Warming up for Seville: Party-Demo in Malaga
IMCUK travelling circus | 19.06.2002 15:22
Around two hundred people held a party-demo this morning in the centre of Malaga. The event was part of the mobilisations against the EU summit in Seville.
Around two hundred people held a party-demo this morning in the centre of Malaga. The event was part of the mobilisations against the EU summit in Seville.
The international crowd of demonstrators danced under the intense Andalucian sun to the rhythms of a samba batucada and a mobile soundsystem, while graffiti and stickers redecorated several buildings. The theme of the day was “la precariedad”, that is, lowering job security, standards of living, etc. Those visited included McDonalds, temping and estate agencies, Town Hall, the University of Malaga main building (protesting against the LOU law), and finally the Government office in Malaga, responsible for repression and inmigration issues.
The action was organised as part of the Malaga stage of the March of Social Movements towards Seville, which is connected to the Euromarches process, and finishes in that city on friday. However, both the organisation and participation were broader, including many local people, and even a Swedish contingent travelling to the summit.
Police presence was very low key, even when minor arguments started with the managers of some of the offices visited, and practically was reduced to some plain-clothes and a line protecting the Government office.
Reports from Seville indicate that several thousand plain-clothes police officers have taken over the city, but are trying to avoid high visibility on the days prior to the general strike which has pinned the government against much of the country. The trigger for the strike was the forced introduction of non-consensual new laws regulating unemployment. These would sound quite familiar to British readers, as they are basically following the trend started in USA of criminalising those who receive any state benefits and force the unemployed into any low paid job. Unfortunately, this global aspect of the new law, and its relation to more restrictive inmigration laws, has been missed by all the critics, either by lack of information, or in bad faith as is the case of the socialist party (PSOE). The PSOE, is unashamedly trying to gain political capital by supporting the unions, without questioning the wider picture of the attack on workers rights worldwide. This is not surprising, as in their years in power throughout the eighties, they managed to disempower a vibrant civil society that looked at the postfascist future starry-eyed, and now invests in shares of the companies which ravage Latin America.
Read a call for a Disobedient Laboratory during the General Strike and the EU Summit mobilisations in Sevilla, June 20-22
For up to date information check:
IMC-Barcelona
IMC-Madrid
The international crowd of demonstrators danced under the intense Andalucian sun to the rhythms of a samba batucada and a mobile soundsystem, while graffiti and stickers redecorated several buildings. The theme of the day was “la precariedad”, that is, lowering job security, standards of living, etc. Those visited included McDonalds, temping and estate agencies, Town Hall, the University of Malaga main building (protesting against the LOU law), and finally the Government office in Malaga, responsible for repression and inmigration issues.
The action was organised as part of the Malaga stage of the March of Social Movements towards Seville, which is connected to the Euromarches process, and finishes in that city on friday. However, both the organisation and participation were broader, including many local people, and even a Swedish contingent travelling to the summit.
Police presence was very low key, even when minor arguments started with the managers of some of the offices visited, and practically was reduced to some plain-clothes and a line protecting the Government office.
Reports from Seville indicate that several thousand plain-clothes police officers have taken over the city, but are trying to avoid high visibility on the days prior to the general strike which has pinned the government against much of the country. The trigger for the strike was the forced introduction of non-consensual new laws regulating unemployment. These would sound quite familiar to British readers, as they are basically following the trend started in USA of criminalising those who receive any state benefits and force the unemployed into any low paid job. Unfortunately, this global aspect of the new law, and its relation to more restrictive inmigration laws, has been missed by all the critics, either by lack of information, or in bad faith as is the case of the socialist party (PSOE). The PSOE, is unashamedly trying to gain political capital by supporting the unions, without questioning the wider picture of the attack on workers rights worldwide. This is not surprising, as in their years in power throughout the eighties, they managed to disempower a vibrant civil society that looked at the postfascist future starry-eyed, and now invests in shares of the companies which ravage Latin America.
Read a call for a Disobedient Laboratory during the General Strike and the EU Summit mobilisations in Sevilla, June 20-22
For up to date information check:
IMC-Barcelona
IMC-Madrid
IMCUK travelling circus