On Sunday morning, the assembly decided to break into groups to define common strategies pursuant to a proposal tabled by the Granada Working Group on Strategy.
Assembly dynamics
Participant self-introductions
Description of the morning’s tasks
Division of the larger group (70-80 people) into smaller subgroups of 8-10
Review of the existing proposals (from Lisbon, UK, Economía-Puerta del Sol WG, among others) by each subgroup and formulation of subgroup proposals
Pooling of subgroups’ work
Synthesis of pooled proposals
A continuación describimos lo hablado en cada uno de los grupos en la puesta en común:
The following is a summary of each group’s presentation during the pooling process.
Group 1
Priority was given to the actions and proposals for 15th October which the subgroup realised would have to be fleshed out more fully. The proposals addressed were as listed below.
Support for the 15th October march on Brussels
Establishment of a timetable of actions for the next twelve months to be able to prepare and publicise all actions and meetings
Greater coordination with Morocco and Portugal
Meeting in Tangiers to strengthen connections with the 20th Feb movement (note was taken, however, of the need to sidestep issues on which no consensus has been reached, such as the Sahara or the monarchy)
March to Lisbon, irrespective of the march on Brussels, advocated by some Portuguese participants, given Portugal’s status as one of the countries affected by the debt crisis
Iberia-wide meetings to organise actions in Spain and Portugal as a single geographic unit
Identification of the need for coordinated action
Sharper focus on and greater awareness of environmental problems, making the environment an international concern, since it can appeal to many sensitivities
Group 2
The proposals put forward by this group included the following.
Support and circulate more information on Transition Day (an initiative that consists of encouraging people to withdraw their money from conventional banks and re-deposit it in ethical institutions: http://transitionday.wordpress.com)
Work towards European legislation that would protect economic and social rights equally across all of Europe
Work towards guaranteeing health and social coverage throughout Europe
Create an international agenda
Centralise and translate all the work done and circulate it to enhance world-wide communication
Support the international encounter in Athens
Create mobile affinity groups to make sustained efforts to expand into other countries
Take to the roads on bicycles to raise 15M visibility
Miscellaneous
Other needs identified were to extend the assembly mechanism to other countries, and not only in cities but in neighbourhoods and towns; open 15M to existing social movements; support the existing technological structures, i.e., use the tools at hand in the movement; and describe the 15M movement, in simplified terms, to people on other continents.
Group 3
The proposals put forward by this group included the following.
First Europe-wide meeting of assemblies
Organised response to European and international financial bailouts (IMF, World Bank)
Creation of a working group to manage the international space (excluding proposals for content)
Coordination of resources for participatory democracy, addressing legal issues country by country (referendums, grassroots legislative initiatives), since legal and political frameworks vary
Implementation of what would be called “Plan Agora”, similar to the roll-up formulated in Madrid: i.e., a basic document on which to base the creation of structures in the public space anywhere in Europe/the world
Drafting of a charter of basic principles, which would address social rights, health, education, housing and (genetically modified) food on the occasion of the 15th October European encounter
Greater visibility for environmental issues
Miscellaneous information
A group of marchers will leave Barcelona on 23rd August en route to Montpellier, with the support of the people in the protest camps in southern France.
Group 4
The group’s proposals are listed below.
Create a working group on safe drinking water to formulate strategies and circulate information on the subject internationally
Initiate a debate on genetically modified food
Initiate a debate on migration laws and organise demonstrations in airports around the world to protest against deportation
Publish options for travelling in Europe in the form of a map designed for people intending to return to Madrid on 15th May (some are willing to be on the road for a full year)
Enlarge the national translation group to circulate graphic material ((is just “graphics” another option?)) and texts
Create country, region and city subgroups in n-1
Create an international portal, translated into different languages, to enhance the visibility of the movement’s actions, its forums for reflection and timetable
Create or use existing international city sisterhoods existing inter-city networks (e.g. town-twinning and federations) or creating new ones
Group 5
Proposals
Create a virtual press site, with different language forums and moderators, to inform about reality on an independent server
Formulate a map of contacts and assemblies
Write to contact.takethesquare@gmail to obtain all the participants’ email addresses
Invite cities and neighbourhoods to reach a baseline consensus on certain international principles such as participatory democracy or international transparency
Focus the 15th October demonstration on corruption and lack of financial transparency
Pressure cities and towns into signing the World Water Contract and acknowledging water as a common good
Group 6
Proposals
Open a space where organisations and groups can join and support initiatives
Share successful experiences: for instance, when the residents of a town in the province of Barcelona, after requesting a regular bus route, hijacked a bus and drove it into town to prove that such a service was possible
Conduct external audits of public debt to identify each country’s creditors and what they are owed to enhance transparency
Coordinate organised action against cutbacks on social spending
Work globally, creating common geographic areas
Group 7
Proposals
Organise monthly encounters among international commissions
Create an outreach commission to convey information to isolated places
Adopt a common slogan
Call a consumer strike, with a list of companies to be boycotted
Create platforms with associations to convene a demonstration on 15th October??; include people already organised
Attempt to create squatter community centres to show people what we do, self-management
Capitalise on the Pope’s visit on 21st August to enhance 15M movement visibility; a demonstration has been called for 17th August to protest against public spending for the visit
Participate in the International Day against Nuclear Tests (29th August), the World Day against Nuclear Weapons (6th August), the International Radioactive Waste Action Day (29th September) and the Global Day against Nuclear Power Reactors (26th April), with measures in Burgos on 23rd-24th September, on the occasion of a meeting of the pro-nuclear lobby
Support the 3rd November demonstration in front of the OECD HQ in Paris, concurring with the G20 summit (Cannes) and convene demonstrations outside the tax bureau headquarters in all European capital cities to protest against tax havens and tax evasion
Create a working group in charge of identifying existing actions and information to prevent duplication of effort
Miscellaneous
The group is in touch with France, Belgium, Greece and Portugal on the
debt issue, an area with fluent and active participation. Greece is creating a commission to deal exclusively with the subject. A video produced in Greece and entitled Debtocracy constitutes recommended viewing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX82sXKwaMg .
A meeting will be held in Madrid on 8th October to discuss the matter.
Content
Analyse public accounts
Identify pockets of fraud; determine, on the basis of the information, what part of the debt can be rejected because it is illegitimate. In Greece the slogan is: We don’t owe! We don’t sell! We don’t pay!
Review and build on earlier experience in places such as Latin America, Africa or Asia where debt has been an issue for much longer and where citizens have acquired experience in dealing with it
Action in other countries
In Portugal the 12th March movement is working on the debt issue.
A meeting on austerity will be held in Portugal.
In Ireland work is ongoing in community groups.
ATTAC is working on the issue of debt in France.
Miscellaneous
Create links with movements in those countries and others with dictatorships to convey our support to their citizens and establish bonds between them and the #revolution
Publicise the convoy that will travel through northern Africa from Lisbon a year from now
Establish a solidarity fund for mortgage and eviction victims to cover the most pressing needs, to be managed by the legal commission and social workers. The reason for this action is that children are taken away from evicted parents, severing family ties and severely impacting the children.
Set up a timetable of meetings by country
Decide on a date to go to Brussels
Focus the 15th October demonstration on corruption and the lack of financial transparency
Create an international justice commission (applying constitutional law) and a security commission (to monitor law enforcement agencies, their abuse and unawareness of citizens’ rights). The contact is tvallejovillana@gmail-com
For 15th October
Focus the 15th October demonstration on corruption and the lack of financial transparency
Call a general strike on 15th October
Formulate a statement of baseline international principles
Support the march on Brussels
Transition Day (extended to withdrawing money, even if not re-deposited)
Picnic in all cities on 21st August
Support the Occupy Wall Street initiative (somehow)
Circulate information on and support the 6th October march on Washington, D.C.
Circulate information and support the 5th November mobilisation in London
Proposal for the march on Brussels
Leave Madrid on 25th July, reaching Vitoria on 9th August and Paris on 17th September to support the Wall Street initiative, and arriving at Brussels a week in advance on 8th October to contribute to the visibility of the 15th October demonstration. Coordinate action with other movements and reach a consensus on a common framework for international action (in a word, horizontality).
