March 3 remains a marked day of mobilisation and struggle in Vitoria-Gasteiz, among other reasons because organizations and citizens have nurtured a dual virtue year after year: to maintain a fresh memory of the struggle of the past, united and renewed at the same time with the struggles of the time. Not only with the working class, but also with the national struggle, youth, pensioners or feminism. Special recognition must be given to the Association 3 March. The current powers would have put the red carpet on their subsidised shields if they were allowed to stay in the past, but they have decided to remain uncomfortable. The association has built bridges with other struggles and the rest of the struggles have made it their own on March 3, filling it with contents and updating them each from their point of view.

The last few days have been a reflection of this once again. Tributes, conferences, conferences, press conferences, sabotages...

Mobilisation day

Throughout the morning, different organizations have organised a number of separate events and mobilisations. The Youth Block has carried out a mobilization and for a few minutes has cut Calle Paz from the Center of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Along with the church in San Francisco, the socialist movement in Vitoria-Gasteiz has paid tribute to the five workers killed by the police. A few meters away, in Plaza 3 de Marzo, EH Bildu has done the same in a national event.

Like every year, the tribute and the manifestation of the afternoon have been the meeting point of all movements and sensitivities. Convened by the association March 3 and the unions ESK, Steilas, LAB and ELA, thousands of people have taken to the streets of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The demonstration started after honoring Pedro María Martínez Ocio, Francisco Aznar Clemente, Romualdo Barroso Chaparro, José Castillo García and Welcome Pereda Moral. At the head of the demonstration, portraits of the five deceased strikers and after them numerous banners and demands: The initiative Memoria Gara, against the police forces, tribute to Jesús Fernández Naves, recently deceased... The demonstrators have chanted shouts and traveled the road between the Plaza de los Fueros de Zarama. At the height of the Artium Museum, a group of young people have dug a container and attacked the Ertzaintza with bottles, but after some moments of tension, the demonstration has followed its path.

"These deaths are from the people."

In the final act, the organizers have called for the need to fight for the future today by maintaining the memory of the past. “After 45 years the struggle continues. This people has continued to organize and fight this pandemic of capitalism.” They have pointed out that in the last year poverty has increased, that borders remain more closed to people and open as always to goods, or that women want to condemn the heteropatriarchs to male violence and to precarious care work. They report that the pandemic has shown "how little the system takes care of its caregivers." The demonstrators have reminded the strikers of different sectors and the migrant women, and they have called for the fight.

"We are the legacy of fighting that false transition. Today's struggles are achievements for future generations." The organizers have been thankful to all those who fought in the 1976 strikes. Before the end of the mobilization singing to the International and Eusko Gudariak, the speakers heard the recording of the intervention of Jesús Fernández Naves in the cathedral at the funerals of March 4, 1976, shocking the protesters. The scream at the time remains fresh: "These deaths are from the town of Vitoria-Gasteiz," the Ertzaintza said in a statement.