People's Assemblies Network

10 April 2013
by Robbie Griffiths
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Corporations and Democracy – can they coexist?

Thursday 11 April 19:00

Democracy Café event

Cittie of Yorke pub, 22 High Holborn WC1 6BN (by Chancery Lane tube)

With Rebecca Fisher from Corporate Watch

Rebecca is the editor of ‘Managing Democracy, Managing Dissent’ http://www.corporatewatch.org/democracy
She will argue that corporations, as institutional agents of capitalism, cannot co-exist with genuine democracy, as they are in fundamental contradiction.

The Democracy Café is where you can discuss key political issues in an informal setting with invited speakers. Future events will cover Iceland, the National Health Service and the media.

3 April 2013
by pa-webgroup
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FR/ESP/ENG/AR Declaration of WSF Assembly in Tunis

Letter from WSF’s non-horizontal social movements assembly’s facilitation team, and the final declaration text. The date for common action is open for suggestions. You can find informative and critical articles on the 2013 WSF in Tunis at

Red Pepper and Truth Out

(Français – Castellano – English)

Cher(e)s ami(e)s,

Nous vous envoyons ci-dessous et attaché la Déclaration de l´Assemblée des Mouvements Sociaux (en français, espagnol, anglais et arab) qui il y a eu lieu le 29 mars 2013, pendant le Forum social mondial tenue à Tunisie. Nous continuons a debattre une date comune de action global donc nous vous invitons a partager sur la liste vos dates de mobilisations et des actions pendant le 2013 et des propositions sur la date comune.

En solidarité et lutte,

Groupe Facilitation AMS
========================
Estimadas/os compas,

Les enviamos abajo y en adjunto la Declaración de la Asamblea de los Movimientos Sociales (en frances, castellano, ingles y arabe) que tuvo lugar en el 29 marzo 2013, durante el Foro Social Mundial realizado en la Tunisia. Continuaremos a debater una fecha comun de acción global. Por eso, les invitamos a compartir sur la lista sus datas de movilizacion y acciones que harán durante el 2013 asi como proposiciones sobre la fecha común.

En solidaridad y lucha,

Grupo de Facilitación de la AMS

=======================
Dear comrades,

We are sending below and attached the Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly (in English, French, Spanish and Arabic) held on the 29 March 2013, during the World Social Forum in Tunisia. We will continue to debate a common global day of action and we invite all of you to share in this list your dates of mobilisation and actions that will be carried out around 2013 as well as proposals about the common day.


In struggle and solidarity,

Social Movements Assembly Facilitating Group
==============
(Français)

Assemblée des mouvements sociaux – Forum social mondial 2013 – Tunisie, 29 mars

Nous, réunies et réunis lors de l’Assemblée des mouvements sociaux du Forum social mondial 2013 à Tunis affirmons l’apport capital des peuples du Maghreb-Mashrek (du Nord d’Afrique jusq’au Moyen Orient) dans la construction de la civilisation humaine. Nous affirmons que la décolonisation des peuples opprimés reste pour nous, mouvements sociaux du monde entier, un grand défi à relever.

Au sein du processus FSM, l’Assemblée des mouvements sociaux est l’espace où nous nous réunissons avec notre diversité, pour construire nos agendas et luttes communes contre le capitalisme, le patriarcat, le racisme et toute forme de discrimination et d’oppression. Nous avons construit une histoire et un travail communs qui a permis certaines avancées, notamment en Amérique latine, où nous avons réussi à freiner des alliances néo-libérales et concrétiser plusieurs alternatives pour un développement socialement juste et respectueux de la nature.

 Ensemble, les peuples de tous les continents  mènent  des luttes pour s’opposer avec la plus grande énergie à la domination du capital, cachée derrière des promesses de progrès économique et d’apparente stabilité politique.

 Maintenant, nous nous trouvons dans un carrefour où les forces conservatriceset retrogrades veulent arrêter les processus initiés il y a deux années soulèvement populaire dans la région du Maghreb-Mashrek qui a permis de faire chutter des dictatures et contester le systeme neoliberale imposé aux peuples. Ces soulevements si sont étendus à tous les continents du monde en generantde procesus d’indignation et d occupation des places publiques.

 

Les peuples du monde entier subissent aujourd’hui l’aggravation d’une crise profonde du capitalisme dans laquelle ses agents (banques, transnationales, conglomérats médiatiques, institutions internationales et tous les gouvernements complices avec le neoliberalisme) cherchent à accroître leurs bénéfices au prix d’une politique interventionniste et néo-colonialiste.

Guerres, occupations militaires, traités néo-libéraux de libre-échange et “mesures d’austérité” se voient traduits en paquets économiques qui privatisent les biens communes et les services publiques, baissent les salaires, réduisent les droits, augmentent le chômage, augmentent la surcharge des femmes dans le travail de soins et detruissent la nature.

 

Ces politiques affectent lourdement les pays riches du Nord, augmentent les migrations, les déplacements forcés, les délogements, l’endettement et les inégalités sociales comme en Grece, Chypre, Portugal, Italie, Irlande et dans l´Etat Espagnol. Elles renforcent le conservatisme et le controle sur le corps et la vie des femmes.  En outre, ils tentent de nous imposer “l’économie verte” comme solution à la crise environnementale et alimentaire, ce qui non seulement aggrave le problème, mais débouche sur la marchandisation, la privatisation et la financiarisation de la vie et de la nature.  

 

Nous denonçons l´intensification de la répression aux peuples rebelles, l´assassinat des leaderships des mouvements sociaux, la criminalisation de nos luttes et de nos propositions.

 

Nous affirmons que les peuples ne doivent pas payer pour cette crise et qu’il n’y a pas d’issue possible au sein du système capitaliste. Ici, à Tunis, nous réaffirmons notre engagement avec la construction d’ une stratégie commune de lutte contre le capitalisme. C’est pour ça qui, nous, les mouvements sociaux luttons: 

*Contre les transnationales et le système financier (FMI, BM et OMC),principaux agents du système capitaliste, qui privatisent la vie, les services publics et les biens communs comme l’eau, l’air, la terre, les semences, les ressources minérales, promeuvent les guerres et les violations du droit humain. Les transnationales reproduisent des pratiques extractivistes nuisibles à la vie, accaparent nos terres et développent des semences et aliments transgéniques qui  privent les peuples de leur droit à l’alimentation et détruisent la biodiversité.

Nous luttons pour l´annulation de la dette illégitime et odieuse qui est aujourd´hui un instrument global de domination, de répression et d´asphyxie económique et financière des peuples. Nous refusons les accords de libre-échange que nous imposent les États et les transnationales et nous affirmons qu’il est possible de construire une mondialisation d’un autre type, par les peuples et pour les peuples, fondée sur la solidarité et sur la liberté de circulation pour tous les êtres humains.

 

*Pour la justice climatique et la souveraineté alimentaire parce que nous savons que le réchauffement global est un résultat du système capitaliste de production, distribution et consommation. Les transnationales, les institutions financières internationales et les gouvernements qui sont à leur service ne veulent pas réduire leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Nous dénonçons l´ « économie vert », et refusons les fausses solutions à la crise climatique comme les agrocarburants, les organismes génétiquement modifiés, la géo-ingénierie et les mécanismes de marché de carbone, comme le REDD (Réduction des Émissionsliées à la Déforestation et à la Dégradation), qui font miroiter aux populations appauvries des progrès, tout en privatisant et transformant en marchandises les forêts et territoires où ces populations ont vécu pendant des millénaires.

 

Nous défendons la souveraineté alimentaire et l’agriculture paysanne qui est une solution réelle à la crise alimentaire et climatique et signifie aussi l’accès à la terre pour celles et ceux qui la travaillent. Pour cela, nous appelons à une grande mobilisation pour stopper l’accaparement des terres et soutenir les luttes paysannes locales.

 

*Contre la violence envers les femmes qui est exercée régulièrement dans les territoires occupés militairement, mais aussi contre la violence dont souffrent les femmes quand elles sont criminalisées parce qu’elles participent activement aux luttes sociales. Nous luttons contre la violence domestique et sexuelle qui est exercée sur elles quand elles sont considérées comme des objets ou marchandises, quand leur souveraineté sur leur corps et leur spiritualité n’est pas reconnue. Nous luttons contre la traite des femmes, des filles et garçons.

Nous défendons la diversité sexuelle, le droit à l’autodétermination du genre, et nous luttons contre l’homophobie et les violences sexistes.

 

*Pour la paix et contre la guerre, le colonialisme, les occupations et la militarisation de nos territoires. Nous dénonçons le faux discours de défense des droits humains et de combat aux integrismes, qui souvent sont utilisés pour justifier l´interventions militaires comme au Haiti, Libye, Mali et Syrie. Nous defendons le droit à la souveraineté e à l’auto-détermination des peuples comme dans la Palestine, le Sahara Occidental et le Kurdistan.

Nous denonçons l’installation des bases militaires étrangères pour fomenter des conflits, contrôler et piller les ressources naturelles et promouvoir des dictatures en divers endroits du monde.

Nous luttons pour la liberté de nous organiser dans des syndicats, des mouvements sociaux, des associations et toutes autres formes de resistance pacifique.

Renforçons nos instruments de solidarité entre les peuples comme le boycott, désinvestissement et sanctions contre Israel et la lutte contre l’OTAN  et pour l’élimination de toutes les armes nucléaires.

 

*Pour la démocratisation des médias de masse et la construction demédias alternatifs, qui sont fondamentales pour faire renverser la logiquecapitaliste.

 

Inspirés par l’histoire de nos luttes et par la force rénovatrice des peuples dans les rues, l’Assemblée des mouvements sociaux appelle tous et toutes à développer des actions de mobilisation coordonnées au niveau mondial dans une journée global de mobilisation le XXXXX  (date à definir).

.

Mouvements sociaux du monde entier, avançons vers une unité globale pour défaire le système capitaliste !

 

Assez d´explotation, assez de patriarcat, de racisme et colonialisme! Vive la revolution ! Vive la lutte de tous les peuples!

======================
(Castellano)

 

Declaración de la Asamblea de los Movimientos Sociales – Foro Social Mundial 2013 – Tunísia – 29 de marzo

 

Nosotras y nosotros, reunidos en la Asamblea de Movimientos Sociales, realizada en Tunis durante el Foro Social Mundial 2013, afirmamos el aporte fundamental de los pueblos del Magreb-Mashreck (desde la África del Norte hasta el Medio Oriente) en la construcción de la civilización humana. Afirmamos que la descolonización de los pueblos oprimidos es un gran reto para los movimientos sociales del mundo entero.

 

En el proceso del FSM, la Asamblea de los Movimientos Sociales es el espacio donde nos reunimos desde nuestra diversidad para juntos construir agendas y luchas comunes contra el capitalismo, el patriarcado, el racismo y todo tipo de discriminación y opresion. Hemos construido una historia y un trabajo común que permitió algunos avances, particularmente en América Latina, donde logramos frenar alianzas neoliberales y concretar alternativas para un desarrollo socialmente justo y respetuoso de la naturaleza.

 

Juntos, los pueblos de todos los continentes libramos luchas donde nos oponemos con gran energía a la dominación del capital, que se oculta detrás de la promesa de progreso económico del capitalismo y de la aparente estabilidad política.

 

Ahora, nos encontramos en una encrucijada donde las fuerzas conservadoras y retrogadas quieren parar los procesos iniciados a dos años de sublevación popular en la región del Maghreb-Mashrek que ayudó a derrumbar dictaduras y a enfrentar el sistema neoliberal impuesto sobre los pueblos. Estas sublevacionescontagiaron a todos los continentes del mundo generando procesos de indignación y de ocupación de las plazas públicas.

 

Los pueblos de todo el mundo sufrimos hoy los efectos del agravamiento de una profunda crisis del capitalismo, en la cual sus agentes (bancos, transnacionales, conglomerados mediáticos, instituciones internacionales y gobiernos con el neoliberalismo) buscan potenciar sus beneficios a costa de una política intervencionista y neocolonialista.

 

Guerras, ocupaciones militares, tratados neoliberales de libre comercio y “medidas de austeridad” expresadas en paquetes económicos que privatizan los bienes comunes y los  services publiques, rebajan salarios, reducen derechos, multiplican el desempleo, aumentan la sobrecarga de las mujeres en el trabajo de cuidado y destroyen la naturaleza. 

 

Estas políticas afectan con intensidad a los países más ricos del Norte, aumentan las migraciones, los desplazamientos forzados, los desalojos, el endeudamiento, y las desigualdades sociales como en la Grecia, Chipre, Portugal, Italia, Irlanda  y en el Estado Español. Ellas refuerzan el conservadorismo y el control sobre el cuerpo y la vida de las mujeres. Además, tales agentes intentan imponernos la “economía verde” como solución para la crisis ambiental y alimentaria, lo que además de agravar el problema, resulta en la mercantilización, privatización y financiarización de la vida y de la naturaleza.

 

Denunciamos la intensificación de la represión a los pueblos en rebeldía, el asesinato de las y los liderazgos de los movimientos sociales, la criminalización de nuestras luchas y de nuestras propuestas.

 

Afirmamos que los pueblos no debemos seguir pagando por esta crisis sistémica y que no hay salida dentro del sistema capitalista!  Aquí en Tunis, reafirmamos nuestro compromiso com la construcción de una estrategia común para derrocar el capitalismo. Por eso, luchamos:

 

*Contra las transnacionales y el sistema financiero (el FMI, el BM y la OMC), principales agentes del sistema capitalista, que privatizan la vida, los servicios públicos, y los bienes comunes, como el agua, el aire, la tierra, las semillas, y los recursos minerales, promueven las guerras y violaciones de los derechos humanos. Las transnacionales reproducen prácticas extractivistas insostenibles para la vida, acaparan nuestras tierras y desarrollan alimentos transgénicos que nos quitan a los pueblos el derecho a la alimentación y eliminan la biodiversidad.

Luchamos por la anulación de la deuda ilegitima y odiosa que hoy es instrumento de represión y asfixia económica y financiera de los pueblos. Recusamos los tratados de libre comercio que las transnacionales nos imponen y afirmamos que es posible construir una integración de otro tipo, a partir del pueblo y para los pueblos, basada en la solidaridad y em la libre circulación de los seres humanos.

 

*Por la justicia climatica y la soberania alimentaria, porque sabemos que elcalentamiento global es resultado del sistema capitalista de producción, distribución y consumo. Las transnacionales, las instituciones financieras internacionales y gobiernos a su servicio no quieren reducir sus emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Denunciamos la “economía verde” y rechazamos todas las falsas soluciones a la crisis climática como los agrocombustibles, los transgênicos, la geo-ingeniería y los mecanismos de mercado de carbono, como REDD, que ilusionan a poblaciones empobrecidas con el progreso, mientras privatizan y mercantilizan los bosques y territorios donde han vivido miles de años.

 

Defendemos la soberanía alimentaria y la agricultura campesina, que es una solución real a la crisis alimentaria y climática y significa también acceso a la tierra para la gente que la vive y la trabaja. Por eso llamamos a una gran movilización para frenar el acaparamiento de tierras y apoyar las luchas campesinas locales.

 

*Contra la violencia hacia las mujeres, que es ejercida con regularidad en los territorios ocupados militarmente, pero también contra la violencia que sufren las mujeres cuando son criminalizadas por participar activamente en las luchas sociales. Luchamos contra la violencia doméstica y sexual que es ejercida sobre ellas cuando son consideradas como objetos o mercancías, cuando la soberanía sobre sus cuerpos y su espiritualidad no es reconocida. Luchamos contra el tráfico de mujeres, niñas y niños. Defendemos la diversidad sexual, el derecho a autodeterminación de género, y luchamos contra la homofobia y la violencia sexista.

 

*Por la paz y contra la guerra, el colonialismo, las ocupaciones y la militarización de nuestros territorios. Denunciamos el falso discurso en defensa de los derechos humanos y de la lucha contra los integrismos, que muchas veces justifica ocupaciones militares por potencias imperialistas como en Haiti, Libia, Mali y Siria.

Defendemos el derecho de los pueblos a su autodeterminación y a su soberania como en la Palestina, el Sahara Ocidental y en el Curdistán.

Denunciamos la instalación de bases militares extranjeras en nuestros terrritorios, utilizadas para fomentar conflictos, controlar y saquear los recursos naturales y promover dictaduras en varios países.

Luchamos porl a libertad de nos organizarmos en sindicatos, movimientos sociales, associacinoes y todas otras formas de resistencia pacífica.

 

Fortalecezcamos nuestras herramientas de solidaridad entre los pueblos como la iniciativa de boicot, desinversión y sanción hacia Israel y la lucha contra la OTAN y por la eliminación de todas las armas nucleares.

 

*Por la democratización de los medios de comunicación masivos y por la construcción de médios alternativos, fundamentales para avanzar en la derrocada de la logica capitalista.  

 

Inspirados en la historia de nuestras luchas y en la fuerza renovadora del pueblo en rebeldia, la Asamblea de los Movimientos Sociales convoca a todas y todos a desarrollar acciones coordinadas en nivel mundial en una jornada  mundial de movilizacióen el día XXXXX (Fecha a definir)

 

Movimientos sociales de todo el mundo, avancemos hacia la unidad a nivel mundial para derrotar al sistema capitalista!!

 

Basta de explotación, basta de patriarcado, racismo y colonialismo! Viva la revolución!

 

Viva la lucha de todos los pueblos!

====================
(English)

 

Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly – World Social Forum 2013
29 March 2013, Tunisia

 

As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Tunisia, 2013, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of peoples of Maghreb-Mashrek (from North Africa to the Middle East), in the construction of human civilization. We affirm that decolonization for oppressed peoples remains for us, the social movements of the world, a challenge of the greatest importance.

 

Through the WSF process, the Social Movements Assembly is the place where we come together through our diversity, in order to forge common struggles and a collective agenda to fight against capitalism, patriarchy, racism and all forms of discrimination and oppression. We have built a common history of work which led to some progress, particularly in Latin America, where we have been able to intervene in neoliberal alliances and to create several alternatives for just development that truly honors nature.

 

Together, the peoples of all the continents are fighting to oppose the domination of capital, hidden behind illusory promises of economic progress and the illusion of political stability.

 

Now, we are at a crossroads where retrograde and conservative forces want to stop the processes initiated two years ago with the uprisings in the Maghreb-Mashreq region that helped to bring down dictatorships and to challenge the neoliberal system imposed on the peoples. These uprisings have spread to all continents of the world inspiring indignation and occupation of public places.

 

People all over the world are suffering the effects of the aggravation of a profound crisis of capitalism, in which its agents (banks, transnational corporations, media conglomerates, international institutions, and governmentscomplicit with neoliberalism) aim at increasing their profits by applying interventionist and neocolonial policies.

 

War, military occupations, free-trade neoliberal treaties and “austerity measures” are expressed in economic packages that privatize the common good, and public services, cut wages and rights, increase unemployment, overload women´s care work and destroys nature.

Such policies strike the richer countries of the North harder and are increasing migration, forced displacement, evictions, debt, and social inequalities such as in Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and the Spanish State.

 

They re-enforce conservatism and the control over women´s bodies and lives. In addition, they seek to impose ”green economy” as a solution to the environmental and food crisis, which not only exacerbates the problem, but leads tocommodification, privatization and financialization of life and nature.

 

We denounce the intensification of repression to people´s rebellions, the assassination of the leadership of social movements, the criminalization of ourstruggles and our proposals.

 

We assert that people must not continue to pay for this systemic crisis and that there is no solution inside the capitalist system! Here, in Tunes, we reaffirm our committment to come together to forge a common strategy to guide our struggles against capitalism. This is why we, social movements, struggle:

 

*Against transnational corporations and the financial system (IMF, WB and WTO), who are the main agents of the capitalist system, privatizing life, public services and common goods such as water, air, land, seeds and mineral resources, promoting wars and violations of human rights. Transnational corporations reproduce extractionist practices endangering life and nature, grabbing our lands and developing genetically modified seeds and food, taking away the peoples’ right to food and destroying biodiversity.

We fight for the cancellation of illegitimate and odious debt which today is a global instrument of domination, repression and economic and financial strangulation of people. We reject free trade agreements that are imposed by States and transnational corporations and we affirm that it is possible to build another kind of globalization, made from and by the people, based on solidarity and on freedom of movement for all the human beings.

 

*For climate justice and food sovereignty, because we now that global climate change is a product of the capitalist system of production, distribution and consumption. Transnational corporations, international financial institutions and governments serving them do not want to reduce greenhouse gases. We denounce “green economy” and refuse false solutions to the climate crisis such as biofuels, genetically modified organisms and mechanisms of the carbon market like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), which ensnare impoverished peoples with false promises of progress while privatizing and commodifying the forests and territories where these peoples have been living for thousands of years.

 

We defend the food sovereignty and support sustainable peasant agriculture which is the true solution to the food and climate crises and  includes access to land for all who work on it. Because of this, we call for a mass mobilisation to stop the landgrab and support local peasants struggles.

 

*Against violence against women, often conducted in militarily occupied territories, but also violence affecting women who are criminalized for taking part in social struggles. We fight against domestic and sexual violence perpetrated on  women because they are considered objects or goods, because the sovereignty of their bodies and minds is not acknowledged. We fight against the traffic of women, girls and boys.

We defend sexual diversity, the right to gender self-determination and we oppose all homophobia and sexist violence.

 

*For peace and against war, colonialism, occupations and the militarization of our lands.

We denounce the false discourse of human rights defense and fight against fundamentalism, that often justify these military occupations such as in Haiti, Líbia, Mali and Syria. We defend the right to people’s sovereignty and self-determination such as in Palestine, Western Sahara and Kurdistan.

 

We denounce the instalation of foreign military bases to instigate conflicts, to control and ransack natural resources, and to foster dictatorships in several countries.

 

We struggle for the freedom of organization in trade unions, social movements, associations and other forms of peaceful resistance. Let’s strengthen our tools of solidarity among peoples such as boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against Israel and the struggle against NATO and to ban all nuclear weapons.

 

*For democratization of mass media and building alternative media, that are fundamental to overthrow the capitalist logics.

 

Inspired by the history of our struggles and by the strength of people on the streets, the Social Movements Assembly call upon all people to mobilize and develop actions – coordinated at world level – in a global Day of mobilization on the XXXX (day to decide)

 

Social movements of the world, let us advance towards a global unity to shatter the capitalist system!

 

No more exploitation, no more patriarchy, racism and colonialism! Viva larevolution! Long live the people’s struggle.

================== 

(Arabic)

 

إعلان الجلسة العامة للحركات الاجتماعية

المنتدى الاجتماعي العالمي تونس 2013

 

نحن المجتمعات والمجتمعين في جلسة الحركات الاجتماعية للمنتدى الاجتماعي العالمي 2013 المنعقد بتونس نؤكّد على المساهمة الفعالة شعوب المغرب والمشرق (من شمال افريقيا إلى الشرق الأوسط) في بناء الحضارة الإنسانية . كما نؤكد أنّ تحرّر الشعووب المضطهدة يبقى ،بالنسبة إلينا كحركات اجتماعية في العالم بأسره ،تحديا كبيرا  علينا رفعه.

 

إنّ جلسة الحركات الاجتماعية في مسار المنتدى الاجتماعي العالمي هي فضاء نجتمع فيه بتنوّعنا لبناء روزنامة نضالات المشتركة ضد الرأسمالية والأبوية والميز العنصري وكل أشكال التمييز والاضطهاد. لقد أنشأنا عملا وتاريخا مشتركا أتاح لنا بعض  التقدّم وخصوصا في أمريكا اللاتينية أين نجحنا في كبح التحالفات النيوليبرالية وتحقيق العديد من البدائل من أجل تنمية عادلة اجتماعيا ومحترمة للبيئة.

 

نحن شعوب كل القارات نخوض بكل طاقتنا نضالات مجابهة لهيمنة رأس المال الذي يتخفى وراء وعود تقدم اقتصادي والمتطاهر بالاستقرار السياسي

 

نجد أنفسنا اليوم في نقطة تلاق تسعى القوى المحافظة والرجعية  إلى ايقاف مسارنا الذي انطلق منذ سنتين والذي تمثل في تحركات لشعبية في المنطقة  الممتدة من شمال افريقيا إلى الشرق الأوسط والتي أدّت إلى الإطاحة  بالديكتاتوريات والاحتجاج على النظام النيوليبرالي المفروض على الشعوب والذي انتشر في كل قارات العالم وأفضى إلى تنامي مسار حركة الساخطين واحتلال الفضاء العمومي.

 

إنّ كل شعوب العالم تعاني اليوم من تفاقم الأزمة العميقة للرأسمالية التي تسعى فيها البنوك والشركات العابرة للقوميات والدعاية الاعلامية والمؤسسات المالية الدولية وكل الحكومات المتواطئة مع النيوليبرالية إلى الزيادة في أرباحها باتباعها سياسة هدر السيادة والاستعمار الجديد.

نشهد اليوم حروبا واحتلالا عسكريا واتفاقيات نيوليبرالية للتبادل الحر وسياسات التقشف يتم ترجمتها في حزمة اجراءات اقتصادية تخصخص الممتلكات المشتركة والخدمات الاجتماعية وتخفّض الأجور وتقلّص الحقوق  وتزيد من البطالة ومن عبء النساء ومعاناتهن في العمل المنزلي كما تدمر هذه الاجراءات الطبيعة

 إنّ هذه السياسات تصيب كذلك بلدان الشمال الغنية وتزيد من الهجرة والانتقال القسري والتداين واللامساواة الاجتماعية كما تشهد على ذلك اليونان وقبرص والبرتغال وايطاليا ودولة إسبانيا. إنّها سياسات تعزز المحافظة والرقابة على الجسد وحياة النساء.. ومن جهة أخرى هناك مسعى لفرض الاقتصاد الأخضر كحلّ للأزمة البيئية والغذائية وهو ما لا يفاقم المشكل فحسب بل يفضي إلى التسليع والخصخصة وإخضاع الحياة والطبيعة للمالية.

إنّنا نعلن إدانتا لتنامي قمع الشعوب المنتفضة واغتيال قادة الحركات الاجتماعية وتجريم احتجاجاتنا ونضالاتنا

 

 

نعلن تأكيدنا على انّ الشعوب لن تدفع فاتورة هذه الأزمة وانّه لا يوجد مخرج لها في ظلّ النظام الرأسمالي.

كما نؤكّد ونحن نجتمع هنا في تونس على التزامنا ببناء استراتيجيا مشتركة للنضال ضد الرأسمالية. لذلك نعلن نحن الحركات الاجتماعية نضالنا :

 

ضد الشركات العابرة للقوميات والنظام المالي (البنك العالمي وصندوق النقد الدولي والمنظمة العالمي للتجارة) باعتبارها مؤسسات النظام  الرأسمالي الرئيسية . فهي التي تخصخص الحياة والخدمات الاجتماعية والممتلكات المشتركة من ماء وهواء وأرض وبذور والثروات المنجمية  وتنمّى الحروب وانتهاكات حقوق الانسان. إنّ الشركات العابرة للقوميات تعيد انتاج السياسات الاستغلالية المضرة بالحياة وتحتكر أراضينا وتطور البذور والأغذية المعدلة جينيا حارمة الشعوب من حقها في الغذاء ومدمرة التنوع البيولوجي.

إننا نناضل من أجل إلغاء الديون غير الشرعية والكريهة التي هي اليوم أداة كونية للهيمنة والقمع و خنق الشعوب اقتصاديا وماليا . نعلن رفضنا لاتفاقيات التبادل الحر التي  تفرضها علينا الدول والشركات العابرة للقارات ونؤكد أنه من الممكن أن تبني الشعوب عولمة أخرى لمصلحة الشعوب، مؤسسة على التضامن وحرية التنقل لجميع الناس.

نناضل من أجل عدالة مناخية والسيادة الغذائية. فالانحباس الحراري نتيجة مترتّبة عن النظام الرأسمالي إنتاجا وتوزيعا واستهلاكا. إنّ الشركات العابرة للقوميات والمؤسسات المالية الدولية والحكومات الخادمة لها ترفض التقليص من انبعاث الغاز المسبّب للانحباس الحراري. كما ندين “الاقتصاد الأخضر” رافضين حلولها الخاطئة للأزمة المناخية مثل الوقود النباتي والأجسام المعدّلة جينيا والهندسة الجيولوجية وآليات سوق الكربون مثل “تخفيض انبعاثات الكربون الغابوي” – REDD التي توهم السكان المفقّرين بالتقدّم وهي تخصخص الغابات والأراضي التي يعيشون بها منذ آلاف السنين محوّلة تلك الغابات والأراضي إلى سلع.

إنّنا ندافع على السيادة الغذائية و فلاحة المزارعين باعتبارها حلاّ حقيقيا للأزمة الغذائية والمناخية والتي تعني أيضا تملّك الفلاّحين للأراضي التي يعملون بها. وننادي، من أجل ذلك، إلى تعبئة كبيرة لإيقاف انتزاع الأراضي ومساندة النضالات المحليّة للفلاّحين.

 

إننا نناضل ضد العنف المسلط على النساء بانتظام في الأراضي المحتلة عسكريا، وضد العنف اللائي يعانين منه حين يتم تجريمهن لأنهن يشاركن بفعالة في النضالات الاجتماعية. ونناضل ضد العنف المسلط على المرأة في المنازل والعنف الجنسي اللائي يتعرضن له حين يتم اعتبارهن كأشياء أو كسلعة، وحين لا يتم الاعتراف بسيادتهن على أجسادهن وأرواحهن. ونناضل ضد الاتجار  والفتيات والأطفال. وندافع عن التنوّع الجنسي وحقّ تحديد الجنس وضدّ العنف الجنسي.

 

نناضل من أجل السلام وضد الحرب، والاستعمار والاحتلال وعسكرة أقاليمنا. ونندد بالخطب المغشوشة حول حقوق الانسان ومقاومة التطرف، وهي خطب غالبا ما يتم استغلالها لتعليل التدخل العسكري كما تم في هايتي وليبيا وسوريا.

إننا ندافع عن الحق السيادي في تقرير الشعوب لمصيرها مثل فلسطين والصحراء الغربية وكردستان.

نرفض تركيز القواعد العسكرية الأجنبية للتحريض على النزاعات ومراقبة الثروات الطبيعية ونهبها ومساندة الديكتاتوريات في مختلف الأماكن من العالم.

إننا نكافح من أجل حرية تنظمنا في نقابات وحركات اجتماعية وجمعيات وكل أشكال المقاومة السلمية.

فلنعزز دعائم التضامن بين الشعوب مثل المقاطعة ورفض الاستثمار والعقوبات المسلطة على اسرائيل والنضال ضد حلف شمال الاطلسي ومن أجل التخلي عن كل الاسلحة النووية

نناضل من أجل دمقرطة الاعلام الجماهيري وإنشاء إعلام بديل نراه ضروريا وأساسيا لقلب المنطق الرأسمالي.

 

تدعو جلسة الحركات الاجتماعية الجميع نساء ورجالا إلى تطوير أشكال التحركات المنسقة على الصعيد العالمي في يوم عالمي للتعبئة…….(تاريخ للتحديد) مستوحين ذلك من تاريخ نضالاتنا وقوة الشعوب الخلاقة في الشوارع.

أيتها الحركات الاجتماعية في العالم كله، لنتقدم نحو وحدة شاملة وعالمية لإسقاط النظام الرأسمالي

كفى استغلالا، كفى أبوية وعنصرية واستعمارا

لتحيا الثورة

عاشت نضالات كل الشعوب

27 March 2013
by mirimmi
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BARCELONA #15M Newsletter nr 41

Hello from Barcelona,

This is the (almost) weekly newsletter that will inform you about the activities of 15M movement in Barcelona, Catalonia and occasionally the main events in Spain. If you do not wish to receive it anymore, please say so.

1. After the strike, direct action in universities

2. Integral revolution continues while Enric Duran is chased by banksters

3. Peoplewitness: media activism workshop on the road

1. AFTER THE STRIKE, DIRECT ACTION IN UNIVERSITIES

After the strike on February 28th (see NL#40, 2 the university world had declared war to the neoloiberal model that the Government of Catalunya is trying to implement in these institiutions, with measures that several platforms in the university see as a covered privatization that  allows companies and banks to make profit and even become part of the managing board of universities (see NL#29, 1).The UPC (Politechnical University of Barcelona) announced that they were going to fire 340 people from their staff, mainly associated professors and members of administration and service workers. This is a consequence of an unforecasted budget cut of 11 milion euro. A protest was called by the PUDUP (Platform in defense of the public university ) on March 15th in front of the place where the government council was taking place. They’ve presented signatures to ask for new rector elections because he is making decisions without the proper conensus. Also, the president of the Social Council of the UPC, businessman Joaquim Boixareu, is involved in a large case of corruption (Noós case ). The new economic regulation wants to get rid of 14 milion euro in expenses: 11 milion in staff, the rest in departments and materials, all of which is related to the payment of the debt. The assembley of workers, professors and students of the UPC’s North Campus decided to start an indefinite strike on April 2nd.

On March 21st, a hundred of students blocked Didac Ramírez -rector of the UB (University of Barcelona), Joaquim Boixareu, and Fernando Casado -ex-president of Catalunya Caixa- when they were going to give a conference in the university about all the good things they see in the new model of governing this institution. The students felt insulted by what they feel as a privatization of the University in hands of banks and companies. The conference had to be cancelled. 

Following the same idea, the students of the Assamblees Diagonal (diagonal Assamblies), a group of mainly technological and scientific campuses, performed an action to mark the banks and companies inside the university, such as Santander, Catalunya Caixa and Samsung. Shouting “they are not suicides, they are murders” referring to the terrible consequences of evictions by the banks, “Companies and banks, out of the university”, and other slogans the students made clear that private corporations are gulity of this crisis. Masked students and university workers did a procession building by building, protesting and covering the bank offices and companies with paint and stickers. They announce they are going to do it again anytime, anywhere.

Universities are facing a change of model in which quality and knowledge will be substituted by economical efficency and utilities. The people involved in the process, such as professors, teachers, administration and service workers, are organising themselves to try to stop this implementation. The harder the Government tries to destroy public universities, the harder universities will strike back.

LINKS:

Articles

Videos:

2. INTEGRAL REVOLUTION CONTINUES WHILE ENRIC DURAN IS CHASED BY BANKSTERS

Between 2005 and 2008 Enric Duran managed to accumulate dozens of bank loans which he never intended to pay back, donating instead all the money to social movements. Like Robin Hood, the English heroic outlaw, Spanish outlaw Duran steals from the rich and gives to the poor… activist groups. In September 2008 he provided a list of all the 39 banks he had taken loans from. He also circulated 200,000 copies of a single-issue free newspaper called Crisis to show how he had conned banks out of nearly half a million euros and what he spent the money on.

Duran said his system was to rise the loans partly by setting up a false television production company. He paid back some of the early loans to ensure he had a good credit rating, but later stopped paying them. A small business office of the Catalan government unwittingly helped him raise at least one of the loans.

Bankers reacted angrily. ”It is not permissible for someone to laugh [at the system] like this” said Jordi Mestre, general director of Caixa Sabadell. As Duran asserts:
“It has been an individual disobedience action against banking that I have carried out to denounce the banking system.”

The banks lodged a formal request for him to be found for a trial. The social activist faced a prison term of up to six years if convicted.

Four years later, early 2013, prosecutors and 14 banks demand 8 years prison for Enric Duran. The trial was not held because Duran didn’t show up. He said that  his previous lawyer hadn’t told him about the trial date when it was called, but just three weeks before so he had not time to prepare the mediatic campaign he was planning to defend and spread his disobedience action.

After this affair Durán declared “My goal in the long run and from now on is preparing the ground to convert my trial into a popular lawsuit against banks and everything which they represent, therefore by extending it to the current capitalist system. A trial that could be both a new tool for uniting and strengthening all those who are to build an alternative society to the present.”

An alternative society that already has a name, Integral Revolution, a project that Duran claims having been working on for many years and now its time has come.

LINKS

Articles

Video

Twitter @EnricDuranG, HT #RevolucioIntegral #AbsoluciòEnricDuran

3. PEOPLEWITNESS: MEDIA ACTIVISM WORKSHOPS ON THE ROAD

Peoplewitness is a network of livestreamers born in November 2011. They help spread the voice of communities strongly hit by austerity measures, while traditional media only offers an official version of Europe’s recession that blames the most disadvantaged collectives and  protects banks and politicians.

Citizens need to report their reality, so Peoplewitness doesn’t only broadcast live from demos, talks and actions, but it offers free workshops  to provide the knowledge, technology,  motivation, support and selfconfidence people need to report their own reality and strugles through streaming.

Members of Peoplewitness have recently toured Portugal with a series of workshops. Their objective was contacting Portuguese activists, meeting several assemblary working groups and exchanging metodologies and experiences related to media activism, while enlarging the ‘peoplewitness’ or ‘citizen journalism’ network.

They arrived at Coimbra on February 1st  in order to attend the 2nd Encounter of People’s Assemblies in Portugal organized by Asemblea Coimbra on February 2nd and 3d and were hosted by the Republica Baco and Republica Das Marias do Loureiro, self managed student-community houses.

The next two days were full of workshops, discussions and sharing experiences with all present assemblies, ending with a PeopleWitness Workshop where the project was presented, together with a series of online resources they use for collaborative communication and coordinated work. The idea was that later on they could be invited by assemblies interested in continuing the learning and exchanging process, so during the following week they gave  several customized workshops for smaller groups with very specific goals.

In Porto the workshop took place in CasaViva, a self-managed social center, not a squat but a house that was donated to the social project. This time the workshop focused on a combination of tools (ICTs) that are used in social movements with great impact; trying to encourage and motivate the groups to the use of citizens journalism through streaming.

Most members of the team are now back in Spain, but one has stayed to carry out a workshop in Lisbon on March 23rd and to strengthen the contacts achieved with activists and assemblies in Portugal: At this very moment PeopleWitness is still on the road.

LINKS

Streaming

  • People’s Assemblies Encounter Coimbra : ; ; ; 4 ; 5
  • Workshop at Porto: ;
  • Workshop at Lisbon

Twitter @peoplewitness #peoplewitness
FaceBook page 


Archivado en: English, newsletter Tagged: Enric Duran, Integral Revolution, PeopleWitness on the road, Universities Protest

20 March 2013
by Clive Menzies
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London Occupy Economics Working Group (EWG) budget response – “a missed opportunity”

The current financial crises (Eurozone, US and UK public and private sector debt, banks’ insolvency) were precipitated by the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 which was the culmination of a[...]

20 March 2013
by Clive Menzies
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Rebalancing Austerity – a modest alternative budget 2013 – from Occupy Birmingham

We can’t do everything in one budget, but we can make a start. This is a start, by scrapping the austerity agenda, and starting a programme to reinvest in people[...]

20 March 2013
by badger
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InterOccupy Newsletter for the week of March 19th, 2013

This is the InterOccupy newsletter for the week of March 19th 2013. You can also access the newsletter here – which is the best place to read it. To receive this newsletter in your inbox each week, make sure to subscribe here!


Join us Wednesday night at 8 PM ET to continue to plan and develop the National Gathering this year! We are forming working groups and ask for your input and your help moving forward. We wish to include grass roots, alternative medias , rights, advocacy, unions, artists, and more to make this a gathering for all who wish to make a better tomorrow.

Do you use the InterOccupy hubs? The tech team is getting ready to overhaul the hub system, and wants your feedback! Please take a moment to complete this brief feedback form and provide your suggestions.

Idle No More Quebec encourages people and organizations who work in solidarity with Indigenous and environmental causes to respond to the global call to action IDLE NO MORE. As part of World Water Day, Idle No More denounces the policies of the federal Conservative government, in the form of legislation which removes the protection of 99.9% of rivers and 99 7% of lakes in Canada. Idle No More Quebec invites everyone to respond to this call for 3 days of mobilization. You are invited to participate, engage your community and join in solidarity in this fight!

A UK-based group called The Rules, is highlighting the role of tax havens in causing global poverty. The City of London, a square mile within London itself, is the most important global hub of the tax haven system, through which billions in untaxed profits flow every day. Activists are coming together from around
the world to sign an open statement, which will be publi shed in a major UK newspaper. Add your name to the open statement before it’s published.

InterOccupy is committed to upholding clear channels of communication for the movement.  We don't create or own any of the newsletter content; we simply deliver the information that comes to us via the newswire and coordination Hubs on InterOccupy.net.  

 

This Week's Calls

These are calls scheduled on InterOccupy for the coming week.  For actions and other events, see the full InterOccupy Calendar.

(All times Eastern Standard Time)

Tuesday, March 19th


  • 9:00pm — IO VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION CALL
  • 9:00pm — PLANNING NATIONAL MOVEMENT-WIDE MEDIA WORK

Wednesday, March 20th


  • 11:00am — DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA WORK AMONG OCCUPY GROUPS AND OTHER MOVEMENT
    S FOR DEMOCRACY (THE AMERICAS, AFRICA & EUROPE)
  • 7:00pm — OCCUPY THE ECONOMY: CALL FOR ORGANIZERS
  • 8:00pm — NATIONAL GATHERING LAUNCH CALL
  • 8:00pm — USING MUMBLE

Thursday, March 21st


  • 2:00pm — ELECTRO MAGNETIC RADIATION/ MICROWAVE FREQUENCIES CALL
  • 2:00pm — VIA22 WEEKLY COORDINATION MEETING
  • 3:00pm — OCCUPY MOVEMENT WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING CALL
  • 10:00pm — DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA WORK AMONG OCCUPY GROUPS AND OTHER MOVEMENTS FOR DEMOCRACY (THE PACIFIC, AUSTRALIA, ASIA)

rong>Friday, March 22nd


  • 12:00pm — VIA22 GLOBAL ASSEMBLY
  • 5:00pm — ORGANIZING THE WESTERN STATES
  • 7:00pm — OCCUPY THE ECOMONY: VOLUNTEERS

Saturday, March 23rd


  • 3:00pm — ARTICLEV.ORG, CONVENTION TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS

Sunday, March 24th


  • NO CALLS

Monday, March 25th


 

Newswire

Each week, we deliver all of the items to you that have been submitted to the InterOccupy Newswire.  If you have an important, relevant announcement or resource to share with others you can Submit it to the Newswire and it will be included in next week's newsletter.

 


Announcements  
   
IDLE NO MORE QUEBEC: RESPOND TO THE GLOBAL CALL TO
ACTION IDLE NO MORE

Idle No More Quebec encourages people and organizations who work in solidarity with Indigenous and environmental causes to respond to the global call for 3 days of mobilization. You are invited to participate, engage your community and join in solidarity in this fight!Read More
   
IT’S TIME TO TACKLE THE ‘TAX HAVEN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD’
Every year multinational corporations and corrupt politicians siphon off around $1.26 trillion of the world’s wealth, using elaborate schemes to transfer profits to countries with little or no tax. The City of London, a square mile within London itself, is the most important global hub of the tax haven system, through which billions in untaxed profits flow every day.Read More
   
WE ARE STARTING TO PIECE TOGETHER WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ORDERING THE EVICTION OF OCCUPY MELBOURNE FROM CITY SQUARE
In the sixteen months since the eviction, there have been sustained calls for an independent investigation into the legality of the eviction and method of eviction. The City of Melbourne Council last rejected a motion to have an independent inquiry into the matter.Read More
   
MARCH THIS SATURDAY WASHINGTON D.C.
On March 16th in Washington DC at noon at 1 DuPont circle, there will be a march in solidarity with Greek Workers who Occupied and took over a factory.Read More
   
QUESTIONAIRE FOR BOOK/WEBSITE ON THE GLOBAL UPRISING
Activists with FelS, a radical left political group based in Berlin, have come up with the idea of producing a handbook for participants in the global uprising. They are interested in asking activists from around the world to respond to some questions about the development of movements in their country/region. Please respond by April.Read More
   
THE PEOPLE V. WELLS FARGO – OUR STORY
On March 5th, in the matter of The People v. Wells Fargo the jury found the 12 Occupy Philly protestors arrested in November 2011 for a sit-in against the banks’ predatory lending practices and mafia-like policies, NOT GUILTY. One of the protestors looks back on the action, the trial, and the reaction.Read More
   
   
Resources  
   
   
Statements  
   

 

New Hubs

These are new Hubs that have been started on InterOccupy.  Hubs are used by groups for coordinating actions, projects, campaigns and other types of events.  You can also view the full list of Hubs.

 

PEOPLE AGAINST THE NDAA – @pandaunite
Stop the indefinite detention of any person, anywhere in the U.S., defeat the NDAA, restore America to Constitutional Governance.

OWS ACTION LAB – @actionlab

OWS Direct Action organizing against the power of the 1%

TAKE DOWN SALLIE MAE – @SinkSallieMae
This campaign seeks to highlight Sallie Mae's central, detrimental role in the student debt crisis and build a coalition to make strong demands and envision alternatives.

 

 

Hub Updates

Hub Updates are information and announcements made by groups organizing using InterOccupy Hubs.  For more information about each group, visit their Hub by clicking on the title of their hub.

 

Take the Square – for International Coordination says:
The Spanish #P2P Wikisprint on March 20
The Brussels Business
Visit Hub a>
   
Occupy the NRA says:
Occupy the NRA to Occupy Three Major Wall Street Firms, Deliver Message: "Divest from Gun Makers Now. Your Profit is Our Loss
Visit Hub
   
OWS Labor Alliance says:
Would You Eat at a Restaurant that Steals from their Workers and…
Yelp #DirtyDishes Today!
Visit Hub
   
Occupy Our Homes says:
Stop the Eviction of a Disabled Former School Teacher in Detroit!
Visit H
ub
   
Stop TPP says:
Trading Away Health: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)
As Clock Ticks Toward Trans-Pacific Trade Pact Deadline, U.S. Must End Stall Tactics on Access to Medicines
Visit Hub
 
Occupy Sacramento says:
We Will Not Be Silenced – Strategy Forum/Open House
Visit Hub
   

 

16 March 2013
by pa-webgroup
0 comments

30 Activists Arrested #OccupyTroika

***LATEST INFORMATION ON #OCCUPYTROIKA ACTION AT DG ECFIN AND ARRESTS***

 
More than 30 activists from across Europe have been arrested in the Belgian capital after an occupation of the headquarters of Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN). Rehn is known as an ardent champion of austerity across Europe, undermining democracy.
 
The occupation was part of two days of action across Europe organised by For a European Spring against austerity, to coincide with the EU Spring Summit in Brussels on the 14th and 15th March.
 
Pascoe Sabido, a coordinating member of For a European Spring, said “We did exactly what the police asked of us, and all 150 of us agreed to leave the building as they promised nothing would happen. Instead, we were kettled and treated like criminals. It’s the Troika the police should be arresting, not us.”
 
The circumstances around the arrests were also very irregular, with the police arbitrarily arresting people to meet a pre-set quota. Some of those arrested had not even been inside the ECFIN building but had stayed outside protesting. Those arrested had their photos and fingerprints taken before being released, which is not allowed to happen if the arrest is administrative rather than judicial. For a European Spring is looking into the legality of the police actions.
 
I was peacefully protesting outside a building that’s causing violence across Europe through the austerity policies it’s unleashing, but it looks like protesting Europe’s undemocratic austerity drive is is no longer deemed legal. After banning our anti-austerity demonstration, today really shows that, here in Brussels, the right to assembly and freedom of expression are in grave danger.” said Corrina Genschel, a coordinating member of For a European Spring and in Brussels with Blockupy Frankfurt.
 
Contact: Pascoe Sabido +32 (0) 4 86 85 74 16 (Bxl); 0032486033931
 
Notes for editor
 
  • For a European Spring is a coalition of movements from 13 European countries, denouncing the EU push for austerity, including cuts in social expenditure, radical wage cuts, attacks on social and labour rights, whiledemanding the abolition of all austerity treaties and legislation and genuine democracy.
  • DG ECFIN is the Commission’s department fulfilling most of the work of the Troika, providing staff to the various task forces that travel to “indebted” European countries to impose austerity policies regardless of public interest or opinion.
  • European Commissioner Olli Rehn has publicly stated that the minimum wage in Greece of €511 gross salary per month – already below the poverty line – is too much and need to be cut further. He has also threatened to fine the Belgian state – which would fall on its tax-payers – if it does not further cut its health, education and unemployment budgets.
  • For more information see www.foraeuropeanspring.org

     

13 March 2013
by mirimmi
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BARCELONA #15M Newsletter nr 40

Hello from Barcelona,

This is the (almost) weekly newsletter that will inform you about the activities of 15M movement in Barcelona, Catalonia and occasionally the main events in Spain. If you do not wish to receive it anymore, please say so.

1. “Let’s get rid of them, together we can” 50 cities against the financial dictatorship
2. A week of non-stop protests in Barcelona
3. Public health care system alternative: 2 cooperatives in Barcelona

1. “LET’S GET RID OF THEM, TOGETHER WE CAN”: 50 CITIES AGAINST THE FINANCIAL DICTATORSHIP

Thousands of people took the streets on February 23rd. This is a significant date in Spain, as in 1981 an attempt of military coup d’état took place on this day, and the shocking images of 200 armed officers of the Guardia Civil taking over the Congress stayed in the Spanish collective memory forever attached to 23-F . The demonstrators, by choosing this date, wanted to point out that we are living under the dictationship of the financial markets, a constant attack to people’s rights and to democracy which are translated into budget cuts on public services, working laws reforms which destroy even more jobs, cuts on the rights for migrants, repression of protesters on the streets and censorship of any critical views. It also meant that this time it’s the people who are taking over the country.

The call came from different groups in struggle with the idea of joining forces and standing united for their rights.The result was that more than 50 cities in Spain mobilized in what was named the “marea ciudadana” (Citizen’s Tide):The name was chosen because in many Spanish cities the sectorial struggles are named as a colour tide, so “marea verde” (green tide) is for education, “marea blanca” (white tide) for Health Care, etc. In Madrid the demo ended with 42 arrests.

Barcelona didn’t take the same name, as the sectorial fights are not called “tides”. Under the slogan “Fem-los fora, juntes podem” (catalan for “Let’s get rid of them, together we can”), more than 40 thousand people demonstrated in its streets. The demonstration was organized in four main columns starting from different points in Barcelona and carrying out their own actions and manifestos on their way:

  • Anti-repressive column: To condemn the repression that government is implementing and new laws supressing civil rights, the column was formed by platforms against the use of rubber bullets, those who defend the rights of inmigrants and Rereguarda, that protects and defends people’s rights during and after demonstrations [see NL#18, 1].
  • Social Rights and Public services: In defence of public services and social rights such as Education, Health care and Culture in wich students, families, teachers, doctors, nurses, cultural workers and other citizens united in a colourful march.
  • Working Rights: To defend the rights of workers and the unemployed, with several platforms of workers, unemployed, unions and other supporters. At the beginning of the demo 15 Telefonica workers started a hunger-strike to denounce the unjustified firing of one of them.
  • Anti-Bankster column: Last-minute column decided a couple of days before the demo, against the Preferentes scam in which many Spanish banks are involved and to claim we should save people, not banks.

Neighbourhoods created small columns winding through the city and joining the main ones to march towards Plaça Catalunya and there start a route altogether ’till Sant Jaume, where the Generalitat and the City Hall are located. There, a joint manifesto was read while people were still trying to enter the crowded square.
The group that organized this demonstration wants to keep on meeting and calling for joint actions in the near future. Because together we can get rid of them. 

LINKS

Articles

Streamings

Videos & Pictures

TWITTER
HT #23F #femlosfora23f #todasunidas23F

2. A WEEK OF NON-STOP PROTESTS IN BARCELONA

Starting from February 23rd Barcelona experienced a really “hot” week of demos and protests:

Telefónica
As theFebruary 23rd demo was starting, the Marcos’ Readmission Platform,with active and pre-retired Telefonica  workers, started another hunger strike to demand the readmission of Marcos, fired for being sick (See NL#34, 2 ).
It was the starting point of a week of mobilizations to show the rest of the phone companies attending the 2013 Mobile World Congress (MWC), that Movistar (Telefónica’s mobile company, one of the biggest sponsors of the event) not only fires people for being sick but also has as technical counselors people under trial for corruption, such as Rodrigo Rato (former president of Bankia an the IMF – (See NL#17, 1 , and NL#24, 1 ) and Iñaki Urdangarin (member of the royal family indicted in the Noós Foundation scandal).
To highlight Telefónica’s doings, on February 25th the mobile company’s workers went on strike and visited the MWC to do a Flashmob . There was also a performance of a trial to Capitalism. During the whole week several meetings and assemblies took place, and finally the week of mobilization was considered a success. Telefónica even tried to cheat on the social networks by creating fake profiles to defend itself.
The hunger strike ended with the MWC, but the fight continues.

Universities
The PUDUP (Unified Platform for the Defense of the Public University, See NL#29,1 ) called a strike on February 28th. Several actions warmed the atmosphere up the days before the strike: lectures on the streets, occupations of campus all along Catalunya, assemblies and information points.
The call was a success: not only students but also teachers, administration and services staff emptied the buildings to take the streets. A spontaneous demo took place along the center of Barcelona which ended with clashes with the police, were several students were arrested.
The PUDUP’s main demands were ending budget cuts, derogation of the law of education, stopping the strategy of mercantilazing universities and paying back the extra charges by the huge fees increase this year.

March against precariety and for basic income
Meanwhile on February 28th 300 people, called by the Coordinadora de traballadors/es en atur de Catalunya (Coordinator of Assemblies of Unemployed People in Catalunya), started a march from a town nearby Barcelona, Sant Vicenç dels Horts, at 9 in the morning, and made a journey through several other towns -Sant Feliu del Llobregat, Cornellà and Hospitalet- gathering more and more people despite the heavy rain and strong wind. The protest reached the meeting point in Barcelona around 5 pm. In Plaça Espanya they came together with Telefónica and Movistar workers and the elder activists iaioflautas (see NL #37, 2 ) and carried on in a demo towards the Parliament. When they got to Barcelona’s center the strikers from universities also joined in a solid march to support the unemployed workers as they handed in their vindications a the Catalan parliament .

Montserrat monastery’s abbot has unexpected visitors
This week was also chosen for a surprise action by the famous senior activists, the iaioflautas (see NL #37, 2 ). As usual in their “mischiefs”, as they call their actions, the setup was secret and few people knew what the iaios were up to. What seemed like the regular busload of pensioners coming to visit Catalunya’s most emblematic monastery soon proved to be something else: the grannies and grandpas put their yellow vests on, grabbed their walking sticks and set off to ask the abbot to support the 99%, stand against the doings of the 1%, take party against the cuts, show some compassion with people suffering the recession and, specificaly, to show support towards the Telefonica workers on strike, among other claims.
The elder activists in Madrid also managed to speak with the Archbishop of Madrid, the infamous cardinal Rouco Varela , known for his right-wing and extremely conservative ideas.

LINKS

TWITTER

  • Telefonica: @HHTelefónica - HT #28F #HHTelefonica #MarcosReadmision #FamdeJusticia  #MovistarnosavergüenzaunRato
  • Universities strike: @Uniprecaria  – HT #LalluitaEduca #28Fvaga
  • March against unemployment: HT #marxacontralatur
  • @iaioflautas: #MontserratOnVas

3. PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ALTERNATIVES: 2 COOPERATIVES IN BARCELONA 

The Spanish public health care system is in crisis: progressive budget cuts and a long-lasting plot of corruption are serioulsy putting it in danger. The private health system is taking advantage and offers its services by advertising through media, but also by having politicians an public personalities say that private health is the only safe way out.

Many collectives and platforms of health workers, patients and citizens in general are fighting every single day for the basic democratic right of a quality public health for everyone. At the same time many other people are working on organising and building alternatives.

We shall talk of two examples in Barcelona: the Health Care Cooperative COS (Body, in Catalan) and the SSPC (Public Health Care System Cooperative).

COS has been created by professionals from many branches within the health care field . They offer medical care by an integrative and cooperative health model that considers the coexistence of different medicines and therapies and different ways to understand health, promoting also the ability to self-manage the patients’ own health. COS works to recuperate the “attention to the person”, by its attention to cronical and acute pacients and through the workshops it offers on “birth preparation”, “child massage” and “reflexology”. This health care cooperative offers also accompaniment to therapeutic processes that happen outside the COS, if necessary.

Indeed the cooperative is formed by the professionals and the users alike, building toghether a parteicipative and comunitary project in order to find solutions to care necesities at short, medium and long term. Therefore, members of the cooperative can be worker-members or consumer-members. They will receive information aboutCOS’ activity, they may participate in the COS’ general assemblies and be elected as representatives, and they will obtain medical attention at a cheaper price than non-members.

In order to build a network of social and supportive economy, COS cooperates with other cooperatives, being part of the XES (Network of Supportive Economy See NL#31, 4) and of the Federació de Cooperatives de Treball de Catalunya (Federation of Work Cooperatives of Catalunya )

The SSPC is a project born of the CIC (Catalan Integral Cooperative). In their website they say that the idea they promote is linked with  emancipation from capitalism in order to get out of the systemic dependence and managing to become self-sufficient in all aspects of life. What does this mean exactly?

They think that the health care systems corporative policies have created a health market where the human being has become a patient/client that demands on sanitary intervention even in processes that are following their natural course: on one hand the current recession is also the crisis of the biomedical model, on the other hand health is conceived as a key sector within the capitalist system that generates and chronifies diseases as part of its strategy, it being an extremely significant economic factor.

The SSPC describes – schematically -  these main features of the new health system proposed :

  • A humanization of health.
  • A bio-psycho-social-cultural-ethical-spiritual model that gives priority to prevention and promotion of health.
  • A system where the person is an active and resposible individual for the maintenance of her/his health.
  • The use of medicine as a whole process according to the needs of the person and not those of the market.
  • An effective use of resources: a reduction of institutions, technologies and medicines, except when they are really necessary.
  • A direct involvement of the community in health matters.

It is clear that the SSPC model is something different from a defense of the existing system: it is a totally different point of view regarding the whole question of ilness and care. According to this model the role of “health facilitator” has been introducted together with a new concept of health nodes. The first center is located in Aurea Social where so-called alternitve medicine cares are available, self-financed by monthly contributions of those who can pay, according to their income, while those who cannot pay help with other kinds of support: work, exchange of knowledge or several other possibilities.

LINKS


Archivado en: English, newsletter, Uncategorized Tagged: #23F, CIC, Citizen's Tide, COS, Health Care cooperatives, iaioflautas, PUDUP, SSPC, telefonica, yayoflautas

11 March 2013
by pa-webgroup
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Huge Protests in Bangladesh

Protests Escalate in Bangladesh

Since early February this year, the streets of Dhaka have been filled with protesters. Tens of thousands of voices merge in roaring chants. Along the roadside, protesters perform poetry, songs, and theatre pieces. Candles and torches illuminate the faces of old and young, rich and poor.

Read full story at the excellent Occupied Times 

5 March 2013
by pa-webgroup
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For a Europe of the People

 

15M assemblies and other groups and social organiza­tions 
prepare the week of struggle

 

 

 

For a Europe of the people, against

the European Union of the Markets’

 

The week of struggle will take place from the 11th until the 17th of March in Madrid and other Spanish cities and the rest of Europe, with the fulfillment of various activities, lectures and a forum in the Madrid´s central city square, the Puerta del Sol, as well as other engagements.

The summons of the Citizen´s Re-Action Taskforce, formed by the 15M popular assemblies along with other groups, organizations and platforms, in the context of the economic summit of the European Union to be held in Brussels on the 14th and 15th of March.

On Wednesday, March 13 saucepans will be banged outside the headquarters of the European Union, 
and on Saturday 16, at 6 pm, there will be a demonstration, the route of which will be from the Plaza de Sol 
to Plaza de España.

 

Madrid, March 5, 2013. - Between the 11th and 17th of March there will take place in Madrid various information campaigns and protests convened by the Citizen´s Re-Action taskforce. This taskforce comprises people of fifty assemblies, groups and organizations, and has already carried out protests in 2012 such as ‘13O Global Noise’, ‘We Do Not Owe We Will not Pay’, or ‘Deconstructing Lies, Constructing Alternatives’. The week of struggle is framed within the context of the economic summit of the European Union to be held on the 14th and 15 th of March, and of the counter-summit that various social movements and organizations across Europe are preparing.

With the week’s struggle the demand is for a Europe where direct democracy permits the imposition of the rights of individuals and populations contrary to the interests of the markets, and in which policies are not imposed by the European Council and the Troika, institutions which are neither democratic nor serve the interests of citizens. This is yet another show of opposition to an economic system that plunders entire populations and their resources and perpetuates inequality and injustice, maximizing a capitalist profit that overrides any social or environmental rights; where the managers of financial institutions that have caused the crisis are placed in high positions of national governments and in the upper echelon of agencies like the IMF or the ECB, while the presidents and ministers end up in the management boards of large companies and banks favored during their terms of office.

PROGRAM OF ACTIONS
http://madrid.tomalaplaza.net/2013/02/19/calendario-de-acciones-por-la-europa-de-las-personas-contra-la-ue-de-los-mercados/ )

Among the events planned, on Wednesday, March 13 there will be a saucepan banging demonstration outside the headquarters of the European Union in Madrid (Paseo de la Castellana, 46), at 7pmin which will take place as well, performances and the reading of a united Manifesto. (Manifesto: http://madrid.tomalaplaza.net/2013/02/10/manifiesto-con­tracumbre-ue/).

The following day, March 14, in the Puerta del Sol a Forum will be held “For a Europe of the people”, with the participation of various assemblies and collectives from 7 pm onwards.

The main event of the week will be the demonstration on Saturday March 16 at 6 pm, which will cover the core of Madrid, from the Plaza de España to the Puerta de Sol, via the Gran Via and Alcala Road. (Posterhttp://madrid.tomalaplaza.net/2013/02/10/materia-grafico-contra-cumbre-europea-marzo-2013/cartel-europa-ue-copiar/)

In addition, since last February a series of talks and discussions have been taking place in various parts of the Community of Madrid on the economic policies of the European Union and its impact on citizens.

To the complaints made about the EU market, the Citizen´s Re-Action Taskforce links a series of economic and political proposals to build a Europe of the people, which are laid down in its manifesto. These demands are framed in 11 areas: Treaties and agreements of the EU/ Debt/ Privatization and Cutbacks/ Fiscal System/ Labor Framework/ Housing/ Financial System/ Ecology/ Rights and Freedoms of Migrants/ Demilitarization/ and Real Democracy.

We call for demonstrations for the repeal of the European treaties, for conducting a citizen´s audit of public debt and non-payment of the part considered illegitimate; to demand criminal and property liability for the managers and beneficiaries of the crisis; for the immediate end of cutbacks and privatizations and the recovery of privatized enterprises and services 100% public, universal and of quality, for the implementing of a sufficient tax system, progressive and fair and the elimination of fraud and tax havens; for the repeal of the labor reform laws and the implementation of a new framework of conditions and labour relations; for the regulation of the property market, the suspension of evictions, for the conversion of empty and flats emptied by evictions into community rented housing; for a public financial system, democratic and under social control that serves to meet the needs of the people; for the rights of migrants; for the cessation of military operations and police repression; for a real and participatory democracy.”

The Transversal Citizen´s Re- Action Taskforce is formed as a meeting of 15M popular assemblies, organizations and platforms, aimed to coordinate actions and campaigns, such as the demonstrations of last September 22 “Deconstructing Lies, Building Alternatives” and the October 13 “Global Noise /We do Not Owe We do Not pay “, which will start again with this mobilization.

In the preparatory meetings of the mobilizations around the “European Action Day” March 2013 members of 53 groups, organizations and assemblies have participated.

 

For more information and artwork:

http://madrid.tomalaplaza.net/marzo2013/

Contact:

gtreaccionciudadana@gmail.com

1 March 2013
by pa-webgroup
0 comments

Moroccan Students Protest Campus Death

Union of students for the change of the educational system ( The union is located in Morocco – known under the name UECSE or UX ) have recently ( 24 February ) demonstrated artistically to show their rage about the death of Mohamed Fizazi. This student died a few days after being beaten up by the police on campus. What allowed this to is the Tripartite Memorandum : it combines three ministries : justice, education and interior and gives them the authority on students campus , it also gives the police the right to interfere at any time they want and for no legitimate reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8s2z25RVoA&list=UUPtDCB90Z0WYsAtP_hfZwcw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOBkn3S58JA

27 February 2013
by summer
Comments Off

Solidarity From the workers of Kouta Steel Factory in Egypt To the workers of Vio.Me Industrial Minerals Factory in Greece

 

Message of Solidarity From the workers of Kouta Steel Factory in Egypt
To the workers of Vio.Me Industrial Minerals Factory in Greece!

We, the workers of Kouta Steel Factory, Tenth of Ramadan City, Egypt,
have followed the events taking place in Vio.Me industrial minerals
factory in Thessaloniki, Greece. We learned that the factory owner had
fled, and that a general assembly of the workers decided to place the
factory under workers’ self-management. Hence the factory was reopened
on February 12th, 2013, as a cooperative under workers’ management.

We would like to share with you our experience and struggle that began
about one and a half years ago, during which the independent trade union
stood at the forefront of the fight. This included sit-ins and legal
battles through the Prosecutor-General’s office and the ministry of
labour. The struggle culminated with an epoch-making decision by the
Prosecutor-General last August approving their right to place the
factory under workers’ self-management and authorising engineer Mohsen
Saleh to manage the factory. It is worth-noting that the owner had fled
earlier without paying the workers since last March.

The process has not gone free of obstacles and difficulties since then,
starting with arduous negotiations with Gas and Electricity companies in
order to schedule the factory’s debts which amount to $2.6 million and
$0.9 million to both companies respectively. The workers have given a
lesson in self-sacrifice as they decided to deduct half their wages to
be used in purchasing raw materials (pallets).

We are now taking the final steps to resume the production process after
having reconnected gas and electricity. The Kouta Steel Factory workers
are all one in heart and mind, adamant to improve the factory and
proceed with our experiment till the end.

Though a thousand miles away from Greece, we send our strongest
expression of solidarity and support to the workers of Vio.Me and to
their newborn experiment in self-management. We also declare our
absolute rejection of the austerity measures that affect first and
foremost the working class, whether in Greece or here in Egypt.

We invite Vio.Me workers to start and exchange of our experiences in
struggle, so that we can benefit from lessons learned from both
experiments in self-management. Millions of workers are looking at us as
a concrete reality and an awaited dream.

Long Live Workers Struggle!
Long Live the struggle of the Vio.Me and Kouta Workers!

Chairman of the Independent Trade Union Chairman of the Board
Ahmad Shaarawy Mohsen Saleh

 

More info

http://www.viome.org/

 

 

26 February 2013
by pa-webgroup
0 comments

20 February Anniversary in Morocco

Thousands demonstrated in the streets of Rabat, Casablanca and other cities on the 20th of February to mark the two year anniversary of the uprising in Morocco. Watch the movie “My Makhzen & Me” from 2012 to learn more about the movement: http://vimeo.com/36997532

More about the #Feb20 movement in Morroco:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_protests_(2011-present)

https://www.facebook.com/Movement20

https://www.mamfakinch.com/

26 February 2013
by pa-webgroup
0 comments

Invitation: GlobalSquare online meeting, Sunday 3 March 2013

Next online meeting of GlobalSquare (also known as Occupy the WSF initiative) will be held on Sunday 3 March, 19:00 GMT on Mumble. We will continue our conversations on our various planned activities(assemblies, skill-sharing, creative open spaces) during the World Social Forum in Tunis (26-30 March 2013), including many practical issues as our communication and logistics. We also try to share the latest news about the WSF, updates on the situation in Tunisia and from groups who want to be connected online with Tunis.

How to connect?

Mumble  is a voice chat Open Source software (works similar to skype but is not  a corporate tool). Please follow these instructions to get connected. If this is the first time you use Mumble, please try to log in at least half an hour in advance, we will be there to help you.

globalsquare_mumblemeetingLocation: Occupytalk.org server
Room: Assemblies & Round Tables > OPEN SPACE
Date: Sunday, 3rd of March, 2013
Time: 19.00 GMT/UTC
Check your local time here: time zone converter

How to join Mumble: http://www.global-square.net/how-to-join/

Facilitation of the meetings start half an hour before. If this is your first time it can be good to join in earlier and try to fix possible connection/sound problems.

Agenda

Please add your suggestions on the pad: http://titanpad.com/globalsquare8

About our initiative

GlobalSquare is a series of online and physical meetings and assemblies whose participants and organisers are individuals linked to the 15M, Occupy, Student Movements, Yo Soy 132!, Tharek, Idle No More!, VIA22 as well as other movements. Our objective is to prepare a lively open space for physical contact and exchange during the World Social Forum (WSF) which will take place from 26-30 March 2013 in Tunisia where the flames of the global intifada first sparked in January 2011.  We are hoping to enhance collaborations and exchange among citizens and activists who are linked to various movements in different continents by organising collective events and actions towards, around and beyond the WSF.  Read more on http://www.global-square.net

Schedule for Mumble Meetings:

  • 9th meeting: Sunday 17th March 2013
  • Preparation meetings for the activities will be held in Tunis, connected with Mumble
  • We will schedule a Mumble meeting for evaluation after the WSF

Get involved!

In case you can’t make it this time, here is an overview of the many ways you can get involved in this initiative!

You are more than welcome to share this message in your networks!
We also have created a facebook page and use #GlobalSquare on Twitter.

Link to us at  Invitation: GlobalSquare online meeting, Sunday 3 March 2013