Mayor leads village on hunger strike

Press, 4 September 1980, Page 16

Mayor leads village on hunger strike

By

WILLIAM CEMLYN-JONES

in Malaga

More than 700 people in a.. small Spanish town staged a 10-day hunger strike in August in protest against unemployment. The protest, aimed at shaking the Madrid Government out of its summer apathy, was at Marmaleda (population ■' 2500) m the province of Seville. .Its object was to draw attention to unemployment among agricultural workers in the town and nearby villages. The strike was led. by the 28-year-old mayor, Mr Sanchez Gordillo, a gentle schoolteacher with a sense of humour and a black beard which makes him look like Che Guevarra. ■ . . Marinaleda ,is .a typical Andalusian village. its .• houses- are spotlessly white- - washed, with pots of. gera--hiums adding.; a, splash of colour. Most of .the .land is potentially <MgNy. Proactive, but- owned by a few rich absentee landlords. The people - believe it could be developed into a prosperous region ;if there *as ,a. Concerted //programme of agrarian reforpis. Mr Gordillotold a\mass ; meeting:. We, want the land lor-those who: work on : it. We-will nevergive in,; and. we : , won t settle for a' small charitable, hand- . 7 out. Let’s' give/ the; Government a-few weeks to .see .if they fulfil tHeir Twenty-four hours before making; his speech,. Mr Gorditto had flown to Madrid, where an official cgr ,;had taken him tb Salamanca • to meet the Minister of Labour, Mr 7 Salvador Sanchez .Teran. It was - the. Jirst time;. : tpat , there had ; been.; direct ; - contact between i the young mayor and a member of the

Cabinet. “You can call it a partial victory,” he said, "because Madrid has at last opened its door to us. . But we can’t . eat promises. Either we must have land reform or .we shall have hunger?’" . . „ Later he told me: "There are only 23,000 hectares which are irrigated, and they are planted with crops such • as sunflowers, which': provide virtually no work. We want to change ■ over to 7 cotton, beets and tobacco. Second, we want funds to build a reservoir in the nearby Genii . River,'which-will irrigate a further 50,000 hectares. Then we have a reafforestation

i scheme to plant pines and , . olives. We also need an industrialisation plan so that our-people can manufacture the finished goods out of • our local produce.. We also need medical centres and • better roads. With proper j government subsidies and ; planning this village could work.” i He believes .in Andalusian autonomy, and the local people, nearly all Left wing, , are behind him. “Unless the , Government takes action soon,” he warned, “there could be violence. And that iis ; something we do not . want.”—Copyright ‘ London Observer. Service.