Monday, April 2, 2012

Since When Do I Write About Politics?

Last Thursday (March 29) was a "huelga general" here in Spain, meaning the various unions called for a nationwide strike -- and protest march -- across all sectors. Now, if you're anything like me, you haven't been following the political reforms in Spain very closely, which is fine for you, but not so great for me considering I live here. I haven't done any detailed research, but have talked to lots of friends about it, and generally the attitude is "La cosa está muy mal. Muy, muy mal." ("Things are bad. Very, very bad.")

There have been a number of budget cuts in education, and since the majority of my friends here are either teachers or graduate students, I hear anecdotal news quite frequently. I also watch the news every morning and sort of pay attention to what's on in between weather reports. AND I read the newspaper at the cafe with the little awkward waiter when I have coffee there a few times a week. So I guess I do keep up on the news...kind of...anyway, the problems in education. For example: this winter in Valencia students went on strike when the heat was shut off in their classrooms because the school hadn't received funds during the entire school year. They protested in front of the school, and things escalated quickly to violence between riot police and protesters. The general feeling was that a small group of radicals took advantage of the situation and started setting things on fire, while the students had been calling for (and enacting) a peaceful protest all along. More on that in a minute.

All over the country, faculty jobs are being reduced while teachers' working hours are being increased, as are class sizes. That means fewer teachers who are more overworked -- and who are mostly burnt out, since the young teachers without fixed positions will be the first to get the axe -- with more students, all of whom are there for more hours. In what world does that sound like a good idea?

The new (conservative) government, who won the elections earlier this year, have also made big changes in the labor laws. Women may now be fired if they become pregnant, which some people say is effectively encouraging (if not requiring) them to abort. In these times of 25% unemployment (a figure that rises to 48% if you are under 25 years old), some people seem to think that terminating a pregnancy would be better than losing your job. Companies/bosses now have what seems like ultimate power to fire anyone they want to, for any reason they want to. I have heard (totally anecdotal, I don't know how reliable these stories are) that people have lost their jobs for taking justified leave -- that is, my daughter's in the hospital, I have a doctor's note because I have been having chemotherapy, I broke my leg and had to miss a week of work.

There was lots of hype surrounding this general strike, and most people I talked to said they were going to participate. I think that's just great -- the strike was planned in advance, employers had notice, and people could make their own decisions as to whether or not to go to work. But the more people I talked to, the more perspectives I got. The mom of two kids I teach in a private class works in an until-recently-family-owned manufacturing company. She said none of the workers wanted to strike, because they wanted to be paid for that day. But because they were bodily afraid of picketers -- most of whom came from other provinces so that they wouldn't know or be recognized by anyone they were antagonizing -- they opted to take a vacation day and close the factory.

Now, I take that report with a grain of salt -- because what worker is always completely 100% honest with their bosses about wanting to strike? But that they were afraid for their physical safety if they chose to go to work...doesn't that defeat the purpose of striking to begin with? Isn't the whole idea that people be allowed to exercise their right to strike -- or not? It's unfair and hypocritical that people would travel to other provinces to intimidate people into not going to work, when they are exercising their rights just as much as the picketers. That's the cool thing about a democracy -- at least about the theory of a democracy -- I get to express and act upon my opinions, and so do you. As long as they're not hurting anyone else, it's OK. Now leave me alone about it.

I never meant for this to be a political blog, and I think I can safely say that it has not become so, based on the fact that my last three posts were about music, bugs, and a long-and-involved personal story that I'm not sure anyone even read. Nor have I ever considered myself particularly politically-inclined, especially when it comes to protesting and marches and other scary things that involve big crowds of people and riot police. But after hearing all these stories about the political situation in Spain, I ultimately decided to participate in one. Details to follow.

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