The Glocal Citizen

A day in #Acampadasol May 23, 2011

Translation to English of my article in the newspaper La Crónica de Hoy:

The events happening in Puerta del Sol in Madrid cannot be understood by watching the news on TV from the sofa at home. The aerial views of the square, the number of people protesting, the clever messages on posters, the slogans people yell … all that attracts attention, but it doesn’t really communicate the essence of this phenomenon.

You have to walk under the plastic sheets of the tents in the camp and experience firsthand the development of their daily activities to truly understand what is happening and why.

The first thing we notice when we approach the center of the square, next to the statue of Charles III, is that the camp is not a chaotic group of people in sleeping bags and tents, but a coherent structure that has gradually been built with wooden planks, ropes, furniture, and any material that the “infrastructures commission” has been able to get.

We must have looked a bit lost, because a young man approached us. He was wearing a cuff of the “commission of respect”, which is responsible for ensuring that the camp retains its serious and peaceful climate. He kindly pointed us to the information desk.

The girl at the information desk asked us if we wanted to volunteer. Everyone is welcome to help out in any of the commissions of the campsite. Many young people with a high level of preparation, but who remain unemployed, are devoting all their time and talents for the benefit of this movement.

They gave us a map of the camp and informed us of the various activities of the day: assemblies of political, economic or social issues; musical concerts, and even a play.

Inside, Acampada Sol is buzzing with activity: some entertain children in a nursery, others are responsible for cleaning, others give free legal advice, others provide food and water donated by families or nearby restaurants, others attend the infirmary, many others attend the mailboxes where anyone can place proposals, many are involved in some of the assemblies. There are also many, as myself, who driven by curiosity, walk around the square taking pictures and let themselves get carried away by the spirit of solidarity and renewal that fills the place.

Undoubtedly, the heart of Acampada Sol and the whole movement is the “communication commission.” Here, volunteers are working around the clock in front of their laptops, informing the world through social networks on the progress of the various initiatives and coordinating with more than 300 campsites around the globe. While I was there, a volunteer announced through the loudspeaker that a new camp had started in Siberia (Russia) from where they were sending their greetings and support.

Talking to the official spokespersons, we heard that they intend to keep the camp at least one more week in Puerta del Sol, but they are already making plans to bring the movement to the next level: they plan to form assemblies in every district of Madrid to keep the objectives of the SpanishRevolution alive, which are aimed towards the search for greater citizen participation in the decisions of the country and putting pressure for an electoral reform to break the bipartisanship and allow a better democratic representation.

We’re leaving Acampada Sol with great satisfaction after talking with young people so full of dreams, who do not limit themselves to complain passively of the problems that affect them, but have decided to put all their physical and intellectual energy to actively transform their environment in a positive way . There is no doubt that whatever happens, they are already making history …

From the #SpanishRevolution to Democracy 2.0 May 20, 2011

Translation to English of my article in the newspaper La Crónica de Hoy:

“Something big is happening here. ” This phrase from periodismohumano.com sums up the feeling you get when you reach Puerta del Sol square in Madrid and see people who are so different from each other that, sick of the situation in their country, decided to do something about it.

They arrived on Sunday, May 15th to camp in the plaza of  Spain’s  “kilometer zero”, without a clear agenda, distributed in various initiatives with names from twitter hashtags like #nolesvotes, #democraciarealya, #tomalacalle, #acampadasol and #yeswecamp.

By Wednesday, May 18th, the “Acampada Sol” had become a small town divided in commissions to resolve  immediate needs, with an assembly to vote the direction of the protest, and an effective communication strategy through social networks that has allowed to replicate Acampadas (campings) in Spain’s main cities and even in other European cities like London, Paris, Berlin and Rome. And it’s still growing …

This is the #SpanishRevolution, a movement that emerges spontaneously and peacefully, without a clear identity, but with a shared and strong message: “they do not represent us.”

Spain, with a fifth of the workforce unemployed and a third of young people without access to a home or work, with a completely polarized electoral process which has been based on mutual insults from left-wing and right-wing parties, has met the necessary conditions for Civil Society to reach the critical point of not trusting the way their country is being administered, or the process by which the administrators are chosen, and deciding to protest outside the establishment. They have three very concrete demands: electoral reform, true separation of powers and political regeneration.

Constructing Democracy 2.0

Underlying this collective awakening of the Spaniards there is an idea which is similar to what has inspired the protests in Arab countries, the protests on Saturdays in Iceland’s financial crisis of 2008 and the main motivation for Wikileaks.

Citizens around the world feel alienated from decisions affecting the course of their lives by a political structure that they feel fails to represent them and listen to them, has not been transparent and has also driven the global economy to a scandalous failure.

It no longer makes sense to divide political ideologies into arbitrary and obsolete packages such as “left and right”, it no longer makes sense to wait four or six years to express our opinion in an election when we do it regularly in social networks, it no longer makes sense that the only way we have to express is voting for a party with a mark on a ballot when there are means now to have a more active and participatory communication with the people we elect to represent us.

Democracy 2.0 is the same good old democracy, but with more efficient mechanisms to fulfill it. It’s letting people who govern actually represent the majority, expanding freedom in the election process, and letting their decisions reach a real consensus, broadening the channels for citizens to participate, especially in crucial areas such as education.

How far will the # SpanishRevolution get?

Nobody knows where this will end, but Spain is perhaps the ideal starting point for a transformation that has significance. It is a natural connection point among Europe, Latin America and Africa. It is a key economy which is at the same time, part of the European periphery in danger of needing a bailout, and one of the five pillars of Europe (along with Germany, France, Italy and the UK). It is a country characterized by great solidarity at critical moments, in which the lack of clear solutions and opportunities has led the youth to a situation where their only alternative is to devote all their energy and talent to change the world.