Democracy has been kidnapped. On September 25 we will save it. On September 25 we will surround the Congress of Deputies to save it from a kidnapping that has converted the institution into an unnecessary entity. A kidnapping of popular sovereignty carried out by the Troika and the markets, and executed with the consent and cooperation of the majority of political parties. Parties which have betrayed their electoral programs, their voters and all citizens in their promises and have contributed to the increasing impoverishment of the population. We will surround the Congress after more than a year of intense mobilization in all sectors of society, and after having verified that it is not democracy when institutions that supposedly represent act in interests that are not those of the majority.
For we have nothing to discuss with a regime that has been shown consistently to be blind, deaf and dumb to just demands for equality and social justice. We surround it to save politics from an unsustainable and predatory economic regime: the capitalist system.
We surround the Congress because we want to make a leap forward in social mobilization and we want to highlight the objective of recovering sovereignty and citizen power, that is, recovering democracy. We have created many processes of control, spaces of participation and discussion in social networks and in the streets, in neighbourhoods and workplaces, and we have started initiatives we want to continue to develop starting from below, without shortcuts and little by little. We believe that the time for decisions made by a small restricted group is over, because, against those who want to deprive us of our future, we have the means and collective intelligence to decide and build the society we want. We do not need false intermediaries, but resources and collective tools that actively encourage the political participation of all in affairs that concern us all.
We surround the Congress on 25 September to say no to those who tell us, to say that we disobey their unjust taxation, to pay their debt, and we defend our collective rights: housing, education, health, employment, democratic participation, income. To begin a process that means those responsible for the crisis no longer go unpunished, that the pyromaniacs who caused our crisis are not rewarded and begin, on the contrary, to be judged.
On September 25 we will demonstrate around the Congress because we want to retrieve the responsibility for our future without constraints. We endeavour to say to those who have kidnapped democracy that the time to leave has come, and to demand the resignation of this government in the first place, because we’re going to replace it by creating a constituent assembly. This assembly will start a participation process which is direct and open, with which we will identify and create the political institutions, participatory tools and judicial and political mechanisms we need to ensure that collective decisions are totally effective. This process starts, but will not end, on September 25.
To save the Congress is to launch an invitation to the unity of other social movements, such as the struggle of public employees for the defence of public services, the different “tides” and other struggles for equality and social justice. To save the Congress is to refuse to accept the fear, powerlessness and disorientation resulting from the submission of politics to the economy and its consequences - fascist, xenophobic, racist and chauvinistic. And to save the Congress means look for a way out in common.
We encourage all those who wish to accompany us to surround the Congress on 25 September, to say “enough!” and continue this way to save democracy and sovereignty.
We want rights, democracy, justice and freedom for everyone. We are getting there, we are not afraid. See you on September 25... and beyond!