SOME STORIES ABOUT CAPITAL VICES: GREED (III)

Ration Card during the Post-War

November, 1950

She was a girl. She didn’t understand why her parents were so important for the neighbourhood. His father was a milkman; her mother took care of the little greengrocers shop.

 
She had learnt how to survive in the middle of a Post-War. It was a terrible age because the population lived under a great poverty and it was very difficult to get food and daily products. Her parents helped as people as they could. The neighbourhood had to share aliments and basic needs. Solidarity appears in the worst moments when the most important is not living but surviving.

She grew up and was a hard worker teenager who looked after her brothers and helped in the little shop. It was normal in that age. She was the girl of the family. The Post-War continued. Nobody hoped a fast final. Life was grey and lots of new neighbours arrived to the suburb. They came from Andalusia, Castile, Galicia, Valence, Murcia, Balearic Islands or Aragon. They were poor people who had lost few things that they had and had decided to start a new life in the Catalan capital.

More neighbours, same things to share. The dictatorship had established a new card to restrict the access to elementary aliments. Solidarity again and a great effort of every member of that community made possible the subsistence with the enormous collaboration of her parents. The little shop was the neuralgic centre of the suburb because it had a great objective: feed the neighbourhood despite of the dictatorship controls.

November, 2016

The Grandma in front of Roser's home

Today, she’s in front of the shop, where she has been living since she was born, 73 years ago. Times have changed. She’s looking at her home with pain. Lots of neighbours have wanted to stay with her in this difficult moment. She locks the door for the last time and takes her beloved things. She says goodbye to her home, her suburb and many years of shared experiences. A new project of the City Hall wants to destroy her home to build new houses. Wow! It's necessary to expel old neighbours to welcome new ones. It's a project of the City Hall. It's not a private project.

When The Antichrist arrived to the City Hall promised to help all people without distinction in their search of basic things: home and work. Some people, like The Grandma, didn’t believe her and they received lots of nagging and bad words. One year and half later, the city is a great chaos. All elementary things have increased their prices in more than 10%; social services don’t run with efficacy and there’s a great feeling of having been abandoned by the City Hall.

This is Roser’s story, today. This can be your story, tomorrow.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy The Antichrist and her new policy!