Drawing Impressions: Notes on the general strike and on Zapatera

For those who are wanting to know --- Did they rent that apartment in the city or not. Are they about to move--- stay tuned. Right now it is time for current events.

I would be curious to know if you all over in the States saw any coverage of the General Strike, or Huelga General, that took place in Spain yesterday. September 29^th. First, a quick synopsis on the Spanish economy.

Spain was enjoying a major economic growth for about 8-7 years, right up to February of 2009. The last 4 or 5 years were a frenzy of construction, fed in part by a great deal of speculation as well as corruption. The bust here followed close behind the one in the States and has been more severe. Presently, unemployment is at 20%, and expected to get worse.

At the center of commerce and politics, Madrid is a wealthy city, and the children’s school is in a wealthy suburb. As a result, we have been sheltered from the effects of this economic crisis, though we have seen tell tale signs. Most prominent are the many half built, abandoned developments, and the immobile cranes that punctuate the skyline all about the outskirts of the city, like some species of enormous leafless tree.

This is a favorite of mine and Matt’s is the development “Single Home”. The name is in English and seems to promise something like the iconic American dream of the single, stand alone home. But the construction is of large condo buildings.

Another sign of the crises is just the proliferation of Se Vende – To Sell signs, and Aquiller, to Rent.

Spain has a stronger social safety net than the U.S. and there is far less homelessness. However, we have occaisionally seen people begging, especially in the city, and this is apparently becoming more common. Of course, poverty can be present but invisible. Usually, Madrid keeps its streets quite tidy. Yesterday, on the day of the General Strike, the garbage was not collected, and on my usual route to and from Spanish class, I was surprised at the number of people sorting through the trash.

Naturally this is a political as well as an economic crises. In the hot seat is the president of Spain, Jose Rodriguez Zapatero, who has the misfortune of resembling Rowan Atkinson, of Mr. Bean fame:

Zapatero

Mr. Bean aside, I will personally make note in Zapatero’s favor that he was instrumental in Spain legalizing same sex marriage in 2005, and he was quite determined in his oppostition to the war in Iraqi.

But here we are in 2010 with a very severe economic crises. In other parts of Spain, most notably Barcelona, so often the loudest to protest, the strike was quite disruptive and made for good photo ops:

In Madrid, things were more quite. Our children got to school on time, and though the bus that Matt and I usually take to Spanish class did not run, we were able to drive into the city without difficulty and the metro was running. However, there was a police presence at each metro stop. Not too impressive at the Parque del Retiro, where this lone policia was chatting on her mobile.

Determined to get better footage for my loyal blog followers, I fearlessly sallied forth to Puerta del Sol, kind of sort of the Times Square of Madrid. It is the traditional location for New Year’s celebrations as well as public rallies and protests. The al-Qaeda, (or al-Qaeda like, never have found out for sure)bombing of the Madrid subway system in 2004 took place in part at the Sol station. The police presence was predicatably a good bit stronger, but they had little to do but talk amongst themselves:

Above in the plaza we see posters:

But not really a lot of protest action. Mostly the usual locals and tourists rushing through or enjoying the plaza:

During the boom times, the benefits to Spanish workers increased substantially. Now the government is planning to make major cuts in salaries while increasing the work week, also increase the age of retirement and decrease pensions. The strike was called by the Syndicatos, or Unions. In Barcelona, the turn out of workers was quite impressive:

The Madrid presence, as evidenced in Puerto del Sol, was more like this:

These workers actually looked a bit surprised and embarrassed by the vocal protestors who appeared to be mainly female students:

But the police put on a pretty good show with their horses in front of the statue, likewise assisted by a horse, of King Charles the III, reigned 1759-1788.

Seen up close, it would seem that the Spanish royalty was in of a Princess Di.

But back to the Strike