SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday September 29 2010 TENS of thousands of Canarians joined Wednesday's national general strike with mass demonstrations in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. by James Tweedie More than 10,000 workers and pensioners marched through Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz in protest at public-sector wage cuts and an occupational pensions freeze, plans to raise the retirement age to 67 and the new labour reform law which allows employers to lay off staff more easily and cheaply. The main demonstration was organised jointly by the CCOO and UGT, Spain's two biggest trade unions, although the anarchist CNT and regional INSUCAN unions, United Left (IU) party and Assembly For Tenerife campaigning coalition were present in numbers. One supermarket on the march route that had remained open closed its doors in response to chants of “come on, come on, let's close it down!” from protesters. A few hundred also attended an early static protest in Plaza Weyler, while the C...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Thursday September 23 2010 Activists launched a petition against the government's new labour reform act in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz on Thursday. By James Tweedie Campaigners gathered in front of the famous Flower Clock in García Sanabria park for the press conference to launch the Citizen's Manifesto, backed by a wide range of trade unions, residents' associations and the United Left party. A hand-painted banner read: “No To The Labour Reform – General Strike!” Spain's Socialist Party government faces a national general strike over the legislation on Wednesday September 29, coinciding with similar actions against EU-imposed austerity measures in other European countries. The labour reform law, passed by parliament on September 9, makes it easier for employers to make staff redundant or to sack them for absenteeism. Under the legislation statutory redundancy pay has been reduced from 45 days' wages per year of service to 33 days, or...

Agresión, Oi! Se Arma, Veneno Crew, Alea Jacta VII Jornadas Antiracistas, Sala La Perla, La Laguna, Saturday September 11 2010 by James Tweedie Tonight is about as eclectic as can be. About 200 assorted Punks, Metalheads, Hip-Hoppers and Skinheads (not of the neo-Nazi variety) are rubbing shoulders within the Aztec temple décor of the 'Pearl Room', a club inside a pirate-themed restaurant inside a shopping centre next to one of Tenerife's two motorways. The occasion is the 7 th Anti-Racist Day, organised by the Frente Blanquiazul (Blue-and-White Front), an anti-fascist organisation centred around the island's Club Deportivo Tenerife football team which celebrates its 20 th anniversary this year. Tonight's concert follows a football tournament and lunch earlier in the day. As the banner along one wall reads: “The terraces unite, racism divides.” Although varied in musical taste, the crowd is 99 per cent white. Still, you want the ethnic majority on your side again...