argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Evicted by a woman suffering machista violence
  • The eviction order of a woman, her daughter and grandchildren of Arrigorriaga, dated 25 November, has been released. The woman belongs to the Batu Elkarlaguntza Network, which has made a call to the cessation of the eviction of her home in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Since the first hour of the morning many neighbours met to avoid eviction and the Ertzaintza has charged them. At 12:00 a.m., Etxebide threatened the woman with no alternative in the event of eviction. Faced with this situation, the woman has decided to give the keys of the house and the people who were making resistance inside have left the house. The call for dismissal on the International Day Against Violence Against Women has given much to talk about, since behind the situation is male violence. Some have denounced that eviction has been carried out with the complicity of the police, the judicial system and social services.
Amaia Lekunberri Ansola 2021eko azaroaren 25
Argazkia: @amaialekunberri

The eviction order of Joaquín of the Batu Community Aid Network was dated 25 November, and to prevent the eviction from taking place, Batu made an appeal to turn on Thursday to the number 3 of Olatxu Street in the Abusu district of Arrigorriaga. The resistance was expected early in the morning, so the date was set at 08:30 in the morning. However, the Ertzaintza has gone home an hour and a half before, when most of the people who were waiting to protect themselves were going to arrive. ARGIA journalist Amaia Lekunberri has carried out the live monitoring:

The first people who arrived at the shelter have been assaulted, and other times of tension have been recorded throughout the morning.

The police have cut off Olatxu Street, preventing the concentrates from approaching the entrance door to Joaquín to protest. Thus, without being able to follow closely what happened on the portal, the congregants have launched messages of encouragement and support from the distance to Joaquín and those opposed to his home. Among the demands that have been heard were messages related to class struggle, feminist struggle, mutual support and popular power, among others. The day chosen to dismiss a woman who has suffered machista violence being on 25 November, the rejection of violence against women has been very present; messages such as "patriarchy and capital, criminal alliance" or "Joaquín, I believe you" have come out frequently and for a moment an appeal has been made to the women who were there to take the first line.

In spite of the rain and cold, the morning has spent a lot of time waiting for the judicial commission, even though the attendees have endured the humor between songs and songs. There have also been hopeful gestures; for example, when the locksmith has arrived, he has planted himself, indicating that he does not participate in evictions.

The wish of the members of Bildu was to give way to a negotiation with the committee, as one member explained to ARGIA. They have reported that they had obtained an alternative for Joaquín and could not stay in the street, but that they still wanted to negotiate the transfer of the right to usufruct of the current housing to Joaquín. Complete description of the recording:

However, there has been no room for negotiation. At 12:00 a.m., Etxebide has been reported to "threaten" Joaquín with no alternative in case he was prevented from eviction. In this situation, the woman has "made the decision" to hand the keys to her partner, according to Interior.

Once this decision has been taken, opponents inside their homes have come out and read what has happened. They have denounced that the eviction has been carried out with the complicity of the police, the judicial system and the social services, and have encouraged all those gathered there to continue fighting.

In statements to the media, some citizens have also pointed to those who are seen as accomplices in eviction. It has been emphasised that it is the same people who are in favour of equality who have evicted a woman suffering from male violence on 25 November.

Eviction with roots in male violence

Together with the Abusu Neighbourhood Association, the mutual support network has long been socializing and denouncing Joaquín’s situation. The video, which collects the testimony of the affected, has recently been disseminated through social networks and explains the current situation of Joaquín, as well as the circumstances that have led him to that point.

 

Joaquín, 63, married in 78. The couple signed in 97 a notarial agreement in order to secure housing in the face of "consumption and crime attitudes" suffered by her former husband, who began to get worse after the first years. As Joaquín explained, it was his sentimental partner who convinced him to do so. Through the agreement and paying "a fortune" to man, Joaquín became the owner of the house and was left with the right of usufruct of the house.

As they stressed, "this agreement is totally unfair, as it is an agreement signed within the framework of a power relationship and under conditions of ignorance". As marital life progressed, the man began to abuse him until in 2008 he stood before the situation and fled his home, where he was still a minor. -I escaped that afternoon from the neighborhood where my husband was looking for me with a big knife. That's where I understood I had to report that situation," he explained. The man, who was charged with gender-based violence, lived for two years with a municipal police officer, Joaquín. However, once the crime of gender violence has been prescribed, men have exercised their right to the usufruct of housing against women, denouncing Joaquín for eviction. The judge has issued a eviction judgment and issued a eviction judgment by 25 November of this year.

Eviction on International Day against Violence against Women

The fact that the date of eviction coincides with the International Day Against Violence Against Women symbolizes the situation, making visible the different extremes of violence against women and the disagreement between them. In fact, Joaquín is a woman who has survived the machist violence suffered in her relationship as a couple, but today she continues to suffer machist violence: the former husband is striving to evict her, and justice has not taken into account the mistreatment that the man has given to the woman when issuing a sentence.

In this regard, Batu made the following reading: "So many years have passed, and legally, the crime of gender-based violence has prescribed. In other words, Joaquin's former husband is not considered a batterer and the victim is apparently safe. Even though the law dispenses with this fearful and unjust fact, Joaquín continues to receive threats and his life is in danger."

Therefore, the Housing Union of the Casco Viejo de Bilbao, AZET, pointed out in a note that: "The house of Joaquín will be the trench of the workers of Euskal Herria on November 25". That has been the case.

Re-assaulted to publicize the situation

What is more, the violence he is suffering has become more acute as the case has become public. On November 19, they convened an assembly in La Peña to make the case known to the neighbors and explain the situation to them, and as Batu denounced on Tuesday, Joaquín found them the next day in a shot against him. In the mailbox someone erased his name and wrote next to him: “For being evil, liar and chivato.” The mutual support network has condemned the Police's action in the aggression and has responded that "there is no way to denounce this fact". “It is very debatable and paradoxical that those who for two years worked as bodyguards turn their backs at this time, leaving our partner helpless.”

"When someone publicly denounces their situation and raises their voices, and shares the problem with neighbors and with mutual assistance networks, the forces they want to silence rise," Batu wrote. They wanted to make it clear that in that fight Joaquín is not alone.