casas bcn principles what we are for and what we are against
[[casas_bcn_principles__what_we_are_for__and_what_we_are_against_]] last edit on
Feb 9, 2007
10:51 PM
by casas_bcn
casas_bcn
principles (what we are for and what we are against)
a work in progress but from the very good discussion held on wed 7 feb 2007
against
sexism
racism
homophobia
abuse
drug dependency which results in problems for others
for
sustainability
peace
inclusion
play, fun and creativity
skill sharing
solidarity
education
Firstly : Nc-mio collective, what are we, what are we hoping to do.
We are a group of people who quickly need to find a place for ourselves to live in Barcelona, a place that we can call "home". We want to squat a place for this purpose, for various reasons. We want to be able to create a space to work in and out of from. We want to build a housing support network in Barcelona, and perhaps beyond, as we feel things should and can be improved. We want to set up a social centre in the squat as the physical base for this project. We want to support others who need or want a home. We feel things can be improved, we are trying to build a network to assist this process. We are an open group and welcome anyone who agrees in our principles to collaborate with us.
Secondly: Understanding and supporting ourselves
For people who do not have a "home" at present it is or can be a difficult stressfull time which at times seems to get out of control and makes you feeling lost. Sometimes from this situation people do become lost, in a physical, emotional, social way. So for that I think that we need to understand that and try to assist ourselves, each other, and others if possible, as best we can. I have felt like this plenty of times struggling to exist here and I know from working with the homeless network in Dublin that it does happen, and how quickly people can find themselves on the outside.
Thirdly : Communicating well with each other means we work better
We have developed, or still are developing a collective or network. This does take time and is never easy, so bearing that in mind, we need to try to work with each other as best we can: trying to understand each other, support each other, communicate with each other. Different people have different reasons, needs or goals for participating in this project: they can and already probably do reinforce and support each other. The better we communicate with each other, the clearer we are about things, the less frustration we have with the collective, situation, project, whatever. The healthiest system is one where we communicate openly with each other, listen to each others views and try our best to understand those views. We also need to concentrate on clearly expressing our views in the most efficient way, if that means we take time alone to think about what we want, how we want to get that, what practical things we need to do that, what stuff we need to get..... and all the rest. The clearer we are about that, the quicker we express it, the quicker the collective integrates that into things. In my experience this is often overlooked and can lead to conflict, which of course upsets the project. Anyway I think we are doing ok so far, but it does take time, so please appreciate that.
Fourthly : Mutual support, understanding and assistance
What skills, tools, resources, knowledge, assistance........ can we share with each other?
We are still getting to know each other, some people know each other more than others. We all have much to learn and much to contribute.......even if its only a nice walk you know in a nearby woods.
So heres a start
I work and have worked with a lot of different groups, mostly in Ireland, now some in Barcelona and also some in Europe and some in the digital world. Sort of in the following areas: artistic, architectural, political, ecological, gardening, social centre, alternative media activist, homeless, social, anti racist.
I can do a little bit on computers, I work with indymedia, I do audio, I did a radio programme last week about "housing" as part of the world social forum
I had 3 evictions in my first month here in Barcelona: old Makabra, Pallars, new Makabra @ can ricart.
so heres a few things and tools for our collective, hopefully in time this will grow...
activist toolbox
A helpfull tool for communication techniques is the NVDA (non violent direct action) toolbox, heres the link:
activist toolbox
see the section below in relation to point 3 above: communicating with ourselves:
organisation meetings, consensus decision making, methods of organising
casas BCN wiki
I have also created a wiki, which is a website that we all can edit when we know and use the password. Others can look at the site but can not edit it unless they have the password. Be careful on giving out the password and also posting information which might be sensitive. Be warned, while many people do support this sort of project, some dont and they might try to upset things in the future if this project develops.
I was not sure about the name, so I just called it:
casas_bcn
here is the weblink:
http://wikihost.org/wikis/casas_bcn/
If you are not to sure how to use, I can do a simple workshop with the group to show what I know, which is very little. As things develop with the project we can develop better communication tools.
Id ask people to try to get to know how the WIKI works and from that start using it, I feel a simple tool like this will be very helpful for us. Also if you are not sure about tek stuff, it is a chance to learn, to empower yourself and from that teach others, empower them. Which for me is the only thing which really makes change: lots and lots of little steps......
Im sure there are more of you who know far more than me, so please support each other, share skills and knowledge
Barcelona: 3 early morning raids on 3 squats, including MAKABRA
indymedia Ireland covership of squatting issues in Barcelona, includes audio, which I have been working on. It contains many links to other issues, threads, groups etc. It also has thougths from my Irish friend living in Barcelona Iosaf, who has a very good sense of housing issues and writes a great deal to support these type of struggles.
the link to this article is found at:
http://indymedia.ie/article/79776
"Housing" 2 hour radio show ( with speakers from Nairobi - Dublin - Barcelona )
The radio programme we worked on last week.
to listen to the programme or many of the support audio files click:
http://netjuke.r23.cc/search.php?do=list.tracks&col=al_id&val=1289&sort=al
more information about the show is found at:
https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WorldSocialForum2007#International_Radio_Show
Fifthly : our principles, a little bit more in depth
We had a good talk the two nights ago in Infoespai where we talked about what we wanted to get out of this project. Alicia drew up a list of principles we are for and we are against, perhaps she will send this to the list when she gets a chance and maybe also edit the wiki with those details
the page for that is presently:
principles (what we are for and what we are against)
a work in progress but from the very good discussion held on wed 7 feb 2007
principles
against
sexism
racism
homophobia
abuse
drug dependency which results in problems for others
for
sustainability
peace
inclusion
play, fun and creativity
skill sharing
solidarity
education
a little bit more
Firstly : Nc-mio collective, what are we, what are we hoping to do.
We are a group of people who quickly need to find a place for ourselves to live in Barcelona, a place that we can call "home". We want to squat a place for this purpose, for various reasons. We want to be able to create a space to work in and out of from. We want to build a housing support network in Barcelona, and perhaps beyond, as we feel things should and can be improved. We want to set up a social centre in the squat as the physical base for this project. We want to support others who need or want a home. We feel things can be improved, we are trying to build a network to assist this process. We are an open group and welcome anyone who agrees in our principles to collaborate with us.
Secondly: Understanding and supporting ourselves
For people who do not have a "home" at present it is or can be a difficult stressfull time which at times seems to get out of control and makes you feeling lost. Sometimes from this situation people do become lost, in a physical, emotional, social way. So for that I think that we need to understand that and try to assist ourselves, each other, and others if possible, as best we can. I have felt like this plenty of times struggling to exist here and I know from working with the homeless network in Dublin that it does happen, and how quickly people can find themselves on the outside.
Thirdly : Communicating well with each other means we work better
We have developed, or still are developing a collective or network. This does take time and is never easy, so bearing that in mind, we need to try to work with each other as best we can: trying to understand each other, support each other, communicate with each other. Different people have different reasons, needs or goals for participating in this project: they can and already probably do reinforce and support each other. The better we communicate with each other, the clearer we are about things, the less frustration we have with the collective, situation, project, whatever. The healthiest system is one where we communicate openly with each other, listen to each others views and try our best to understand those views. We also need to concentrate on clearly expressing our views in the most efficient way, if that means we take time alone to think about what we want, how we want to get that, what practical things we need to do that, what stuff we need to get..... and all the rest. The clearer we are about that, the quicker we express it, the quicker the collective integrates that into things. In my experience this is often overlooked and can lead to conflict, which of course upsets the project. Anyway I think we are doing ok so far, but it does take time, so please appreciate that.
Fourthly : Mutual support, understanding and assistance
What skills, tools, resources, knowledge, assistance........ can we share with each other?
We are still getting to know each other, some people know each other more than others. We all have much to learn and much to contribute.......even if its only a nice walk you know in a nearby woods.
So heres a start
I work and have worked with a lot of different groups, mostly in Ireland, now some in Barcelona and also some in Europe and some in the digital world. Sort of in the following areas: artistic, architectural, political, ecological, gardening, social centre, alternative media activist, homeless, social, anti racist.
I can do a little bit on computers, I work with indymedia, I do audio, I did a radio programme last week about "housing" as part of the world social forum
I had 3 evictions in my first month here in Barcelona: old Makabra, Pallars, new Makabra @ can ricart.
so heres a few things and tools for our collective, hopefully in time this will grow...
activist toolbox
A helpfull tool for communication techniques is the NVDA (non violent direct action) toolbox, heres the link:
activist toolbox
see the section below in relation to point 3 above: communicating with ourselves:
organisation meetings, consensus decision making, methods of organising
casas BCN wiki
I have also created a wiki, which is a website that we all can edit when we know and use the password. Others can look at the site but can not edit it unless they have the password. Be careful on giving out the password and also posting information which might be sensitive. Be warned, while many people do support this sort of project, some dont and they might try to upset things in the future if this project develops.
I was not sure about the name, so I just called it:
casas_bcn
here is the weblink:
http://wikihost.org/wikis/casas_bcn/
If you are not to sure how to use, I can do a simple workshop with the group to show what I know, which is very little. As things develop with the project we can develop better communication tools.
Id ask people to try to get to know how the WIKI works and from that start using it, I feel a simple tool like this will be very helpful for us. Also if you are not sure about tek stuff, it is a chance to learn, to empower yourself and from that teach others, empower them. Which for me is the only thing which really makes change: lots and lots of little steps......
Im sure there are more of you who know far more than me, so please support each other, share skills and knowledge
Barcelona: 3 early morning raids on 3 squats, including MAKABRA
indymedia Ireland covership of squatting issues in Barcelona, includes audio, which I have been working on. It contains many links to other issues, threads, groups etc. It also has thougths from my Irish friend living in Barcelona Iosaf, who has a very good sense of housing issues and writes a great deal to support these type of struggles.
the link to this article is found at:
http://indymedia.ie/article/79776
"Housing" 2 hour radio show ( with speakers from Nairobi - Dublin - Barcelona )
The radio programme we worked on last week.
to listen to the programme or many of the support audio files click:
http://netjuke.r23.cc/search.php?do=list.tracks&col=al_id&val=1289&sort=al
more information about the show is found at:
https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WorldSocialForum2007#International_Radio_Show
Fifthly : our principles, a little bit more in depth
We had a good talk the two nights ago in Infoespai where we talked about what we wanted to get out of this project. Alicia drew up a list of principles we are for and we are against, perhaps she will send this to the list when she gets a chance and maybe also edit the wiki with those details
the page for that is presently: