It all started with a series of events that turned out to be the founding moments of the CommonsPolis dynamic.

1st Event: July, 2016. Work discussion in Cabanyal (Valencia), and Public Debate: “Rebellious Cities: How to change Europe from the Municipal level”

Ciudades rebeldes. Cómo cambiar Europa desde los municipios

At the request of Empodera Consultores (Sergi Escribano and Vladimir Ugarte), members of Barcelona en Comú, Valencia en Comú and Marea Atlántica were gathered with the following purposes:

  • Facilitate the interconnection among work groups and commissions from the main municipalist platforms created to address international matters;

  • Contribute to establish ties with French civic organizations working to promote the municipalist way beyond the Pyrenees;

  • Establish collaborations in France and Europe promoting reflections on commons, decent housing, migration etc.

FINAL REPORT: ACTA ELVENTANAL (ES-PDF)

 

2nd Event: November, 2016. Public Debate in the Women’s House in Paris, on “Transitioning Cities and Civic Struggles”, and Work Seminar in the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation.

#CommonsPolis, Villes en transition y luchas ciudadanas

Convened by CommonsPolis and the French popular education organization Utopia, over 40 activists and main civic (focusing on commons and transition) organization members from France, Belgium and Switzerland came together in Paris with the following purposes:

  • Exchange about the muncipalist strategy, its challenges and roadmaps with the Spanish State confluence platforms delegation;

  • Identify outlooks and opportunities that may facilitate a municpalist process in francophone Europe.

The background

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Barcelona en Comú

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Marea Atlántica

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Valencia en Comú

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NEAR FUTURE

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3rd Event: June, 2017. Organization of the francophone and European delegation participating in Fearless Cities in Barcelona (11-9-2017)

FEARLESS Cities. Barcelone. 9-11 juin 2017

Thanks to the support of the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation, it was possible to participate in this major municipalist event in Barcelona and establish a support group for the municipalist project in francophone Europe. This was a key moment to lay the foundations for the municipalist project’s development in francophone Europe.

Videos

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Audios

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Stories

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4th Event: 2017 – 2018: Discussion of experiences promoting municipalism in francophone Europe

Following the participation in the Fearless Cities event in Barcelona, a series of exchanges took place between municipalism, transition and commons actors at both side of the Pyrenees. The attempt was to progressively build a municipalist agenda in France and Belgium, and to strengthen direct ties among different organizations, in order to exchange methodological experiences and to solidify a common perspective between municipalism, transition and the commons.

UE ATTAC 2017

ATTAC SOCIAL MOVEMENTS UNIVERSITY IN TOULOUSE

August 23rd – 27th, 2017. Over 2000 participants coming from all Europe gathered for 4 days in Toulouse to learn, debate and build the upcoming demonstrations. Convened by Attac, CommonsPolis was able to participate through Brais García (Marea Atlántica) in the workshop regarding the relation between public institutions and social movements, and through Sonia Abella (Barcelona en Comú) in the workshop on Shelter Cities.

2017 SAILLANS

CURIEUSES DEMOCRATIES IN SAILLANS

September 15th – 17th, 2017. Two representatives of Marea Atlántica, María Martínez Quintana and Marcial Blance Castelos, took part in the opening debate of Curieuses Démocraties, the first encounter of the French civic electoral lists for the upcoming municipal elections in 2020. The next day, CommonsPolis and Marea Atlántica organized a workshop about the municipalist experience in the Spanish State. A Radio interview and a Facebook Live in the Saillans Square also took place.

2017 UTOPIA SUMMER UNIVERSITY

UTOPIA MOVEMENT SUMMER UNIVERSITY 2017

Participation of Alejandro Sánchez, a Marea Atlántica representative, in the conference about municipalism, organized by CommonsPolis and the Utopia Movement. Charlotte Marchandise (former presidential candidate for primaires.org) and Eric Piolle, Mayor of Grenoble, also participated in the conference. Additionally, a workshop was conducted on How to win Cities, drawing from experiences in A Coruña and Valencia, to address methodological aspects from municipalist processes from these two cities and the rest of the Spanish State.

 

MAC3 IN CORUÑA 2017

3RD MEETING ON MUNICIPALISM, SELF-GOVERNMENT AND COUNTER-POWER (MAC3)

October 12th – 15th, 2017. In this encounter, the municipalist platforms from the Spanish State gathered in A Coruña, Galicia. Members of CommonsPolis such as Elisabeth Dau, from the Institut de Recherche sur la Gouvernance and Solenn Boiziau and Elena Ambühl, from the Utopia Movement, participated in several conferences and workshops with the goal to learn about the Spanish experiences in full detail, to propitiate the conditions for dialogue, and to share methods and instruments in order to invigorate the municipal movement both sides of the Pyrenees.

COMMONSCAMP IN REBELLIOUS AND SOLIDARY UNIVERSITY 2018

COMMONSCAMP: AN ITINERARY THAT CONNECTS COMMONS, MUNICIPALISM AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY IN GRENOBLE

The civic, supportive and rebellious University organized by ATTAC, the CRID, and a series of civic organizations, took place in Grenoble in the summer of 2017. With this new edition came a new format. This collective summer University gathers solidarity, social transformation and ecological transition movements and organizations. As an extension of many civic initiatives, this University hosted many important meetings, training sessions, debates, development of common initiatives, as well as moments of social sharing and festivities!

COMMONSPOLIS, UTOPIA, LA BELLE DEMOCRATIE, IRG, REMIX THE COMMONS, among others, came together to organize the COMMONSCAMP, a series of workshops on Commons, Municipalism and the Right to the city in order to develop and organize an alternative civic, political and participative structure focusing on 2020.

 

The CommonsCamp itinerary

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Enrollment at the UESR: https://ue2018.org/