The eviction of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal Martín in Madrid, after an investment fund bought her apartment building and more than tripled her rent, has become a symbol of Spain’s rising cost of living and sparked nationwide protests against corporate greed and wealth inequality. Over 600 protesters are now camped outside Madrid’s regional government headquarters demanding new tenant protections.
“What we have is a lot of furious people, enraged people, that are demanding from the government and from the public institutions that they give us give us some sort of solution,” says Sabina Carrau, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which is supporting the “Maricarmen decree” named after Abascal, set to be debated by Spain’s government this week.
Housing in Spain, as in much of the world, “is really connected to tourism, really connected to having and buying a house to make a speculation,” says socialist parliamentarian Tesh Sidi, who is calling instead for the guaranteed right to housing and “the right to have an affordable life.” Sidi, the only Sahrawi member of the Spanish parliament, also comments on Spain’s colonial relationship to Western Sahara and the state of Sahrawi rights and self-determination.
