Dear friends,
I’m a British citizen, with more than twenty years living and working in Madrid, Spain. I don’t belong to any Party or organization, and I define myself as an Ecologist as well as an Activist (as defined by Lappé – see below – a committed, active, empowered citizen; and not as the media and society wants us to be considered: extremists with own agenda, rabble-rousers). As a non-Spaniard, I have the added advantage of no historical or ideological baggage which raise so much passion (and intolerance), and so can claim to be an objective observer (with that slant, for sure) allowing me, or at least try to, to analyze my impressions, possible causes, possible solutions. To be truthful, I’ve had an excellent teacher for over thirty years, a person who is, as described by historian Howard Zinn:
“There is a small number of people in every generation who are forerunners, in thought, action, spirit, who swerve past the barriers of greed and power to hold a torch high for the rest of us. Frances Moore Lappé is one of those.”
On Sunday 22nd May, I’ve been able to vote in the local elections, and even though I pay my taxes and use some services that I’ve paid for in the region of Madrid – I have no voice in the regional government.
And, like millions of people in the world – I’m not happy with what’s happening in my town or the world.
I’d like to stop destruction without sense or sensibility, I don’t want to privatize all public services, I want education, health and work for all, I want transparency and not corruption, I want that taxes are fixed according to means - not as now where many of us pay 20% or 30% when the wealthy only pay 1% in the SICAV, I don’t want subsidies to go to the big companies but to the smaller PYMES, coops and self-employed who need them most, I don’t want big companies to fire thousands of people even when they had millions of net benefits in the previous years, I don’t want bail-outs of financial institutions with our money, I don’t want fiscal paradises – and, in particular, I would like to help save our precious, beautiful blue planet and that all come to respect and love nature and all living beings.
Lappé back in 2007 already asked:
“Why are we as societies creating a world that we as individuals abhor?
And signs are that if we continue as we are, we’re plunging to destruction.
We’re used to feeling frustrated, thinking that we can do nothing, that we have to accept and trust the existing systems.
As thousands, no, millions of Spaniards and other nationals, I’ve been happily and excitedly following the 15M movement for Real Democracy. I’ve seen how outraged the young and others are of the barbarities and unjust measures of the last years, perhaps encouraged by the empty election campaign promises (many of which are a repetition of the 2007 ones, with star-treatment of the political leaders, even if they have not fulfilled them) of the two main parties, which are shamefully benefitted by the present law – although one voice, one vote is respected, not all votes are worth the same. And so have risen to create this solidarity movement.
A movement that with the new technologies developed in record time, wrong-footing the politicians outright. The media were too, as mirroring Spanish society (and politicians) they are either from the left or the right, whereby no proposal is accepted from the other “side”. In the case of the movement, many quickly crossed off the organizers’ proposals as idealist, without development or depth, almost expecting solutions as if from a political party. And, I repeat, many parties with over 30 years experience in Spain’s democracy offered proposals twice as empty.
What has happened to being a neutral observer, with listening and debating, without insulting or undervaluing the other, with analyzing and accepting valid arguments? What has happened to being empathic and supportive, with being loyal to what we want as individuals?
Lappé defined in 2007 the present democracy here and in many parts of the world as a Thin Democracy, because it’s feeble:
“…let’s explore a bit more the dominant conception of reality in which our nation’s culture, especially our view of democracy, is grounded. As just noted, its foundational premise is scarcity—there just isn’t enough of anything—from love to jobs to parking spots. In such a world, only one type of person thrives. So if you peel away all the fluff, humans must have evolved as competitive materialists, elbowing one another out in a giant scramble over scarce stuff.
Absorbing this shabby caricature of humanity, we understandably see ourselves as incapable of making a success of democratic deliberation—assuming a selfish nature, we’re sure somebody will always muck it up. Not to fret, though. We’ve been assured with ever-greater intensity since the 1980s that if real democracy—deliberating together to shape a common purpose and strategies—is suspect, there’s a perfect solution: Just turn over our fate to an impersonal law that will settle things for us. Privatize and commoditize all that we can—from health care to prison management to schools—in order to take full advantage of what Ronald Reagan called “the magic of the market.”
And government? It’s something done to us or for us by taking “our money,” so the less of it the better.
From these assumptions, it is easy to see why most Americans [and most Europeans] grow up absorbing the notion that democracy boils down to just two things—elected government and a market economy. Since in the United States [and in many other democratic countries] we have both, there isn’t much for us to do except show up at the polls and shop.”
But Lappé is totally optimistic, showing us that if we stop looking at things the way we have been – if we stop to accept that things are what they are and we can do nothing to change them – if we open ourselves up to the possibility that yes, it is possible – then, just like the people from 15M movement, and the thousands of others that are beginning to perceive – a real democracy, or, as she calls it as it’s a way of life – “Living Democracy” is possible. And it’s not new.
The people participating in the 15M movement, and many more around the world, are already being loyal to the basic human needs and values – “to connect with others, for basic fairness, and for efficacy, as well as the need to feel that our lives matter, which for many people means contributing to something grander than our own survival”. They know that the battle has just started – independently of the results of the local and regional elections, the political parties cannot continue the same way as they have been. The citizens are demanding these values – we’re demanding living democracy.
Frances Moore Lappé, in the Spanish (2010) version of her Getting a Grip book (“Toma las riendas ¡YA! – Claridad, creatividad y coraje en un mundo que se ha vuelto loco”), allows us to open to new ideas and concepts to create a better world and to have hope, giving us examples of how common people all over the world are already acting with courage.
As we read, we are shaken off our lethargy as our enthusiasm and passion to do something grows. Lappé shows how an even apparently insignificant action can become that first step to change the world.
You can find it in Madrid: Fundación Proyecto Dorado, Atención Integral del Cáncer; c/Martínez Pagé 8, 28029 Madrid – Metro Ventilla/Pza Castilla. Take advantage and find out how this NGO helps patients and relatives.
Or contact me by email – tomalasriendasya@gmail.com
Karin Hammill
