Barcelona pictures.

by ipsiphi (personal capacity ?¿?!) Mon Feb 17, 2003 15:49 bcn

The Council has retaken the Hacienda building.

This was really "sticky bricky". We face a council set on speculation and development of key areas leading upto 2004. All the centre of BCN, the three old quarters of the Ravel, Goticó and Borne are deing redeveloped against the wishes or longterm interest of the people who live there.

We as the assembly of okupes can not endanger residential squats by a provocative occupation of a key Council building. We occupied on Saturday against the war. Then Sunday morning for a party. We have met in continuous assembly since Saturday and agreed.

1. there is will and neccesity for an open space supporting and supported by the platform "Auturem el Guerre" in central BCN.

2. there is sufficient energy and support to create a mutli language information centre combining all media of communication to discuss
the theme "an other war is possible".

3. we hold that War being the absence of Peace is the quotidient condition of humanity varying from criminalised and militarised societies to full scale military intervention. There is no absence of war.

"The open space against the war" is a general subversive propostion engaging all aspects of life.
"The open space against war" is a collective gesture of social disobedience against a represive state, it is a space of ongoing sabatauge of the culture industry that has given us naught but pain, terror and the desperation which at root is the real war of the State.

We are convoking assembly again tonight in the "Espai Obert" okupe at Metro Parallel C/B.garay, to discuss our next location.

We have not okupied a space to "de-okupy" it. We have not okupied a space to "leave it without resistance".
this was sticky....Ná leathnaigh do bhrat muna féidir leat á chosaint.
= Don't unfurl your flag if you are unable to defend it.

Today as el dinero gratis, yo mango, forum2004, auterem el guerre, recuperem els carrers, nunca mais and all the groupings that intermingled perhaps make up the "main oppostion" in España discuss the strategic niceties of where our "espai allibert contra la guerra" will go tomorrow it has been anounced that Radio Klara has changed its internet frequency.

http://www.barcelona.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=33670&group=webcast

equiv:::catalan:::manifesto:::un altre guerra es possible!

L'Espai alliberat contra la guerra és una proposta subversiva generalitzada en tot els ambits de la vida.
L'espai alliberat contra la guerra és un gest col·lectiu de desobediència social a un Estat represiu, és un espai de sabotatge continuo contra la cultura d'amagar el dolor i la desesperació amb la que es fonamenta l'Estat guerra actual.
Perque una altre guerra és posible.

by Brian Scanlan Mon Feb 17, 2003 15:00 singer at redbrick dot dcu dot ie

I should have written "...organised with support from the main opposition party and main trade unions" - Apologies. That was a blatant error.

I was more interested in making some points for clued in Irish people who are interested in what's going on here.

OBVIOUSLY, the green/pacifist/anarchist groups are at the core of the anti-war activities. I found it more interesting to report that the mainstream press/politicians have at least some respect for the anti-war movement. The report was by no means a definitive analysis of the organisational structure of the event, while I know that there were a lot of collectives/groups involved, my lack of Catalan and therefore lack of access to alternative news sources in Barcelona is a barrier to my ability to offer detailed reports.

Don't take offence that I didn't go in depth talking about how the Barcelona march was organised. I assumed that I was writing for an educated audience, who'd have at least a bit of familiarity with the levels of activism in Barcelona, and who would be aware of their large involvement in the protest. I hope nobody was under the impression that it was organised by a single political party.

It's arguable that the scale of the protest was more to do with the attitudes of the "mainstream" parties, unions and media towards the war - And as cynical as I'm sure you are towards them, it was a more notable point for me to make in the piece.

As for what the people on the stage were saying, like I said, I didn't hang around because I didn't know what was going on. Going home, getting warm and eating was a better plan at the time than struggling to understand what the speakers were saying (please don't lynch me for this ;) ).

Thanks for the corrections - I can only apologise for the awful in accuracy about it being organised by one party. Even I know that's wrong. I blame it on it being in work on Monday morning, and that I was out in the Raval last night. :)

by iosaf Mon Feb 17, 2003 14:24

The Ajuntament (BCN council) Hacienda Building is still under occupation "contra la Guerra" at Avinyó 15. Todays newspapers have reported the presence of a hundred pacifists. The assembly calls on those who manifested on Saturday to bring photos, memories, suggestions and hope to this building or any next so designated place.

One important correction: The Platform "auturem la guerra" is a cross party platform and is not "organised" by the "main opposition party" of Spain. The main opposition party of Spain is the PSOE. The PSOE only joined the assembly recently.
The PSOE do not have a majority in Catalúnya. The PSC their local equivalent neither control the Ajuntament. The current mayor however is PSC. Writing that this march was organised by the main opposition party is equivalent to crediting Dublin´s march with FG or Labour. It is inaccurate and false. The organisation to which you refer was the stewardship of the commercial TV and radio media by less than forty members of the CCOO and CGT unions. The local TV station BTV nor the pirate stations took part in that organisational structure. The cost of hiring the speakers and stage which were placed at the final half kilometre on Gran Via were not hired by either PSC, PSOE or CCOO CGT. Thus I do not really understand why you reported this activity as such. The speakers whose words you did not understand were members of three small groups and none are PSC/PSOE/CCOO/CGT/UGT. Thus though yhour report seems accurate and certainly is written in a good journalistic style it is a poor interpretation of what occured. You probably heard the united shouting at the end of a variety of slogans, none of these are the slogans of the "main oppostion party". I would thus advise you to make use of translators in future for those "unforgetable days".

THe point of what happened in Barcelona is lost in your report. We organise ourselves here in small community assemblies and work to an agreed agenda. This is a model which can be copied anywhere. I feel your report does not do our recipe any justice.
so I am dissappointed.
If the final words to the marchers from the stage were a request to attend the peace occupation, why did you not report that?
IF the penultimate words to the marchers which followed chanting for Aznar´s resignation were calls to Madrid on Jan23rd for "nunca mais" why did you not report that?

by conor (wsm personal capacity) Mon Feb 17, 2003 12:45

Brian we've had our barnys on ie-rant in the past but this is a great report and nice pics!
Krossie

by Brian Scanlan Mon Feb 17, 2003 12:38 singer at redbrick dot dcu dot ie

The URL I posted above doesn't work at all. Click on the "related link" associated with this posting.