September 25th: Surround the Spanish Congress

via Coordinadora25S:

The 25th of September the Spanish Parliament building will be surrounded as a symbol to rescue it from the kidnapping which has turned this institution into a useless organ. A kidnapping of the popular sovereignty by the Troika and by The Markets, executed under the blessing and 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 people’s gradual pauperization.

A government chosen by the people that once it reaches the power operates on the opposite that the candidates promised has no legitimacy. Winning an election does not give the government the right to make do as it wills, 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 popular choices. This is the essence of democracy and popular sovereignty.

The Parliament will be surrounded by the 25S to tell those who unjustly govern us: we will disobey their unfair and illegitimate impositions to pay 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 the responsibles for this crisis. The arsonists who have caused our crisis will be judged instead of rewarded.

The demonstration on September 25th around the Parliament takes place in order to recover our responsibility of our own future, rejecting impositions. We want to tell the ones who have kidnapped Democracy that it is their time to leave. We will require 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 determine together political institutions, participation tools, juridical and political mechanisms that we need to guarantee the efficiency of our collective decisions. A continuous constitutive process which collective definition starts, but does not end, on 25S.

Context of the action:

The collective “Plataforma En Pie” (Stand Up Platform) made a calling through social media to force a new constitutive process in Spain, under the slogan “On the 25th of September Occupy the Parliament”. The lack of clarity and transparency both in the objectives of the call and in the identity of the platform caused suspicion among 15M assemblies thus loosing their support. Nevertheless, this process shows the operability of the hundred 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.

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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 insupportable, and has led us to be victims of a large scale scam which has caused this crisis. We unify in order to edit this manifesto. We invite every citizen to unify themselves with the claims we are making in this manifesto.

We perceive that the current situation has exceed all tolerable limits and that we are victims of an attack without former precedents from the side of economical powers, who are using the crisis as an excuse. This is ruining our lives and those to blame are them who present themselves as an untouchable oligarchy. This with the complicity of all political forces represented in the parliament, who are manipulating the powers of the State by maintaining their privileges and excessive and illegitimate enrichment.

There is no way to hide that we live in 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 business men who are guilty of 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 the situation.

We believe that the problem is of such a big seize and the roots such profound that any solution will not be founded in reforms based in the actual political system. Therefore we demand:

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

– The beginning of a constitutional process in a transparent and democratic way, with the goal of composing a new Constitution. We want to do this with the participation of the whole 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 are drawn by a selected group behind the people’s back and confirm the domination of the heirs of the Franquismo era (the period during dictator Franco ruled) and those agreeing with them. It has to be the people who determine the model of social organization in whom they desire to live – not the opposite way.

– The audit and control of the public debt of Spain, with moratorium (delay) of debt’s payment until there is a clear demarcation of the parts which not have to be paid by the nation, because they have been served private interests using the country for their own goals, instead the well being of the whole Spanish community. Equally we demand the prosecution of all this persons who show and present themselves as suspicious of such moves, and we demand that they guarantee and pay with their own goods in the case they appear 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 well fare state with the excuse of the crisis, which set up limits to the population’s rights and freedoms, not only because they mean a disaster for the country, but also because they have been consisting out of taxes betraying the will of the people.

– A profound tax reform, which is making to pay more by those gaining more benefits of society. We equally demand the abolition of the fiscal amnesty ordered by the government, since these injustice is a real mockery for those who pay 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 paralysis of all forced evictions (forced leaving of homes), and to put at the population’s disposal those houses belonging to the banks and companies who have been helped by public funds.

– The creation of new jobs, which first premise will be the sustainability, and 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 when over and over saying we have to work more, a fallacy supported by the greed of the big interests but contrary to the interests of the ordinary people.

For all this above explained we make a call to the population on the 25 of September 2012 to manifest in an undefined form at the gates of the Congress in order to obtain the dismissal of the Government and to make the beginning of a Constitutional Process, by making this call of unification of all the fights, strives and wrestling for a more fair 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.