Protests in Valencia, ‘referendum’ on the incapacity of rulers

Valencia. Perched on a lantern in Valencia’s Town Hall Square, a young man with a green backpack on his shoulders and knee-high boots proudly waves the red, yellow and purple flag of the Spanish Republic in front of thousands of protesters. A few meters away, which seem like kilometers along the rivers of people that circulate in all directions in the equivalent of the Valencian Zócalo, a huge banner demands: “Money from the Bourbon and Juan Roig/for reconstruction.”

The undeniable anti-monarchy tone in a significant part of the rally to demand the resignation of Carlos Mazón, president of the Generalitat of Valencia, is not an anecdotal fact. Even less so after, as a result of the open popular repudiation of Felipe VI in Paiporta on November 3, a media operation to contain the damage was launched, in which they wanted to present the king as a statesman capable of facing the storm of social discontent without retreating.

Nor is it appropriate to point out in the public arena for his irresponsible handling of the tragedy, the billionaire Juan Roig Alfonso, executive president and majority shareholder of Mercadona (supermarket chain), linked to the Popular Party to which Mazón belongs, possessor of a huge regional power, who has been publicly rebuked for his role in the tragedy precipitated by DANA.

Photo Luis Hernandez Navarro

But, in addition to the trial of kings and businessmen, today’s massive mobilization in Valencia was a kind of popular referendum to judge politicians and their inability to manage a tragedy of enormous dimensions, which they faced with frivolity, arrogance and superficiality.

The demonstration was called to demand the departure of the president and “demand responsibilities, truthful information, means for the victims and to denounce the ignominy of the Valencian government, which did not warn and which has caused, with this lack of foresight, fatalities.”

The call was a resounding success. At 6 p.m., the square was already full. At 9:30, various groups were still protesting. According to the Government Delegation, 130 thousand people attended, in a city of around 800 thousand inhabitants. There was not a single voice or a poster that defended Mazón and his people.

Amid the noise of a helicopter suspended in the darkened sky, at the height of the El Corte Inglés warehouse, a helicopter, the protesters packed the square, making their way as best they could. Without opening or central speakers, the majority of attendees attended, rather than in large party or union contingents (which there were), as part of neighborhood groups (many of them affected), or couples, or families with baby strollers included. Those who marched inside the square did so without a fixed order and without an arrival point. At times, it was almost impossible to move through the human swell.

Photo Europa Press

Standing out from the crowd were hundreds of rescuers, recently arrived to concentrate their solidarity tasks in the towns devastated by the flood (the so-called ground zero), with rubber boots and clothes full of mud. They carried corrugated cardboard banners with images of shovels and dustpans, their work tools in these days where mutual aid has put aside the law of the jungle of competition. Whistling and shouting, they synthesized the rage, the pain, the courage, the desolation that they have found in the populations devastated by the lethal combination of the natural disaster, administrative incapacity and politicking of the worst kind. A sign written in Valencian summed it up clearly: “We are fury and mud.”

The rally was a polyphony in which thousands of posters shouted what their bearers felt. A rudimentary poster written in black marker warned: “You have lit the fuse in the land of gunpowder.” Another, with a mixture of irony and bad temper, reminded the president of his absence in the critical hours of the disaster, while he was eating with a journalist: “The one who warns is not Mazón.” And he demanded: “Resignation.” And, one more, he remembered that it was the time of those below: “Only the people save the people.”

One of the slogans repeatedly chanted was “It’s criminal/it’s not incompetence.” The statement has as a backdrop the reminder, widely disseminated in recent days, of how the Mazón government got rid, in just four months, of the Valencian Emergency Unit, responsible for quickly responding to meteorological, seismic, and fire emergencies. forestry and tsunamis, because “it only meant delving into lack of coordination and disaster.”

Afp’s photo

Beyond the republican flags, some attendees paraded with the Spanish labaro and others with the Valencian one, as if it were a cape. There was no shortage of party flags and banners of union organizations. Far-right militants also showed up at the rally (Carlos Mazón became president of the generalitat allied with Vox, who then broke with the Popular Party). Enraged, they shouted “Christian and non-Muslim Spain.” However, not everything was smooth sailing for them. Some of its militants were expelled by those present with a massive shout of “Out, out, out,” who applauded when they managed to throw him out.

In Valencia, tempers are more than heated. Above, the Popular Party seems to be willing to sacrifice an indefensible Mazón in exchange for overthrowing the government of Pedro Sánchez. But below, there is enormous tension about those responsible for the disaster and how far the reckoning should go. Just one example. In an old tavern near the square, two women shouted: Mazón, resignation. Annoyed, a young woman responded: everyone should leave.

Historic day, among countless banners, blankets and slogans, one event summed up the feelings of thousands and thousands of Valencians who marched this November 9. On the door of the Palau de la Generalitat they spread mud, stamped hands in red paint that resembled blood and hung mourning crepes. And, to top it all off, on one of the sides they spray painted: “Murderous Mazon.” Clearer, not even the mud.