Summer comes and with it the popular festivals of towns, neighborhoods and cities. Festivities have always been the refuge of social and political demands, neighborhood relations and popular euphoria. They take our streets and for a few days they are an example of self-management, coexistence between different people, organized people or organized disorganization. Oasis of life and common values, meeting point.
For several years, a very different holiday model has been established between the summer village festivities: the macrofestival. This model is very different from the previous one and has different adjectives such as privatization, elitization, turistification and precariousness.
Miserable and illegal working conditions: endless hours, price per hour below the agreement, delays in payments, fraudulent contracts (of course, when there is a contract), lack of respect for breaks...
Among them, in Bizkaia we have one that stands out above the others, the tip of our iceberg, the Bilbao BBK Live to be held on 11, 12 and 13 July in Kobetamendi in Bilbao. Why do we call it an iceberga? Because it hides more than it teaches. Have you ever heard the expression 'the tip of the iceberg'? It means you only see a small part of everything that's hidden beneath the surface. So as a society, you have to dive in to be able to see what it hides, and it's something that's scary to get into what the BBK Live hides.
Miserable and illegal working conditions: endless hours, above what the law allows, price per hour below the convention, delays in payments, fraudulent contracts (of course, when there is a contract), poor hygiene conditions, lack of respect for breaks... All this, just a little submerged. Imagine what we can find if we have the opportunity to see Last Tour, the promoter of this and other macrofestivities, and everything that really gathers your entire business group. It has the approval of the City Council of Bilbao and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and a public subsidy.
Like the icebergs come from the polar terraplenes, these festivals are derived from a concrete urban and social model in which the inhabitants, the natives, the citizens... do not have any importance for the benefit of turistification, privatization and the cursed pecuniary profits of the few. We want cities, spaces, environments where we live, work and enjoy, so that our rights as citizens are respected. Otherwise, my friends, if we continue like this, a popular saying will be formed that says: Bilbao BBK Live absorbs me the Life!
Imanol González, Uxue Bejarano and Iñigo Alonso
Bilbao LAB Syndicate