We have just learned that the Gipuzkoa Waste Consortium (GHK) has awarded the incinerator of Gipuzkoa to an association of temporary companies. The leadership of this business association is in the hands of the company Urbaser, whose share capital, after the sale of its entire share by Florentino Pérez, is Chinese. Urbaser is therefore Chinese and will be involved in the construction of the incinerator, particularly as regards technology, as this company treats waste in Shanghai, China.

Urbaserri will be involved in the construction of the incinerator and subsequent exploitation, and in this task we have been struck by the fact that LKS is a cooperative. In fact, this qualified service company belongs to the Mondragon Corporation (formerly MCC), and as is well known, the Mondragon Corporation has prudent and sound cooperative values and principles, which LKS will question if it immerses itself fully in the Zubieta incinerator.

Do not forget that for years the Mondragon Corporation has been concerned about the weakness and strengthening of the values and principles of cooperativism. In this task, among others, Irizar (Irizar S. Coop) made attempts, although in the globalized economy it is difficult to avoid a competitive and productive spirit, even more so if the leadership of this cooperative group has internalized the neoliberal doctrine and forget what the spirit of the group says: “Humanity at work. Humanity at work.”

It should be taken into account that among the principles of cooperatives it is worth noting that capital must be slave to work, not objective, as the UTE led by Urbaser claims. As far as self-management is concerned, decisions must be taken among all, not as the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has done and therefore the GHK, denying the public consultation on the possibility of building an incinerator. Or to transform society: how to transform the social model of the Gipuzkoans, if for 35 years the budgets of our municipalities are mortgaged.

Like any cooperative, LKS also has the right to profit to secure and develop its duration. However, this right does not imply that the objectives are achieved behind the backs of the Gipuzkoans, since a cooperative must have its own responsibility with the society around it. Or have you forgotten that principle?

And what about the Chinese? It should not be forgotten that a few decades ago we were making money in our schools to crystallize the Chinese, because the sick were barely old enough to survive and needed our financial help. Now laugh very well, and rightly so.

And that is, after being ranked among the poorest in the world, in recent decades we have become a great power. Western capitals went to China in that country with cheap labor, to sell goods produced between us cheaply. Like the cheap raw materials of the former colonies, China had a cheap workforce and that is why it has become an attractive investment. After a tight capital accumulation, investments were directed to Africa and South America. Now its destination is Gipuzkoa, where the largest public investment is being made in the Spanish state at this time, while the Chinese capital will have a unique opportunity to strengthen its positions in Europe.

We used to send money to China and now they are going to take the money from our municipalities to the giant country of Mao. A renewed model of colonialism!