The camping for housing in Alicante maintains this Monday its decision to continue "indefinitely" despite the advance of the general elections to November 29. The movement insists on its purpose of demanding from public administrations "a real solution to the problem" arising from the housing crisis.
The spokesperson for the Sindicat de Vivenda Carolines, Carlos Pastor, has explained to Europa Press that "our goal is to continue heating up the streets until the general strike." The protest, which has already reached its third day, remains set up in the plaza de La Montañeta, in front of the Government Subdelegation, where it is taking place "with feet somewhat more grounded, better organizing the logistics."
According to Pastor, "more and more people are coming to collaborate and participate." At the moment, "we are about 120 people who are staying here in about 70 tents more or less," he indicated, and added that cultural activities, workshops, and assemblies open to all Alicante citizens have been scheduled.
In the context of this camping and the mobilizations in defense of the right to housing, the spokesperson pointed out that "more synergies are emerging with other groups in Alicante, but also with national groups like labor unions," with the intention of "continuing to heat up the streets until the general strike."
Pastor emphasized that "no one is going to see an eviction with the same normality as it was seen before the eviction of Maricarmen" and that "everyone knows how dramatic it is for a person to have to go through that, wherever they come from, however it is, and now we have to win the institutional battle."
Pressure on institutions and criticism of housing measures
In this line, the spokesperson defended the need to "pressure institutions to provide a real solution to the housing problem." In his opinion, the electoral advance "does not imply any change" in the movement's strategy and considers that the housing decrees approved by the Government "are an insufficient" and "palliative" measure.
"It does not solve the problem. What we want from the unions and what we ask for are indefinite rentals, a reduction of rental prices to 30 percent of the minimum interprofessional wage, the expropriation of apartments in the hands of vulture funds and, of course, a public housing park and a public housing institution that truly manages and redistributes the housing resources of the territories of the country," he emphasized.
At the beginning of the third night of camping, Pastor assured that they perceive "a very powerful popular support." In his view, "there is a social consensus that this problem is a priority that must be solved, but not through decrees that go to the minimums, but through solutions that will tackle the problem at its roots."
"Now our goal is to add popular majorities with many collectives. We are going to make alliances to have enough strength so that the institutions have no choice but to pay attention to the housing problem and that it has a high electoral cost," he added.
In this sense, he warned that "therefore, we are going to continue with the camping or with any political strategy that benefits our objectives and, therefore, the street has spoken and the street will continue to speak until housing is universal and free for everyone in Spain."
Evictions in progress and new cases in Alicante
Regarding the current situation, Pastor emphasized that "despite the fact that there have been victories at the discursive level, evictions continue, the barbarity continues," since "many people are being expelled from their homes."
He recalled that the eviction of a 95-year-old man in Benidorm scheduled for this Monday has been postponed for a month. However, he warned that other proceedings continue, such as the one scheduled for this Thursday, when "an attempt will be made to evict a woman with her three minor children" in the Colonia Requena area, in the city of Alicante.
In this scenario, he guaranteed that "the unions will be there supporting and accompanying, as always, to try to stop this barbarity, but this is not over, we must continue and we must put an end once and for all to these evictions that are causing a drama in the country," Pastor concluded.