Thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid this Sunday to “fight for the right to decent housing,” demand “urgent measures” in the face of an “unprecedented crisis,” and protest against “rentier attacks that empty neighborhoods.”
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Organized by the Madrid Tenants’ Union, under the slogan Housing costs us our lives. Let’s lower the prices, the march set off at noon from Atocha station heading towards Alcalá street. The demonstrators, between 80,000 and 100,000 people according to the union’s estimates, demand the restoration of indefinite rental contracts, and that measures be taken to promote a decrease in rents and an increase in minimum wages and pensions to 1,500 euros. The protest aims to give way to a wave of demonstrations in 24 Spanish cities that will continue throughout June.
According to their complaints, rent in Madrid has risen more than 50% in the last five years, with an average cost across the Community of more than 1,500 euros per month. In this way, they explained, there are families who dedicate more than 70% of their salaries to paying rent, meaning that three out of every four days worked would be to pay landlords. The organization denounces that thousands of tenants live trapped in a system that “imposes unaffordable rents, abusive clauses, precarious contracts, and constant threats of eviction from their homes.” “Rentiers speculate freely while the social majority lives suffocated,” the organization detailed, accusing landlords, investment funds, and real estate companies of enriching themselves “at the expense of the work and precariousness of millions of people.”
The spokesperson for the Tenants’ Union, Alicia del Río, has called for “disobedience” as the only way and “legitimate tool” to fight against “the dictatorship of rentierism,” warning that they will not submit “to any blackmail from any landlord” and that they will not accept either their prices or their contracts. “Unjust laws are disobeyed to conquer collective rights,” the spokesperson emphasized in statements to the media. Del Río has denounced that the laws protect speculation and has appealed to the unions to “disobey together” and launch a general strike that paralyzes cities and puts an end to “the housing business.” “All the rights society enjoys today once seemed impossible and were achieved by disobeying.” Del Río has criticized governments that allow these practices to be legal and encourage a minority “to do business with a basic need,” and has reproached them for not only doing nothing but also using public resources “to protect the interests of rentierism.”
Attending the event were the general secretary of Comisiones Obreras in Madrid, Paloma López; and that of UGT, Susana Huertas; as well as their national leaders, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, respectively. Also participating were the spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group in the Madrid City Council, Reyes Maroto; the MEP and political secretary of Podemos, Irene Montero; and the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM).
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