Santa Bárbara Bendita
Àngel García
OJOS DE BUEY
Summer 2012, Europe is in crisis and the vulnerable southern economies are suffering the hardest blow. One of the most affected industries in Spain is coal mining, where the cut in financial aid has come abruptly. In the absence of a plan to reconvert the sector and relocate workers, the entire mining sector is getting closer to the abyss every day.
In the mining regions of Asturias and Leon, workers' anger at the threat to their future has taken the form of strikes and clashes with the police. While some believe that the miners think they are special when faced with the cuts the whole country is suffering, others admire them for defending their jobs and their communities. Faced with this perspective, the workers' conflict has been projected beyond the initial demands to conglomerate popular discontent in the face of social setbacks and the lack of a solution to the crisis.