11/03/2014
Building on the success of previous initiatives at raising awareness of the problems, a series of “Marchas de la dignidad”, or Dignity Marches, are being organized all over Spain to converge in Madrid on 22nd March in order to protest about the issues and the helplessness felt by these sectors of the population over the way in which the country is being run, participants walking to Madrid from different points of the country.
With unemployment at 26%, and entrenched in its fifth year of economic crisis, Spain has become a nation where protest is so common it barely reaches the media anymore, with protests every day about something related to the problems being experienced by the unemployed, and those suffering from the ongoing economic situation.
Although all indicators are that the economy is starting to turn upwards again, there are still millions without work and millions with problems which have yet to be resolved.
Building on the success of previous initiatives at raising awareness of the problems, a series of “Marchas de la dignidad”, or Dignity Marches, are being organized all over Spain to converge in Madrid on 22nd March in order to protest about the issues and the helplessness felt by these sectors of the population over the way in which the country is being run, participants walking to Madrid from different points of the country.
The main reasons for organizing the march are four-fold: the protesters are demanding the right to dignified employment, improved public services, the issue of debts, banks and evictions and the abandonment of the proposed new law governing citizen safety. The aims are summarized on the campaign’s website in English as “Bread, a roof, rights and dignity for all workers” and are detailed in an extensive manifesto reproduced on the Spanish News Today site.
The “columns” of the march, some of which have already set out for the capital, are leaving from Galicia, Asturias, Santander, Logroño, Barcelona, Alcañiz, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Murcia, Granada, Córdoba, Mérida and four locations within the Comunitat Valenciana: Castellón (5th March), Valencia (8th March), Alicante (9th March) and Santa Pola (8th March).
After passing through Elche, Aspe, Elda and Villenla the latter two will join the Murcia column in Almansa on 13th March, before proceeding to further overnight stops in Bonete, Chinchila, Albacete, La Roda, Tarancón, Fuentidueña del Taco, Perales del Tajuña and Rivas-Vaciamadrid and arriving in Madrid itself on 22nd March.
The Castellón column will pass through La Vall d’Uixó and Sagunto before reaching Valencia, and from there the journey will be broken for the night at Torrent, Godelleta, Bunyol, Siete Aguas, Requena, Caudete de las Fuentes, Villagordo del Cabriel, Minglanilla and Motilla del Palancar before all of the south-eastern columns unite on 18th March in Tarancón.
The last four nights before arriving in Madrid on 22nd March will be spent in Tarancón, Fuentidueña del Taco, Perales del Tajuña and Rivas-Vaciamadrid.
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