From tents to human chains: spanish protestors say no to 'External Debt, Eternal Debt'

Commuters arriving in Madrid on 11^th November had to skirt their way around tents covered with slogans. Returning home that evening the tents were still there. A sudden wave of homelessness, perhaps? Not in this case. The tents were covered with slogans calling for Spain to cancel debts and increase its aid budget. The tented vigils were organised by activists from a Spanish Jubilee 2000 member organisation, Plataforma 0.7, which campaigns to get 0.7% of the national budget spent on Third World development.

The train station vigils marked the first set of events which culminated in demonstrations by thousands of people in the streets of more than 20 cities and towns throughout Spain on 13 and 14 November calling for the cancellation of Third World debt. The demonstrations were co-ordinated by the Jubilee 2000 Spain coalition, which is known in the country under the name 'External Debt, Eternal Debt', and formed part of protests worldwide to mark 50 days until the next millennium.

Although the 50^th day fell on 11 November, co-ordinators in Spain took the opportunity to hold protests on the 13 and 14 so as to coincide with the departure of Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, for Cuba to attend the annual Iberoamerican Summit in Havana. The ninth such event brings together the leaders of Spain and Portugal with their counterparts from Latin American countries, many of which continue to suffer from crippling debt burdens.

On 13 November key events were organised in a number of cities. In the Basque city of Bilbao, a human chain formed in the modern city centre while bells were rung in the churches of Casco Viejo, the historic part of the city. In the Mediterranean city of Castellón, games were organised in order to explain the significance of external debt to small children and petitions calling for debt cancellation were delivered to both the city's mayor and bishop. In the Andalucian city of Almería, a similar such petition of signatures was delivered to the mayor.

On 14 November, the biggest demonstration took place in Madrid, where 4,000 people gathered at the Puerta del Sol. From there, they formed a human chain, linking up the Finance Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Banco de España. In the university town of Salamanca demonstrators gathered in the central plaza which included the unveiling of a 750 metre long banner by a group of mime artists dressed in black and white. The banner contained 50 phrases related to external debt and stretched from the Finance Ministry representation in the city to the local building of the Banco de España.

The high turnout in Madrid was a very encouraging sign of the level of interest in the debt issue as, according to national co-ordinator Eva San Martin, it can be difficult to mobilise strong support in a city accustomed to frequent demonstrations on a range of different social issues. She also pointed out that protestors' spirits refused to be dampened by a drizzly day in the Spanish capital!

The protest activities form part of an ongoing campaign to maintain and boost public awareness of the external debt issue. The campaign has already served to put strong pressure on the government and politicians. This has resulted in the creation of a parliamentary commission dealing specifically with external debt matters and a government announcement in late September 1999 that it will pardon 60% (US$932 million) of debt owed it by Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

The Jubilee 2000 Spanish coalition which now consists of about 400 organisations of diverse ideological backgrounds, began in October 1998, headed by four catholic organisations: Manos Unidas, CARITAS, Justicia y Paz and CONFER. The structure of the network in Spain reflects the country's strong sense of regional identity. In the same way that Spanish regional authorities have a large degree of political autonomy from the central government in Madrid, so the regional network of Jubilee 2000 groups organise their own activities. Campaign organisers at a national level therefore serve to co-ordinate the regional groups' activities around key events and provide the channel for communication between regional groups.

Meanwhile the tents can still be found in Madrid train station and it is hoped the tented vigils will extend to other cities over the next month. The aim is to keep the profile of the campaign high in order to get as many signatures together by mid-December. At this point, petitions throughout the country will be gathered together to be presented to the Spanish parliament in January before it dissolves in preparation for general elections in March. With over 700,000 signatures already collected, the massive petition should, according to Eva San Martin, encourage politicians to `integrate the theme of external debt into their electoral programmes.' This will be reinforced by current plans to arrange a parallel referendum on the day of the elections calling for debt cancellation, which would be carried out strictly in accordance with normal voting procedures.

• For more information, visit the Spanish Jubilee 2000 campaign's website