Anita Sirgo
{{Short description|Spanish activist (1930–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
Ana Sirgo Suárez, known as Anita Sirgo, (20 January 1930 – 15 January 2024) was a Spanish communist militant.{{Cite web |last=GARCÍA |first=EUGENIA |date=22 December 2018 |title=Anita Sirgo: "Queda mucho por lo que luchar, nada se conquista desde el sofá" |url=https://www.elcomercio.es/gijon/anita-sirgo-queda-mucho-luchar-20181222001918-ntvo.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=El Comercio: Diario de Asturias |language=es}} She played a very active role during the Asturian miners' strike of 1962, contributing in a prominent way to its success.{{Cite web |last=Cuaderno |first=El |date=16 December 2018 |title=Entrevista a Anita Sirgo |url=https://elcuadernodigital.com/2018/12/17/36419/ |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=El Cuaderno |language=es}}
Early life
Sirgo was born on 20 January 1930 into a family of miners politically committed to communism and without the possibility of accessing education. With the end of the Civil War and the fall of the Second Republic, her father fled to the mountains to join the resistance, while her mother was detained in Arnao prison, a fate that other relatives also suffered.{{Cite web |date=27 January 2008 |title=Anita Sirgo, con los suyos |url=https://www.lne.es/nalon/2008/01/27/anita-sirgo-21761605.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=La Nueva España |language=es}} She was then picked up by some of her aunts and uncles, who took her to live in Andrín, Llanes. There she worked in the fields and also collaborated as a liaison for the guerrillas from the age of nine. At the age of twelve, she was discovered and arrested by the Civil Guard along with other family members, including her mother and her uncle, Fidel Suárez Campurru. The Civil Guard also took away the furniture of the house, which years later appeared to be used in the headquarters of the Falange. She had the opportunity to see her father for the last time, before he was murdered in 1947 and buried in a ditch that has not yet been located. On 26 January 1948, her uncle died along with other guerrillas.{{Cite web |last=VILLACORTA |first=AZAHARA |date=9 May 2019 |title=Y Anita Sirgo se hizo cómic |url=https://www.elcomercio.es/culturas/anita-sirgo-hizo-20190509002625-ntvo.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=El Comercio: Diario de Asturias |language=es}}
In 1950 she married Alfonso Braña Castaño, a miner in the Fondón mine. Both began to be more active in the Communist Party of Spain.{{Cite web |last=Nodo50 |date=16 January 2024 |title=Las mujeres que pararon dos meses a Franco |url=https://info.nodo50.org/Las-mujeres-que-pararon-dos-meses.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=Nodo50 |language=es}}
1962 Strike
About a month after the beginning of the 1962 miners' strike, a failure began to loom, with miners proposing to return to work. Given the situation, the women of the mining basin decided to organize and actively support the strike in the face of the situation of misery in which they found themselves. Thus, they organized pickets and prevented the scabs from accessing the wells.{{Cite web |date=19 September 2017 |title=Anita Sirgo: "Nosotros luchamos y conseguimos cosas durante el franquismo, y eso que teníamos una pistola detrás" |url=https://www.flooxernow.com/noticias/anita-sirgo-nosotros-luchamos-conseguimos-cosas-franquismo-eso-que-teniamos-pistola-detras_2017091959c0ca6a0cf2784e0591a870.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=www.flooxernow.com |language=es}}
In addition, Siro participated decisively in the organization of clandestine women's groups during the strike, with the collaboration of women such as Tina Pérez and Celestina Marrón.These groups were responsible, among other things, for collecting aid in the form of food, transmitting messages or distributing leaflets.{{Cite web |date=16 June 2015 |title=Anita Sirgo, la guerrillera del tacón |url=https://www.publico.es/politica/anita-sirgo-guerrillera-del-tacon.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=www.publico.es}}
Sirgo participated in the occupation in the cathedral of Oviedo during the 1962 strike along with about forty other women.{{Cite web |last=Fanjul |first=Sergio C. |date=15 January 2024 |title=Muere a los 93 años Anita Sirgo, emblema de la lucha antifranquista en las cuencas mineras asturianas |url=https://elpais.com/espana/2024-01-15/muere-a-los-93-anos-anita-sirgo-emblema-de-la-lucha-antifranquista-en-las-cuencas-mineras-asturianas.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=El País |language=es}} Under the principle of active non-violence, they tried to give visibility to the struggle throughout the Spanish territory and came to have the support of the auxiliary bishop of the time, Segundo García de la Sierra. They ended the lockdown after solidarity strikes were organised in countries such as France and Belgium, bringing their work to an end.{{Cite web |date=15 January 2024 |title=Muere a los 93 años Anita Sirgo, emblema de la lucha antifascista |url=https://www.lavozdeasturias.es/noticia/asturias/2024/01/15/muere-93-anos-anita-sirgo-emblema-lucha-antifascista/00031705310977014219479.htm |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=La Voz de Asturias |language=es}}{{Cite web |title=Calle Constantina Pérez y Anita Sirgo - Callejero de Gijón - Callejero.net |url=https://gijon.callejero.net/calle-constantina-perez-y-anita-sirgo.html |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=gijon.callejero.net |language=es}}