BY MIRIAM MUNICIO
More than two and a half million students in the schools and universities answered a strike call all over Spain on November 28, 200,000 of them pouring onto the streets to support demonstrations organised by the Marxist-led Spanish Students' Union.
The Students' Union (SE) called the general strike to protest against the reactionary education law of the right-wing Aznar government.
Fifty thousand marched in Santiago de Compostela, including students from all over Galicia, a response which was particularly satisfying as right-winger Manuel Fraga had recently won regional elections in Galicia.
There were 30,000 at the Madrid demonstration, 10,000 in Barcelona, 15,000 in Valencia, 12,000 in Seville, 3,000 in Bilbao, and many others.
This was the fourth strike and day of struggle since the Students' Union first called for action on October 25. In the first day of struggle, 100,000 students — mainly from secondary schools — participated. This compelled the trade unions and other student organisations to join in the fight.
This is the most important student mobilisation since the big movement of 1986-7, when the Students' Union led a massive movement of three million students which lasted more than four months and ended in an historic victory.
According the opinion polls, 80% of the population support the students' demands and reject the privatisation policies of the People's Party government. The attitude of workers was shown by the SE's collection in the shipyards and the big CASA company in Seville, where it raised 120,000 pesetas.
On November 7, the CCOO and UGT unions called a strike of teachers and university employees. The SE also called a strike for that day, but the other student organisations either boycotted the workers' struggle or stayed on the side-lines.
There was a massive response in Madrid, where around 50,000 — mostly from the university — marched. In all Spain the total number of demonstrators was almost 300,000 on that day.
On November 14, the numbers participating clearly increased, as did the extension of the struggle: there were almost half a million demonstrators, all students. On that occasion there were 100,000 in Barcelona, 80,000 in Madrid, 40,000 in Seville, 25,000 in Valencia and 20,000 in Santiago de Compostela.
Following this, the Students' Union proposed a day of struggle for November 28 — which was rejected by all the other organisations.
However, the Socialist Party and the United Left called for a march on Madrid on December 1, prompting the SE to maintain its strike call.
The SE has said that it will march in the December 1 protest and will put forward the demand for a general strike before Christmas to bring the whole educational system in Spain to a stop in support of its demands.
[Miriam Municio is the general secretary of the Students' Union.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, December 5, 2001.
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