The new Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, wrote this letter to our Dutch newspapers (and I think to a lot of other newspapers in countries around the world):
"Somewhat less than a year ago, a group of activists and progressive organisations proposed a plan to let the population regain control over city policy.
We are the civilian platform "Barcelona Comú (Barcelona together). Past sunday, we succeeded in sending mayor Xavier Trias home, and we want to restore the city administration's purpose, to serve it's people.
From the beginning, we felt that our movement has greater significance than just the city of Barcelona. Some of the problems we are working on are specific to our city, like the disgracefully large number of home evictions, and the negative side effects of mass tourism running out of control. But a lot of our concerns are shared by citizens all over Europe, and in large parts of the world. I am specifically talking about the growing inequality, and the coming into power of a class of professional politicians who have estranged from daily reality, and are besmeared with corruption.
We are told that we live in a democracy; yet a lot of the more important descisions that shape our lives have been taken out of our control. We are being told that we do not know what is good for us, and that we better can leave important things to experts.
The Spanish government denies citizens of Catalonia the right to partake in shaping the future of Catalonia; The EU is negotiating under strict confidentiality about TTIP, and international financial institutions are playing Russian roulette with our economies.
We canot sit idly by this state of affairs. It is time to reclaim sovereignty for the people, to create a democracy that is worthy of it's name.
We, the people at Barcelona Comú, believe that this democratic reform can best be shaped, not top-down, but bottom-up, coming from our cities.
We are strenghtened in our convictions, by the fact that we are not the only ones thinking like this. I visited Greece shortly before their national elections; I was impressed by what Syriza had managed to accomplish on a local scale, to improve the conditions of people in cities like Attica.
Over the past week, Barcelona Comú has recieved over a hundred international statements of support, coming from intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, and Slavoj Zizek, from activists and writers like Nawal El Sadaawi and Zakes Mda, and from political leaders like Natassa Theodorakopoulou from Syriza.
They are all convinced that Barecelona Comú's victory in Barcelona can become an inspiration for similar movements in cities around the world.
But what does it actually mean, to have citizens demand the governance of their city?
The answer will vary from place to place, but one thing is certain:
It is not enough to just win the elections; it has to be about completely changing the rules of the game.
One of the first things we did in Barcelona, was organize a crowdsourcing campaign to formulate a code of ethics for civil servants.
This will make sure that we will keep ourselves to high standards, and can be confronted with our responsibility if we do not.
The ethic code will encompass, amongst others, the salary, the maximum terms of office, and a complete closing of to the revolving door that swings back and forth between politics and corporate boards of directors.
It is ethcis like such that must prevent us from becoming like those we want to replace.
The retaking of a city also means, that ordinary people will get a say in descision making processes. This does not just mean that they will be allowed to vote on descisions that have been thought up by higher administration, but it also means that they will be given the opportunity to shape new initiatives from the bottom up.
Barcelona has been named 'Smart City'. So it is an intelligent city. But this only has meaning if we can truly harness the collective intelligence of it's inhabitants.
We created our election manifest in an open, participative way. Over 5000 people participated in the process. The result is a program, that guarantees civil rights, aims for making the city more liveable, and will democratisize public institutions. It is a document that is alive, and is the beginning of a deep conversation with the citizens, that will go on in the coming years.
Finally, reclaiming the city also means, that women will have a central part to play in it. Women in Barcelona are hit harder by poverty, and job uncertainty. This has to stop. Just like the exclusion of women in circles of political and economic power must stop. I am very proud. Not just, because more than half of our election list of political candidates were women, but also, because our program is based on feminist principles, and combating inequality between the sexes will be a central point in our politics.
We are proud on Barcelona's history, as a laboratory for new citizens' movements, and as a global city, with an internationalistic perspective. Now, we want to turn Barcelona into the focus point for a network of just, and democratic cities. Barcelona is just the first step!"
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