Huelga General!

(in English - general strike!)

"We are on strike. Sorry for the inconvenience."

What would it take for you to participate in a nationwide strike? This is the question I pondered yesterday as many Spaniards nationwide took to the streets to protest new labor reform legislation.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from the strike. Having seen some pretty effective striking in the past (harkening back to France, summer of 2003) let's just say that I believe citizens of certain European nations could teach Americans a thing or two about the intersection of passion and the law. Walking downtown (limited metro service), my first impression was that the trash definitely hadn't been picked up from the night before. Add to that the various union flyers and pamphlets and you have quite a cluttered mess on the streets. Then there was the spray paint.

Lord help you if your business enterprise could in any way be considered an evil capitalist venture. Hilfiger, Starbucks, Swarovski and practically all of the banks got tagged pretty badly. The ATMs were so covered in red paint that one guy was squinting and scratching at the screen as he was trying to withdraw money. This was certainly not what I was expecting.

In Sol (the center of the city), protesters were confronting workers in shops that had chosen to stay open and hassling the workers inside. I can appreciate the frustration of the protesters - Spain is still smack dab in the middle of a terrible economic crisis and there aren't really any good signs that it's going to end anytime soon. Feeling like even the government of your own country is at times against its people is very frustrating, I'm sure.

Here's how it happened at this store:

Step 1: Amass group of protesters, start heckling workers within store, provoke an adverse reaction

Step 1: Disrupt and provoke

Step 2: Cause enough of a skirmish to force the police to intervene. 

Step 2: Police intervention

 Step 3: Force police to erect a human barricade between protesters and shop (workers, merchandise, shoppers, etc). Begin heckling police and create strike chants about the police ("Menos policia, mas educacion!" (less police, more education)).

Step 3: Human shield

Even with the somewhat intimidating vibe in Sol, it's still amazing to think that a generation ago, protests of this kind would have been illegal here under Franco rule. It's also crazy to think that the protections that are being taken away with the new law most likely don't exist (and probably haven't for decades) in the U.S.  

Huelga sign in Sol

Protesters, heavy police presence in the streets