Let's organize ourselves! And put real democracy into practice, now!

Some ideas to go from outrage to the consolidation of this social rebellion

The result of the outrage felt when faced with a capitalist system which is exhausted, corrupt, broken.

Executive power which is controlled by the banks and major economic powers.

A legislature power, composed of a political elite who don't represent us.

A corrupt judiciary, also moved by political and personal interest.

Social Rights which are completely scrapped. Civil rights repeatedly violated by the self same political representatives.

An ecological and energy crisis becoming increasingly severe and devastating all the time.

Given all this, and especially in the last 3 years, that we've officially been in crisis, public outrage has been simmering, until now in specific and unstable aggregation points, in small collectives, in networks of friends, in individuals who feel alone...

But then came 15-M, a spark became a flame, and spread everywhere.

This is a movement which has neither representatives nor concrete demands. It is a diverse movement which is very difficult to categorize in a minimal manifesto. It is a rich movement which has a thousand and one ideas and endless proposals. An ambitious movement which isn't satisfied with a little. It wants it all.

Now, there are thousands of us daily in Plaça Catalunya/Catalonia Square, Barcelona and hundreds of thousands in the squares of countless towns and cities here in Catalonia, in Spain and all over the world.

We've been here for two weeks and we are organizing ourselves, and that is the most important thing.

If they tried to get us out of the square on Friday, if they took all the material with which we were organizing ourselves, if they tried to smash the work of 11 days and nights, it's because they know its potential and they are afraid of it.

There has been more participation on the streets during the last two weeks than in the 4 years of the electoral term!! They know it, know that we have more social legitimacy and that knocks them off balance.

One of the most uniform slogans of these last few days has been: "They don't represent us". Those 4 words are responsible for the huge bill, the gap between the old way of doing politics and the new one, which has been laid on the table in recent days.

This "They don't represent us" means that we can't just be a movement of condemnation because the politicians have neither the ability nor the desire to lead the radical change which society needs, and they have already shown us that.

It's important that we continue mobilizing and prevent those in power from carrying out acts against the people, such as the social cuts they have planned in health and education.

It is also the right moment to point out the great shortcomings of the present 'democratic' system. This helps us to unite efforts, to grow in number and earn more and more social legitimacy.

But in order to really change things, to avoid exhausting ourselves against a wall of political immobility, it is really important that we are a movement which extends a new political sovereignty, which would even lead (why not?) to starting a constitutional process. To move this process along we need great organizational strength, a great capacity to boost the involvement of that part of the population which feels akin to our framework and our way of doing things. It's not going to be easy, but if we don't take this opportunity, when will we do it?

It is essential that we convert this auto-organization in specific actions, actions which empower, actions which show that in this new way of doing politics. It is the people who have to actively determine and through all possible consensus, which decisions to take and how to apply them.

The place for the accumulation of forces, the squares, also have to be the point of contact with the mobilization, the symbolic and motivational reference and the information point for all generations. Above all they are the place to put the organizational model into full practice, where we learn those ways of working which will help us to grow.

Therefore, we have to maintain our permanent presence in the squares, at least until our organizational capacity has been consolidated. This strategy is fundamental.

And as a matter of priority, we need concrete examples of how we can decide and apply these decisions, examples of success which spread our way of doing things to society as a whole, examples of how to put real democracy into practice in all areas which affect us. We'll stop accepting representatives and directly apply our positions and decisions.

Here are some examples that we could put into practice:

* If we believe that mortgages are unjust and that no-one should be put out on the street for being unable to pay, we can declare an end to housing evictions and a moratorium on mortgage payments. From now on we have to ensure that these decisions are complied with. In this way we can warn those banks that defy the people's declaration that we will call on everyone to withdraw their savings from that bank.

* If we think that governments are violating our rights, we can enforce basic social rights. In the case of the premise of decent housing for all, for example, we can accomplish this by making an appeal to property owners to make houses and flats available, applying an auto-reduction in rent (in the same line as the previous point) and dedicating a tent in the liberated squares to putting people who offer and ask for really fair housing in contact.

* If we see injustice in the profits that large companies make, we can respond to any lay-offs in a company which is making profit by occupying their headquarters, until workers are reinstated.

* In conclusion, if we start from the premise that politicians don't represent us, we have to learn to make decisions ourselves, as a self-organized people, regarding everything that affects us. That is we have to assume the responsibilities of the legislative and executive power over our lives, over our present and over our future.

As individuals, as free beings, we have engaged in consumer and civil disobedience in all facets of our lives, two fundamental tools of political action. As one people, organized on a massive scale we have the responsibility to make the world in which we live and act, become the way we want it. And the key element of this is to build a truly deliberative and direct democracy, a system of decision making on a par with our values.

No one represents us, nobody will do it for us. We have the right to decide. And now that we know that there are many of us and we know how to organize ourselves, we have a responsibility to do so.

Let's transform outrage into political self-organization to ensure the success of this major social rebellion.

Enric Duran, Barcelona, 30/05/2011