“What better way to get the message across than to paralyze the country?” : in Spain, a general strike to denounce the housing crisis

The main unions are calling on Spanish employees for a general strike on Wednesday, November 11. An atypical movement, because it was a housing rights collective that launched the initiative. This does not respond to salary demands but rather to the housing crisis which condemns millions of Spaniards to tighten their belts to pay their rent or to live in shared accommodation well after the end of their studies. A more political strike than usual, especially as it takes place less than three weeks before the legislative elections of November 29.

Lavapiés is a popular neighborhood in central Madrid where rents are skyrocketing. Monday morning, two days before the strike call, a neighborhood committee set up its information stand, in the rain, in Plaza de Cascorro. Marisa, a retiree, tries to convince passers-by to participate in the general strike: "There are people who tell us: 'I can't participate because I have to work, otherwise I won't eat'. So we tell them: 'You can have a consumer strike and not buy anything in supermarkets on Wednesday, for example. Or come to the demonstration'."

Going down Embajadores Street, we come across a festive and protest parade.

“Since the start of the school year, six families have been evicted from the Lavapiés district.”

Lucía, founder of an association helping vulnerable families

“These are children who have their own living environment here and who have to leave for other neighborhoods, a new school, a new park, new housing. This has consequences on their mental health. The children pay the heaviest price for these evictions,” laments Lucía, the founder of an association that helps vulnerable families.

The “sindicato de inquilinas”, the tenant defense collective behind the strike, published its demands. Among these is the seizure of the third residence of owners who do not occupy it. “An empty home, in a context of a housing crisis, is like a hospital closed in the middle of a pandemic, annoys Alicia del Río, the spokesperson for the collective. If a home is empty, it will be rented out at a social rate and the owner of the home will collect the rent, so that a person or a family can live there.”

Something, perhaps, to interest Pedro, because this 35-year-old engineer cannot afford to rent an apartment for himself. “With the salary of a science popularizer, I can't put money aside,” he assures us. “I live in shared accommodation and I pay 600 euros per month. Whoever the next government is, it will have to take measures to address this crisis. And what better way to get the message across than to paralyze the country?” A real challenge for this general strike, the first devoted to the question of housing.