Hello from Barcelona,
this is the 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. Universities against the neoliberal model in education: a first strike to start the school year
2. The squat farmhouse Can Piella could be evicted
3. Week of a global action against debt – say it loud: don’t owe, won’t pay!
1. UNIVERSITIES AGAINST THE NEOLIBERAL MODEL IN EDUCATION: A FIRST STRIKE TO START THE SCHOOL YEAR.
On October 11th University students of more than 25 cities all over Spain, with the support of teachers and employees of administration and services (PAS), followed a call for a strike. The idea for the call started through the Catalan campaign 11×12, education of and for the people, which gathers several associations and unions from all the state, to defend the public education’s quality and accessibility for everybody. This call has quickly found other platforms from the rest of the country to join them.
This strike is thought to be a starting point of a whole year of mobilizations against the measures taken by the government, specially hard in Catalonia. Currently there is a transformation of the public university model into a neloliberal one: less public money, making the university depend on private companies’ money to take their decisions; increase in the fees with the consequent privatization and further elitism of the university; less grants, changing them for a “soft credits” policy, so the financial market gets their share; the huge percentage of teachers and members of the PAS being laid off; and the new model of institution government, designed by outsiders, that leaves out the university community bringing a loss in the university’s democracy standards. Definitely, the strikes are against the decrease of the quality and the increase of the costs which is making many students have to drop their studies.
On Wednesday 10th several campus have been occupied and early in the morning of the 11th the pickets (some informative, some blocking the entrance to the universities) started their task. Most of the universities were closed during the whole morning. Riot police was at the Autonomous University (UAB) and tried to stop the students from blocking the highway. The UB organized lectures on the street. A demonstration started at 12pm from University square, although some marches had started earlier on in order to reach the square together from their different starting points, blocking some main roads at several entrances to Barcelona. The demonstration marched through the center of the city, to finish in the headquarters of Convergència i Unió, the party which holds the power in Catalonia, to point out who is responsable for the dismantling of the public university.
LINKS
PUDUP’s Manifesto [CAT]
Press
- La Directa [CAT]
- El Pais [SP]
Some extra information:
- Studying in Catalonia is 75% more expensive than in the rest of the state [CAT]
- Budget cuts on Erasmus Grants [SP]
Videos:
- 11×12 Campaign
- Streaming:
Twitter @Uniprecaria, #vagauni11o #sensetaxes #senseretallades #11O #11×12
2.THE SQUAT FARMHOUSE CAN PIELLA COULD BE EVICTED
Can Piella is a rural squat, a XVII century farmhouse located in Barcelona’s outskirts, occupied for 3 years, after being abandoned and uninhabited during the last 10 years.
The farmhouse has been since rehabilited and the surrounding field are now tilled and producing food.
Can Piella wants to build and to spread -through autonomy, collective work and
self-management- alternatives to the present model of society, in order to contribute to the social change that will lead us to a “better world, more altruistic, sustainable, ecological and solidary with a a clear restatement of consumption and where relations of domination will be small imperfections and not the general trend”.
As we can read in their website, “the project integrates the residents of towns nearby who wanted to start working the land collectively, groups of critical thinking, research initiatives in alternative energy systems, dens and leisure, among others”. Can Piella is currently a space for reflection, debate and community work.
Now this place suffers an eviction threat: the Court has ordered the occupants to leave the farmhouse on October 15th, even though the owner is not going to give any use to it.
In this case Can Piella evction procedure has been started by a firm belonging to the Alcazar Real Estate Group. Its former owner has taken part of several corruption investigations and accusations during decades, and the current one -his first-born- seems not to have any idea of what Can Piella is.
To fight back and face this menace, Can Piella’s assembly called for a march this Saturday -October 13th- leaving from the train station at La Llagosta (the nearest town) at 5pm and ending up in a resistance camp in the grounds around Can Piella, camp known asAcamPiella. The march is supported by the Aliança per la Sobirania Alimentària de Catalunya (http://asapcatalunya.wordpress.com/ ), the local PAH at La Llagosta (http://on.fb.me/SLNL78 ), Reclaim the Fields (http://reclaimthefields.org/ ), l’Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (http://www.odg.cat/idioma.php ), Can Masdeu (http://www.canmasdeu.net/ ) and Repoblació Rural (http://www.repoblament.tk/ ).
At the same time, two online petitions are available to stop the eviction. You can sign them on Can Piella’s website (http://www.canpiella.cat/ )
“The problem that recalls Can Piella’s eviction is a global problem in our society, that constantly confronts the myth of progress with a social degeneration, in favor of a purely economistic policy”
LINKS
Can Piella Web Site [CAT, SP]
Online petitions: 1 / 2
Radio Interview – from min. 36 [SP]
Collectives and Groups supporting the march
- Aliança per la Sobirania Alimentària de Catalunya – Alliance for food sovereignty of Catalonia blog: [CAT]
- PAH -Plataform of those affected by the Mortgage- local group at La Llagosta, Facebook page: [CAT]
- Reclaim the Fields webpage [EN]
- Observatori del Deute en la Globalització – Debt in Globalization Observatory [SP, CAT]
- Can Masdeu squat webpage [EN]
- Repoblació Rural – Rural repopulation web page [CAT]
Articles:
- Can Piella is threatened with eviction [CAT]
- Eviction threat to a XVII century farmhouse in Barcelona environs: 1 [SP], 2 [CAT]
- A multimilionary behind the Can Piella eviction [CAT]
Twitter: @canPiella, #CanPiellaVive #CanPiellaViu #AcamPiella
3.WEEK OF GLOBAL ACTION AGAINST DEBT -SAY IT LOUD: DON’T OWE, WON’T PAY!
In 2007 the Social Forum in Nairobi stablished the Week of Global Action Against Debt. The main reason is that debt is not only a number but a mechanism for slavering countries and people to subjugate them to financial and economical powers. An economy that stands over the people and not for them. This year it is the 25th aniversary of the death of Thomas Shankara, the president of Burkina Faso who was murdered when he stated that he was not going to pay his country’s debt.
What was the plan for this week? The Plataforma Auditoria Ciudadana de la Deuda -PACD (Citizen Debt Audit Platform) (NL12, 1 ) had started with two conferences with their debates the week before, but the official opening action is a very special football match on Oct 8th where the 1% will have to face the 99%. This was a performance to show the need of changing not only the rules of the game, but the game itself, showing that the 99% cannot win a match of a game designed by the 1%.
Several other Conferences are spread throughout the week all over Barcelona and towns nearby: about the debt itself, about the bailout and which mesures the government will have to take in exchange, about town debt, debt and south and specially about how debt affects the people in their everyday life. This last one is going to take place in Catalunya square in the format of a round table with members of the different sectors fighting for dignity, such as Cafè amb llet (NL #18, 4 ) for health, thePlatform of those Affected by Mortages (PAH) (NL #12, 2 and #14, 3 ) for housing, and several workgroups for education. The main idea is to make people aware about the debt mechanism,so as to be able to launch a campaign for a citizen debt audit.
On Saturday the Global Noise demonstration is calling people to get together at 18h at Catalunya square with a symbol, a huge sticky debt which is going to be taken back to the place where it belongs. The slogan for the demonstration is “Don’t owe, won’t pay, it depends on us”.
To close the week, a homenage to Thomas Shankara has been organized through the social networks for oct 15th, the anniversary of his death.
LINKS
- Program of Barcelona’s Week of Global Action Against Debt [CAT]
- Manifesto of the Week of Global Action Against Debt [EN]
- Call for the football match of the 1%vs99% [CAT]
- Press Release for the Week [CAT, SP]
- 13O Manifesto [EN, SP, CAT]
- Thomas Shankara speech [FR, IT subtitles]
Videos:
- Streamings by jezagoudi of ML Fattorelli & Myriam Ayala conference (OCT 2nd) : 1 / 2 / 3 [SP]
- Football match:
Twitter: @AuditoriaBcn,@AuditCiudadana, #NoDevemNoPaguem #SetmanaDeute #13O #1vs99 #NoDebemosNoPagamos #OK13Global
15M Barcelona Internacional 
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