Tens Of Thousands Join General Strike

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 Canarian separatist IC and anarcho-syndicalist CGT held separate demonstrations that evening.

IU member Eparquio Delgado said that he was “very glad” that the turnout for the strike had far exceeded his expectations, despite media rumours that participation would be low.

He said: “This is the biggest demonstration for labour rights I have ever seen in the Canaries.”

Public transport was the sector most affected by the strike, with only 40 per cent of scheduled services running.

A language teacher from Santa Cruz said that ordinary people were “very concerned” about wage cuts and the threat of redundancy.

The recently-passed Labour Reform Law reduces statutory redundancy pay and allows employers to lay off workers if they take two weeks' sick leave in any two-month period.

Unemployment in Spain is already running at 20 per cent – about four million people – and at a crippling 30 per cent in the underdeveloped Canary Islands.

Rents and house prices have tumbled in the archipelago as young people move back to their parents' homes.

Spain's Socialist Party government introduced the measures in response to European Union (EU) demands for budget-slashing austerity measures in return for financial assistance during the global recession.

The EU is seeking powers to overrule democratically elected national governments when it comes to setting budgets, by requiring them to deposit billions of taxpayer's money in a central fund under the control of the EU Commission in Brussels.

A commission spokesman said: “What we want is a system that's more rules-based and has less room for political discretion.”

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned the opposition and their foreign backers for their silence over Tuesday’s helicopter attack on the capital. At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.” “Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.” And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.” The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits. And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo ...

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm ...

Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

Socialists and conservatives unite to defeat CC plan for Las Teresitas beach Protesters outside the town hall SAN ANDREAS residents are celebrating victory after Santa Cruz council voted to deny permission for a controversial development on Las Teresitas beach. by James Tweedie The Association of Friends of Anaga, Las Teresitas and its Coast (Asociacion de Amigos de la Playa de las Teresitas, Anaga y su Litoral), which includes a number of ex-patriots, mounted a demonstration outside Santa Cruz town hall on Friday September 18 to urge opposition councillors to “keep their word” and support a Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC) motion against the mammoth development. Some wore long paper ‘noses’ and chanted “concejal Pinocho” – councillor Pinocchio – to express their distrust of local politicians. A coalition of small businesses in Anaga, the Friends of the Port group and environmentalists Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Accion also supported the campaign against the scheme...

Venezuelan opposition declares "Zero Hour" for regime change

Venezuela’s opposition declared “Zero Hour” in its putsch against the socialist government on Monday — emboldened by US support. Leaders of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition gathered for the announcement of their takeover plan a day after their unauthorised referendum seeking a mandate for regime change. National Assembly vice-president and Popular Will (VP) acting leader Freddy Guevara said the Mud-controlled parliament would announce the results of the plebiscite on Tuesday. It asked voters to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s calling of a constitutional reform assembly demand the army support the opposition and back a “national unity government.” But before the announcement of the result Mr Guevara said the national Assembly would form a new government on Tuesday — a move beyond its constitutional powers — along with 1,020 local “Zero Hour committees.” He called a “national general strike” for Thursday while on Friday the assembly would again exceed its powe...

Search This Blog