Running Out of Food and Gas as Spanish Fuel Protest Continues

[alcibiades_mystery]

Demonstrating the power of common workers to bring capitalist economies to a standstill, the Spanish strike by truckers - in only its third day - has left entire regions of the country running at 50% capacity for gasoline and is forcing even small restaurants to scale back their menu items. By the end of the week, many supermarkets and food stores will be close to half-stocked, and perishables may be out of stock by Monday. Ships sit unfueled and loaded in the harbors, and ropt police have engaged both protesters and crowds seeking to gather food before the stores run out.

Keep an eye on this, people...

[phantom power]

1. I would suggest it is the power of expensive fuel...

to bring any economy to a standstill.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. It is the direct action of the truckers as proximate cause.

If they could do it over fuel, they could do it over anything, no?

[kestrel91316]

2. My niece spent a semester in Madrid a couple-three years ago.

Glad she's not there now. She's in Costa Rica, and if things go bad there, the American company she is working for will get her out. Her plane ticket home is assured, and she has personal friends of means in-country to go to if there is any trouble there.

I am hoping CR has good relations with Mexico and Venezuela in the meantime.

[Selatius]

3. Metropolitan areas of France virtually stopped when Sarkozy wanted to push through labor reforms.

He wanted to make it easier to fire teens and workers in their 20s to help "lower" unemployment and clean up some of the labor shortages by making them easier for employers to exploit. There were mass student protests and marches that followed.

That's the power of mass action.

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. So what exactly do the truckers want?

Are they wanting the government to do something for them, or are they merely wanting the companies that they work for to pay them more?

Without knowing what they are wanting I dont know what I think of their strike, but nobody can force anyone to work against their will so it is their choice to do so.

If nothing else this should be an eye opener, not so much that I think they are in the right for striking, but an eye opener to the fact of how life will become once we start having actual oil shortages and goods can no longer be transported efficiently.

We all individually need to make our own preparations for this eventuality so that we can survive and maybe hopefully mitigate the effect this will have on our individuals communities. The writing is on the wall here, if you knowing everything that we all know still choose to bury your head in the sand and not prepare then certainly you shouldnt expect the pity of those that do.