Next ECA in Madrid?

Hello,
Sorry I guess we never really reported back in this thread what was discussed in the governance call regarding agreeing on another Assembly, possibly in Madrid. Basically, and this is also reflected in the charter that is under development, we discussed that it probably not helpful to think of it is as' the 2nd ECA', and everyone has to agree on it.
Instead, we can have different ECA MOMENTS some larger than others. Its a matter of a group of people having the energy, the plan, when its in line with some basic principles, and there is no great objection, its a mater of just doing it. 'Doocracy' apparently this is called. (i think its a hacker term :) )

In the case of Madrid, I think its indeed important to have1. a bit of a developed plan among the people who are excited about this, and 2. some clarity about the local partners. I am not sure we should aim for Ahora Madrid as main local partner, as this gets us to entangled with political parties. Maybe we can check with Media Lab Prado, pr maybe @Stacco you have suggestions. or Zemos might.

Other ECA moments discussed are a festival in June in Athens, London in 2018, and possible Scotland in 2018 as well.
Hope this helps, I think we can start developing the idea of the Athens plan with the people in this thread, and see how it works with Fred & Gaelle;s plan on workshops with local governments, and in the meanwhile we can also finalise the governance charter which will make then make things clearer.

What do people think?

Sophie

Thanks Sophie and @daphnebuellesbach for the update on this thread. Just fyi, here is the loomio link where we have been talking about governance: https://www.loomio.org/d/kodMYJE5/eca-governance-infrastructure-organising

The plan now is that I will look at some comments on the charter and synthesize them and then invite people that have expressed interest to a second skype call, probably next week.

Daphne, could you clarify for me then what the nominal connection of the ECA with the TransEuropa festival would then be then? Would it be, as Sophie says, a moment, something like "ECA gathers at the Transeuropa Festival in Madrid".... or, how would we describe it in words? I'm just trying to advance this conversation here alongside the governance talks so that we have a clear idea on the nature of the collaboration when we try to make the decision with the larger membership of the ECA.

sorry I meant Madrid plan not 'Athens Plan' :)

Hi all,

I agree about the 2nd ECA versus moments of the ECA.
But this still leave us we the need for some arbitrage between proposals, as we will have to reach for money to implement them, and possibly not enough money to implement all the proposals… But that's an issue for the next call on governance…

The proposal of Madrid could work well with the idead we shared with Fred. I think it should be possible to plan activities with people from Ahora Madrid, but not be all tied up to them, and not have anly activities with them. Especially as there is the festival. It sounds really exciting to be able to have people from the municipality and the local social movements together discussing with commoners from elsewhere in Europe what they are trying to do and/or what they could try to do as far as commons are concerned.

Thanks all,
We do have a good start in Madrid, given the TransEuropa festival and the Re-Build Refuge Europe project which is feeding into it with projects from across Europe. We (as a part of the project led by European Alternatives-EA) are planning a newspaper, exhibitions, a possible concert and so on. So this provides a healthy environment which the ECA can 'live in', but not necessarily be directly associated with.

One of the people we got to know better while in Madrid was Flavia Introzzi, who was also part of the meetings organised by EA. She seems to know quite a lot - not only about the local groups in art and politics (she was at Matadero and now works for hablarenarte.com) but also the general feeling in town. She explained that some activists now have withdrawn a little from the municipal government initiatives (which are very progressive) and are organising and meeting in the non-central parts of town.

Perhaps I will invite her to join us here, if she is open to that..

Best,

Ivor

Dear all,

It is not totally clear to me what is our process at this point to talk about future plans. But we said there was a deadline this week to develop short proposals of projects. So I took the initiative to draft something, starting with the idea of the flying ECA and incorporating people comments on the loomio’s pages. It’s certainly imperfect but it’s a base to discuss. See below.

I would be great to be able to discuss the different proposals people would like to implement, as soon as possible. To be able to see what is feasible, what kind of funding with need, etc.

Best,

Gaelle
PS: I also agree with Ruby, we should also discuss ECA sessions to take place as part of european/regional events.

Flying ECA meeting

What:
100 commoners from the ECA gather in a city where particularly interesting politics and policies (from the point of view of the commons) are developed. The scale of the city is ideally big enough to interact with 100 commoners, but not too big… Let say between 50 000 and 3 millions inhabitants.
During several days (3 days?) they will:
- Interact with people from the place (social movements, municipality leaders):
- learn about what is being done, how the commons were integrated in the local policies/politics,
- share experiences and proposals that could make sense in the context of the city,
- Exchange and work among themselves will the help of people from the place who are interested to join the discussions.
- Augment the "tool box" of the ECA by registering policies/initiatives/actions based on the exchanges with the people from the city.

Where:
Madrid is clearly a serious options.
It could also be La Coruña or Barcelona – we have contacts in both cities.
Or cities in Italy, or the UK possibly.

When:
If it is in Madrid, it could take place during the European Alternatives' Transeuropa Festival (festival of European alternatives, a cultural, political and artistic event seeking a transnational debate and exchange on the future of our European (common) space), probably Oct 23-29. 2017.
If not in Madrid during the festival, set another time.

What would be required :
• Funds for traveling for around 70 people (we can imagine that some of our people will be able to get their organization to pay for their trip). (17 500 €)
• Local lodging (camping?). Some sort of camp would be ideal. Maybe a cheap option can be negotiated with the municipalities (max 10 000 €)
• Preparation of interesting actions/initiatives/policies to share in various domains.

People interested from ECA:
Gaelle, Fred, Ivor, Martin, Stacco, Sophie, Daphne, Ruby, etc.

Local contacts:
Contacts with Ahora Madrid, Flavia Introzzi, Medialab Prado, Goteo (Carmen Lozano), Platoniq, etc. (also contacts in other cities in Galicia, Barcelona, etc who could contribute), etc.

Hi Everyone,
I was just in Madrid for a few days and took the opportunity to make some contacts and explore the idea of having an ECA in Madrid in collaboration with the TransEuropafestival. Daphne is there for a while preparing for the festival and Lucas of Zemos stopped over for a day so that was perfect. Generally, I got a very good feeling. People are very interested in ECA, Madrid is full of commons based initiatives and collectives and the thinking is very evolved.

We met with de director of Media Lab Prado, Marcos, how is very keen on hosting an ECA, so that is very cool. They know all about the ECA event in Brussels, and are very keen on being part. Also met with Ahora Madrid,Intermediae Matadero- another public cultural institute also very active on commons initiatives and keen to cooperate, Carmen of Goteo, Stacco & AnnMarie and others.
I can share some longer notes soon. These were all just exploratory meetings to learn about what is the local context and what is possible. Basically it totally exceeded my expectations in terms of people's interest, the richness of the commons ecosystem in Madrid and possible locations. But maybe we can have a call soon with people interested to make some concrete plans, and Daphne and I can share our experiences and ideas.
Very best! sophie

Hi @sophie40 !

Wonderful. Did you visit any of the 'new' spaces of protest and organising outside of the city centre? A lot of activists seem to be moving to these banlieu, after realising that even with a leftist city administration, work needs to be continued and strengthened from the 'ground up'.

We will be back there again in June to prepare the festival with Daphne and co, and we are all very positive about the ECA.

Longer notes would be welcome - or just a chat in Berlin :)

Ivor

Hi there @ivorstodolsky and others. Sharing my notes but happy to have a coffee when we are both in Berlin (!). I did not get to see these new spaces outside city centre, but I am sure Daphne will have a chance. Matadero, with the Intermediae space (see notes), is outside city centre, and a beautiful huge complex with lots of space outside as well, but is more public and not self organised. ciao!

Notes madrid- Ideas for collaborations ECA moment

Thanks for all this background, contextual and logistical information about Madrid. In order for the ECA to have more of an impact and not to be too theoretical or disperse in topics, I suggest our next meeting focuses on one kind of important urban commons needed by big cities like Madrid.

The more general political and democratic questions would derive from practical situations, projects and conflicts. Many possibilities: urban planning, cultural commons, food in big cities, tourism and the commons, energy, transport. ...we could maybe choose two and plan on connecting and organizing with Madrd partners with a commons template for some coherency.

I agree with the thematic approach proposed by @davidhammerstein

Please participate in this framadate for a call dedicated to brainstorming for the Madrid "moment": https://framadate.org/uHNsRR19EvdsOmOh

So far only Ivor and I have filled out the poll! https://framadate.org/uHNsRR19EvdsOmOh

hi all, I can't really make any of the times proposed in the framadate to be honest. If its a conference call with free conference I can call tomorrow (Friday), but I will be in a car all day going from berlin to netherlands so not optimal.

'i can call in' I mean

Sorry for doing it late. I had other time of meeting to be determined. I can participate tomorrow afternoon.

I also agree with the approach by thematics proposed by David.

Hello,
Is there a way we use a phone, so that Sophie can jooin?

Hi everyone, apologies I dropped the ball and didn't send reminder emails on this.

How does next Wednesday 29 at noon sound? @sophie40 @fredericsultan would you be able to join? If the group on this thread agrees I will send another reminder.

I can't at noon. Probably possible later at 13 or 14.

Ok. Please update the framadate, I added more options: https://framadate.org/uHNsRR19EvdsOmOh

Barcelona en Comú has forwarded an invitation for a meeting on June 9-11. Save the date! More details to come.

Dear friend,

We would like to invite you to the "Fearless cities" meeting in Barcelona, a special summit for us that we want to share with all those who we know are fighting for a better life in our cities and towns. We think the academia must be also involved on this necessary change.

Please save the date on the 9-11 of June, 2017.

The event will take place in Barcelona and it will be a moment to say the world that we want to create a municipalist network of refuge and hope.

It is really important for us that you and your movements join us.

Invitation and more details to follow soon.

Best,

International working group, Barcelona en Comú
Grup de treball internacional, Barcelona en Comú
@BComuGlobal
www.barcelonaencomu.cat
https://storify.com/BComuEnglish

Ok all, this is to let you know that on Monday April 3 at 11am CET we will have the call on the Madrid ECA moment. We need to get the coordinating group consolidated and plan out how to prepare! Please add me on Skype: nicoleleonard92

Hackpad on Madrid organiztion: https://hackpad.com/Madrid-Organization-Overview-AGae2ARmkFU

Summary coming soon (maybe not til Wednesday sorry)

Summary Madrid Call Monday April 3 (please add, I def. missed some things):

Next Steps:
- A general one-pager is going to be finalized so we can have a basis document for the idea for the festival that can be shared to get others involved (Daphne and Sophie)
- We discussed logistics - what would be best in terms of timing and locations. Nothing is certain yet, but: we see 2 parts of the festival: one focused on work of the ECA and the other "Festival" part.
-Confirm MediaLabPrado with Marco and ask about funding (Sophie). We also consider Intermediae as a location to complement MLPrado.
- We should try to plan a separate in person Work Meeting early in summer to get organized and assign responsibilities.
-Mauge Cañada introduced that she can participate in organization.
- Nicole contacted BCN en Comú organizers for their meeting June 9-11 to see if ECA can have a slot (important for continuity)
-David Gabriel, working with Fred, has recently been trying to revitalize an urban commons group and wants it to feed into Madrid moment - this could help for programming.
- We may also need a separate one-pager on Content for the festival.

I recommend looking at Sophie's notes for more background info, they are very good (up a few posts in this thread)

Just following up on this, the BCN organizers haven't gotten back to me on a slot per se but did say they wanted to collaborate with the ECA for Madrid.

Let's keep moving: framadate for next call:
https://framadate.org/apf981IdgLZeqk5E

Still haven't heard from BC en Comu organizers but I offered to have a call with them to figure things out.

I think we are close to finalizing the one-pager, definitely before the next call.: https://hackpad.com/ep/pad/summary/1oag0dA1mEt but I am having some editing problems if anyone can advise me @daphnebuellesbach ?
One key issue is the name, we have to come to a decision now I think. On the table we have:
-European Commons Assembly in Madrid
-ECA Goes TransEuropa
-ECA Moment in Madrid (not very popular)
-Others?

So, agenda for next call to me looks like this:
- Daphne reports on talking to organizers so we can get more clarity about precise dates/times
- Plan of how to distribute 1-pager (who)....and plan of how to draft a "call-out" for content (we said we probably need a 1-pager specifically dedicated to content as well.
- Funding strategy?
- Set a date for an in-person organizers meeting in early summer.

Also, I contacted the urban commons working group (starting to come together) with the specific idea of thinking about programming for Madrid (i added the travel disclaimer, no worries).

Ok, I have edited the one-pager: https://hackpad.com/ECA-goes-Transeuropa-1oag0dA1mEt, more comments welcome and please fill out frama: https://framadate.org/apf981IdgLZeqk5E

Sorry I've been out of the loop -- we just launched Artists at Risk (AR) in Athens.. I've added a few notes to the A4 :)

No worries. Fill out the frama above on the next call!

@davidhammerstein @sophie40 and I spoke with Xavi Ferrer who is one of the organziers from BC en Comu's group for the Fearless Cities meeting in BCN June 9-11.

The goals of the meeting are to promote municipalism as the best way for change and to help activists help each other. Fun fact: The name Fearless cities comes from the idea (quite poetic!) that you cannot link far-right xenophobic hate etc. to the local level, because everyone is grounded to/from a place.

I won't be able to attend unfortunately, I already made travel plans that are too complicated to change now. But David will be there, and ... @daphnebuellesbach also, I believe? @fredericsultan also mentioned he was interested to go, and we can open up the invitation to other members from the Asembly. He mentioned La Hidra (sp?)- that someone who was in Brussels at our assembly is also involved in the organizing.

It is free and open but you have to register. They do not have travel funds but can help with activist housing. The meeting will have 3 parts- one public oriented to get media attention for the event, the other a series of workshops/panels, andddd we didn't have time to discuss the third. THey should be publishing the program soon.

One of the workshops is on commons. They want to do 2 hours, part of which is sharing examples. THey invited us to prepare something and also use it as an opportunity to introduce the assembly and invite people to the Madrid meeting as a next step.

In a couple days Xavi will send the contact for the person in charge of panel organization. David and I will act as point people for this collaboration for now, though I think it would be good to get someone else on board too since I won't be attending.

They like to use Telegram for communications, but we can also work something else out.

Overall this seems like great news!

So for Madrid - I suggest a call for Monday at noon if that works?

Reminder for the call today.

I will try to clean up the one-pager so it's ready.

Hey,
I'll be there.

Link to spreadsheet with local organizations in Madrid, please add.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UYyYQCFNYRCRAtfOJC0P7olsO_PHTRCJEwbqLc4iGtk/edit#gid=0

New one-pager specifically for the ECA/call out https://hackpad.com/European-Commons-Assembly-Madrid-ORBIXA1yqdJ

As promised

-Pad on June 9 Event, for reference/ points out issues we need to answer please COMMENT: https://europeancommonsassembly.hackpad.com/ECA-side-event-at-Fearless-Cities-9Ygo7Tp55HS

-New Pad on Madrid- focus on the CONTENT section: https://europeancommonsassembly.hackpad.com/Madrid-concept-for-ECA-at-Transeuropa-9WQMHUQkYe3

I am also including as attachment the one-pager (from the ECA perspective) that was circulated to the groups we met with last week in Madrid. The issue I found was that our “ask” and what we want in terms of content wasn’t coherent enough. I think we need to clarify the ask at the end of this document and probably also adjust the framing. I talk about this in the pad on Madrid under CONTENT - please COMMENT, let’s get some ideas flowing before the call next week!

Cheers
Nicole

We are having another call on Madrid/BCN this week: https://framadate.org/UzQiGSviRybe8TGa

Hi, I made some comments on the pad on Madrid. But I imagine the best is to disucss during the call.
Gaelle

Hi everyone, so I will be moving this thread to a new subgroup dedicated to the Madrid Process on July 1, Please join the subgroup before then to stay up to date: https://www.loomio.org/g/aAeXJobE/european-commons-assembly-eca-at-transeuropa-madrid-

Sign up for TransEuropa Festival Workshops here, including ours on Artists at Risk (AR) networks, which relates to migration, refugees, asylum etc. : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScTqAbQji0gfOew1ABNwZszqK1_UTogRIwWmFdecpFL_jVepA/viewform