Did you hear the pig’s screams? They were on their way to the slaughterhouse when storm system Dana happened, forced to stay in the truck, in the middle of the flooded road, for hours, in these conditions, before getting their necks sliced (half of them died before getting there). Even in this extreme context, the death machine didn’t stop for them. Or the workers.
After the tragic events that took place in Valencia, which Roser Gari Perez wrote about in her 4th of November article, the storm moved to the south of Spain, on November 13th, reaching Málaga, resulting, once again, in very serious risks for workers who were forced back to work in factories, supermarkets and train stations. The president and potential criminal of one of the main supermarket chains (Mercadona) decided once more not to close the stores despite the red alert announced in Malaga by the local authorities, and 2 weeks after directly harming his workers in Valencia. The workers from the public transport company Renfe, were also held back in their workplaces until 5pm, when stations where already closed and flooded, and the city practically collapsed, leaving them helpless and unable to reach their homes. Other big companies operated the same way, not allowing workers to leave or forcing them to move with their cars and trucks through the floods.
Paradoxically (or maybe not) the mayor of Malaga, from the conservative right-wing party (Partido Popular) announced that same day in the morning, that there was “no problem” and “no heavy rains happening”, and that he saw no reason to activate the emergency alert – statements that were contradicted by the streets full of water, the closed shops and the incidents reported by different emergency institutions. Hours after these words, the Malaga City Council had to fully activate the Municipal Emergency Plan, which had already been partially activated since the previous Tuesday. Let that sink in.
Regarding Dana in Valencia: another consequence of the political ineffectiveness and hate politics of right-wing and far-right governments, as in the case of Vox, has been the instrumentalization of racist campaigns in the midst of disaster. We know that fascism uses crisis contexts to spread its ideas, and in this case, Vox created an online fake news flow accusing the (already right-wing conservative populist racist government) of prioritizing aid to immigrants over support for those affected. Not only that, but they also spread digusting lies about migrants looting and robbing stores and supermarkets. Turns out, as seen in many videos, that the migrant community was unconditionally involved from the very first moment, in organising food, resources, rescue and cleaning teams, as in the case of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Alzira, which not only contributed in the forementioned tasks, but also housed a dozen volunteers and people who had lost their homes, allowing them to spend the night in the mosque. As Rashid Garbhi, the imam of the Centre stated “we are involved in everything that has happened. We have no choice, it is our duty to help our brothers. We are part of the social network and we have to share the emotions and also the material and the spaces; we have to help in whatever way we can. We are all a family, we are part of this society and what happens here happens to us”.
How the Spanish central government is facing this whole situation is a critical question. One the one hand, its general lack of interest in stopping the development of intensive farming practices that are directly responsible for flooding, is politically motivated. The distribution of subsidies under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy favours large agribusiness while side-lining small-scale, traditional agriculture which operates with more sustainable methods, which mirrors, once again, how the State and big corporations are destroying working class lives from the core of the system. Julia Martínez Fernández, PhD in Biology and technical director of the New Water Culture Foundation states “…until recently, traditional agriculture included practices aimed to protect soil and water, such as plant covers, crop rotations, terrace cultivations and management of natural barriers.” She argues that it is frustrating to see how the popular viewpoint still portrays current farming practices as local, small and sustainable, when the reality is the complete opposite: it is large companies that dominate the sector and promote intensification. Martínez Fernández concludes “We need to rethink the model. There are many hidden costs that all citizens pay. Administrations cannot continue to look the other way”.
And speaking of looking away, another urgent matter that Pedro Sánchez and his big business friends are openly lying about is weapon exports to Israel. Last week, Sánchez made the following statement: “Since October 7 (2023), Spain has not exported any type of weapons or military equipment to Israel (…). I believe that it is urgent that, in light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, the International Community stops exporting arms to the Government of Israel”. It is not the first time that he instrumentalises the Palestinian cause to avoid losing votes and demobilise the Palestine solidarity movement, as the material reality of Spanish weapon trade with Israel does not reflect his words. A report of the Delàs Centre for Peace Studies entitled “Bu$in€ss as usual. Analysis of the Spanish arms trade in 2022-23 and arguments for an arms embargo on Israel”, published in July of this year, states that after October 7th, 2023 military exports to Israel have continued ranking Spain as the EU country with the 5th largest exports of weapons and munition to Israel after October 7th (with 1.1 million euros), and continues to do until today, with the complicity of a genocidal president who lies to the majority of the population who are against the illegal occupation of Palestine and genocide of the Palestinians.
In times of crisis, the interests of the ruling class become clear: profit over people, and empty rhetoric over change. The exploitation of workers during natural disasters, and the cruelty inflicted on humans and non-humans, are reminders of a system that dehumanizes the working class for the benefit of the few. Spanish political leaders, like Pedro Sánchez, publicly denounce violence while the country’s arms industry continues to profit from the blood of the people in Palestine, Western Sahara, Kurdistan, and Valencia, and all the countries that suffer the systemic violence of imperialism by the Spanish weapon industry. Such hypocrisy just proves the deep ties between government and corporate and imperial interests, teaching us that solidarity must go beyond identity politics and focus on the material conditions that exploit us all. We need a united front that rejects exploitation, imperialism, and the destruction of working-class lives both at home and abroad, and standing together against a system that prioritizes profit over everything else.
