General strike in Spain: 4 million take to the streets to protest against high rents

MADRID – The main entrance to the Congress of Deputies is guarded by Daoiz and Velarde, two bronze lions, symbols of Spanish parliamentary democracy. Just a stone’s throw away, thousands of demonstrators line the streets of Madrid. Some of them had been out on the streets since the early hours of the night: the 24-hour general strike began as a protest over rents and has become the first test of an already heated election campaign, ahead of the general election on 29 November. This 11 November unfolded as both a day of celebration and a day of protest. Shop shutters were down, public transport was running sporadically, and, in front of the Puerta del Sol, someone held aloft a bunch of keys as a symbol. A gesture symbolising the keys to a home that people cannot afford, either to rent or to buy. More than 4 million demonstrators took to the streets in Spain, with 42 arrests.

It all began far from the corridors of power, in neighbourhood meetings and block of flats where families began to organise themselves. Half a million tenants have taken to the streets in recent weeks. The idea of a more organised protest took shape in the massive demonstrations that swept across the country following the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, aged 87, who died 15 days after being evicted from the home where she had lived for seventy years and where she had always paid her rent on time. But she refused to pay the doubled rent that had been imposed on her.

The general strike is unprecedented in many respects. It was initiated by a movement lacking the legal authority to call it – the Tenants’ Union (SDI) – rather than by the traditional trade unions, the UGT and CCOO, which have joined the cause and ‘legalised’ the strike, explains Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the SDI: ‘It does not strictly concern labour issues, but rather, above all, the difficulties in accessing housing’. She adds that it is ‘a strike against speculation, against employers and against their governments, all governments, at national, regional and local level, regardless of political affiliation, because we have seen that whoever has held public office has supported and protected speculation. This strike has been called for housing, pensions, wages and public services’. A few hours later: “The strike has been a success that has exceeded expectations. Few demonstrations across Spain have had the scale of today’s.” This was the assessment given at midday outside Madrid City Hall, in Plaza Cibeles, by the leaders of the Comisión Obrera (CCOO) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) trade unions, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez.

The leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo (of the People’s Party, PP), has in recent days called for the strike to be called off: ‘General strikes are not called against those who are not in power’. A statement from the PP adds that this is a “pre-emptive strike by the Socialists against the centre-right, which will win the elections”.

Bruno Estrada, one of the CCOO’s leaders, told *Il Sole 24 Ore* that ‘this had been under discussion for months, as we anticipated that the housing crisis would come to a head. We had set aside four million euros to bolster our campaign for collective bargaining and were expecting an increase in the level of industrial action. We had also been in contact with tenants’ unions for some time. The spark was finally ignited by Maricarmen’s case, which triggered a wave of public outrage”.