How does the Batera zaindu initiative come about?

We created the network to respond to the care needs arising from the Covid19 crisis. We know that many of these needs existed before the outbreak of the health crisis and, unfortunately, this situation has only aggravated them. There are many other contextual needs: the needs of the parents who cannot attend to the children who are at home, the needs of the neighbors who live alone and in isolation, those who are at risk of health... Seeing that the institutions did not dare to cope with these situations and needs, we took responsibility and shaped Batera.

More than 2,500 people have been discharged to assist in enrollment. How many are they?

In 48 hours after the launch of the network, 1,500 people were brought together, and the number of volunteers has increased over the hours. In this way, we have organized ourselves in 22 neighborhoods and decentralized ourselves in 50 areas, providing a quick and safe response to the first care needs. From time to time, the amount is constantly increasing: on social networks, in neighborhood groups... We are becoming more and more and more and as the days advance we think we will be more and more: complicated moments are still expected that will bring more care needs to emerge.

It is often easier for us to ask for help than for help. Are you receiving aid applications? What kind of person or what help?

That's right, we have a hard time recognizing that we're vulnerable. The system makes us believe that we don't need anyone else to survive. And this entails that the care needs and the care tasks are, among many other reasons, in the more private sphere. And it's time to take the leap from private custody to collective. Thanks to the exploitation of women*, care work leaves the system free of charge. Capital could not accumulate as much wealth if it were not done for free or under very precarious working conditions. For years, the Feminist Movement of the Basque Country has demanded a social reorganization of care, which requires the rupture of the system. The priority is to bring lives to the center, and that leads us to think about how to sustain life collectively. The Batera network is a small step in that restructuring, forced by the situation, but which will bring many lessons. This has only just begun. And all people have to be cared for and cared for in many moments of our lives.

So far in the Batera network we have found several needs: going to the health center to collect the sick, going to search for the medications, shopping, getting down the trash, talking…

In addition to helping the people who have requested it, you are doing other jobs.

We would say that the network has two objectives. On the one hand, to respond to the care needs that arise. To do this, we are developing criteria, protocols or tools to ensure that care is as close and safe as possible, for both companions and recipients. We have disseminated posters, videos and readings. On the other hand, we also aim to strengthen the community. To achieve this, we have put in place numerous dynamics to make it clear that the participation of all the neighbors and neighbours is essential for Batasuna to progress.

How is it being organised?

Our priority is to promote the organization of portals. We have a letter model in different languages to hang on the portals. As neighbours we offer our help to others in the letter. We prioritize this operation because it is the closest, effective, safe and practical. But also because it's very useful for creating community.

The needs that reach the telephone we have put in contact are addressed to the affected neighborhoods and are managed by the local groups. We ensure that people who are going to carry out surveillance work know our protocols and follow them up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You claim community and self-organization, among other things. What do those words mean to you?

Batera is a collective, plural and open creation to respond to current individualistic tendencies and values. The essential elements for life are constantly weakening and our needs for mutual care are many. The coronavirus crisis has made these needs clearer. We only see one way to deal with it: to strengthen the community and self-organization.

The popular movement has been making sense of these words for years. The theory for inspiration does, but practice must be what defines us. It is a huge challenge that we have in our hands, and we hope it will be the starting point for this network. Creativity is being our treasure: until now the street has been our natural space of action; now it is up to us to weave knowledge and complicity from home and work with illusion. The network is both baseline and objective: with the participation of all the neighbors and neighbors we practice and give meaning to the values of solidarity, collaboration, support, exchange, commitment...

What role do you think public institutions and services should play? Are you maintaining any relationship with someone?

The Basque Government cannot delegate only the basic care tasks to volunteers. But as long as the Basque Government and the other public institutions do not assume their responsibilities, we will continue to act responsibly. However, we have noticed that there is a willingness on the part of some institutions to obstruct or at least control this work. It was set in motion before the state of alarm was declared in order to deal with the difficult situation that Batera was going to come. In the early hours of the alarm state declaration, the network became one of the most unique tools to ensure priority surveillance work.

We want to make it clear that we have no will to represent anyone’s work, we believe that what we are doing is the responsibility of public services. What public employees paid with a living wage should do. This crisis situation has created new care needs and has increased the existing ones, public services do not attend to them and we have organized ourselves to meet these needs. It is our responsibility as citizens. However, there is an urgent need for a public debate on this issue.

Several political representatives have criticised these monitoring networks. How have you received these comments?

We believe that citizens should be recognized as a care network like the one currently in existence. It is not only a political issue, it is also a matter of effectiveness, at the moment we have the most organised and multitudinous network. We citizens have organised ourselves faster than the institutions and have tackled the need for care. We have done so responsibly: we have completed protocols and criteria with health professionals and have continuously transmitted them to network participants. The criticisms highlight their inactivity. Another question comes to mind to us: How did the institutions ensure surveillance in the first three days of the state of emergency? Overall, this situation had already been put in place prior to its implementation.

Do you have any relationship with another surveillance network?

We in Vitoria-Gasteiz, at the moment, know no other. However, it is to be assumed that they have also been created and that networks will be created with a different perspective. In our opinion, it is also necessary to weave networks, learn and feed from other experiences. We also share material resources.

Everything points to the fact that the situation will continue for weeks, thereby aggravating the situation. Are you thinking or discussing what to do or what to do or what to predict the situations?

At the moment we are quite busy with day-to-day management. We have taken advantage of the last few days to make the road ahead a little more concrete, but the priority so far has been to create the network and respond to needs in an appropriate way. On the other hand, we believe that from the technical-political table proposed by the Feminist Movement of HD, more collective and profound responses will be developed.

But we insist: we believe that managing these situations and responding to all the needs of quality public services is their responsibility. We call for cooperation and coordination of work.

Once the state of emergency is over. You may want to tighten the neoliberal agenda to provide a ‘solution’ to the crisis... What situation do you anticipate? Do you think surveillance networks can also be useful in this scenario?

Covid-19 will serve as an excuse to justify the crisis. But it is clear to us that we are facing a crisis in the system. This life model is untenable: since the beginning of the year many workers have been killed, male violence has ended the lives of three women, the Zaldibar massacre cannot be forgotten… The situation created by the virus has revealed the need for a quality public health system, the need for social services that take account of all people. Prioritizing lives is the only option. It may take a different shape in the future, but I am convinced that the work done these days will leave its mark. Unity will have a lot to say and do.