Manifiesto por la Dignidad del Sur ante la segunda oleada

 *Manifiesto por la Dignidad del Sur ante la segunda oleada*

Desde las asociaciones vecinales del Sur de la ciudad de Madrid queremos manifestar nuestro más firme rechazo a las políticas clasistas y racistas que el gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid está desarrollando durante esta segunda oleada de COVID-19 enfocadas a la discriminación de los vecinos y vecinas del Sur.

En lugar de proteger, cuidar y prevenir que la población más vulnerable de nuestra ciudad sufra como está sufriendo las mayores tasas de contagios, han optado por la estigmatización, la exclusión y la discriminación territorial.

Se ha optado igualmente por la política del miedo, por culpar a “los comportamientos individuales”, como si nuestros barrios fueran los únicos donde se incumplen ocasionalmente las normas, o como si no hubiéramos visto comportamientos inadecuados promovidos y alentados por las propias administraciones, como corridas de toros superando aforos, manifestaciones en barrios con alto poder adquisitivo en pleno estado de alarma, concentraciones negacionistas sin medidas de seguridad, terrazas y locales llenos de gente….

Han decidido que aquellas personas que no pueden permitirse un vehículo privado para trabajar, aquellas que por sus empleos precarios y/o en sectores como la limpieza, la hostelería o el comercio, de cara al público, aquellas que no pueden pagarse un piso (por no hablar de apartamentos de lujo para la cuarentena) para su familia porque ni siquiera pueden pagar el alquiler de una habitación… todas ellas, deben asumir que serán contagiadas y que además serán confinadas “por su culpa”.

A estos vecinos y vecinas nos gustaría saber:

Si es posible hacer PCR selectivos en este caso en barrios con otras características sociodemográficas, o acaso se buscaba una profecía autocumplida haciendo PCR selectivos en los barrios desfavorecidos de gente trabajadora.

Nos gustaría saber por qué no se han creado puntos COVID para no saturar nuestros centros de salud, por qué no se cumplen los rastreos, por qué los resultados de los PCR tardan siete días en darse, por qué no hay seguimiento médico de los pacientes en cuarentena, por qué no hay sanciones a quienes incumplen las normas de protección y prevención…

Tenemos muchas más preguntas, como por qué no se intensifica la ayuda social, ya que nuestros vecinos tardan meses en conseguir una ayuda (que a veces ni siquiera permite cubrir sus necesidades básicas en una situación no solo de emergencia social sino sanitaria).

El virus ha servido de excusa para sembrar el odio y el miedo entre nuestros vecinos/as. Se ha optado por señalar al eslabón más débil de la cadena… en lugar de hablar de lo que realmente es importante para el sur:

¿Dónde está el Centro de Salud de Butarque que se lleva una década pidiendo para evitar la absoluta masificación del Centro de Los Rosales?

¿Cómo van a desdoblar aulas si construyen aparcamientos en las parcelas destinadas a dotaciones educativas?

¿Y no necesitaríamos más recursos para paliar la vulnerabilidad social existente desde que se constituyó esta ciudad o es casualidad que los distritos cuyos indicadores relativos de esperanza de vida, nivel de estudios, renta media del hogar, tasa de paro, valor catastral de las viviendas, tasa de demanda de dependiente… sean los que se decide confinar?

¿Cuántas de las 200 medidas de las que en 2016 presentaron las asociaciones de Villaverde necesarias para la igualar el territorio y las posibilidades de nuestra vecindad se han llevado a cabo?

¿Se han planteado que distritos como Usera y Villaverde no pueden compartir una comisaría? Quizás con más recursos en seguridad, medicación y prevención para la mejora de la convivencia, habría menos impunidad.

¿Cómo vamos a proteger a los niños y niñas en Usera, en el Centro de Salud Joaquín Rodrigo, no tenemos pediatras?

Entre otras muchas preguntas, innumerables.

Para estos gobiernos somos la mano de obra barata de esta “ciudad global”, somos el lugar donde se ubica todo lo que la ciudad necesita pero le molesta (depuradoras, incineradoras, industria contaminante desde hace décadas…), somos a quienes confinar cuando las cosas no van bien. Pero nos hemos cansado de aguantar. Somos barrios eternamente olvidados y por eso nos oponemos a estas medidas, llamamos a nuestros vecinos y vecinas a reclamar la Dignidad del Sur, sin nosotros/as no habría cuidados, ni calles y espacios limpios, ni comida a domicilio, ni agua depurada… porque “nuestro modo de vida” es el modo de vida mayoritario al que nos condenan por falta de inversión, no el que elegimos.

Cuando se cumplan las ratios escolares, cuando se conozca la ratio médico/paciente y funcionen nuestros centros de salud, cuando se contraten a los rastreadores necesarios, cuando usar el transporte público no implique hacinamiento, cuando el contrato de limpieza de nuestras calles valga lo mismo que el de los barrios ricos, cuando se haga PCR a toda la ciudad…. entonces, solo entonces, si nada ha cambiado, nos confinaremos. Se necesita un Plan de Desarrollo del Sur, un nuevo Plan de Inversiones que reduzca la brecha social de nuestra ciudad, de nuestra región. Ese será el único camino que el Sur admitirá para frenar los contagios.

Firmantes:

AV La Unidad de Villaverde Este

AV Los Rosales

Asociación del Comercio de Villaverde

AV Los Hogares

AV La Unidad de San Cristóbal

AVIB

AMIFIVI

AV La Incolora

AC Gente de Villaverde

AV Barriada San Fermín

AV La Mancha

AV Almendrales

AV Orcasitas

AV Cornisa

AV Orcasur

AV Zofio

AV Barrio Moscardó

Asamblea Vecinal de Perales del Río-Getafe

AV Doña Carlota Numancia

AV Palomeras Bajas

AV. El Pozo

Av La Paz

AV La Viña

AV Kasko Viejo de Vallecas

AV Puente de Valllecas-San Diego

Coordinadora de Asociaciones Vecinales de Carabanchel

AV Carabanchel Alto

AV PAU del Ensanche de Vallecas

FRAVM

What's up with those Spanish miners?

I have received a few texts and tweets over the past couple of weeks from friends back home asking me just what the heck is going on with the miner strike in northern Spain.  So after doing my best to give an expat's view on the question a few times, and in wake of what the Spanish press is calling a batalla campal (pitched battle) between Guardia Civil troops and strikers in the Spanish coal mining village of Ciñera yesterday, I thought I might try my hand at explaining.  First, take a look at this video of yesterday's battle.

What my friends back home want to know is just how bad are things over there in Spain for workers to actually take up arms against the military (the Guardia Civil is basically the Spanish national military police).  Unfortunately, the answer is -- pretty bad.

First, for a short history of the confrontation, you can peruse these videos and photos of what has transpired over the previous weeks.  Here is a link from AlJazeera, which has proven to be a good source for information on the strikes as the Spanish government and media are trying to downplay the events.

Let's start our story with the presidential debates that took place back in 2011.  The current Spanish government headed by the conservative Popular Party was able to capitalize on the fact that the Socialists had made cuts to social programs, while bailing out financial institutions.  During the debate, then PP presidential candidate Mariano Rajoy said, "No pienso dar un euro de dinero público (a la banca) como han hecho ustedes." (I'm not considering giving even one euro of public money (to the banks) like your party did."

And as we all know, now President Rajoy recently promised upwards of 100 billion euros to Spanish banks, a figure that equates to more than 2,000 euros for every man, woman, baby, child and senior citizen currently living in Spain.  Here is a 30-second clip of the debate from 2011 in which President Rajoy made his soon to be broken promise.

So here is the situation.  The Popular Party has continued the Socialist party's policy of cuts which affect nearly everyone in Spain (I say nearly everyone because recently Mr. Rajoy refused the EU's demand to cut government employee salaries and pensions, which not so ironically would include those of the police).  Add to all this the fact that unemployment in Spain is edging towards 25% with youth unemployment having broken the 50% barrier, and you now see the reason why the miners took to the streets when subsidies to their industry felt the PP's wrath.

But if all this is not enough, the government is trying its best to stifle any protest in Spain through intimidation and confrontation, whether it be by miner, teacher, indignado, or any of the other myriad of groups with a legitimate beef, which seems to be about everyone here but the bankers, civil servants and cops.  The coal miners are simply the first to really fight back.

President John F. Kennedy once said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."  And I suppose this would be the best one line explanation that I could give to my friends back home.

Madrid Anti Police Repression Protest Called Off Due To Police Repression

An ironic TWEET came across my feed today from the Indignados @AcampadaSol account:

Rough translation: police shut down the anti-police repression protest scheduled for today in Madrid with a little repression and a lot of intimidation.  The Indignados had organized the event through social media under the hashtag #30jSinMiedo (June 30th without fear).  The TWEET above tells us that the protest had to be called off at the last moment due to the police demanding IDs, surrounding the protestors, and warning of "serious consequences".  If today's protestors have the same luck as those Indignados who have been IDed by police over the past several months, they can expect a court summons and 300-Euro fine, usually either for "attending an illegal protest" or "challenging the authorities".

And if today's Madrid protest is not all the Spanish irony you require for one weekend, just last night 30 people who have been evicted or are facing eviction, sought shelter in the cathedral of Madrid La Almudena, some with small children.  The families, children and protestors were soon met by the church Rector "to negotiate", but within a couple hours he decided to have the police handle the situation.  Let us say that Christians around the world should be grateful that Marie and Joseph looked for refuge in a dirty stable in Bethlehem rather than an opulent Roman Catholic cathedral in the Spanish capital.  #OccupyAlmudena was soon trending in Spain, complete with photos of children being held against the wall and peaceful protestors being forced to their knees while placing their hands behind their heads.

Here is a video I shot last night at La Almudena protest.  A Spanish woman reminds the cops that they are 99%ers too! (That's our beautiful Madrid cathedral there in the background)

Eviction Notices for the Bankers, Bailout for the Citizens

LaVanguardia.com is reporting that 3,000 protestors marched in Madrid, Spain yesterday from the Cuatro Caminos neighborhood to the Plaza de Castilla to make their displeasure with the BANKIA rescue package known.  The Indignados noisily reminded the public that 23 billion euros has already been promised to the failing financial institution, even though it has been accused of having falsified its accounts last year in the run-up to its IPO.  You can read the original article from La Vanguardia (in Spanish) here:

From the article...

Madrid. (EFECOM).- Más de 3.000 personas se han concentrado hoy ante la sede principal de Bankia en Madrid para protestar contra "la inyección de más de 23.000 millones de dinero público" en la entidad, tras una marcha pacífica que se ha saldado con un detenido.

Madrid. (EFECOM).- More than 3,000 people gathered today at the central headquarters of Bankia in Madrid to protest against "the injection of more than 23 billion in public money" into the institution, after a peaceful march in which there was one detention.

The Indignados have brought charges against the former BANKIA president (private prosecutions are permitted in Spain if the D.A. declines to bring charges of his own), after it was revealed that 2011 actually saw a 2.979 billion Euro loss, rather than the profit that BANKIA had previously claimed on the books.  And as if to add insult to injury, BANKIA accepted 4.5 billion Euros in government funds back in 2010, and has yet to pay any of it back.

So when will the misery end, and how to get out of the crisis?  This week the International Monetary Fund offered Spain some advice of its own -- increase taxes!  In this article the IMF suggests that Spain needs to raise its sales tax to cut the deficit -- a sales tax that currently stands at 18%. 

Every day, Indignados along with more and more ordinary Spaniards, are asking the banks and international organizations, "what more do you want from us, and when is it going to be enough for you?"

Students Fined for Seeking Student Loan Info at BANKIA HQ in Huelva, Spain

HUELVA24.com is reporting that around 100 students were surrounded by police, ID'ed, and in some cases given fines, simply for going inside a bank to ask for information about student loans.  Jesús Díaz of HUELVA24.com reports that the government is denying that any fines were given.

11.39 h. Alrededor de un centenar de universitarios han acudido a primera hora de la mañana a la oficina central de Bankia en la plaza de las Monjas para informarse sobre los préstamos que ofrece la entidad bancaria. La Policía se ha presentado en el banco minutos después de que el local quedase colapsado por estudiantes, muchos de los cuales fueron identificados por los agentes. Según declararon algunos de los participantes en la protesta, los agentes "han estado multando por alteración al orden público", un extremo que ha sido negado categóricamente por la Subdelegación del Gobierno.

11:39 am  Around one hundred university students turned up at the BANKIA headquarters in the Plaza de las Monjas at opening time this morning to ask for information about student loans that the financial institution has on offer.  The police arrived at the bank a few minutes after the central offices were overwhelmed by students, many of whom were asked to produce identification by the officers.  According to several of the protestors, the police officers were giving fines for "public disorder" -- a charge that a local government official categorically denied.

You can read the full version of the article (in Spanish) here:

Dear Mr. de Guindos, I don't think you have convinced the international press

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, so we will keep this post short.  Today, Spain finally reversed course and announced what everybody knew was going to happen all along -- that Spain would be needing an economic lifeline, if it is to survive.  However, Spanish Minister of the Economy Luis de Guindos, in typical Spanish political Orwellian fashion, engaged in double speak when the announcement was made this afternoon.

Mr. de Guindos actually managed to keep a straight face when he announced the EU "aid" package by saying, "Se pide apoyo financiero, esto no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con un rescate."

("Financial support has been requested, this in absolutely no way is a bailout.")


The international press didn't buy it Mr. Guindos, does the Spanish government really think its citizens are that stupid?

Espanol: ayuda
English: help, assistance, aid

Espanol: rescate
English: bailout, rescue

 

Spanish Bank Served Eviction Notice

Today's edition of PUBLICO, an online Spanish newspaper, has announced that the Spanish people will be giving their masters a taste of their own medicine.  Since BANKIA is completely insolvent and can only survive on charity and welfare, the citizens of Spain have instead decided to evict.

Here is an English translation of the PUBLICO story.  You can find the original (in Spanish) here:

La Ciudadania se Prepara para Desahuciar a BANKIA