1 May 2008. In the early evening, a festive Euromayday Parade took the streets of Catalan city of Terrassa in the metropolitan perifery of Barcelona. Its demands for social rights were highlighted by several actions in specific places in town. The parade was lead by a truck, where Chikiprecario and Supervivienda from the viral housing campaign V de Vivienda) entertained the crowd with choreographies, supported by a hip hop crew. Euromayday Terrassa is a node in the EuroMayDay Network, where precarized people in many cities are cooperating to create a political expression against "precarityof work and live".
chickiprecario video | report & pics [es] | chainworkers interview
Santa Precaria appears at Terrassa Mayday 08
In the early evening of Mayday afternoon, a festive Euromayday Parade moved through the Catalan city of Terrassa, claiming social rights: dignified housing and a right to the city; regularisation and rights for migrants, digified work and pay, free culture and copyleft. The parade was lead by a truck with a soundsystem, decorated with posters and slogans. From the back of the truck, Supervivienda (from V de Vivienda) and Chikiprecario (dressed in tasteful 70s style) entertained the crowd with choreographies to the famous chickiprecario song, supported by several hip hop artists. A second truck with circus performers marked the end of the parade.
To connect the mayday demands to the social geography of the city, the parade stopped in several places. The parade started at five at the Renfe Train Station, which connects Terrassa to the metropolitatan City of Barcelona. Terrassa, I heard, although not a metropolis itself, is part of the metropolitan periphery of Barcelona. It has 200000 inhabitants - that's the legal ones, I am told, nobody can count the non-documented. The parade denounced the arbitrary detentions frequently carried out by the police at the station.
At the Teatro Principal, a banner was put up demanding free culture ("Espais buits? Els volem gestionar. Per una cultural llivre" - "Empty spaces? We want to manage them. For a free culture"). Activists tell me that this famous 1920s Theatre building was bought by the local council, only to be left to rot away for five years. Why wasn't it used for free culture, when spaces for artists and creative people are missing?
A 20 meter long banner was dropped from a tall industrial chimney, part of a derelict 19th century factory, saying "Euromayday 2008 - l@s precari@s se rebelan" (the precarious are rebelling).
At the employees organisation, a paper wall was put up. The Parade peaked when it reached the cathedral. The music changed to some very sacred religious choir music. In the glistening evening sun, Santa Precaria appeared. Everybody sat down to listen to her words. She offered protection to all precarious, and denounced the official churches discrimination of homosexuality. She granted to her devoted believers housing, papers and sexual diversity and finished by giving a blessing to Supervivienda and Chikiprecario.
The last stop was at the Placa Nuevo, the New Square, a public urban space. But nowadays, all you can do there is consume - eat, drink and shop. No benches, no playthings, no green. This kind of privatisation is putting people's right to the commons of the city in question. Chickiprecario performed an interactive quiz about copyleft, the commons of knowledge and the right to access to the commons.
After four hours, the parade ended in the Val Paradiso, a large new park, with food, drink and a concert, where Black Badelieur (Hip-Hop Marsella) and Metzuca (Barcelona) played until midnight, accompanied by performances of breakdancers from Hip Hop Drum.
At it's peak, the parade had well over 1000, up to 1500 participants. Many of them migrants, mainly from Senegal and Marocco, students who can't afford to move out from their parents houses because the rents are too expensive, office workers who are worried to loose their jobs after many years, many young people who work in the service industries, social work, media or culture sector. The slogans "Ninguna es ilegal" and "Papeles para tod@s" were shouted throughout the demo, as well as "que pasa, que pasa, que no tenemos casa". Several bands provided a soundtrack; from Hip Hop to "get up - stand up" / precarity version, from a Samba Band to a New Orleans Style Brass Band group.
Some of the songs and audio material can be downloaded from the Terrassa Mayday Website.
Many people had stuck bright orange stars with slogans on their bodies, faces, clothes. Many were wearing special Mayday T-Shirts in bright colors. Additional spark was added by a large silver CD - copyleft - that was carried along. Copyleft, free culture, free software seems to be a focus in Terrassa - they even had a visit from Richard Stallmann.
Terrassa has a florishing social center, the Ateneu Candela. It has grown in the past seven years, through, as the website says, "the desire, the imagination and the passion of people from different movements and social initiatives". The Terrassa Euromayday Parade emerged from this diverse assortment of people, activities and movements.
The place is legal, and has managed to negotiate some financial support from the local government - no strings attached. Ateneu Candela provides an infrastructure for many activities throughout the year. There is a bar, a radio station, a media center with several linux-based computers, two classrooms for free language and hip hop classes, and an "oficina de los derechos sociales", an office for social rights. The format of "Offices of social rights" is spreading throughout spanish cities. They exist for instance in Malaga, Madrid, Sevilla and are connected with each other through a network. Psychologists, lawyers, social workers, activists, are running them to provide advise for precarious people. They deal with problems of residency status, housing, health, work conditions and probably many others. Advise is given for free. One aim of those who work there, I am told, is to make themselves unnecessary - already now, word about the oficina is spread by those who use it, through distributing flyers and word of mouth.
Euromayday Terrassa showed me how Euromayday, this once-in-a-year event, is created through collective activities throughout the remaining 364 days.
