On Monday, November 30th, four of us from “We Can Live Without Capitalism” and the Catalan Network for De-Growth came to the casal popular El Trabuc in Sant Hilari Sacalm to do some communications work as well as collaborate with actions being carried out against the MAT (Very high voltage electricity lines) that have been intensifying in the last few weeks.

Since October 17th, dozens of people have been living in trees that will have to be cut down to make room for Tower 114 of the MAT, one of the few high-voltage electricty towers to be constructed in the area. The MAT, a high voltage line, is a true electric jungle of 400 kV that will connect Spain with France.

The environmental affects of the construction of these towers—between 60 and 90 feet high—won't go unnoticed in a natural environment as beautiful as Les Guilleries. They'll makes excuses about the Girona running out of power and the supply of the TAV (high-velocity train), but this is really about the extension of the extension of the centralized business of electricity and the monopoly power of electricity companies that will sell the peak hours of power to neighboring counties.

“Another idea from the ideology of progress? Or an open wound running across Catalonia, destroying and transforming the life of towns with a constant threat of fires, creating electromagnetic fields so strong that they attack our health,” declares the collective desdelsboscos.blogspot.com

Now, the MAT has hit a rough spot, with the occupation emulating similar struggles from England and other parts of the world. These activists—from various parts of Europe and enjoying the support of the local population—live 10 to 20 metres up, challenging gravity and notions of comfort. They are preparing for attempts at eviction and ask for more people to join them.

We chatted with them and they invited us to eat some of the food that had been donated to them by one of the diverse groups of people that contribute to support the action. We offered our support and to do communications work for them, which if hard to do from the mountains. We´ll see how things go. You can get in touch with them via desdelsboscos.blogspot.com
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That afternoon we returned to the town of Sant Hilari, where the people of the casal popular El Trabuc have graciously given us a place to stay and a spot to work in. There we continue to create life, to work, and to rest in order to keep contributing, like a tiny grane of sand, to the huge goal of life after capialism.

Coordination team, 2 December 2009.