For 33 years, S\u00c3\u00a1nchez Gordillo has been mayor of Marinaleda, pop. 2,700, another farming settlement about 100 miles west of J\u00c3\u00b3dar. Like J\u00c3\u00b3dar, Marinaleda is mostly inhabited by jornaleros. Over the decades, S\u00c3\u00a1nchez Gordillo has transformed the poor village into an islet of social justice and relative prosperity, with almost full employment through communal farming, low taxes, a salary of \u00e2\u201a\u00ac1,200 ($1,572), food and housing considered as rights, and \u201cdirect democracy\u201d\u009d exercised through frequent general assemblies. S\u00c3\u00a1nchez Gordillo and his townsmen launched their movement to build what he calls \u201ca communist utopia\u201d\u009d after the death of general and dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, occupying land owned by a member of the royal family and distributing it for communal ownership as well as taking over local airports.<\/p>\n
His efforts in Marinaleda long ago earned him a regional following, but S\u00c3\u00a1nchez Gordillo and his lieutenant, the 57-year-old Diego Ca\u00c3\u00b1amero, the SAT union\u2019s national spokesman, have gained renown in recent months with a series of controversial protests against the austerity measures embraced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish government. On Aug. 7, the two led union members on raids on Carrefour (CA) and Mercadona supermarkets, leaving the stores with shopping carts full of \u201cexpropriated\u201d\u009d food they gave away to the hungry poor.<\/p>\n