Hours after the outbreak of the protest, Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Tenants' Union, speaks to EL MUNDO from that base camp of tents that Puerta del Sol has become. The early morning is long and several hundred protesters begin to organize with their sights set on Tuesday and the approval, or not, of the so-called Maricarmen decree. There are two crucial days ahead in which, Racu assures, the Government is risking everything after the crowd, led by this union, has put not only the evictions, but the complex housing crisis at the center of the public debate. "Either rentierism falls or the Government falls," is repeated like a mantra at kilometer zero of the demands, where they feel that they have taken over, three decades later, at 15-M.
How did this new camping in Sol come about?
We were clear that something had to happen. The heartbreaking images that we have seen this week about how violent Maricarmen's eviction was, which made no sense and that even the UN had said was illegal, had to represent a before and after. The demonstration was and this has totally exceeded our expectations. Sun was packed. Spontaneously, some people said: "This can't stop here, it has to continue and be a turning point."
What is the objective of the camping?
We have to increase the pressure and make it very clear that we are not going to accept being told that nothing can be done, because then we would be accepting that those who govern this country are, in reality, rentiers, speculators and real estate investors. That is the cry of the people and what we feel in the streets: enough of using our suffering as an electoral campaign and passing the buck between parties and administrations. They are all responsible and guilty, from the PP to the PSOE and everything in between. We have come here to demand urgent, necessary and immediate measures. On Tuesday there is a Council of Ministers and they have a very easy task: approve the 'Maricarmen decree'. Then there will be a month to make sure it goes ahead. But that first step cannot be the end; It is a question of minimums in the face of the crisis we are experiencing.
If the decree is approved, will the protest be lifted?
We don't set times. This has arisen from people's need to direct all that anger towards a place from which they can build and make proposals from below. For now it is clear that today and tomorrow we stay; From there we will continue watching. The first objective is Tuesday, but that cannot be the end. It has to be the beginning of a radical change in the way of understanding housing in this country. We cannot have normalized it to be a business like any other when the lives of people of all ideologies, ages and places in the State are at stake.
What will happen in Sol if the decree does not go forward on Tuesday?
We will have to see, but it is clear that this is not going to stop. I'm not going to say that the camping is going to continue, because we have to see how people feel and if they believe that this is the greatest tool we have, but it is not going to come cheap. The Government, having reached this point, has to be very aware that on Tuesday either rentierism falls or the Government falls. Something very big is at stake. The conflict will continue to escalate and a very big political crisis will open. A Government that is no longer very cohesive right now will break even more with something like this, and it has to be very aware. Enough of scaring us. The excuse is always used of "this is better than what is to come" or "be careful, because if you don't vote for us, the wolf will come." The wolf is already here: they are already kicking us out of the house and they are already sending the police after us for defending the right to housing. That story is no longer valid.
Did you participate in 15-M?
No, it was very small.
What does this camp share with that of 2011?
That is born from the street, from anger and desperation, but also from the hope that something can be done differently and that we can do it differently. It also shares that structural criticism that addresses the economic model and, specifically, the housing model. The difference is that here specific measures are requested on a specific issue. This is a campaign for housing, very motivated by a specific case. The slogan 'We are all Maricarmen' was heard a lot because it is true: you do not have to be an 87-year-old woman to be evicted. We are all much closer to our landlords kicking us out of our homes than to being able to buy several apartments and be rentiers.
15 years ago people protested about not being able to buy a home. Today they are protesting for not even being able to rent it.
Exact. This is a very representative image that this has only gotten worse. If we give free rein and allow the rules of the game to be set by those who want to do business with life, while governments simply accept them and do not question them, we come to this. Before the demand was "I want to buy a house" and today you don't even get into debt for 30 years and pay 50% of the value of the house. That's what buying a house means: being a bank tenant for 30 years. Now you can't be a landlord's tenant and live in peace either.
What do the young people who arrive and set up shop transmit to you?
People are ecstatic. I've been needing to feel that all is not lost for a long time. In a world that seems to be falling apart, where everything is wrong and we have no role to play because we are a little ant in the middle of enormous things, we can suddenly feel that, when we get together and organize ourselves, we can have more power than any politician, landlord, judge or police officer. That moves many things inside. It is also very nice to see that many people who are participating politically for the first time are coming, who were not already in the union, in an assembly in their neighborhood or in some local group, but who have come because they have been very indignant with what happened this week, they have said "enough is enough" and understand that they also have a role in this. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement and also vertigo to see where this will go. Questions arise, but there is a desire to do it and see how far we can go. It is clear that we need this to change radically.
Are you afraid that the parties can channel the demands of this movement, which is a citizen movement?
We are tired of our suffering being used as an electoral campaign. Maricarmen has been organizing against this for seven years. Why are all parties only interested now? Stop campaigning with something as dramatic as that people do not have a house and, therefore, do not have a life, and that this country does not have a future. They must act once and for all.
Who is politically responsible for this crisis?
The right-wing parties are very responsible for this having happened: they were the ones who laid out the red carpet for vulture funds in 2013. They arrived in Spain with Ana Botella, who sold that first package of homes to Blackstone, and with Mariano Rajoy, who changed the LAU, created the socimis, imposed almost zero taxes on them and told them: "Come here to do business." Right-wing policies and parties are responsible for us getting here, and the progressive Government has maintained that same system and has played at being just as rentier as the PP before. Enough already. This is no longer about political parties; that framework is outdated. We need real change in the face of a transversal problem that affects people of all ideologies, ages and even social classes.
