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Support the Spanish miners' strike
Granville Williams
DATELINE: 11/7/12
At the end of May miners in Asturias, the mountainous region in north-west Spain went on indefinite strike. 14 men have now spent more than forty days and nights 3,000 feet underground in the Candin shaft near the small town of Langreo. These miners have voluntarily locked themselves in the depth of the mine to protest against the massive 63% cut in subsidies to the sector which the Spanish government, under the conservative Mariano Rajoy, imposed as part of a wave of austerity measures.
'A Plan for Coal', agreed with the previous government, for a ten percent reduction in subsidies was torn up. The previous agreement was part of a deal with the European Union which decided in 2010 that member states could not continue subsidising coal mines beyond 2018. Only self-sufficient companies would be able to continue operating after that.
"All we are demanding is for the government to respect what was agreed on, approved by the EU, and signed by all the parties affected," said Manuel Robles, Union General de Trabajadores representative of the Candin shaft. He says miners would accept some cuts but not something "so radical."
The cuts will mean many of the mining communities between Asturias and Castile and Leon will be wiped out. 8,000 miners will lose their jobs and a further 30,000 jobs will be affected indirectly.
The miners are fighting for their jobs on a number of other fronts. Since the end of June, about 200 men and their supporters have been marching the 280 miles that separate their mines from the capital Madrid. Dressed in helmets and overalls, they have received a tremendous welcome as they pass through towns and villages en route.
"People are inspired by us because they realise this is not only for the mining sector," said Jose Manuel Alves, one of the marchers. "They identify and realise that they should be doing the same, that they should have our strength and determination."
Thousands of miners arriving from all corners of Spain joined the marchers on 11 July in Madrid on their way to the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry.
Other responses by the miners to the government's attacks included a general strike across several mining counties on Monday 18 June and a constant form of guerilla action blockading motorways with burning tyres and setting up ad hoc barricades on transport networks.
The government's attitude to the miners had been provocative, refusing to negotiate. The Guardia Civil has been deployed, using rubber bullets and tear gas. For those familiar with the way the police behaved in mining villages in Yorkshire and the North East during the 1984-85 miners' strike, video footage of the Guardia Civil in action in the Spanish mining communities will evoke powerful memories of the police as an occupying force.
Media coverage of the strike in the mainstream media in Spain and elsewhere (when it occurs) also reminds us of the same partial, selective and hostile media coverage the miners were subjected to in the UK.
The strike has the support of the two major Spanish union federations – the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and the Union General de Trabajadores (UGT). In the UK the Spanish Miners' Solidarity Committee has been set up to support the struggle. You can send cheques made out to Spanish Miners' Solidarity Committee to: John Cunningham (SMSC) 136 Regent Court, Bradfield Road, Sheffield S6 2BW, South Yorkshire. The SMSC will also have a stall at the Durham Miners' Gala for information and to collect money on Saturday 14 July.
You can also donate directly to the Solidarity fund by bank transfer:
SMSC
Co-op Bank
Sort Code: 08-92-99
Account Number: 65568150Granville Williams edited Shafted: The Media, the Miners' Strike and the Aftermath. The book is available from the CPBF
Last modified: Wednesday, July 11, 2012
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Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
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