INTERNATIONAL AGENDA

Protests planned worldwide for the next days (updated):

• Barcelona. Catalunya Square occupation ends to start assemblies in the suburbs!
• Madrid. Sol Square occupation ends to start assemblies in the suburbs!
• P A R I S. Bastille Square massive gathering on 19th June.
• London. Trafalgar Square occupation continues.
• Bruxelles. Carre de Moscou occupation continues, Flagey Square occupation evicted by police last Friday.
• Athens.  Syntagma Square occupation continues.
• Oporto and Coimbra square occupations continue. Lisbon square evicted by police using violence on 4th June, a new gathering planed for 19th June.

For information about #Europeanrevolution, visit: http://www.europeanrevolution.net

19TH JUNE DEMONSTRATION ALL AROUND EUROPE:

SPAIN, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, C. REPUBLIC, DENMARK, FRANCE, GREECE, GERMANY, IRELAND, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SERBIA, SWEDEN, SWITZELAND, UK.

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Secret police accused of violence in #Barcelona, evidence surfaces on the Web #europeanrevolution #joambelparlament #15m15j #aturemparlament

The following video is coming up repeatedly throughout social media networks and other channels:

In it is the alleged evidence proving that the violence against politicians outside of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona was started by undercover police. This is not an uncommon tactic for police or government services, as it was proved true in several of the Arab countries that carried out their own revolts. The video shows the start of the incidents, and the cameraman is heard to be saying “those are the ones that started it, over there”. Various people in the video can be seen pointing towards a group calling them out as the agitators. A young man can be seen angrily reprimanding them for their actions and then the camera realizes that one of them is seen to be wearing a earphone. A small group of them gather together away from the protestors and are surrounded by cries that signaled them out as policemen. Shortly afterward the riot police escorted them away, proving their status. This coincides with various tweets, whose user´s stated that they had asked the police to intervene against the violent ones and received no response. There is also a photo that proves the same fact.

#Spanishrevolution blockades Parliament in #Barcelona, violence tinges the 15M movement #europeanrevolution

 

At least 36 people have been injured after Spanish policed dispersed thousands of protesters blockading the first day of the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona. The regional government is set to pass many measures that will cut spending to social services by up to 10 percent. The protests are a continuation of the M-15 movement, which is demanding a more participatory democracy and social justice. Late on Tuesday afternoon, June 14th, the police forcibly evicted hundreds of people from the public park, where protests were planning to camp. However, the people remained there, and a massive popular assembly of several thousand was held at the gates.

The gathering started last night and barricades we constructe blocking  all entrances to the builiding. Early Wednesday morning police officers dispersed them blockading by force using rubber bullets, after many politicians, however acknowledging the right to protest, asked for their own legitimate right to work. The indignados, however, remained oblivious, and many stated that they would not let them pass, that they could go away or joing them. Even though the police tried to escort the legistlators safely into Parliament, the direct approach by many of them brought local outbursts of violence: objects such as banana peals were thrown, some of them were painted with spray paint and all of them were thouroughly insulted. As the violence grew, police decided to transport the remaining politicians by helicopter, twenty five of them arrived in this fashion, including the President to the chamber, Artur Mas.  All the official sites for the movement have condemmed the violent actinos carried out in Barcelona, saying that they wish to remind the general public that these were only a few individuals and that they do not represent the movement as a whole. Some even went as far as to say that they would be willing to cooperate with the authorities to detain these individuals. On Twitter, many users present suggested the possibility that these people were secret police, infiltrated to cause the violence (such things have happened before, most notably during the Egyptian revolution in February). One particular user @sergio_aloud stated that while this was happening, he told the police to arrest the people throwing objects and that they inexplicably denied to do so. None of these theories have been confirmed.

 

After all the MPs entered and the session started (many were not present and it is an important day, as the budgets will be debated) police started to disperse the protest. This happened in a violent way, although perhaps it was less so than last time in Plaza Catalunya (link here). What did not change is that riot police officers were not wearing identification numbers, as the law states they must, making protesters shout: “This is a dictatorship, without identification you are paramilitary forces!”. The barricades have been reconstructed and expanding to the surrounding streets, but now the protesters are trying to block the politicians inside the parliament. Thousands remain and are chanting “they don’t represent us” and ¨Real democracy Now¨. All exits are currently blocked (4pm) and the politicians are not able to leave the parliament.  Artur Mas, chamber President, has threatened the protestors from inside the building, saying that if they don´t cooperate he will make “legitimate use of force” after assuring that protesters have “crossed the red line”. All parties involved in the Catalan Parliament, including the smaller ones with similar interests toward the movement, have condemmed today´s events.

 

#AcampadaBCN received this on 7th June… #15m #19j #spanishrevolution #europeanrevolution

Letter sent to: the people responsible in
 the youth platform in Placa Catalunya:

Congratulations!
It was about time:  – That you moved your young backsides -from
 in
 front of consoles  and video games It was about time: – That
you
 moved your young backsides -from in
 front of computer screens It was about time: - That you said
 you
exist.
It was about time: –That you went out to – fight - sweat- and
demand
 your - no longer
 ‘uncertain future’- but INEXISTANT future.
It was about time: - That you mobilised yourselves for nobody
 will
 fix it for you It
 was about time: - That you demonstrated you’re alive!
It was about time: -That you started to show your feelings as
 a
 person It was about
 time: -That you demanded back what so many times was offered
to
you as false promises.
 “Work” “Future” and  “Social Well Being” It was about time:
 -That
 you realised that
 the politicians only used you to get to their thrones and
to rob
 you blind.
It was about time: -That you realised that shutting up gets
 you
 nowhere.
It was about time: -That you took off your gags.
It was about time: -That you demonstrated that you have
dignity.
It was about time: -That you made yourselves be heard
It was about time: -That you realised you need more than
 the
 LEFTOVERS
that they have been giving you
It was about time: -That you woke up from this couldn't
-care-less
dream you’ve been in for far too long.
It was about time: -That you realised you have no future
It was about time: -That you realised that without
 expressing
 yourself nobody would
take a damned bit of notice of you It was about time:
-That
you understood that the
future in your, ‘the youths’, hands, and that your
struggle
and your demands will be
 the conditions which you will live in.
It was about time: -That you stopped living with your
parents
It was about time: -That you thought that life is more
than:
Party –
Mega Cars –Fun
Come on youth: You are the future of the world

Come on youth: Fight for your future and your tomorrow,
 today
 the majority of you have
 nothing!

 Us: your elders had to fight a lot to get what we have,
and
between: Robber – Chorizos –
 Thieves – Delinquents –Etc, they’re fucking up all that
 we
got through our struggles.
 Now it’s your turn to fight!

You can do it!
Good Luck!
A pissed off old lady,

#Europeanrevolution #Spanishrevolution video in english

This video published on 9th June was sent to us by a contributor today.

2011-06-13 Camps in Madrid and Barcelona dismount #AcampadaSol & #AcampadaBCN of #SpanishRevolution #EuropeanRevolution

The camps slowly disappear After weeks of tension and negotiations last week the General Assembly of Puerta del Sol (Madrid) and Plaza Catalunya (Barcelona) agreed to lift camp today. Starting early in the morning the squares have been progressively stripped bare and will be lifted completely this evening, almost 25 days after they started. In Madrid, the makeshift furniture, tents and posters have been slowly removed all week long. Today various trucks are being loaded and the last remaining parts are being taken down, the 4000 books donated to the library will end up in various social centers, while most of the furniture will be recycled or destroyed by a disposal vehicle brought in by the city authorities. Some of the protestors, in both cities, have decided to remain, arguing that initial idea was to stay indefinitely. Their freedom to do so has been respected but they fear that it will result in police action. Some of them also proposed the idea of making it an itinerant camp that could move through squares around the city but a consensus was not achieved on this matter. It is also to be seen if a permanent information booth will be installed and left behind.
(Video of the demonstration that took place this night in the main street of Madrid (Gran Via) to end Plaza Sol Camp) A restructuring of the movement “We are not leaving, we are expanding” is the motto behind the lifting of the tents. This coincides with the idea that the central camp of Sol will hand over the baton to the neighborhood assemblies, who are in charge of local action, such as the ones carried our already: protests outside health centers that are to be privatized, gatherings before local government representatives or debates for specific action in each district. All of these smaller assemblies will carry the movement onward, while Sol square will remain as an extraordinary gathering place, a symbol for the movement and a space for the General Assembly. Other camps in Spain The camps in Huelva, Granada, Mieres, Langreo, Aviles, Gijon, Oviedo, Teruel and Salamanca have chosen to follow the examples of the main cities and leave the squares. Some of them, like Pamplona will have a permanent information point where people can ask for ways to participate. In other places such as in Tenerife, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia and Santander the camps will go on indefinitely. Live feed from Madrid: http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/spanishrevolutionsol?layout=4&autoplay=false

Watch live streaming video from spanishrevolutionsol at livestream.com

Testimonial of Sebastian Ledesma on police crackdown at #AcampadaBCN #Spanishrevolution #15M

Translation of the testimonial of the person in a wheelchair in the pictures of the eviction of the Catalonia square (Barcelona). Published in the Vanguardia on the 1 June 2011 http://www.lavanguardia.com/participacion/20110601/54164400665/els-mossos-d-esquadra-van-agredir-me.html (in Catalan)

I am the person in a wheelchair who appeared in numerous photos of the attempted eviction in the Catalonia square in Barcelona, and I want to put a name to the controversial images. My name is Sebastian Ledesma Moran, I am 55 years old, and I want to make three things clear:

1) That the images are a true reflection of what happened there.

2) That the policeman (mosso d’esquadra, the Catalan police) was not defending me, as the minister Felip Puig and some media said, but that I was attacked as bumps and scratches left in the chair and caused by a baton blow certify.

3) I did not get any blow on my body because another mosso said to the one threatening with his baton (as shown in photo): “No, fuck not to this one, we would end up in the tribunals”

I also want to make clear that I am neither a hero nor a victim, not a “borroka” or, much less, an unconscious. I am only another outraged. I participate in daily activities at the Catalonia square, especially in the Functional Diversity Committee, which among other things, deals with issues of disability.

And you can be sure we will continue to protest peacefully and to fight until the present state of things fades away.

I will have to repair my wheelchair, otherwise the scratches will rust. I don’t know, and I don’t care, if I have to pay for the reparation.  What really worries me is that when I was young I had to run in front of Franco’s police, and that this police, which I believed was my police, make me run in front of them. I don’t know how to explain to my daughters that this is the police we asked for.

During the police charge  I heard many policemen saying, always in Spanish, by the way: “What is this man doing here? Carry him off! Carry him off!”. I am fed up of having my presence  challenged: It is my right, and even my duty, to be there as outraged. Why they didn’t want me there? Because I was  making it hard for them to deliver blows at pleasure? I find disturbing all the fuss about I being agreed or not while it seems that it doesn’t matter what happen to other people, if they were agreed or if they had a panic attack. We are all equal before the law, and we all have the same right to freedom of speech and self-defense, especially against an unjustified assault as the one last Friday.

Those who were behind my chair, who got beaten by the police, were there because I told them to hide there, convinced that I will be respected.  Nobody manipulated me, and there was not need to protect me from my outraged fellows, as somebody has said. I only felt manipulated when Felip Puig delivered his version of the police action, the only protection I was in need for was from his men.

We were offering peaceful resistance at the square entrances to prevent the trucks to go out with our belongings. As demonstrated, we could not retrieve anything that was taken, neither the signatures collected, nor the mobile phones or anything. Finally they thrown our belongs in a wasteland as if it was garbage

The only moment I felt really  afraid was after later, after the moment the photos were taken, when thousands of supporters surrounded and screamed at the police. I fear that they would they go for them, that the police would retaliated and that some calamity would happen. They were moments of great tension. They were moments of
another epoch, one I believed was gone long ago.

Police attack protesters in #Valencia as protests continue throughout #Spain – #spanishrevolution #europeanrevolution #vlcsinmiedo

Today at 13.30 hours the Spanish national police attacked protesters who had been occupying the steps of parliament since last night. This comes after the official page for the camp in Valencia called for a protest before the Corts Valencianes, the main legislative organ of the Comunitat Valenciana. Today the new members were to be sworn into their charges after being elected on the past 22nd of May, and many of them, mostly belonging to the right wing Partido Popular, did so even though they are currently facing serious corruption charges.

The protesters that gathered there last night were evicted without major incidents. Today, however, there were at least 18 people injured (8 of them policemen) and 5 arrests. There are different versions on how the violence started. Some say that the police attacked after a young man jumped over the security fence towards the door. The police say that a small group of radical protesters attacked them with bottles and blunt objects, and that the retaliation was to arrest these few agitators and to protect the politicians that were going into the building. None of the injuries are serious even though the emergency services had to be called in to take a 55 year old woman to the hospital with mild concussions on her head and face. Maria Guillem, aged 42, was injured in the lip and also had to be taken away in an ambulance. She stated that “I don’t know what happened, the police arrived and pushed me to the ground”. During the ten or fifteen minutes of violence, Juan Ponce, a deputy for the political party Compromis, was injured by the police in his arm. He has stated that he did not deserve being hit as we was just standing by. Compromis has also said that they might press charges. Another spokesperson for Compromis, Enric Morera, said that he did not understand the exaggerated police operative to control the protests when “the parliament has been constituted with people implicated with or accused of severe corruption charges”. On the other hand a government representative asked for comprehension, stating that the police acted “responsibly and professionally”. He also apologized to the injured civilians but reminded the public that eight policemen were attacked, and that one of them was even cut on the face with a pair of scissors.

In the aftermath of the events, protests continue to occupy the streets of Valencia. Around a thousand of them gathered before the police headquarters demanding the release of the arrested activists. The official group for the Valencia camp issued a statement, along with other small-party politicians, asking for the dismissal of the chief-of-police of the city, stating that the violence was uncalled for in a pacific protest, and that their actions were grossly disproportionate. They have also called for a march that is to start at 20.15 hrs and end in front of the regional government building (Sub-delegacion de Gobierno). The attack this morning has managed to put the 15M movement back in the media spotlight, something the organizers (Twitter accounts of the camps in Madrid in Barcelona) view as very positive, taking into account the fact that the biggest demonstration is planned for the upcoming 19th of June.

Click here for the event on Facebook, and here for the international event promoted by Democracia Real Ya! (there are several other pages hosting the event in different countries, as there is no official page)

Click here for a photographic account of the incident.

http://videos.levante-emv.com/swf//CTVPlayer.swf

General Assemby in Madrid decides to end #acampadasol, but continue the struggle

#spanishrevolution, #ukrevolution, #acampadasol, #greekrevolution, #europeanrevolution

The M-15 movement in Madrid has decided tonight, after a four hour long general assembly that it will end its occupation of ‘La Puerta de Sol’ (main square in Madrid) on Sunday the 12^th of June. The way in which this process will be carried out will continue to be debated and it is likely that a small permanent information office will remain. The movement will also continue to hold daily general assemblies in the square and it acknowledged that some people may decide to continue the occupation as individuals.

The reasons given for ending the occupation are varied. It is partly to address the growing problems associated with the camp, in regards to security and hygiene. However, more importantly it is part of strategy for decentralizing expanding the movement. This has already began, with a national day of action planned for the 19^th of June and the creation of popular assemblies in hundreds of suburbs and communities all over Spain. The occupation is currently in its 24^th day and the M-15 movement has vowed to continue its struggle for  participatory democracy and social justice.

The #15M Prepares for the Post-camping Era #spanishrevolution

The 15-M Prepares for the Post-camping Era, #spanishrevolution, #acampadasol, #europeanrevolution, #ukrevolution, #greekrevolution, #frenchrevolution,

The member associations of 15-M now prepare for the post-camping era. Leading up to the temporary eviction of Barcelona and Lleida, they experienced a gradual decrease in the number of participants and media attention. After this episode, in spite of the present upturn, they know they will again lose supporters. However, they believe that the movement has to continue and they are already preparing the strategy: they propose a European mobilization at the end of June, the creation of a wikiparliament to formalize proposals, the development of Democracy 4.0 and the extension of the movement in networks through the suburbs and smaller cities.

The political intervention in Catalonia has revived the protests. This already happened in Granada at the beginning of the election campaign. The greater the political presence, the more protesters in the camps. Yet the members of 15-M are conscious that the near future will hold a decrease in demonstrators until the dissolution of the camps. Nevertheless, they don’t want the lack of presence in the streets to mean the end of this unprecedented movement.

The Laboratory of Political Ideas and Practice of the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville has welcomed the movement because, according to professor of Philosophy of Law Rafael Rodríguez, it is necessary to “create links and synergies” to facilitate the elaboration of proposals for social transformation. In the setting of this laboratory, Law graduate Francisco Jurado, member of 15-M and one of the founders of coordinating committee of Democracia Real Ya (Real Democracy Now), has explained how they are planning the future.

Wikiparliament. The methodology for decision-making in this assembly setting is still in debate. One of the ideas being considered is to create a wiki-type platform of proposals on the Internet, a page that will be cultivated with voluntary contributions. This system would permit the revision of proposals and for all to continue refining and contributing their knowledge and experience.

They reject the presentation of proposals without certain “minimum requirements”. So they consider that this wikicongress would permit any idea to be proposed, amended and developed with reasonable contributions. Once there is a consensus on these proposals, they will be initiated.

Amongst the short-term objectives, is that mortgages be settled in the case of non-payment. In the long-term, they aim for a revision of the separation of powers, social monitoring of executive actions and the reform of the channels of participation. As they reject links to any political party, the tradition parliamentary channel is unlikely and proposing popular legislative initiatives is limited. “We would be pleased if a political party took up our proposals,” Jurado affirms.

Democracy 4.0. This is the title used by a member of the university laboratory of ideas. It’s based in the existence of sufficient technology and legal precedents – there are measures that authorize Members of Parliament to vote without being physically in Parliament – in order to guarantee citizen participation beyond every four years in the ballot box. An online system of voting would facilitate citizens to express their opinions.

To this point they add many others that would facilitate the channels of social participation in the parliaments, without the need for citizens to direct their proposals through political groups.

Territorial reorganization. The first action is to extend the movement and disassociate it from the central plazas. They are aware that the camps have been fundamental, a “lesson in practical politics”, Jurado asserts. The camps have been a grouping by common interests and objectives that have generated an “identity”, but 15-M cannot limit itself to Sol, the Plaza of Catalunya or “las setas”, as they call the Plaza of La Encarnación in Seville.

The objective is to disperse this movement with teaching through “local settings”, like neighbourhoods and small villages. By maintaining the global character of the movement, the creation of an international platform can be simultaneously promoted. In this way, they aim to generate a network that will produce support systems, proposals and followers.

Education. This is another key plan of 15-M. They aim to promote initiatives, like those of the Seville Pablo de Olavide University, in order to create a society that is committed and prepared to take a more active position in the management and monitoring of government administration.

In this sense, Jurado explains, they imagine the university as a centre for investigation and knowledge, grounded in social reality.

Translation of the conclusions of Manuel Castells on May 27 at the #AcampadaBCN #spanishrevolution #15M

Translation of the conclusions of the speach in Spanish  of the sociologist Manuel Castells, professor at Berkeley University  (California) and researcher at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC),  on May 27 at the # AcampadaBCN – Plaza of Catalonia – to support the  camps around the world and enumerate the conditions necessary to achieve  real democratic change. Short version of the conference (in Spanish) http://www.vilaweb.tv/?video=6848 Complete version (47 minutes) http://www.vilaweb.tv/?video=6847 

“Fearful around the world, but united in the Web”

We  are in a society where everything needs to be fast, but when we arrive at  home we colapse. Therefore we should do what we want to do, like for  instances create a new democracy, but slowly. Nobody is in a hurry, we have  to make history, there is not need to rush. Others can run, we don’t,  because we are advancing systematically. If not we will become the  rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, running always with the clock. My long experience  in social movements, starting with the May of 68 in Paris, where I  participated actively, tells me that what we are living here, and in 706  camps more around the world, has substance, has roots, and whatever  forms it takes and whatever will happen, this movement will continue. It  will attempt to bring profund changes. Precisly because it is a  movement of people not of organisations. People are neither created nor  destroyed, only transformed. But is not going to be easy. When the  powers that be realise what is going on is serious (because for the  moment they don’t believe this is serious), they will react. And they  will react probably violently because there are too many interests at  stake. That is why it is essential that this process be slow and profund to  reconstruct democracy. It must also have non-violence as a fundamental  principal,  which is already expressed and put into  practice. 

 

Non-violence is  fundamental. What camps are proving all over Spain, is that after 11 days  there has been not a single violent incident. And until the police come,  there is not going to be violence. To the likely violence from the  system, we should propose people use non-violence. To do this, a lot of  courage is needed, becauase to reply to violence with violence, is to  respond from fear: you are attacked and you defend youself. We will need  to help people who would be so scared that would became violent. We  should help them to advance towards a superior level of courage, which  requires one to overcome fear. Overcome fear from the acceptance of the  funtamental fact that fear is a part of life. The only way to  overcome fear is by leaving solitud. Fear is a disease caused by  loneliness. The only cure is joining others. And without fear and  without violence, all is possible. Some days ago,  I asked a good  friend, and a great neuroscientist, Antoni Damasio: “Do you think it is true  that if we overcome fear things would change?” And he replied “Absolutly” because fear is human nature  and have to recognize it.

 

Therefore if now I had to propose a slogan, I  would say: Fearful around the world, but united in the Web. United,  because together the only thing you can lose is your fear. And if we do it, this may be the start of a new  participatory internet based democracy, yet to be invented, which will be born. Thanks for your antention, and we can continue discussing this after the talk.