Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Bilbao this afternoon “against speculation and for the right to housing,” in a mobilization promoted by the Basque housing unions.
The demonstration has been opened with a large banner that read “Etxebizitza eskubidea bermatzeko espekulazioari ez!” (To guarantee the right to housing. No to speculation!), and it got under way just after six in the afternoon from Plaza Elíptica. After circling the square itself, the march advanced along Gran Vía, which offered an unusual sight, with virtually no shops open due to the general strike.
In this context, several establishments had protected their shop windows with wooden planks to prevent possible damage like that recorded in previous callouts. On many facades, stickers and graffiti in support of the general strike day could also be seen.
From the housing unions, they stressed that, on this day of stoppage, “work centers have been emptied” and the streets of Euskadi and Navarra have been filled, with a mobilization in defense of a guaranteed right to housing “for everyone and for the entire working class.”
“We consider that the morning part has been a success; several tens of thousands have gathered both in Bilbao and in the rest of the capitals of the south of Euskal Herria, and now in the afternoon it is the turn of the towns and the eskualdes. All this crowd has come together not around an abstract demand for the right to housing, but around three very specific demands,” the organizers noted.
As they detailed, their demands focus on putting an end to real-estate speculation, proceeding with the expropriation of the speculators, and organizing access to housing according to the needs of the working class.
The unions also took advantage of the strike day to denounce the “direct responsibility” of the Basque institutions, pointing to both city councils and the Basque and Navarrese governments in the current situation of the housing market.
After describing the strike “as a success,” they clarified that “real success” will only be possible through consolidating militant organization and continuing the dynamics opened in the assemblies, strike committees, housing unions, and the rest of the structures of the popular movement. “We will continue in the struggle, and that this strike not be an end in itself, but one more step,” they emphasized.
The march has received the support of numerous social agents and groups, who have displayed their symbols and flags, among them the LAB union, Palestinian banners, the Pensioners’ Movement of Euskal Herria, Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak, the feminist movement, and various LGTBI+ groups.
The demonstration, which concluded in front of the Bilbao City Hall and has been accompanied at all times by patrols of the Ertzaintza and the local Police, has been marked by slogans against speculation and capitalism, and in defense of housing “for all,” of class struggle and workers’ organization. Similar protest actions have also been carried out in other capitals and towns in the Basque Country.