out their papers and the whole system for granting papers to immigrants. Many have lived in Spain for many years, but have no papers to prove it. This means that at any moment they can be rounded up and deported. It is a life of insecurity and low pay. They are demanding the right to be legal citizens and enjoy the same rights as everyone else. Their occupation lasted throughout the EU Summit and is still continuing. Thursday's general strike was a massive success in Seville, as it was across Spain. In the first big strike since the centre-right government of Aznar came to power 6 years ago, the unions decided that enough is enough and took a stand against reforms to unemployed workers rights. The reform forces the unemployed to take any job that is offered (up to 30km away) or they risk losing their benefit. The build-up to the strike was felt all across Spain. Everywhere was graffiti: J20 Huelga general. Workers in the northern Basque and Navarre regions held an advance strike on Wednesday, with unionists placing barricades across roads and railway lines, some of which were set ablaze. There were effigies hanging in the Malaga train station. Over 100,000 people participated in the CCOO/UGT communist trade union demonstration in Seville. In Madrid, this number was over 500,000, Barelona was 300,000 and Valencia 60,000. The government attempted to downplay the numbers involved in the strike, saying that only 17% of the workforce was on strike. But union leaders calculate a figure closer to 80%. There were clashes with the police in Madrid where the police attacked a picket line, over 100 people were arrested and one police officer died while leading a baton charge. The job centre in Barcelona was partially bricked up. On Friday people started arriving in Seville for the autonomous actions and in preparation for the big demonstration on Saturday. The police had set up road blocks coming into Seville to harass protestors. Again, as like in Barcelona, the Spanish government suspended the Schengen agreement of free travel within Europe and closed the borders. Over 400 Portuguese activists were held at the border and there have been reports of beatings. The day was filled with smaller actions: a dancing march in support of indigenous people in struggle; a naked protest against the banking system; and an anti-militarisation puzzle. In the evening, there was an Reclaim the Streets street party and a student demonstration; both suffered from heavy police repression. Also in the evening, the Caravan March of Social Resistance arrived in Seville. This was a 500 km march of illegal immigrants and unemployed workers. On Saturday, before the big demo, a group of about 50 people occupied the el Salvador church in support of the 575 illegal immigrants occupying the university. In the midst of the occupation, a wedding party arrived at the church. When the wedding service was over, the police moved in to push the demonstrators off the church steps and back into the square. The police attacked two demonstrators quite severely, but the other demonstrators managed to link arms and hold the police back. The bride and groom came out and waved to the protestors as they cheered them on. Surreal. Saturday night people from all across Spain flooded to Seville for the demonstration against capitalism and war, against a fortress Europe and for a social Europe. Over 100,000 people came to participate in the demonstration, which started gathering at 8pm at the train station. Trade union, socialist, communist, anarchist, green banners were flying high. The mood was festive. While the march waited to set out, the protestors called out "Agua! Agua!" to the residents of the apartment blocks and they showered the protestors with water. One woman lowered a hose down so that people could fill up their water bottles. The spirit of the demonstration was a mix of internationalist, camaraderie and determination. Yep, things are heating up and people all across Europe are showing they know who the villains are. Not the refugees, not the unemployed, not the man next door that is eking out a similar existence; but the big bosses and the government lackeys that back them up. Let’s make them sweat. |
NEW YORK - Jan 31 - Feb 3, 2002 |
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The weather is not the only thing heating up in Spain: politics are heading to boil over as shown in the middle week of June. The week of protest at the EU Summit began with a general strike across Spain last Thursday on the eve of the summit and ended with over a hundred thousand people from across Europe coming together in Seville to protest against a fortress Europe.