Subject: AUT: Fwd: [REDYOUTH]  Re: 1 Million Student Strikers in Spain on March 26 Against the War...
From: Michael Pugliese <debsian-AT-pacbell.net>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 00:30:35 -0800


------- Forwarded message -------
From: Jonathan Mertzig <jonathan.mertzig-AT-gmx.de>
To: <DavidMcR-AT-aol.com>, <redyouth-AT-ypsl.net>
Subject: [REDYOUTH]  Re: 1 Million Student Strikers in Spain on March 26 Against 
 the W...
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 23:54:41 -0600

> I must say those Spaniards never fail to impress... my friend
> John Peck just returned from a conference there, and he took part
> in a few of the protests there. It sounded like everywhere he
> went there was some really well organized stuff.
>
> I've been thinking more and more that we American activists
> should study European protest organization and tactics a bit more
> closely. In recent years it seems like there's been some really
> great mass mobilization and action going on the other side of the
> Atlantic, some of it seeming to be a little more well thought-out
> than stuff you see here... not to say we Americans suck at
> protesting, but I think there's opportunity to learn some things
> that would be beneficial to our movements. Anyone know of some
> good protest organizing guides, training groups, tactical
> discussions, etc. out of Europe (or from anywhere else outside
> the USA)? I know we've got some European comrades floating around
> on here that could maybe provide some good links/contacts...
>
> Jonathan Mertzig
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <DavidMcR-AT-aol.com>
> To: <redyouth-AT-ypsl.net>; <yds-discuss-AT-topica.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 9:27 AM
> Subject: [REDYOUTH] 1 Million Student Strikers in Spain on March
> 26 Against the W...
>
>
>>
>> <<
>> 1 Million Student Strikers in Spain on March 26th!
>>
>> Yesterday, March 26, one million school and university
> students participated
>> in antiwar demonstrations in Spain called by the Sindicato de
> Estudiantes
>> (Spanish Students Union). The mood there is unprecedented. The
> government is
>> against the ropes, and the main debate in the movement is the
> need for a
>> general strike against the war, which could bring down the
> government. The
>> main unions (CCOO and UGT) have already called a 2-hour general
> strike on
>> April 10. The smaller CGT union is discussing whether to call a
> 24 hour
>> general strike on its own on April 10. Following is the
> statement from the
>> Students Union:
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------
>>
>> One Million Students Out in the Streets --
>> Unprecedented student demonstrations against the imperialist
> war;
>> CCOO (Workers' Commissions) and the UGT must call a general
> strike now!
>> <http://www.sindicatodeestudiantes.org/>
>>
>> Today, March 26, the Sindicato de Estudiantes (Spanish School
> Student's
>> Union), together with other student organisations, organised
> another
>> mobilisation against the war. We organised a student general
> strike in the
>> high schools and universities and demonstrations in more than
> 70 different
>> towns all over Spain. The turnout was hugely successful. A very
> high number
>> of students (more than 90%) took part, both in the schools and
> the
>> universities. A total of more than a million students took part
> in the
>> demonstrations.
>>
>> The biggest demo was in Madrid with around 250,000 students.
> Other big demos
>> took place in Barcelona with more than 150,000, Seville with
> 30,000, Valencia
>> 25,000, Bilbao over 15,000, Tarragona more than 10,000 Oviedo
> 10,000,
>> Santiago 7,000, Salamanca 5,000, Gijon, Granada and Vitoria
> with more than
>> 2,000.
>>
>> This was the fourth student general strike called by the
> Sindicato de
>> Estudiantes against the imperialist war. The antiwar movement
> is growing and
>> each successive mobilisation is more militant than the one
> before. For the
>> first time, on this latest mobilisation there was a massive
> presence of
>> university students.
>>
>> In Madrid there were three marches from Atocha, Ciudad
> Universitaria and
>> Recoletos, all converging on Puerta del Sol. It was an
> exemplary peaceful
>> demonstration. This massive mobilisation of hundreds of
> thousands of youth on
>> the streets demanding an end to the imperialist butchery
> against the innocent
>> Iraqi people was the best reply that they could give to the
> government
>> authorities who had tried to provoke and intimidate the
> movement.
>>
>> The Sintel workers were also there and they greeted the
> demonstrators at the
>> end of the march. The Sintel workers have been involved in a
> long dispute
>> demanding decent jobs. There were also representatives of IU
> (United Left),
>> the CCOO, the UGT and the STES. As the march moved along many
> older people
>> joined the demonstration.
>>
>> An indication of the militant antiwar mood were the slogans
> that were
>> chanted on the demo such as, "It isn't humanitarian, it is
> imperialist", "No
>> more blood for oil". Others condemned the PP government as
> being responsible
>> for the butchery in Iraq: "Whose fault is it? It is the fault
> of the PP
>> government", "If you have the guts call early elections". There
> were also
>> slogans denouncing police repression of the movement: "They
> call it democracy
>> but it is not", "Ansuategui resign". A common demand of all the
> demonstrators
>> was that the CCOO and the UGT should call a general strike:
> "What we need is
>> a general strike", "No retreat, general strike against the
> war".
>>
>> There was a unanimous demand on all these demonstrations for
> the leaders of
>> the CCOO and the UGT to call a 24-hour general strike now! The
> aims of this
>> general strike must be that the troops be brought back, the
> government has no
>> more to do with this war and that Aznar should resign. The
> massive support
>> for the 15 minute strikes called by the trade unions
> demonstrate that the
>> conditions for a general strike exist. There is also the
> example of the
>> strike of the Ferrol and Seville shipyard workers, who are
> involved in the
>> building of warships. This example clearly demonstrates the
> ability of the
>> working class to bring the country to a standstill and to stop
> the war. This
>> is the road that we should be following. A general strike would
> put the PP
>> government on the ropes. It could even bring the government
> down, something
>> which the overwhelming majority of the population wants.
>>
>> Furthermore a general strike would be a way of denouncing the
> brutal attacks
>> of the police, which is carrying out the dictates of the
> Ministry of the
>> Interior in an attempt to intimidate workers and youth who come
> out onto the
>> streets against the government. They are in fact achieving the
> opposite of
>> what they wished. Today we gave them a lesson in how we
> struggle, although we
>> also have to condemn the provocative actions of the police at
> the end of
>> several of the demonstrations, such as in Barcelona, Saragossa,
> Salamanca and
>> Reus. That is why we are demanding the immediate removal of
> Acebes, the
>> Minister of the Interior, as well as the resignation of Aznar
> and his
>> government.
>>
>> After the success of today's mobilisations, the Sindicato de
> Estudiantes
>> wishes to re-emphasise our support for all the demonstrations
> that are being
>> organised. We also plan to call further demonstrations.
>>
>> Imperialism is revealing its cruel intentions. They wish to
> destroy a
>> country and its people in order to rob them of their oil
> resources. For Bush
>> and US imperialism democracy is just a word with no meaning.
> Their allies in
>> the region are bloody dictatorships who exploit their own
> people, and we know
>> that if in the end the US take Baghdad, then the same fate
> awaits the Iraqi
>> people. That is why the Sindicato de Estudiantes cannot remain
> neutral in the
>> face of the butchery which is being perpetrated in Iraq. We are
> on the side
>> of the Iraqi people against the foreign invader. In fact, one
> of the slogans
>> on the demonstrations was: "Iraq resist, the world is rising
> up". February 15
>> demonstrated how it is possible to co-ordinate the struggle on
> an
>> international level. Who can doubt that an international
> general strike,
>> called in Spain by the CCOO and the UGT, in Italy by the CGIL,
> in Britain by
>> the TUC and in the United States by the AFL-CIO, could not stop
> this war? A
>> massive mobilisation of the workers and youth is the way to
> stop imperialism.
>>
>> National Executive Committee of the Sindicato de Estudiantes,
> Madrid, March
>> 26, 2003. <http://www.sindicatodeestudiantes.org/>
>>
>> >>
>>
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-- 
Michael Pugliese

"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to 
 each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that 
 we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted 
 at each other, as if we were in a madhouse."
-Tolstoy 



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