General strike in Spain ends when unions discover they can only afford the house they are picketing outside
The strikers woke up for the strike, but had nowhere left to wake up in: the room rented for 4,000 euros closed at nine in the morning.
Spain's first general strike in 14 years ended after only a few hours, when demonstrators realised that the only affordable property in the country was the shade of an estate agent's billboard.
According to an organiser who asked not to be identified, the idea was to bring everything to a halt until cheap housing was available. "But then we saw the price of the coffee on the corner and decided we'd better go back to work," he explained.
On the streets, there were pickets of ten thousand people sharing a single adjustable bed, in shifts of four minutes. A union source insisted the system works perfectly, except for anyone trying to sleep.
A pensioner in Valencia watched the demonstration from his balcony and offered to rent out the space between the railing and the flowerpot at a price he described as friendly, and which exceeds the GDP of Andorra.
As this edition went to press, the Government, the unions and the opposition agreed on one point: it is the fault of whoever gets blamed next.
The strikers only agreed to go back to work after someone explained to them that they had nowhere to stay on strike.
The reality behind the satire
Real news · thehindu.com · 11 November
Primeira greve geral em Espanha em 14 anos põe em evidência desejos sociais e políticos em conflito
This story, published by a real newspaper, inspired the piece above. The Falsumundi piece is made up; this story is not.
