Joxemi Zumalabe is a foundation that works for popular movements and social movements. Regarding the definition of the popular movement, Marta Luxan and Olatz Harmful obeitia voted in favour of the broader definition: “Those who are not comfortable with our society and see the need to transform the things that are at the base. With very different levels of consciousness, practices and organizational models.” We've been told that popular movements are at a very interesting time. “We are rethinking some of the organization’s things that have been given for certain at other times in different movements. Reflection will be fruitful in the near future.” Through the groups Joxemi Zumalabe, Bertsozale Elkartea, Bilgune Feminista and Donostiako Piratak we have brought to these pages some keys to this transformation.

They're not the best time ever...

The context has changed both in the Basque Country and in the world. Challenges and conditions are not the same: “In popular movements a relocation is being given, but at very different levels. Although in 30-40 years there has been a total movement for the rupture, the system has developed (although the denomination ‘well-being’ can be excessive, culture of consumption, individualization...). But at the moment this is being paralyzed. People start to wonder: Where do we start to revive life individually and collectively? In this world organization, the State/Administration has established itself as the guarantor of rights. And today (not before) has not fulfilled it, so there is a battlefield. To that we must add that in Euskal Herria we are in another cycle of political conflict. The political conflict has had a great cultural influence, has provoked repressive contexts in which there have been different functionalities, logics, times of dynamics... Today we are in the age of multiple transitions.” Luxan explained that fighting areas are also moving: “The hierarchization between the different struggles that existed before (more important the struggles and those that were not) is in question and they are putting on the table dynamics related to the duration of life, which the planet cannot sustain. And, in this sense, new groups are being created in non-classical dynamics: groups around politicization and the problem of food sovereignty; groups around social rights in peoples related to the context of ‘crisis’ since 2008..”

Why do they open windows to look inside?

The challenge is not to fall into the mistakes of the struggles of the 20th century XXI.ekoen, according to Injuobeitia: “Some great projects have lost the fundamental thing from the north: that the struggle is people. Personal attitudes, own community center... We create structures and means to fight, but we tend to repeat the same society that we want to revolutionize. Those structures and logics are the ones that are moving a bit, but they still have a lot of weight.” Aritz Zerain, of the Bertsozale Elkartea, shares: “In this country the project is prioritized and it seems that the project is above all. But the project is done by people. If we do not take care of ourselves, the project does not move forward. Because the project is not born out of nothing and goes ahead.” Lander Arbelaitz explained that awareness among the Donostia Pirates is also awakening. “In the annual challenges agreed between all this year, three of the top ten have been careful and enjoyable. We are working on proposals on how care can be promoted in practice.”

Balance: project-group-person

These are the three elements of the balance that any organization can analyze to see if its state is healthy.

As Luxan explains, the key is to think that collective life influences the political project: “Previously, it was not directly related to the team life project. We have heard in different assembly movements ‘this is silly’, ‘it is not worth talking about a conflict between us’… It has not been related to the effectiveness of the political project, the path of the political project, if not to measure ‘whether we are few or many’, with the weight of the number. But the life we have in the group, the space we offer to the group, if the project suffocates or if it exploits...”. The Zumalabe people have explained that there is still much to be done in this direction: the groups of popular movements have begun to become aware, but each group is in a position, and within a collective each militant lives a different issue. Here are some examples:

Pirates have completely changed the group's structure in a few years, to win in horizontality. Inaxio Oiarzabal said: “Since its inception, it was a team of ten that was responsible for organizing the whole movement. Six years ago, the crews involved in the initiatives were integrated into the organization. The table or representation of the crews was created, but the crews of ten previous people still existed. The representatives of the gangs demonstrated their desire to have decision-making capacity, to share discussions in the decision-making forums... Three years ago it was decided that we had to change the overall organization and that it did not make much sense to talk about party participation if we limited our participation in the group. Thus the first Brotherhood arose two years ago and it was seen that the organization of the Brotherhood would allow exercises of transparency and gain horizontality”. There are currently about 280 people organized in the Pirates, the Brotherhood. Some Cofradías have been created by neighborhoods and others by work areas. The representatives of the cofradías form the bureau, called Astillero, in which functions with a global vision are incorporated: communication, economic surveillance and general coordinators. Batiste Ezeiza explains the influence that organizational change has had on participation: “The coordination group of ten people that existed before was open, but it was not easy and convenient to explain it simply by saying ‘Aupa, I too come to discuss and make decisions’. We saw what we criticized, that is, that there were few people who decided Aste Nagusia for everyone, that we weren't far away inside the house. Not because we wanted it, but because people had a hard time engaging in these kinds of activities. The participation spaces with the cofradías are closer to citizenship (as they are created in the neighborhood or around the points of interest) and people have easier access to them. In addition, the more Cofradías there are, the more people are participating in the decision-making forums. In this way, a lot of spaces have been opened to collect proposals, to give debates, to make decisions”.

Esteibar, member of the Bertsozale Elkartea association, explained that: “In the last decade, as in society, the Association has also carried out a deeper exercise of consciousness, and today in the participation between people more relationships, mutual care, etc. are taken into account. In this regard, the Association established the Relations Group in 2008. And that’s where the Gender Group is born.”

Idoia Trenor and Miren G. have moved us that they have always been aware of this issue in Bilgune Feminist. The Arakistain, however, have learned to prioritize that in group dynamics over time. As explained by Trenor: “For years, some people tried to work the person, the team, the care, but they did not, because they were not given the political importance that corresponded to them. Although we were aware of the importance of this issue before, we started working in 2012 and the sessions with the Joxemi Zumalabe Foundation served us to give it a political dimension and put it into practice.” Arakistain stressed the importance of making the issue explicit and consensual: “It is one thing that the issue is present. But giving it a space in a consensual and collective way and taking action is giving it a political dimension, being aware that making decisions about it is as important as this year’s project. When the measures are mutually agreed, then they materialize.”

Each in its own way, but they are three groups that have addressed the issue. It is damaging to criticize the fact that in other groups this subject lives directly politically: “In some places the group, the horizontality, the belonging to the decisions, is seen as a good management model, as a quality Q”. On the contrary, he is convinced that the link between the group and the project has a great potential: “From diversity, when we have the ability to articulate in horizontality the multiple ways of doing -thinking, the speed and potentiality of the project is multiplied”.

How beautiful diversity is! But how is it managed?

The Bertsozale Elkartea Association has been articulating diversity since its origins. From the outset they are members of the Bertsolaris and Bertsozales Association, each country has its own association (they work in very different realities), generations are being added to the employees (currently 74 workers) and combines voluntary work, their employment profile is very diverse (from coordination to highly qualified work)... Consequently, Zerain and Esteibar have stressed to us that there are many ways of understanding the Association. The main concern is to balance the work of employees and the work of volunteers, as he explained. The key to articulating plurality is that everyone agrees in the decision spaces and that they are at a slow pace, as explained by Esteibar: “In the directions most members are volunteers. Why? Because the dynamics of the association is big and fast, and the professionals have a very systematic job and a lot of haste to make decisions, because of inertia. Sharing with volunteers also serves to receive an external look. This view of the militants is very important because in daily work, the perspective is sometimes lost. It might be thought that the Association is very slow in its functioning, but that is why it is so. The subjects on which the association participates are the committees, where the voluntary members are, and decisions are taken by consensus. We do not vote for anything. For us this procedure is essential, because otherwise we would be reducing participation in the name of speed and the project would lose that plurality and openness”.

Good practice

Trenor explains how Bilgune has consciously worked on shared leadership since its inception: “We wanted to ensure diversity in the face of unique leadership. We emphasize that in the media most people can represent Bilgune and that every point of the assembly at the National Bilgune is explained by one person for the voices to be heard.” Another decision taken consciously is that Bilgune should also be a space for the care of its members, for which they carry out concrete actions. Arakistain has set an example: “In the groups of the people we talk a lot about how each person is, personally, of possibilities and availability, with desire, with desire, with desire, with desire, with desire, and how we are in a team...” and at times they adapt the project to the forces of their members: “For example, by resting or raising things differently. It is difficult to define projects, but at the same time a learning”. It is clear that priorities need to be set and a distinction needs to be made between urgent and non-urgent issues.

Arakistain has warned that Bilgune has produced an overview of the participation: “Participating is not just talking. To participate is to listen and search among all the ways of being comfortable. Participation is a presence. We attach importance to listening and not to adopting a word.” Trenor adds that the methodology to ensure horizontality is key: “In the assemblies of 40 members we use rounds a lot to listen to everyone’s word, but when we work on the topic many people said that in the rounds they did not feel comfortable. One of the measures we took was to reduce the rounds. We know that people can have limitations in being able to speak to many people, and that’s why we work in small groups to ensure that everyone’s voice is reflected.” Another way to promote participation is to transfer the themes from theory to life, as explained by Trenor: “Meetings are consciously prepared; we share different theories to clarify concepts, but it’s personal work, we put experiences in the center.”

Esteibar explained that in Euskal Herriko Bertsozale Elkartea a culture of overcoming conflicts and misunderstandings among its members is being generalized: “Teamwork offers a great opportunity to get to know oneself. When we see that something creates tension, we strive to look inside ourselves, to see what part one has had. There has been a great cultural change.”

In recent years, the Bertsozale Elkartea association has addressed various strategic issues through participatory processes. So did the Pirates, as you can see in the box on the left.

The power dancing

Why does change cost in some places? Harmful obeitia emits without stumbling: “Questioning the organization implies questioning the spheres of power of some people, which generates resistance”. Arakistain stressed the importance of making change explicit: “If it is not explained and agreed, the resistances are hidden, and all the resistances we can have, since this issue affects the personal scope. In reality, Feminism has given us the keys to live and understand the world; in art, the opportunities to think about power, care, subjectivity and collectivity”. According to Trenor, the sessions led by Joxemi Zumalabe served to work on the theme and give it the dimension that corresponded to it: “It’s hard to accept and see that there is a separation of powers or an escalation between us. The key was to offer a space to talk about it.”