La voila! Voila la Carmencita!

December 29, 2004 8:10 AM

Carmen, ah! souviens-toi du passé! The 233 [mostly] female cigar rollers (las cigarreras) at Seville's Altadis tobacco factory are urgently trying to defend the last remaining trace of the four-hundred-year-old tobacco industry in Seville, which is certain to cease production by 2007. Responsible for manufacturing six million cigarettes a year for Altadis, las cigarreras claim to be "the rightful heirs of the feisty Gypsy heroine" Carmen, idealized in Georges Bizet's 1875 opera of the same name. "Invoking what they see as Carmen's 'independent, unbending' spirit, these contemporary las cigarreras have organized a protest every Wednesday, between shifts, for more than a year to save well-paying local jobs as well as the factory itself, a link to the gritty history that spawned the romantic legends."
posted by naxosaxur (8 comments total)

I hate to sound like Sister Mary Faze, but there's nothing romantic about lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the scores of other chronic diseases caused or exacerbated by smoking. "Carmen" is the greatest of all operas, but don't forget how it ends: with a knife in the chest. Don't let YOUR life end with a surgeon's blade in YOUR chest, kids. Put these cigarette-rolling harpies out of business. Quit smoking today.
posted by Faze at 9:06 AM on December 29, 2004

"Invoking what they see as Carmen's 'independent, unbending' spirit."

I'd say she did quite a bit of bending when Escamillo came into town.

I can't consider any of Carmen's spirit these days without first recalling my father leaning over to me during one performance and whispering "Carmen is a whoooore!" Nevermind it's one of our mutual favorite operas; the character really isn't someone you'd want to hold as champion if you're looking to fight for labor/women's rights.
posted by Sangre Azul at 9:43 AM on December 29, 2004

Sangre Azul -- Your father had it right. And Don Jose is the biggest whuss of all time.
posted by Faze at 9:48 AM on December 29, 2004

Whoooooore!
posted by basicchannel at 11:21 AM on December 29, 2004

You would think people would pay to watch the cigar rolling as part of a Carmen tour of Seville.
posted by Rumple at 11:28 AM on December 29, 2004

Insert Seinfeld reference to Kramer's imported "Cubans" here
posted by wendell at 11:36 AM on December 29, 2004

The 233 [mostly] female cigar rollers (las cigarreras) at Seville's Altadis tobacco factory are urgently trying to defend the last remaining trace of the four-hundred-year-old tobacco industry in Seville, which is certain to cease production by 2007. Responsible for manufacturing six million cigarettes a year for Altadis...

Is it cigarettes or cigars? I'm thinking cigars, and a little quick math shows that each rolls ~100 per day, which seems high from what I've read about the industry. I'm a Fuente man myself, but I do like Carmen.
posted by fixedgear at 2:10 PM on December 29, 2004

Calling them cigarette-rolling harpies is a bit reductionist. Women in that region don't have a lot of employment options, and it's questionable how much the closing of the factory is related to a decreased demand for tobacco and how much it's related to the company consolidating its assets and updating its technologies.
posted by bingo at 2:38 PM on December 29, 2004