9/29/10 Un mes en Barcelona y la huelga

          So today we didn’t have class because of the huelga general (General Strike).  The strike occurred in many places in the EU and you can read about it in the article below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/world/europe/30europe.html?_r=1&ref=europe

If you don’t want to read the article, I’ll sum up what I’ve learned about the strike.  The reasons for the strike involve lots of different groups.  First, employees that work for public works such as the metro, Correos (mail), Telefono, sanitation services and other state run companies are striking for better benefits, because with the economic downturn the country is cutting costs.  Basically a strike initiated by sindicatos (unions) to get the attention of the government.  Another reason for the strike is that the EU is cutting retirement pensions, so this got another class of people involved.  In Barcelona, it seemed as though the strike also gave reason to promote the idea that Cataluña should separate itself from Spain altogether.  What ever the reason was for joining the strike it definitely caused mayhem in the city.  All public services closed for the day and so did a lot of private companies.  The day before the strike Pepita told me that some stores would stay open like the supermarket, but most stores would close.  And some stores would just roll down their doors if the police came by or a group of protestors, reopening once the crowd passed.

            While I was eating breakfast, Pepita went downstairs to meet Nuez and Sergi on the curb.  They go to a small private elementary school a few blocks away, but their school was cancelled for the day.  Their parents still had to work, so Pepita babysat for the day.  When they got into the apartment, they started watching Spanish cartoons as always.  I went back into my room to start reading for my literature class, but then I heard all this shouting.  I looked from the terrace attached to my bedroom, but couldn’t see anything.  Then I went to the terrace by the living room and on the street below were protestors.  They looked to be all young men.  They were running down the street, pushing dumpsters into the middle of the street and there are some yellow gates on our road for construction that they were throwing into the middle of the street.  The police had 4 big vans that were slowly driving forward trying to get the crowd out of the way.  The most surprising part to me were all the police officers walking in front of the vans, beating the protestors with their batons.  It was a pretty shocking sight for 9 in the morning.  Lots of other people were out on their terraces watching the spectacle and it came and went within a matter of 5 minutes.  From then on, I decided I wouldn’t go out for the rest of the day.

Huelga- Everyone was out to watch it!

Pepita-Nuez-Sergi

            I spent most of the morning reading.  Francesca (Mom of Nuez and Sergi) came over for lunch, which she usually does a few times a week.  She was saying that there was not as much traffic out as she expected, but that the telephone company (which is a national company, not private like in the U.S.) had graffiti all over it.  Lunch was a fun experience too.  Nuez is usually well behaved, and Sergi usually isn’t.  At lunch they were both being kids, not doing what their told and whining about everything.  It was hard for me though, because they were both being difficult for their mom in Catalan, so I could only half understand what was going on.  Once they finally got settled down to eat, it was a little bit better.  Nuez is old enough to know that I only understand Castellano.  She was trying to tell her brother to only speak Castellano, but he didn’t really listen.  I am still impressed that by the ages of 4 and 6, they already speak two languages.  Nuez even learns English at school and Sergi kept asking me how to say words in English like “motorcycle” and “traffic”.  I had gnocchi for lunch with fried chicken and fried eggplant.  Francesca went back to work and I went back to reading.

            Around 5:30 pm I worked up the courage to go for a run and really I was scared for nothing.  About 50% of the shops and restaurants I saw were open.  I ran for a little more than an hour and saw lots of signs of the strike.  I ran by this park which is open to the public, unless the King of Spain comes to Barcelona.  When he comes, he stays in a house there and it is closed to the public.  A few nice statues mark the entrance of the park and they were covered with graffiti.  I also ran by the Corte Ingles, which Pepita told me would be closed.  It was open.  There were a lot more people in the streets than usual, probably just wandering around because they didn’t have to work.  Either way it was a pretty peaceful run.

            During dinner, Pepita and I watched the news and saw the demonstrations that took place all over the city and country.  While a lot of places didn’t take part in the strike, many of the stores downtown did not have a choice and had to close because of all the riots around them.  In Plaza Catalunya, which is a few blocks from the University and where I spent a lot of time for Dia de La Mercedi, a few police cars were torched and the rioting was awful.  Brush was burned on one of the highways going in and out of the city so no one could pass.  Dumpsters were lit on fire.  It was not the type of strike that I would have ever imagined.  There were even some anarchist groups that came out just to destroy things and express their discontent against the government.  It seemed like a lot of unnecessary and costly damage was done to the city.  It was a national strike that didn’t have the participation of the majority people, yet the damages done definitely can’t be overlooked, so I guess in that way the strike got the attention of everyone living here.  I finished reading our assigned chapter before going to bed.