Protests in Spain: "Occupy the Congress"

Jerome E. Roos wrote: On September 25, the Spanish Parliament building will be surrounded symbolically to rescue it from the kidnapping which has turned this institution into a useless organ. A kidnapping of our popular sovereignty by the Troika and by the markets, executed under the guise and with the collaboration of most of the political parties. Parties which have betrayed their electoral programs, their voters and the people in general, breaking their vows and contributing to the gradual pauperization of the people.

A government chosen by the people that once it reaches the power operates on the opposite of what the candidates promised, has no legitimacy. Winning an election does not give the government the right to act as it wants, betraying the voters who elected it. The people, under these conditions, have the right to require the government to quit. The people have the right to have a government which governs according to the people’s choices. This is the essence of democracy and popular sovereignty.

The Parliament will be surrounded on 25S to tell those who unjustly govern us that we will disobey the unfair and illegitimate imposition to repay their debt. We will defend our collective rights: our houses, public education, public health system, employment, democratic participation, and our decent life. We will initiate the process to stop those responsible for this crisis. The arsonists who caused this wildfire will be judged instead of rewarded.

The demonstration at Congress on September 25 takes place in order to recover our responsibility for our own future, rejecting any foreign and domestic impositions. We want to tell those who kidnapped our democracy that it is time to leave. We will demand the resignation of this government, as a first step. Set it free. Let’s start anew our constitutive process: an open process with direct participation where we all decide together what political institutions, participatory tools, juridical and political mechanisms we need to guarantee the efficiency of our collective decisions. A continuous constitutive process which will start, but will not end, on 25S.

Context of the action:

The “Plataforma En Pie” (Stand Up Platform) made a call-to-action through the social media to bring about a new constitutive process in Spain, under the slogan “On the 25th of September we will Occupy the Parliament”. The lack of clarity and transparency both in terms of the objectives of the calling and in terms of the identity of those on the platform caused suspicion among 15M assemblies, losing their support. Nevertheless, the process shows the operability of the hundreds of active assemblies in Spain. Moreover, it demonstrates their capacity to react and adopt a political position in relation to popular actions questioning the economic and social system.

Thanks to this intense debate, different 15M assemblies, some DRY (Real Democracy Now) nodes, social collectives and individuals, have integrated a state coordinator ["Coordinadora 25s"] with a completely open horizontal working policy, based on the assembly system in order to generate consensus. This state coordinator has turned the action into “Rodea el Congreso” (Surround the Parliament), with a clear non-violent mandate. The access and exit of the parliamentarians will not be obstructed at any moment. The normal activity inside the Parliament will not be disturbed.


Manifesto:

We, ordinary people, are fed up to live with the consequences of a system conditioned by and forced to adapt itself to the markets, which is in every respect unbearable, and has led us to be victims of a large-scale scam that caused this crisis. We unite in order to edit this manifesto. We invite every citizen to unite themselves with the claims we are making in this manifesto.

We perceive that the current situation has exceeded all tolerable limits and that we are victims of an attack without precedent from the side of economic powers, who are using the crisis as an excuse [to increase their wealth and power]. This is ruining our lives, and those to blame are those who present themselves as an untouchable oligarchy. This with the complicity of all political forces represented in Parliament, who are manipulating the powers of the state in order to maintain their privileges and excessive and illegitimate enrichment.

There is no way to hide the fact that we are living a gigantic social fraud, with governments systematically betraying us by doing exactly the opposite as promised in their electoral statements, just as there isn’t any justice in the tribunals against bankers, politicians and businessmen who are responsible for the current situation. We just have to look in order to see how this structure of vicious and immoral power creates policies that end our rights and destroy our lives, and in order to see how we are victims of an unfair repression when demanding a change of this situation.

We believe that the problem is of such a big size, and that the roots are so profound, that a solution will not be found in reforms of the actual political system. Therefore we demand:

– The dismissal of the entire government, as well as the dismissal of the Supreme Court and the leadership of the state, because of betraying the country and the entire community of citizens. This was done in premeditation and is leading us to disaster.

– The beginning of a constitutional process in a transparent and democratic way, with the goal of composing a new sonstitution. We want to do this with the participation of the entire community of citizens, in such a way that the result will be their own, because we don’t recognize any democratic character in the actual constitution and laws. On the contrary, these were drawn up by a selected group behind the people’s back, confirming the domination of the heirs of the Franquismo era (the period during which the dictator Franco ruled) and those agreeing with them. It has to be the people who determine the model of social organization in which they desire to live — not the other way around.

– The audit and restructuring of the public debt of Spain, with a moratorium (delay) of debt payments until there is a clear demarcation of the parts which will not have to be paid by the nation, because they served private interests using the country for their own goals, instead of the well-being of Spanish society. Similarly, we demand the prosecution of all those people who present themselves as suspicious of such moves, and we demand that they guarantee and pay with their own goods in case they turn out to be guilty.

– The reform of the electoral law, with the design of a new electoral process in order to really represent the people’s will before any election which will be necessary to supply the development of a constitutional process of democracy.

– The immediate abolition of all cuts and all reforms taken against the welfare state with the excuse of the crisis, which set up limits to the population’s rights and freedoms, not only because they imply disaster for the country, but also because they have consisted of illegitimate taxes that betray the will of the people.

– A profound tax reform, which will make those reaping most benefits from society pay more. We similarly demand the abolition of the fiscal amnesty ordered by the government, since this injustice is a real mockery of those who pay up honestly.

– The abolition of all the privileges of those holding a political or public position, and the introduction of efficient mechanisms controlling the performance of those positions.

– The immediate halt of all forced evictions, and making those houses belonging to the banks and companies that received public funds available to the people.

– The creation of new jobs, with as its first premise sustainability, whose goal will be the development of humanity, as well as a form of management appropriate and adapted to the disposable jobs such that populations can work in order to live – instead of being forced to live in order to work. It is a tremendous hoax to tell us over and over that we have to work more; a fallacy supported by the greed of the big interests and opposed to the interests of ordinary people.

All the above having been explained, we call upon the people to demonstrate in an undefined form at the gates of Congress on September 25, in order to obtain the dismissal of the government and to create the beginning of a constitutional process, unifying all the struggles for a fairer society.

We are the overwhelming majority. We are the people. We are right. We will not tolerate this and we will not be walked all over. Occupy Congress — September 25.