[P2P-F] Fwd: [Networkedlabour] Commons Program of Movement for Democracy

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Orsan Senalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 3:44 PM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] Commons Program of Movement for Democracy
To: "networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org>,
squares <squares at lists.takethesquare.net>, Discussion list about the WSF <
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Via Guerilla Translation:

Whatever happened to the 15-M Movement
<http://guerrillatranslation.com/2013/05/16/spains-micro-utopias-the-15m-movement-and-its-prototypes/>?
Where did Occupy go? Three years after the groundbreaking revolutionary
ruptures of 2011, violent repression and media invisibility have relegated
these thriving movements to a grey area. The perception seems to shift
between mainstream derision and niche-group interest. Occupy’s roots have
spread out and sprouted a multitude of initiatives, though perhaps the
source inspiration is not always publicly recognized. But in Spain, the
popular experience of austerity – the murderous palliative prescribed as a
cure for the crisis – and the resulting political movements in reaction
have been giving the lie to the mainstream narrative that 15-M is a “has
been”.The movement undeniably lives. Its form has been mutated,
re-imagined, distributed, and coalesced into a multitude of initiatives and
hacks to the system. We live here, we see it every day. These initiatives
are not as easily seen, defined – or, for that matter, targeted – as a
physical occupation may be; yet they permeate the hegemony, creating new
possibilities and spaces. You need only look at the recent EU Parliamentary
election results
<http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/eurocrisispress/2014/06/04/spain-is-different-podemos-and-15-m/>
to
see how Spanish voters have reacted to austerity and debt – and how that
reaction contrasted strongly with that of some other European nations. One
of the most important evolutions of 15-M is undoubtedly the “Movimiento por
la Democracia <http://wp.me/P3o7Bd-Yc>” (Movement for
Democracy).Unsurprisingly,
the Movement is hard to define. It clearly targets the political arena
without desiring to become a political party itself. Their “Charter for
Democracy” is an inspiring, thorough text on what politics *should be*. It
proposes a politics for the people: squarely grounded in environmental
realities and social justice, based on the Commons, defended from corporate
interests and neo-liberal dictates. The Charter was written collectively
through nearly 30 different workshops throughout Spain held over the span
of a year, with the collaboration of some 200 individuals.As Movimiento por
la Democracia expresses, “It isn’t finished. We don’t want it to be
finished; we want it to be a living document, in a constant state of
discussion and production. We think it’s a good summary of the main demands
the citizenry has put on the table over the last few years – our needs and
desires. Now we need your help. The Charter can only make sense when shared
widely, so it can stir extensive debate. If you find it interesting, we ask
you to share it on Social Media, send it by email or get it into people’s
hands in a thousand different ways. We ask you to comment on it, debate it,
refute and if you like it, make it yours”.To that end, we’re proud to
present the Charter for Democracy in English for the first time, complete
with its beautiful original illustrations by Clismón
<http://www.clismon.net/>. Our role in this translation was something like
post-production. We took the time to bring it together, polish and clarify
it, to do service to the volunteer labor that went into the translation (see
below
<http://guerrillatranslation.com/2014/06/26/a-charter-for-democracy/#fn1> for
full credits). It’s serious reading, and essential reading for anyone
passionate about true democracy and commons-based governance. As they say,
please read it and, if you want to, make it yours.

[image: Carta_por_la_Democracia_1pag-1red]
<http://guerrillatranslation.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/carta_por_la_democracia_1pag-1red.jpg>
A CHARTER FOR DEMOCRACY

This Charter was born of a deep malaise: lack of prospects, mass
unemployment, cuts in social rights and benefits, evictions, political and
financial corruption, dismantling of public services. It was drafted in
reaction to the social majority’s growing lack of confidence in the
promises of a political system devoid of legitimacy and the ability to
listen.

The two-party system, widespread corruption, the financial dictatorship
imposed by austerity policies and the destruction of public goods have
dealt the final blow to a democracy long suffering from its own limits.
These limits were already present in the 1978 Constitution. They can be
summarized as a political framework that neither protects society from the
concentration of power in the hands of the financial groups, nor from the
consolidation of a non-representative political class. This political
framework has established a system which is hardly open to citizen
participation, and unable to construct a new system of collective rights
for our protection and common development. This is evident in the fact
that, despite some very significant public demonstrations, the demands of
the vast majority of the population have repeatedly been ignored.

Rest of the text:
http://guerrillatranslation.com/2014/06/26/a-charter-for-democracy/

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