Yossi Schwartz, ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 12.11.2026
“A global wave of mass protests is shattering the capitalist world order. Over the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of mostly young people have been demonstrating in the streets of France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, and Albania. Faced with brutal police repression, mobilizations have repeatedly resulted in street battles. However, the protests are not limited to Europe. India has also seen several mass demonstrations in recent weeks; in Tunisia, the largest rallies have taken place since President Said established his dictatorship in 2021; and there have been important protests in Argentina, Brazil, and other Latin American countries. In addition, one should point to various protests against rising energy prices and the courageous mass strike of the garment workers in Bangladesh which started on 31 October.”[i]
Four million workers took part in a general strike across Spain on Wednesday to protest the housing crisis and the sharp rise in rent and housing prices. It was the first general strike in Spain since 2012, when workers struck against austerity measures taken during the eurozone’s debt crisis. The 24-hour strike is backed by the country’s two largest trade unions, UGT and CCOO, as well as renters’ unions.
The strike has led to widespread disruptions to public transportation, port operations, and the auto industry. According to labor unions, participation has reached 90 percent in ports, and the auto industry, and Volkswagen’s Navarra and Seat’s Barcelona factories reported a complete shutdown. In Barcelona, the metro announced that trains would not operate outside rush hour.
Shopping and business centers in major cities were also affected. In Madrid, workers protested on Gran Vía, one of the city’s main shopping streets, calling on stores to close their doors. Among the chains that closed the blinds were Primark, H&M, and Pool & Bar. In Barcelona, many stores were closed and sealed
Housing activists say that the increasing use of apartments for tourist and short-term rentals, along with speculative purchases, is reducing the supply of apartments for residents and raising prices.
According to the Central Bank of Spain, the country has a shortage of about 750,000 housing units, and it is expected to grow to more than 1 million by 2028. The average rental price has reached 1,176 euros a month, equivalent to about 98.7 percent of the average monthly wage of young people in the country, according to the Spanish Youth Council. Other data published in the Guardian indicate an 80 percent increase in rents within a decade and a 63 percent increase in home prices.
Spain’s general election will be held on Nov. 29. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hopes the public outrage over the housing crisis will help his party turn around the political agenda, but polls say it still lags behind right-wing parties. There are corruption scandals involving people close to the prime minister and last month’s deadly train crash in the country.
‘This general strike is the result of (among other reasons) the Iran War, which the American-Zionist monster has been unable to win despite their clear technological superiority, and which has resulted in high energy prices after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz – a key route for world trade – in response. In addition, the Houthis in Yemen have managed to significantly expand their territory against the local proxies of Saudi Arabia (an important ally of the U.S.) and are now able to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait – another crucial route for world trade. The ongoing massacre of the Zionist settler state against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank continues to provoke global outrage and increasingly isolates Israel” [ii]
“We see a global wave of mass protests that show how deeply fed up the masses are with the consequences of the capitalist system. It seems to us that the world has entered a phase similar to summer/autumn 2019 when popular uprisings took place on all continents – from Chile to Catalunya, from Colombia to Sudan and from Iraq and Algeria to Hong Kong.’’[iii]
“If the struggles today move forward, it could result in another May 68 in one or several countries and the emergence of a pre-revolutionary world situation. However, posing the question of power is not enough – if the masses do not succeed in bringing down the ruling class, the latter will regroup and prepare a counterattack. Such a counterattack can take the form of pseudo-reforms and the integration of bourgeois-populist or reformist parties, resulting in pacification and fatigue of the mass movement. Such a dangerous policy often takes the form of the popular front, i.e., the political collaboration between bourgeois and reformist forces as we see it in the Lula-Alckmin government in Brazil; the alliance of several Communist Parties in India with the bourgeois Congress Party; the electoral alliance between the PSF, Green, PCF and LFI in France; the joint government of the ANC, the COSATU trade union and the South African Communist Party; or the integration of left-wing forces like the DSA in the U.S. Democratic Party. Another option for such a counterattack by bourgeois governments is the brutal repression of mass protests by police and army, as we saw it in Chile in 1973, the military intervention of Saudi Arabia in Bahrain 2011 or in Egypt 2013’’.[iv]
To win this struggle, a socialist revolution is the answer.
A worker’s government that will build cheap and healthy residential housing. That will expropriate the big capital. For this to happen, an unlimited general strike is necessary to build workers’ militias and to bring the soldiers to the side of the revolution. For this, all the forces that want revolution must work together and build a revolutionary party.
[i] https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/global-wave-of-mass-protests/
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Ibid
[iv] Ibid