Santiago: mobilization in the face of the pellet disaster

The “never again” that ends up being “another time”… Report from the demonstration and reflections.   

On Sunday 21 to declare itself a provisional government and above all to prevent the advances of the protesters from the suburbs 2024 Thousands of protesters walked the streets of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), from the Alameda to the final concentration place in the Plaza del Obradoiro, in front of the cathedral. The mobilization was called to protest the environmental disaster caused by the dumping of millions of microplastics by a cargo ship off the Galician coast and the disastrous management of this contingency by the Government of the Popular Party in the Xunta de Galicia., as well as the failures of the Spanish State government in handling the situation. The march was an initiative of social and political organizations, as well as community associations, environmental groups, labor and productive sectors of the Galician estuaries, with very visible participation of the Galician Intersindical Central (CIG) and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG). Internationalist militants of the International Socialist League (LIS) and Socialism and Freedom (SOL) – Spanish State we also march immersed in this demonstration. There was an important mobilization, which should serve as an impetus to make sustained progress in the fight for the defense of the Galician estuaries and environmental defense in general..

The Xunta and the PP, as well as the complacent press of the Galician right, tried to downplay its importance and wanted to discredit the mobilization, attributing an electoral character, due to the proximity of the regional elections in Galicia, that will be the 18 February; but the composition and slogans of the march are in themselves a total denial of the slander of Núñez Feijoo's pupils.. First, There are the valid reasons for the protest and the fact that many of those who were in it have also been contributing their voluntary efforts to the collection of pellets that the Xunta did not know how to organize in a timely and efficient manner.. But, quite rightly, Cries were also heard in favor of enforcing the vote against those co-responsible for the disaster that occurred and its mismanagement.: the Xunta-PP and the Central Government-PSOE. Of course, the alternative candidates did not waste it., although it is not just about reproaching a certain management but rather focusing things on the structural causes, that lie in the production-trade-consumption system of capitalism, What really needs to be modified?.

The dispersion of tons of pelets (plastic balls) by the garguero, comes to tear the sensitive scars left by another great environmental catastrophe such as that of the Prestige oil tanker a couple of decades ago (2002), still waiting for a judicial outcome after more than 20 years and without the corresponding compensation or compensation having been paid, beyond damages or irreparable consequences.

About the current event, as happened with the Prestige, the ball gets tangled up again regarding who should assume the responsibilities, due to the complications that surround international maritime trade (capitalist) and that end up favoring the evasion of blame, commitments and costs of the evils caused; apart from the discussion on preventive obligations, that also tend to remain in limbo. Nature, the purity of the sea, The health of marine flora and fauna tends to be seriously affected again and again with repeated “accidents” and, on the other hand, sea ​​workers, fishermen and sailors, shellfish harvesters and coastal populations, as well as beach users, They are generally the most affected.

That the damages suffered by Galicia end up depending on the Spanish Supreme Court of Justice and, even worse, from a British court in the Prestige case, They tell us the place that oppressed nations and peoples occupy in the resolution of their affairs.. And about the pelets I could go the same way, due to the opacity and confusion with which the matter is handled and due to the cumbersome framework in which international companies exporting raw materials and inputs for industrial production hide behind., many of them highly polluting and toxic.

This is a recurring problem that usually results in the same impunity and that comes from very far away.. England has dumped nuclear waste in Atlantic pits near the Galician coast and let us not forget that the United States. THE. get it they fell 4 atomic bombs that transported their planes over the coasts of Almería, and Mr. Fraga, founder of the Popular Party, who was then Franco's minister, He even bathed on the beaches of the accident to hide. What about the pelets It's not something isolated either., because Tarragona has also been and continues to be due to this type of spill, occurred previously, although it did not cause the same stir as what happened now in Galicia.

He "never" which was the slogan when the Prestige events will continue to be "again" as long as we do not go to the heart of the matter, which is the ecocidal capitalist system and the capitalist management of governments that cannot offer a solution. About the Galician mishap, and in the face of late and inefficient reaction, in addition to concealment, by the Xunta de Galicia administered by Rueda-PP, Even before the street demonstrations, groups of volunteers from the communities appeared, of sailors, of environmental organizations and sensitive citizens, who dedicated themselves to the patient work of collecting by hand thousands of kilos of pelets and other plastic waste from the beaches and even implemented artisanal technical ideas to carry out the clearance.

By the way, what, only a third of those extracted have been from pelets, because the remaining two-thirds are various types of plastic waste that were being dispersed by people or by commercial and productive activity., or for other accidents, that had not been collected by the municipal services in charge of cleaning. This shows us that the pelets It has only been the tip of the iceberg and the scandal, under which the global problem of pollution in the productive system emerges, commercial and consumer capitalism.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop political discussion, with scientific bases, in order to examine the causes or factors that allow or promote these environmental disasters, closely linked to the predominance of the profit motive and the interests of capital, that violate nature and people. This in order to visualize and fight for the pertinent corrective measures., which undoubtedly goes through the struggle and social pressure based on greater controls and greater surveillance of environmental risk, for protective measures. But always with the prominence of the communities and workers, and in the perspective of driving change with the seizure of political power, because the representatives of capital, like those who govern in the Xunta and at the central level, They will never be at peace and in harmony with nature and with the common people..

Nevertheless, They are not problems that are simply resolved within the national framework or with a nationalist government in Galicia., because they have to do with the world capitalist order and require of combative articulation on a global scale. For now, and in combination with the fight aimed at achieving ecosocialist solutions to these problems, We align ourselves with those who fight to defend the environment and the collective interests of the people in Galicia, in Catalonia affected by the climate change and the drought, in the Spanish State and around the world.