Lets DISOBEY! Together WE CAN! BARCELONA #15M Newsletter nr 55

Dec 05, 2013 12:05 pm

1. Let’s disobey! Together we can!
2. Ateneu la Sèquia: denouncing injustices and building alternatives
3. The truth is the best propaganda. Livestreaming workshop

1. LET’S DISOBEY! TOGETHER WE CAN!

ALL POWER TO THE ASSEMBLIESJuntes Podem (catalan for Together We Can!) is the name of a working group born while preparing  the demonstration of last February 23th,  in Barcelona (see NL#40, 1) It brought together many groups, platforms, collectives and assemblies to increase strength by sharing information and strategies. Each entity meets separately and they have three comissions: contents, comunication and actions/strategy. They participate in comissions of general assembly as individuals and as groups.

Since last June, Juntes Podem has been building  a strong and effective campaign – Aturem els presupposts de la miseria (Let’s Block the Misery Budget!) to fight against the Budget of the local government in Catalunya, a budget which is compromised by the debt which forces privatizations taking austerity measures. The first date of the Calendari de desobediència als pressupostos i a les polítiques de la misèria (Calendar of Rejection of the Budget and the Politics of Misery) was November the 19th with an escrache protest (see NL#42, 2 ) This protest took place against Mas-Colell (former Minister of Finance of Catalunya) http://desobeimelspressupostos.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/calendari-de-desobediencia-als-pressupostos-i-a-les-politiques-de-la-miseria/.

On the 20th, this was followed by a talk at the UB (Barcelona University) about “antisocial budget and pensions’ cut” . At the same university, a week of conference started on the 25th. – “From regime crisis to the voices of social change” – It closed on the 28th with a popular trial of the university-enterprise. On November the 24th, many people marched through the center of Barcelona demostrating and protesting against the budget and the cuts. Many talks, concentrations, flash mobs took place until December the 4th.

As the PACD (Citizen Debt Audit Platform , NL#12, 1 ) well clarifies, in the 2014 budget the Catalan government, formed by a coalition of center-right wing party – CIU – and a former left-wing party for independence, they will sell and privatize services and goods, with the obvious consequence that citizens will have to pay for what was public before. No more money will be invested in welfare.The only concern for the government is to pay the debt and the situation has worsened since last year. However, those accountable for  this situation remain silent without taking any responsability.

So on December, the 4th – the day of the final approval of the 2014 Budget – Catalans  were called to join a demo in front of the Catalan Parlament , to say NO to the misery and austerity budget.

LINKS

Video and Pictures

Social Networks

2. ATENEU LA SÈQUIA: DENOUNCING INJUSTICES AND BUILDING ALTERNATIVES

En defensa de l Ateneu Popular la Sèquia

ateneu sequia

Unes 300 persones s’han manifestat pels carrers de Manresa sota el lema “No ens faran fora de l’ateneu popular La Sèquia”, aquest centre serveix d’espai de debat, participació i critica. Els quatre anys de funcionament li ha donat per poder desenvolupar-se i d’aquesta resultar un referent per a multitud de persones.Actualment un procés judicial podria fer perillar aquest treball que molta gent pren com seu, veïns de Manresa com gent de poblacions veïnes.Per aquesta raó aquets dies s’està realitzant una acampada a la plaça Major i la tarda del 21 la manifestació pels carrers del centre de Manresa.

The Ateneu la Sèquia (Workers Centre ‘The Drought’) is a project born in 2009. An old and abandoned house of the Josefinas (a religious order) became a freed space in Manresa (70 km west of Barcelona), in order to offer the citizens an alternative for their consumer leisure time: its aim is to build alternatives to the capitalist system and to the hegemonic way of thinking.

Currently, more than 300 people and 12 collectives – such as Bages’ PAHC (Bages’ platform for those affected by mortgage eveictions and capitalism of Bages ) and Acció Lila (a feminst collective ) – are directly involved in the managment of the space. The organization of these groups is based on two fundamental principles: self-management and group decision making.

The Ateneu la Sèquia offers and hosts a series of recreational and demanding proposals, to raise citizens’ awareness, to denounce injustice, and to make visible specific alternatives through the activities organized by the different collectives in this space such as Arran – a youth’s assembly that works to promote critical thinking -; Ecoxarxa del Bages – exchange community, using his own goods -; La Guixa – ecological consumption cooperative. Many projects are currently available at the Ateneu: a social library; an indoor rock climbing wall; a multi-purpose space to host workshops and yoga, dance, gym, self-defense or circus, etc. Other projects are to be improved: a soup kitchen; a play center; a hack lab; a repair shop.

On November, from the 16th to the 23rd of this year, hundreds of people filled the Plaza Mayor of Manresa: they chose this way to spread news  beyond the four walls of the building, about the judicial process of eviction, by involving all the citizens of Manresa. The encampment visualized the need to preserve the space. During this week of action, the main square of Manresa was crowded and turned into a very dynamic place with lectures, dinners and other activities which helped to spread the news of the project and gather supporters against eviction. The highlight of the week was on Thursday, November the 21st, when five hundred people participated to a rally in defense of the  space.

On November 22nd, about two hundred people gathered at the courthouse in Manresa to support the Ateneu la Sèquia. Its inhabitants were facing trial for eviction. The lawyer showed proofs and documentation of several activities and social practices that the Ateneu hosted since the project began.

IMG_1947_(edit baixa).jpg

Ateneu members claimed that they are going to keep the occupation at any cost, criticizing the “authoritarian attitude” of the owners – the Josefinas – for their lack of dialogue despite  repeated attempts at negotiation. According to sources from Ateneu la Sèquia, the City Council is negotiating a possible swap to save the freed space. People of the Ateneu assert that they will not give up, taking to the street as many times as necessary to defend the project.

LINKS

Video and Pictures

Social Networks

3. THE TRUTH IS THE BEST PROPAGANDA. LIVESTREAMING WORKSHOP

BafCRINCAAEmfoA.jpg largeNeighbours and those interested in discovering new keys to work as media activists have a new chance to participate in a PeopleWitness workshop in Barcelona. Members of the Peoplewitness project  will held on Friday 6th a free workshop in the Ateneu Roig , at 25, Ciudad Real st. at Gracia district.

The collective defines itself as a “toolkit” of new technologies for information. The Workshops are a way to interact with people rather than the wiki and web which provide usefull and free information on social media.

On Friday 6th the Livestreaming Workshop will touch the three key points for streaming: Livestream studio, Bambuser and Xsplit studio.

Livestream studio: One interesting fact is that this platform serves to link the different live streamings by several streamers into one multiscreen, using Xsplit, and these multiscreens recordings can also become a “program” by creating a specific link you can later spread via internet.

Bambuser: This is the application for streaming from a smartphone, pad or computer. There are other applications such as quik or ustream, but there is an advantage with Bambuser: it gives free premium accounts to activists.

XSplit: This program allows you to mix different streamings from Bambuser and broadcast them as a multiscreen channel on Livestream. It’s as easy as downloading the program and adjusting the audio and video according to your internet connection, though you usually need a high bandwidth to work on XSplit.
When a group of streamers are broadcasting from the streets, Xsplit allows you to mix the multiple scenes and even put titles or descriptions in several tickers. This mixer also lets you adjust the quality and contrast of the streaming.

In fact, the so called anti-protest law that Spanish Government have recently introduced to discourage protests and citizens journalists seems to obtain the opposite, as people are everyday more motivated to show the truth.

LINKS:

Social Networks
Twitter Account: @peoplewitness HT #peoplewitness
Facebook page

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Author: thefreeonline

The Free is a book and a blog. Download free E/book ...”the most detailed fictional treatment of the movement from a world recognizably like our own to an anarchist society that I have read...

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