The Bilbao Workers’ Self-Defence Network is launching a campaign to tackle repression
- The Workers' Self-Defense Network has made visible the repression it is suffering after the open conflict with the company Limpia Arana – Fernández Aguilar. They are charged with a crime of continued extortion, and seven members are called to testify on 15 April. They claim that taking the courts as an extortion of the network's trade union activity can set a "serious precedent". In order to show solidarity with the repression, they have launched an awareness-raising campaign.
The Bilbao Workers’ Self-Defense Network (LAS) appeared on Friday in the Arriaga Square under the motto “No to the repression of the labor struggle. Untie the knot” to make the campaign known. Seven members of the network are called to testify in court on 15 April and a campaign of solidarity with the network has been launched on the eve of the summons. With him they want to deal with the repression they are suffering for their work.
Its objective is to make visible the repression they have suffered since February, since between 22 and 25 February the National Police arrested six members of the network in the framework of the open conflict with the cleaning company Limpia Arana – Fernández Aguilar. They also aim to: To promote “solidarity among the different sectors of the working class” and to make it clear that “this is not an isolated or conjunctural case, it is structural in the capitalist system”.
They have reported that the campaign is already supported by a number of political actors, organisations and trade unions, who have expressed the hope that more accessions will be added in the coming days. In order for citizens to adhere to the initiative, the website www.korapiloaskatu.com will be launched on 10 April, in which the interested party will be able to read the manifesto and make its accession.
Accused of extortion
The repression of the network starts in a conflict with the cleaning company Limpia Arana – Fernández Aguilar, located in the bilbaíno district of Uribarri. A former company worker, faced with the abuses he suffered in his work, contacted LAS last year. On 26 November, the company gave the head of the company a letter linking a series of demands to the abuses committed by the company, initiating a conflict that, as a result of the lack of response, has been reinforcing the public character of the conflict in recent months.
In one of the mobilizations convened in the context of the conflict on January 11, the Ertzaintza identified two of its members and met with a large police force. LAS has linked this first coup d'état to the complaint lodged by the head of the company against the network. After the identifications, some of the members who called the mobilizations and spoke in the media received summons from the courts to appear before the Bilbao Courts on 25 February. After that date, however, the National Police arrested six members - two on 22 February and four on 25 February - including the worker himself, and the appointment in the courts was postponed until 15 April, also citing the other detainees to testify. They are charged with a crime of continued extortion, which can be punished with up to five years ' imprisonment for a crime of threats.
The members of LAS LASA warned in the campaign manifesto that we were faced with a serious precedent if union action was judged to be a crime of extortion. In fact, it would mark a milestone in the delicacy of the actions of any group that follows this trade union model. In this regard, they clearly indicate the way forward in their opinion: “It is necessary to turn this situation around, expand our forces, fight against repression and organise class solidarity. For the struggle is of the entire working class, untie the knot.”
More mobilisations
They have also taken advantage of the public hearing to publicise the forthcoming mobilisations to be held. At 12:00 a.m. they have called a concentration before the court, in Buenos Aires Street, in solidarity with the seven members who will come to testify on 15 April. On the other hand, they have announced that on 1 May they will refocus to "make visible the repression suffered by the working class and give voice to the various struggles that are in the nest".
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