In this article I compare the different forms of participation of young anti-capitalists in two post-15M Spanish social movements in Lleida: White Tide and Platform of those Affected by Mortgages. The objective of the article is to analyze how biopolitical normalization processes work within social movements themselves. The article explains the normalization processes that adult activists exercise against young anti-capitalists, and the ways in which young people resist and seek to break with these processes in post-15M movements. All this allows us to understand how this normalization affects current social movements, establishing what is seen to be the 'correct' way to be an activist and creating processes of marginalization and censorship of those activists who occupy non-hegemonic social positions and who use other political forms.
The Spanish 15M movement (also known as the Indignados) was very critical of political parties and the current system of political representation. However, the protest cycle has evolved into a growing and complex process of institutionalization in which activist have been participating in the creation and development of a number of new parties (Partido X, Ganemos and Podemos). This paper analyzes the role played by new technologies in this process. The basic hypothesis is that the extensive use of digital tools, which encourage participation and deliberation in the creation and development of these new parties, in some ways reproduces essential values and practices of the movement, thus facilitating the identification between the 15M activists and the parties. In this way, the transition between movement and party has been conditioned by, among other things, a component of technological mediation, generating an environment of horizontal deliberation, participation distributed and decentralized structure. The use of these tools has been accompanied by the development of a certain technophile frame that stresses the potential of new technologies for social and political change. Thus, the classical notions of representation or participation are redrawn allowing a smooth evolution from the squares to the Parliaments. This article examines the construction of technophiles frameworks, which influenced by the presence of free software and open source, help us to understand the organization of the new movement-parties and the transition between the different forms of collective action. Likewise, some of these digital tools are mentioned and outlined and the role that they have played in order to forge new organization models for these movement–parties are described. ; El movimiento 15M se caracterizaba, entre otras cosas, por una fuerte crítica a los partidos políticos y el sistema actual de representación política. Sin embargo, el ciclo de movilización ha derivado en un proceso de institucionalización creciente y complejo en el que los activistas del movimiento han participado de manera relativamente visible y continuada en el surgimiento y el desarrollo de nuevos partidos (Partido X, Ganemos y Podemos). Este artículo analiza el papel desempeñado por las nuevas tecnologías en este proceso bajo la hipótesis de que la apropiación de herramientas digitales diseñadas para deliberar, interaccionar o generar formas diversas de participación política en los nuevos partidos reproduce valores y prácticas esenciales del movimiento, allanando con ello el camino para una identificación entre los activistas y los partidos. La mediación tecnológica ha modulado el paso del movimiento al partido al generar un entorno de deliberación horizontal, participación distribuida y estructura descentralizada que reduce las diferencias visibles entre ambos. El desarrollo de las herramientas digitales se ha visto acompañado a su vez de un cambio en los marcos de interpretación de los movimientos sociales con respecto a la tecnología como factor político. De esta forma, las nociones de representación o participación clásicas quedan redibujadas permitiendo una transición suave entre las plazas y los parlamentos. El artículo rastrea la construcción de marcos tecnófilos que, influidos por la presencia del software libre y el código abierto, ayudan a entender la organización de los nuevos partidos-movimiento y la transición entre las diversas formas de acción colectiva. Igualmente, se perfilan y describen algunas de estas herramientas y las funciones que han cumplido de cara a forjar unos modelos de organización originales en estos partidos-movimiento.The Spanish 15M movement (also known as the Indignados) was very critical of political parties and the current system of political representation. However, the protest cycle has evolved into a growing and complex process of institutionalization in which activist have been participating in the creation and development of a number of new parties (Partido X, Ganemos and Podemos). This paper analyzes the role played by new technologies in this process. The basic hypothesis is that the extensive use of digital tools, which encourage participation and deliberation in the creation and development of these new parties, in some ways reproduces essential values and practices of the movement, thus facilitating the identification between the 15M activists and the parties. In this way, the transition between movement and party has been conditioned by, among other things, a component of technological mediation, generating an environment of horizontal deliberation, participation distributed and decentralized structure. The use of these tools has been accompanied by the development of a certain technophile frame that stresses the potential of new technologies for social and political change. Thus, the classical notions of representation or participation are redrawn allowing a smooth evolution from the squares to the Parliaments. This article examines the construction of technophiles frameworks, which influenced by the presence of free software and open source, help us to understand the organization of the new movement-parties and the transition between the different forms of collective action. Likewise, some of these digital tools are mentioned and outlined and the role that they have played in order to forge new organization models for these movement–parties are described.
Part I. A New Cultural Politics for Spain -- 1. Introduction: A New Cultural Politics for Spain; Óscar Pereira-Zazo and Steven L. Torres -- Part II. Political Crisis -- 2. 15-M and Indignant Democracy: Legitimation Problems within Neoliberal Capitalism; Juan Carlos Monedero -- 3. 'Populism' as the Task of Constructing a People for Change; Luis Alegre Zahonero -- 4. Podemos in Spain: Limits and Possibilities for Change; Santiago Alba Rico -- Part III. Economic Failure -- 5. Speculation and Corruption in the DNA of the Spanish Economy; José Manuel Naredo -- 6. The 15-M and the Financialization of Spanish Society; Armando Fernández-Steinko -- 7. Basic Income: A Rational Proposal Guaranteeing the Material Existence of the Population; Daniel Raventós and Julie Wark -- Part IV. Environmental Crossroads -- 8. Feminism and Environmentalism in Dialogue with the 15-M and the New Political Cycle in Spain; Yayo Herrero -- 9. The Podemos Phenomenon and the Crisis of Civilization; Emilio Santiago-Muiño -- 10. Toward a Postindustrial Left in Spain: Political Parties and Social Movements Facing the Collapse of Civilization; Manuel Casal-Lodeiro -- Part V. Media Control -- 11. Media Control and Emancipation: The Public Sphere in Post-15-M Spain; Sebastiaan Faber and Bécquer Seguín -- 12. The Press is Dead… Long Live the Press; Pascual Serrano -- 13. Breaking the Walls of the Palace. The 15-M Facing the Mass Media and the Culture Industry; César Rendueles and Jorge Sola -- Part VI. Social Mobilization -- 14. From the Politicization of Life to the New Politics; Marina Garcés -- 15. Post-15-M Grassroots Interventions in and for Public Space—Resurgence in Everyday Forms of Control and Resistance; Megan Saltzman -- 16. PAH; Jordi Mir-Garcia -- Part VII. Culture in Transition -- 17. Cultura a la Contra: Toward Alternatives to the Civilizational and Ecological Crisis; Palmar Álvarez-Blanco -- 18. Reasons to Celebrate; Alberto San Juan -- 19. Ending the Culture of Fear Once and for All: Notes on NegraBlanca and Other Forms of Post-15-M Empowerment; Luis Moreno-Caballud and Helena de Llanos -- 20. Broken Authorities; Belén Gopegui -- 21. A Specter Is Haunting the Recent Spanish Novel; David Becerra-Mayor
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This article analyses the social movement 15M. Its main objective is to prove the research question, whether the social movement 15M plays a role in the process of democratisation of Spain. It comprises some background information related to the historic, political and economic development of the country, to help the reader understand the requirements of the social movement 15M as well as the overall situation in Spain. Moreover, the 15M development together with the description of the protesters and their requirements are explained, too. The analysis of twenty-five 15M proposals summarised in Pilar Velasco's book No nos representan compared with the features of democracy according to Jean Grugel prove, that the social movement 15M forms a significant part of the process of democratisation since it actually requires the fulfilment of those particular values of democracy. ; Tomasz Wiskulski
How to identify and assess the social and political impacts of a social movement such as the 15M/Indignados in Spain? A particular challenge comes up, first, when its limits and identity are blurred so here we distinguish three types of movement goals and explain how they emerged. Secondly, in order to evaluate their achievements we pay special attention to the usually neglected dimensions of movements' impacts – their self-reproduction, the non-institutional effects and the 'unintended consequences'. We argue that the 15M was able to challenge the authorities over the first three years of its existence by creating a counter-hegemonic political culture as well as a manifold set of practical initiatives of self-organisation. However, the institutional impacts were very limited, in spite of some significant successes and side-effects in the electoral arena. This is mainly explained by the resilient cohesion of the power elites and the continuation of the prevailing socio-economic structures.
Practices and techniques of listening were at the core of recent social movements that explicitly espoused horizontal direct democracy: 15M, Occupy Wall Street, and Nuit Debout. These movements sought to imagine nonhierarchical structures through which large groups of strangers could speak and listen to each other, considering seriously the coconstruction of communicative form and political values. Drawing on participant observation; 23 long-form interviews with social movement actors in Paris, Madrid, and New York City; and texts such as video documentation and "best practices" literature, this article performs a comparative analysis of internal assembly communications—particularly bodily mediated methods of transmitting and perceiving spoken language—and their relationships to deliberation and decision making. All of these movements struggled to reconcile the mandate to listen with the material and infrastructural challenges of autonomous public space. Nuit Debout's strong commitment to accommodating those who could not comfortably participate in an occupation (day laborers, sans-papiers, disabled, etc.) caused its internal communication practices to differ in its attempts to conserve time and to prioritize translation.
En 2015 decenas de plataformas municipalistas se presentaban a las elecciones municipales y obtenían resultados realmente inesperados: ganaban los ayuntamientos las de grandes ciudades como Barcelona, Madrid o Zaragoza y también de muchas otras, además de conseguir concejales en la oposición en otros tantos casos. El municipalismo se situaba así en el centro de la política del Estado español mediante lo que se considera hoy el asalto institucional de las herederas del 15M. Este libro analiza el ciclo municipalista 2015-2019 y lo hace a través de un horizonte común, la ciudad democrática, hacia el cual camina un proyecto que aprende haciendo. Las autoras sitúan y analizan la irrupción del municipalismo, analizan críticamente diferentes políticas públicas transformadoras e innovadoras implementadas por y en las 'ciudades del cambio' en ámbitos como la tecnopolítica o los bienes comunes y también cuentan cómo las nuevas organizaciones y redes municipalistas han intentado, con mayor o menor éxito, cambiar las formas de hacer política para volverlas más feministas, horizontales y democráticas.
The study of the political cycle opened by the demonstrations of 15 May 2011 in "El descontento movilizador" and "Translating the Crisis" reveals some of the processes that took place beneath the surface of this movement. The former analyses from different perspectives the changes in the perception of politics in individuals with different socio-demographic characteristics, from a varied political spectrum, and with a different degree of political involvement. The latter shows the importance of translation in protest, both for its communicative function and its political potential to connect actors in conflict, practices, discourses, and ideas at different levels of social mobilisation. The multidisciplinary and transnational approach, the critical yet impartial orientation, and the different dimensions of analysis are some of the factors that add value to these works and underline the importance of this cycle even ten years later. ; El estudio del ciclo político inaugurado por las manifestaciones del 15 de mayo de 2011 en El descontento movilizador y en Translating the Crisis revela algunos de los procesos acontecidos bajo la superficie de este movimiento. El primero analiza desde diferentes perspectivas los cambios en la percepción de la política en individuos con diferentes características sociodemográficas, de variado espectro político, y con un grado diferencial de implicación política. El segundo muestra la importancia de la traducción en la protesta, tanto por su función comunicativa, como por su potencial en política para conectar actores en conflicto, prácticas, discursos e ideas en los diferentes planos de la movilización social. El carácter multidisciplinar y transnacional, la orientación crítica a la vez que imparcial, o las diferentes dimensiones de análisis abordadas son algunos de los factores que añaden valor a estos trabajos y que subrayan la importancia de este ciclo aun diez años después.
This article aims to analyze some of the implications of the committees of functional diversity created in two Spanish cities during the 15M camps of 2011. Firstly, we situate them in the context of the historical evolution of disability activisms in Spain. Secondly, we describe the main traits of such committees within the 15M, based on their published materials on the Internet along with the assessments of some participants. Once contextualized, we analyze what we have considered the main contribution of the committees. It is the experience of "putting the body in the square", a form of embodied politics performed at the public space. This opened a debate on the logics of exclusion / inclusion within citizenship, and in turn it got back the awareness that precariousness and vulnerability are common traits of every human being. Therefore, we conclude that the committees of functional diversity represented a significant moment for both the disability activism and the 15M movement, with their use of the body as a liberatory tool to question the very definition of the human. ; El objetivo del presente texto es analizar algunas de las implicaciones que tuvieron las comisiones de diversidad funcional, creadas en dos ciudades españolas durante las acampadas del movimiento 15M, en el año 2011. Para ello, en primer lugar, situamos dichas comisiones en el marco de la evolución histórica de la militancia en torno a la discapacidad en España. En segundo lugar, describimos las características de las comisiones en el marco de las acampadas del 15M, a partir de materiales que publicaron en Internet junto con la valoración de algunas personas participantes. A partir de esta contextualización, entramos a analizar la que destacamos como la aportación más relevante de las comisiones. Se trata de la experiencia de "poner el cuerpo en la plaza", una forma de política encarnada en el espacio público. Ésta permitió abrir un debate sobre las lógicas de exclusión/inclusión ciudadanas, recuperando a su vez la conciencia de que la precariedad y la vulnerabilidad son una realidad común a todo ser humano. Concluimos así, que las comisiones de diversidad funcional supusieron un momento relevante para la militancia de la discapacidad y para el 15M, al estar utilizando el cuerpo como una herramienta de liberación para cuestionar la misma definición de lo humano.
In 2011, the indignant movement put the democracy at the center of the political agenda, asking for a "real democracy now" against politicians who "do not represent us." The arrival to the municipal governments of many citizen platforms between 2015 and 2019 has been an opportunity to see different proposals for political articulation inspired by 15M. In this article, based on the trajectories of the political promoters and the genealogy of the participatory tools that were put in place, we analyze the participatory system created by Ahora Madrid and explore to what extent it translated the democratic ideals of the movement. The participatory system, with operational limits that we explore, halfway to the digital and deliberative environments, finally proposed a political alternative that offered citizens mechanisms to make proposals and set the political agenda outside the representative institutions. ; En 2011, los indignados pusieron la democracia en el centro de la agenda política, al pedir una "democracia real ya" frente a políticos que "no nos representan". La llegada a los gobiernos municipales de muchas plataformas ciudadanas entre 2015 y 2019 ha sido una oportunidad para ver diferentes propuestas de articulación política inspiradas en el 15M. En este artículo, partiendo de las trayectorias de los promotores políticos y la genealogía de las herramientas participativas que se pusieron en marcha, analizamos el sistema participativo creado por Ahora Madrid y exploramos hasta qué punto traducía los ideales democráticos de los indignados. El sistema participativo, con limites operativos que exploramos, a medio camino de los entornos digitales y deliberativos, propuso finalmente una alternativa política que ofrecía a la ciudadanía mecanismos para hacer propuestas y establecer la agenda política al margen de las instituciones representativas.
In 2011, the indignant movement put the democracy at the center of the political agenda, asking for a "real democracy now" against politicians who "do not represent us." The arrival to the municipal governments of many citizen platforms between 2015 and 2019 has been an opportunity to see different proposals for political articulation inspired by 15M. In this article, based on the trajectories of the political promoters and the genealogy of the participatory tools that were put in place, we analyze the participatory system created by Ahora Madrid and explore to what extent it translated the democratic ideals of the movement. The participatory system, with operational limits that we explore, halfway to the digital and deliberative environments, finally proposed a political alternative that offered citizens mechanisms to make proposals and set the political agenda outside the representative institutions. ; En 2011, los indignados pusieron la democracia en el centro de la agenda política, al pedir una "democracia real ya" frente a políticos que "no nos representan". La llegada a los gobiernos municipales de muchas plataformas ciudadanas entre 2015 y 2019 ha sido una oportunidad para ver diferentes propuestas de articulación política inspiradas en el 15M. En este artículo, partiendo de las trayectorias de los promotores políticos y la genealogía de las herramientas participativas que se pusieron en marcha, analizamos el sistema participativo creado por Ahora Madrid y exploramos hasta qué punto traducía los ideales democráticos de los indignados. El sistema participativo, con limites operativos que exploramos, a medio camino de los entornos digitales y deliberativos, propuso finalmente una alternativa política que ofrecía a la ciudadanía mecanismos para hacer propuestas y establecer la agenda política al margen de las instituciones representativas.
