Ok, so I didn't really strike. But I didn't go to work.
Today there was a national, general strike all over Spain. 29M (29th of March) had been spray-painted and advertized everywhere for weeks. So today many people didn't go to work. Not only didn't they go to work, but some picketed, preventing or harassing others from going to work. There were also organized protests, mobs of indignados lining the streets with flags and posters.
Because it's very late and tomorrow I'm waking up early for my gran viaje, I'm not going to even attempt to act like I know the details of the strike. From what I understand the bigger corporations were striking, while most small businesses tried to stay open. I stayed home, with permission from my jefa, simply to avoid any trouble. According to a friend, picketers were lined up at the university entrance this morning interrogating drivers of stopped cars why they were going to work. I didn't want to risk anything being on a conspicuous foreigner on my bicycle.
But I did venture out for a bit in the afternoon to do a private class. In my neighborhood, there was no trouble. However the crowds were gathered in the downtown area, where I had to go to get to my class. Before I headed out, the mother of my private class had to call and tell me how to re-route my bike-ride to her house in order to avoid this on Gran Via...
My advice to a guiri: Avoid city centers during huelgas generales,
Today there was a national, general strike all over Spain. 29M (29th of March) had been spray-painted and advertized everywhere for weeks. So today many people didn't go to work. Not only didn't they go to work, but some picketed, preventing or harassing others from going to work. There were also organized protests, mobs of indignados lining the streets with flags and posters.Because it's very late and tomorrow I'm waking up early for my gran viaje, I'm not going to even attempt to act like I know the details of the strike. From what I understand the bigger corporations were striking, while most small businesses tried to stay open. I stayed home, with permission from my jefa, simply to avoid any trouble. According to a friend, picketers were lined up at the university entrance this morning interrogating drivers of stopped cars why they were going to work. I didn't want to risk anything being on a conspicuous foreigner on my bicycle.
But I did venture out for a bit in the afternoon to do a private class. In my neighborhood, there was no trouble. However the crowds were gathered in the downtown area, where I had to go to get to my class. Before I headed out, the mother of my private class had to call and tell me how to re-route my bike-ride to her house in order to avoid this on Gran Via...
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| You can't really tell but the (main) street is completely full of protesters |
More coverage from the local news:
There were people, however, against the strike, claiming that it would only hurt the economy rather than help it. They handed out pamphlets like the following:
Normally Murcia is pretty tame in comparison with the rest of Spain. How about you guiris in other areas? What was the huelga general like?
My advice to a guiri: Avoid city centers during huelgas generales,
1 comment:
Hi Ashley!
I think it will be interesting to see what the repercussions of the strike are. Over in the Facultad de Letras, we didn't have classes, but we did have the fiestas de letras, which was picketed as well. I don't imagine too many students boycotted the fiestas, however. Que tengas un muy buen viaje!
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