Agitation workshops and 'clothing for the revolt' ahead of Spain's November 11 strike

From the resistance workshop to the T-shirt calling for 'armed struggle'

A squatted social center in Madrid's Estrecho neighborhood is hosting a workshop this Saturday, October 24, titled "Clothing for the Revolt." It is not a sewing class. It is run by the Movimiento Antirrepresivo de Madrid (an anti-repression activist group) as part of a day of events organized by the Coordinadora Antifascista under the shared banner of "Agitation and Protest Workshops," and its stated goal on social media is to "move to action safely" in the face of "times of resistance and struggle." That same day, French students have called a new march across the Pyrenees.

The call does not float in a vacuum. It comes three weeks before the general strike of November 11, a date that coincides with the anniversary of the murder of the antifascist Carlos Javier Palomino, and in a context of student blockades in France that have already escalated into riots, with more than half a million people on the streets on Saturday, October 17, at least 2,000 arrests and one death from cardiac arrest. The city hall of Limoges ended up in flames and Marseille's was stormed.

What is taught at an 'agitation and protest' workshop

The program includes three workshops, one of them devoted to the clothing of the so-called black bloc: the tactic of dressing in dark colors with the face covered to avoid identification, spread at international summits since Seattle in 1999 and documented in a report by the officer school of the French Gendarmerie. In Madrid, it was seen two weeks ago at the Sol encampment. Earlier, on Wednesday, the collective has called an open assembly under another slogan: "Take action, let's organize resistance."

Beneath the announcements, part of the militant base is not calling for restraint. "Pacifism is useless," one comment on the workshop reads, calling for Spain to resemble "the rest of Europe." Another goes further and calls to "wreck the center of Madrid." The distance between the "nonviolent resistance" poster and the T-shirt calling for "more armed struggle and fewer drum circles" — on sale for ten euros on a libertarian website close to an anarchist collective in Vallecas — has become visible.

The French mirror and the worker-student committees

The repertoire arriving from France has a concrete echo in Spain. The alliance between railway workers and students being spread on video from Paris is the one two teaching organizations want to replicate through worker-student committees. A social center in Hortaleza held a talk on October 15 about "the student revolt in France" to share "tactics for escalating a social conflict" beyond "scheduled, controlled protest."

Some reject the idea of importation. A Madrid antifascist activist, involved in social movements since his teens without belonging to any group, argues that it is not "imported" but rather "spreads naturally." He places Spain not "far behind," but "in a different phase of the mobilization cycle," held back by part of the population that makes nonviolence "an end in itself." His thesis: "Rights do not fall from the sky, nor are they begged for with good manners."

Who pays for the party and who puts their body on the line

The economic backdrop soon appears in the conversation. Some read the escalation as a response to the loss of political power, while others warn that small businesses and the self-employed — suffocated by taxes and regulation — will not welcome a hooded figure looting their shop. The historical comparison with October 1934, when an indefinite general strike trinc the entry of the CEDA (a right-wing Spanish coalition) into the government, hangs over the debate.

So does the institutional response. The Italian model is cited, which has created a specific offense of violent participation in demonstrations punishable by up to five years in prison. And it is worth remembering that teachers are not a homogeneous bloc: the original story referred to teachers and groups, not a general strike across the sector.

The most unsettling detail is not in the streets but on the calendar: the strike is called for the anniversary of a murder, and those calling for revolt are usually the last ones standing in front.