Red Wedge takes a look at some of the creative graphic design and artwork that can be unleashed when workers flex their muscle.
This past week saw a historic, cross-continent general strike take place in Portugal, Greece, Spain, and Italy. Solidarity demonstrations and workplace actions were also held in France, Turkey, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Malta and other countries. The strike was in protest of the vicious austerity being pushed onto workers by the European Union and international financial institutions.
The devastation wrought by cuts in social spending and mass layoffs has been significant. Most notorious have been the effects in Greece, where over 25 percent of the labor force is out of work, evictions and power shutoffs are a daily fact of life, and slashes to public health care have run so deep that cancer patients are literally dying outside of clinics. But the brunt of recession and austerity hasn't been felt by just Greece. In Spain, youth unemployment is over 50 percent. Portugal's 2013 budget is set to include huge rollbacks on the rights of workers; pensions are also being attacked.
As this general strike showed, however, the picture of European recession isn't just one of abject suffering. It revealed a returning and increasing combativity of the continent's workers. It also revealed, as significant events like this often do, some of the dynamic creativity that can be unleashed when ordinary people finally have a chance to let their voices be heard.
The devastation wrought by cuts in social spending and mass layoffs has been significant. Most notorious have been the effects in Greece, where over 25 percent of the labor force is out of work, evictions and power shutoffs are a daily fact of life, and slashes to public health care have run so deep that cancer patients are literally dying outside of clinics. But the brunt of recession and austerity hasn't been felt by just Greece. In Spain, youth unemployment is over 50 percent. Portugal's 2013 budget is set to include huge rollbacks on the rights of workers; pensions are also being attacked.
As this general strike showed, however, the picture of European recession isn't just one of abject suffering. It revealed a returning and increasing combativity of the continent's workers. It also revealed, as significant events like this often do, some of the dynamic creativity that can be unleashed when ordinary people finally have a chance to let their voices be heard.
Truly international: the word "strike" in English, Spanish, Greek, French, Portuguese, Italian and other languages.
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A close look will reveal Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, and the Coliseum in the lower fourth of the left image.
From Spain's anarcho syndicalist CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) union confederation.
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Both graphics were designed by Spanish feminist groups to bolster women's support for the strike. As in most countries, women have disproportionately suffered the brunt of austerity. The image on the right is in the colors of the Catalonian flag.
 |  From Portugal. The circular "greve geral" graphic above appeared on red vests distributed by the country's main union federation to striking workers. |
A performance art piece in Athens' Syntagma Square. Turnout in Greece was smaller than in the rest of southern Europe due to what a lot of organizers chalked up to battle fatigue.
 Above: more from Portugal. Right: a poster supporting the strike in both Spanish and Euskara from the Basque country. |  |
 |  From France. Above, a demonstrator's "speech bubble placards," which loosely translate to "we are all Greeks" and "an end to austerity." The poster on the left translates to "the people rise up." |
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