The day of action called by the Sindicato de Estudiantes (Spanish School Student’s Union) on February 13, which involved school strikes and demonstrations was a resounding success, in spite of the total silence on the part of the press. There was a massive turnout with 90% of the secondary school students supporting the strike. These antiwar demonstrations made a big splash all across Spain. We organised more than 50 demonstrations. The most significant were Madrid with 20,000 demonstrating, Valencia with 15,000, Barcelona 10,000, Seville with more than 6,000, Majorca 3,000, Santiago de Compostela 1,500 and Guadalajara and Huelva with more than 1,200. The total number of student taking part was more than 150,000.
The SINTEL workers came to the Madrid demonstration and brought their greetings to the demonstrators in spite of the police attempting to stop them from speaking. (An exemplary struggle where the workers set up tents on a central avenue of Madrid, the result of which was an agreement which neither the trade union leaders or the government have abided by. As a result the workers have taken up the fight once more but the government has banned them from demonstrating.)
The actor Juan Diego Botto, also spoke in the name of the Culture Against the War group, who were there collecting signatures against the war at the Puerta del Sol (in the centre of Madrid). (The actors have been one of the groups most involved in the antiwar movement. They transformed the Goya award ceremony (the Spanish equivalent of the Oscar award) into an antiwar rally, to the annoyance of the PP ministers who attended the event).
There was also a speaker from the SOC (The agricultural labourers’ union, which has played an important role in the struggles of the Andalucian agricultural labourers.) and one from the Marxist journal, El Militante. There were also representatives of IU (Izquierda Unida – the United Left) led by Gaspar Llamazares, the general coordinator of IU.
Today, however, the mobilisation did not take place solely in Spain. In Mexico the students were called by the CEDEP to organise a protest outside the US Embassy. In France, in Marseilles and Toulouse, the comrades of La Riposte organised a day of action with demonstrations. In the Lebanon a student general strike and demonstrations were called against the war. In the United States meetings were held in university campuses to commemorate the anniversary of one of the massacres that took place during the previous Gulf War.
Mobilisation against the war is to continue
After this successful day, the next step in mobilising against the war will be the massive demonstrations that are being organised for Saturday, February 15. These will take place all over the world and will undoubtedly be massive. Today’s mobilisation added to the build up of opposition to the war. Together with other sections of society, such as the actors, the students have made it clear that we are part of that 90% of the Spanish population who oppose this war for oil. The students are going to participate in huge numbers on Saturday’s demonstration together with the whole of the working class.
But the struggle must continue after February 15. On March 5, the students in the USA and Canada are calling a student general strike. After the international appeal against the war which we recently published, the Sindicato de Estudiantes has built links with student organisations on all five continents. That is why we are calling for an INTERNATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE of students for March 5. We are making an appeal to all left organisations to support this call. Here in Spain we are going to organise a general strike in the high schools and universities with demonstrations in all the cities.
Furthermore, we are preparing for the day in which this unfortunate war will begin. We will call strikes in all the schools and colleges with demonstrations in all the cities of Spain. The Madrid demonstration will start at 12 noon at Puerta del Sol.
In order to prepare for these new strikes, we are building Antiwar Committees in the schools and colleges to bring together all the more militant students who wish to express their firm opposition to the war. These Committees are organising public meetings, putting up banners in front of the schools, spreading the mobilisation and getting the teachers and parents to also take part.
The government is isolated
Only the PP, as a loyal lackey of US imperialism, is in favour of the coming butchery. But they are completely alone. The slogan of the Sindicato de Estudiantes remains: "NOT A SOLDIER, NOT A EURO, NOT A BULLET FOR THIS WAR". The PP and its spokespersons are attempting to use terrorism to justify the war. Of course, we completely reject acts of terrorism. However, it is absolutely clear to everyone that the right wing are exploiting terrorism to their own ends. That explains why the most widely used slogan on the demonstrations is "This war is also terrorism". In spite of the total media silence (for example, not one TV station covered the Madrid demonstration), the February 13 mobilisations have left one thing absolutely clear. There is massive opposition of the students and youth of Spain to this new imperialist adventure which they are preparing with the sole aim of plundering the oil resources of Iraq.
No Blood for Oil!
Books, not bombs!
This war will be paid with money that should go to the schools!