Although those who used language to extend their empires say the opposite, language is not a mere instrument of communication, but a creative thought. Both personality and our autobiography are built through language. In our case, since the Basque Country has a genesis, development and nature different from the surrounding languages, it has created a series of special étimos that offer tools of thought and action.
There are words that give me more interest, such as: I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I want, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel... Today I would like to highlight another: “Sovereignty”, which I have been very fond of since I was young, with great strength. The word sovereignty is used in two areas: the individual and the collective.
I believe that the concept of sovereignty is of great importance both in Basque thought and in the legal system, and I believe that it is the axis of many actions and of many historical events.
Sovereignty and the three funds (exchanges)
In traditional grass-roots organizations (i.e., before relying on a State, a cacique, a king, a church or a multinational), each unit, the extended family, in most cases, distinguishes three funds: Day to Day, Celebrations and Emergency. Let its object be as autonomous as possible and therefore own the head.
In the daily background: food, utensils, water, energy, costume; In the background of the celebrations: food, drinks, special costumes, jewelry, gifts... What was left, to waste certain days, to create alliances, to enjoy, to feed life; and finally, in the Emergency Fund: to combat difficult situations: famines, droughts, curling, plagues.
The procedure that regulates a social system to deal with emergencies is one of the pillars of this system, which can be understood as a legal structure. A tool of great importance to us: the communal ones. In fact, authorization for the use of pastures, forests, streams was a guarantee for daily life and for emergencies. Collective ownership was a guarantee of survival.
The main objective of the lords, kings, churches and so on was the control of the Emergency Fund. And it is clear that many times the emergencies themselves generated to achieve citizen dependence.
The most powerful free urgencies continue to emerge, and many agents seem to perpetuate the emergency situation.
Social networks are now very different because they have led to the ultimate end of the privatization processes. The management of the three funds mentioned is beyond the reach of the public and our dependence has increased in various areas, although seemingly legally free.
Those who have an orderly and fixed wage want to think that they are free, but their dependence is also absolute.
How many months would most of us last if we suddenly ran out of pay? Two, three? To what extent is our solidarity network? How do we relate to market fluctuations? Who now manages these three funds in our homes?
The Celebrations Fund requires further reflection. The purpose of this fund was, on the one hand, to produce more than the family or the group needed. It is about getting more than you have to reserve for Emergency, with more work than you needed to have the surpluses; and the other in the family or collective calendar and on special dates: births, weddings, funerals, auzolan calls...Give gifts to your family and friends to expand and consolidate your solidarity network. The greater the ability to give away surpluses, the greater the net.
After the last decades of consumerism, those who have had the ability to have a small Celebrations Fund have used it during leisure and holidays. At this time when it has touched us to live, leisure and holidays have become a symbol of social victory, but a banal symbol, an image, a photograph that we want to show, that makes us feel free for a few days from the anguish and bonds that everyday life brings us.
Let's go back to the Emergency Fund area. If there were other people in the authority of the States, we could think that the back of the citizens is well protected, since, theoretically, democratic States bear the highest responsibility for the Emergency Fund.
On the contrary, does anyone trust them? Is anyone faithful to those who are working at the disposal of the multinationals?
If we fail to achieve the economy and the democratic management of natural resources, they will lead us to a new model of slavery. They have taken great steps in recent times. You know that when the situation of dependency in today's societies is widened, most citizens vote for liars that offer false certainty. They have taken the right step.
If the resources needed to carry our lives forward are beyond our control, we have lost sovereignty. If the instruments and resources necessary for the survival of a people have been acquired by another people, it is not free.
During the period of “Sustainable Growth”, the main myth of neoliberalism, workers have stolen the wealth generated through the “needs” generated by consumerism. Once this myth has fallen, at a time when the limits of consumerism have become apparent, they will form new chains through everyday needs, increasing the things we need for everyday life.
Our predecessors knew that the communal was the key to ensuring their independence. If we want to own ourselves, we need the democratization of all energies, food, environments and strategic decisions, we need a profound and radical republification process. We must also radically change our unsustainable consumption model. We have to free ourselves from the deceptions that have led us to this situation, to be masters of ourselves.