The organizations and members of the Solidarity Social Economy of Catalonia drew the manifesto coinciding with the referendum of 1 October. What relationship does the social economy have with the process of independence?

The solidarity social economy is democratic, self-organized, favorable to economic self-determination by its own way of understanding the economy and, therefore, closely related to the process of self-determination in Catalonia. But that's not the whole social economy movement.

For some activists of the Catalan solidarity social economy, it was important that our cooperatives and spaces show their support for the process of independence. It was also a way of focusing the national debate on the social. We want independence to transform society. Independence is not an objective, but a means. We saw a need to focus some debates that would open the framework of debate from an identity or nationalist point of view.

We also see the need for a democratic constituent process, so that all citizens decide what kind of economy will organise our needs. The transitional treaties, the Regime of 78, the consensus on monarchy, the market economy, the union of the State -- that does not allow the constituent debate, the economy to be the subject of debate. The current economy is capitalist and public in many cases. It's over. For us, the process of liberation of Catalonia is an opportunity to raise this social debate. What socio-economic model we want, how we want to organise the economy.

Has that social debate been done so far, or is it the time?

At the moment, a large part of the population needs to discuss the economy. We have seen what the actions of some economic agents have been in the last crisis between Catalonia and Spain. How do the big companies of the capital, La Caixa, the companies of the Ibex, the big operators of capitalism with Catalan DNA... The high bourgeois classes in Catalonia are betting on a single market in Spain. The political blackmail that these economic operators have made has made an important part of the public feel compelled to debate, to take an interest in other economic models. And feel the urgent need for an economy at the service of the country and the common good. These economic agents have been exploiting the people, absorbing resources, precarious resources, La Caixa and Sabadell are the main evictions, the working class of Catalonia is bleeding to death, and when the Catalan working class most needs political, economic and social support, and is it going? Other commercial companies will lose market shares! This is a totally instrumental view of the economy.

From XES (in Catalan, Solidarity Economy Network) we have agreed to promote as much as possible the socio-economic transformation scenarios in the current context. We will try to ensure that the Catalan Republic has a socio-economic debate in the constituent process to work on the economic model that we want for the republic. Within this consensus there are more specific issues: how to make it easier for the CoR to have discussions on the key elements of the constituent economy. The CoR's defence of the street is more popular, but we find it interesting that popular economic power is also popular. That they expand the economic alternatives, that they raise in their municipalities what economic projects they want to promote in order to accelerate social transformation.

On a CDRs' day they were saying that they must participate in the constituent process to ensure that the new Constitution is made by the citizens and a citizen questioned from the public that “it is the distribution of forces, that is why political parties, Òmnium and ANC”.

This debate expresses the weakness of the liberal approach of the republic. From the liberal point of view, the republic is proclaimed, it is a legal process, built from the top, with several constitutions and some experts. This is the model of those who have a vision of liberal republic. And that's his great weakness. Because a republic is not proclaimed, it is built. It is a material relationship, not a legal relationship. If you don't have a Republican material force, if you don't form more than a form of representation without anything at all, you won't be able to lift the republic. The main weakness of the project of the Catalan Republic is that a representation of the republic has been chosen, without creating material conditions for its implementation, development and construction. We have always claimed that a constant process is not formal, but material. A constituent process must be made in the popular key, in the key socio-economy, in the correlations of the material forces, in the key class, in the collective appropriation of the economy… or the collective, democratic economy develops and serves the common good, or there will not be a republic.

A constant process must be plural, built from below, which integrates all the territorial, social and political plurality that exists throughout Catalonia. Here's a part of the population that is outside of traditional participation, the collective of migrants, which in many neighborhoods is 20 percent, and it's important that these people be an active subject in the national construction. They're the first to attack fascism -- if they don't respond to their rights violations, the constituent process will be a big problem. It is important to open spaces, that the constant process is plural. And that all the political spaces that have been opened are legitimized for social debate: the constituent process cannot be a mere commission of specialists for the national transition, that is the project of the liberal republic. The CoR (in Catalan the Referendum Defence Committees at their source and now the Defence Committees of the Republic) should be legitimised as new structures: small and simple, but organised in network and with the capacity to mobilise. CoR should be a space for proposals and decision-making.

First of all, all the agents who have fought to defend the referendum must be made visible, and all those actors must build the republic. Farmers, with their tractors, have to put forward the rural and territorial model and everything else. They are suffering repression, they have been sent from the Madrid Agricultural Bureau and they have been frozen the aid of EUR 30 million. The firefighters have participated, they also have to decide which republic they want, which public services they want -- the school teachers have given everything in the referendum, they have to come up with the educational model, and the educational model that has been activated to support the referendum has been a public model, which is being worked on from the base. Fathers and mothers, cooperatives, consumer associations, dockers... The referendum was extraordinary, it demonstrated a great capacity for self-organization, made in mass and based on disobedience. This is one of the most powerful experiences of recent years in Europe. But the general strike of 3 October must also be highlighted. In the assembly of the general strike we were all the agents united, and that is also a powerful transforming constituent power, those assemblies that were the basis for the change of the political-economic model. These are the spaces that we need to articulate. That is why the Constitution must be removed.

How do you do this?

We have written paper: At XES, we have defined what the social economy law should be, and from there we can deduce the economic model that we can build. But that's all paper, it's not enough. From the solidarity economy network we see that in the constituent process there is work for everyone. For example, political agents can participate in this phase of the constitution of the republic through the municipality of services: If the agency Aguas de Barcelona changes its headquarters, Barcelona En Comú, the cities of change, etc. They can municipalities water companies, for example. Is this a debate in key nations? Yes. But above all, it is a way of constructing a new entity materially, collectivist and democratic. On the current stage, from XES, it's clear that we have to work with everyone. We have to meet with Òmnium, the ANC, and have an economic debate. But also with Barcelona in Comú and its surrounding bodies, raising constituent debates. There is a broad field of progress in the socio-economic field. I do not know why a public bank was not made the day after the republic was proclaimed, or why it was not made before.

Can the independence political parties be prepared to make such a constant and citizen process? Or will the strength of the elites prevail?

I think we should all be very generous right now. There may be liberal PDeCAT fans who don't see it good, but I think they're going to be a minority. The sovereign bloc is aware of the alliances that have been made in recent months and of everything that has been given by everyone in all areas. It has been a collective project that has to be collected collectively back. The Cup, Podemos and the anti-capitalist left will support it, but I believe that ERC should also honor its republican, collectivist and democratic genealogy, and can support a process that further changes socio-economics.

For the people on the left, the most interesting thing is to fill the republic with content, but before and now of the referendum many forces have had to be devoted to dealing with repression.

The anti-repressive scenario is not exciting. Fear drives back or creates fields of resistance. The solidarity social economy is the work of defence, which is always sought to build. Our contribution must be to build. Also create tools for resistance: if you have to look for money to fund certain issues or create spaces for collective care. This defence debate must always be raised, with the intention of constructing an alternative, not only to give an answer, but also because we believe that the society we defend should work this way.

Those who have always been critical of the state structure now have to work on the state model.

We often look with suspicion at the State, because the State appropriated it.

our capacity for collective action. We are not interested in that state that monopolizes collective initiatives. We are interested in the most decentralized structure possible, promoted by the municipality, because local sovereignty is very important. Let's learn from other models: The democratic confederalism of Kurdistan has interesting features, as well as the constitutions of South America: the double power, the spaces for citizen participation, other political architectures -- we must create a new way of organizing ourselves socially and politically. To make a copy of the Spanish monarchy, centralist, descending, capitalist... For what independence?

Following the declaration of independence, Catalonia has entered a new phase. What comes?

We enter the medium-long term scenario. Months or years will come full of difficulties. We hope that minimum democratic rights, both political and civil, can be guaranteed so that they can continue to be organised. This is another reason for the social solidarity economy to support the constituent process, as an economic alternative with the Spanish monarchy is very difficult. Is it going to start cooperatives from the underground, as did the referendum?

Would you like to add?

We very much appreciate all the solidarity received from Euskal Herria. It's been really exciting. There has always been that solidarity, and I think we are increasingly learning together. For us, support for the transformative social economy of Euskal Herria (Olatukoop) has been very nice, because we have understood that we are building together a cooperative, supportive and transformative republic. For us, this affinity has been very important and emotional. Also with other sectors of the Spanish State: REAS supports in a communiqué the self-determination of Catalonia and it is wonderful that the State raises the issue in these terms, the Andalusian trade union SAT, the anti-capitalist Madrid, and of course, Valencia, Mallorca... we must recognize and thank this republican affinity.

STRONG SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN CATALONIA

“These basic factors have made the social solidarity economy more centralized in Catalonia, more visible, more self-aware than the previous political cycle.

One, of course, is the economic crisis: it has created new unmet needs and it is like the energy that is at the heart of the new economic projects.

Another element is the ability of the movement to articulate itself sociopolitically: it has been organizing and has had a more strategic vision, which are not mere loose cooperatives that develop to compete in the market; a part of the sector, the solidarity social economy, has a strategic vision of social transformation. This strategic organization has been growing over the last three or four years.

Part of the social solidarity economy has also developed a political vision of how to intervene from the institutions to promote the social solidarity economy, what function corresponds to the local or autonomic administration...

In the organizations, it has been a municipal cycle, whose root has several roots, an M15, the CUP... the municipal cycle has influenced the social solidarity economy. In the past, only the “conventional” social economy was promoted, “for the unemployed to create cooperatives or labor associations...”, and now in many municipalities it is understood that the social solidarity economy is a socio-economic area, with more formal social and other more community forms. And there is a commitment to boost this socio-economic space within a plural economic framework. This means not only boosting capitalism in the economic promotion of peoples.

Also in the institutions, the process of independence has transformed the relations of strength between the sovereign forces: in the previous CIU legislature it was hegemonic in the economic sphere, and this had its consequences because it was understood that the cooperatives had to be transformed and adapted to the general economic framework. And with the new government, ERC has the political competence of the social economy. They talk about social economy, not solidarity. ERC has not yet opened its vision to the most comprehensive model, it continues in the traditional model. But he has made a determined commitment to cooperativism, with the Cooperative Athenaeum project. We will see what all this remains, at this time of the colonial Generalitat. We are afraid it will fall.”