FOR TWO WEEKS, MUNICIPALITIES IN THE REGION HAVE BEEN VIRTUALLY LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES BY PUBLIC AUTHORITIES, AS MUCH OF THE POPULATION TURNS TO MUTUAL AID NETWORKS TO FIND SURVIVORS AND PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT ~ Sonia Muñoz Llort ~ From Thursday and through the weekend, numerous demonstrations have taken place throughout the district of Valencia and in wider Catalonia, demanding the resignation of regional governor Carlos Mazón and showing support for the victims of the flooding disaster. According to recent reports, the storm left 223 dead and 89 are still missing. Some of the demonstrations were organised by leftist political parties, others by the trade union coalition. On Saturday evening, a police cordon blocked an anti-capitalist procession and provoked the crowd gathered in front of the town hall in Valencia, where clashes broke out. It is now well known that the tragic flooding was initially caused by an isolated depression in high levels of the atmosphere (known in Spanish as “Dana”), clearly exacerbated by the climate changes. Yet it was the political and corporate response which left people unprotected. Here responsibility lies with Mazón, who had dismantled the regional emergency response unit, and on the day of the storm played down the severity of the weather warnings. It also lies with the business owners who forced the workers to stay in their workplaces, ignoring the few alarms that were issued to the population. Clashes in Valencia, 9 November. Screen capture from Contre-Attaque Earlier, on Sunday 3 November, the King and Queen of Spain who visited the affected area together with Mazón, were met by crowds who threw mud and objects at them and called out “murderers”. On the legal front, on Tuesday the CGT presented a letter to the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Valencia accusing the governor of not having adopted measures to prevent the death or disappearance of so many people. For two weeks, municipalities around Valencia have been virtually left to their own devices by the public authorities. Much of the population turned to mutual aid networks such as Xarxa de Suport Mutu DANA València, which formed to finding missing people and to bring various forms of support to those affected by the flood. “We are talking about initiatives that have emerged now in response to this need, but that have been years of work behind them”, said Barcelona anarchist assembly Heura Negra in a communique, “These are local houses, workshops, and self-managed centres, feminist assemblies and neighbourhood networks, class unions and housing unions, whose daily work guarantees community structures that, in times like these, become more necessary than ever”. The post Demonstrators demand justice after Valencia floods appeared first on Freedom News.

IKEA TRAPPED ITS WORKERS INSIDE WAREHOUSES WHILE UBER EATS AND GLOVO FORCED COURIERS TO MAKE USUAL DELIVERIES ~ Emilia Aiguader ~ The city of Valencia was today dealing with the consequences of a devastating flood. Overnight, this “once in a century” storm laid waste to one of Spain’s most vibrant communities. Throughout the city and its surroundings, streets once bustling with people are now filled with brown, muddy waters and piles of destroyed cars. At the time of writing, more than 70 people have been confirmed dead, countless more are still missing and 155,000 people have been left without electricity. As climate change takes effect, Spain and Portugal have endured historically hot, dry summers and heavy autumn storms in past years. Yes perhaps the single most directly culpable person is Carlos Mazón, the president of the right-wing government of Valencia. When Mazón took office last year, one of his first moves was to shut down the Valencian Emergencies Unit, which had been established to provide a rapid response to natural disasters. Yesterday, as meteorological institutes issued a red warning, Mazón downplayed the risk and falsely claimed the storm was diminishing. Then, while entire towns went underwater and people began to lose their lives, he stalled for several hours before finally issuing a warning for citizens to seek safety. Unions have highlighted how companies risked workers lives during the flood. Ikea trapped its workers inside their warehouses as the waters rose all around them. Uber Eats and Glovo forced couriers to make their usual delivery routes and face torrential downpours with only bicycles and scooters. And Mercadona, the largest supermarket chain in the Valencian country, coerced its delivery drivers to drive head-on into the rapids, where they had to be rescued by emergency responders. Firefighters, healthcare workers and other emergency responders are working tirelessly to save lives. Mutual aid networks are rushing to provide food, clothing and shelter to those who have been left without it. And trade unions, including the anarcho-syndicalists of the CNT and CGT, are organising to fight for the workers whose lives have been endangered by corporate greed. Even in dark times, the bright light of solidarity is breaking through. The post Valencia floods: 70+ dead, unions say firms risked workers’ lives appeared first on Freedom News.

A DAILY PROGRAM TURNED THE SQUARE INTO A SPACE FOR COMMUNITY LIFE, POLITICAL ACTION, TRAINING AND MEETING ~ Ainhoa Lleida, Directa ~ The rain does not prevent the fourth night of the protest camp for housing and against tourism in Valencia from going ahead. The evening before our phone starts to ring. Waiting on the other side of the line is Natxo, a student of political science, who in a few seconds greets us from a place where he had managed to take refuge from the rain. He talks about the open appeal and appreciates the solidarity on the part of the people who have brought material to take refuge from the water that was planned to stay for a while. They have been camping since the demonstration that took place on Saturday, October 19th, and which gathered around 50,000 people according to the organisation. “Luckily, it started to rain while it was still daylight,” recounts one of the people present. This allowed five new tents to be set up in a short time, the ones that were already there would be covered with plastic, and the night would be weathered. The centre of the square can be seen from Carrer Correus, where there are some police vans. The officers go from one place to another in the square, monitoring it throughout the day. The police cars do not obstruct the view. Before arriving at the square, you can see a large, colourful sign that reads: “We have no shelter. For the right to housing”. It is a white canvas that rests on two tents. As you move towards the centre of the square, more banners begin to appear in several rows of shops grouped in circles: “Valencia is not for sale”, “More neighbourhood, less tourism” or “The city for those who live in it”. It’s been five years since the motto “if we don’t have a house, we’ll occupy the square” became a reality that goes beyond a symbolic statement. “The town hall square is historically the place where we are represented by all the residents of the city, where we can continue to defend the demands we had at the demonstration”, remarks Natxo. Bru is another of the people who has been participating in the camping. For her it is important that “the struggle continues with other types of actions, such as occupying public space”. The reasons for continuing camping remain: for the right to housing and against tourism. “In the end we are fighting for a decent home, which is a universal basic right, many people are being harmed and it is an issue that crosses us in an intergenerational way”, says Bru. ACCESS TO DECENT HOUSING Bru is a non-binary trans person. They have been living independently for ten years and during this time they has only been able to reside under occupation. When they have shared a flat, it has always been very precarious due to the high price of rent. As they explain, “it seems that you can only find decent housing if you occupy, are a rich person or your family owns property”, which they consider unfair. Demonstrators fill the Serrans bridge upon their arrival at the demonstration As a trans person, they have had to face a whole series of prejudices that have to do with their way of dressing or their physical appearance, and which have been conditioning at the same time whether or not they were interviewed to rent an apartment. “There are trans people who have a very bad time in terms of housing, who don’t have a house to live in and that access to one is often complicated, and it needs to be made visible”, they conclude. Karina, another of the attendees at the camp, also denounces the real estate racism she has to face in order to access housing. “My skin colour, my accent, limit my access”, he regrets. In addition, she has not always been able to meet the requirements they ask her to rent, such as more than two payslips or a fixed work contract. In this sense, she says that “the majority of migrants have very precarious and unstable jobs, or jobs in the underground economy”. THE SQUARE, CENTRE OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY A daily program constitutes the flow of the days and turns the square into a space for community life, political action, training and meeting. All of the city’s political activity has been moved to the square: neighbourhood assemblies, group rehearsals, climate conferences, and even a small library has been set up on loan from the bookstore Arribada Llibres. Antònia gathered on the first day of camping and from that day she is in charge, together with Benji, of preparing with all the ingredients left by the people who come, what the people who want to eat there will eat. At 2.00 p.m. every day is marked for the popular lunch. The menu is varied, almost always vegan, and the table is an internal assembly to discuss the points that will be discussed hours later in the open. The camped people look with some suspicion on the political representatives. They have very specific demands in terms of housing, territory or tourism. For example, the regulation of the price of rent, the halting of all evictions, the creation of a decent public housing stock, the halting of the expansion of the port and of all urban planning projects in the city. A ban on granting more tourist licenses for apartments and hotels or declaring Valencia a tense area is also demanded. So far, the institutional response to the demands has been practically non-existant. The mayor of Valencia, Maria José Català, has only announced that she will not evict the camper as long as “it does not cause any problems”. Likewise, she called for a “great agreement between the administrations” and pointed out that “the best recipe for people to have a home is to build housing”. But, from the movement in defence of housing, they do not consider that more houses should be built, “the protection of the territory is very important and it cannot be that there are thousands of empty flats and so many people on the streets”, they express in a statement. Assembly in the town hall square The camping continued until Sunday 27th of October. But, even though the protest in the square has ended, this will not mean the end of the movement for housing: “we have been working for years and we are going beyond this encampment”, they say. That is why there has been a call to follow the mobilisation in every neighbourhood of the city and to set up assemblies where they are not yet organised. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: Raquel Fontanal The post Plaça de Valencia occupation for decent housing appeared first on Freedom News.