Placa dels Angels, Barcelona, Friday June 9The Barcelona summit from June 9 -11 was offering political debate, policy exchange and practical workshops featuring mayors and councillors and municipal movement activists who are transforming civil society from below.
On the Friday night a magnificent packed rally in the Plaça dels Àngels brought together Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona with Manuela Carmena, Mayor of Madrid, alongside Éric Piolle, Mayor of Grenoble (France), Rena Dourou, Regional Governor of Attica (Greece), Jorge Sharp, Mayor of Valparaíso (Chile), Dolors Sabater, Mayor of Badalona, Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley, California (USA), a spokesman on behalf of Dejla Hamo, Co-Mayor of Derik, Rojava (who had been denied a visa), Gerardo Pisarello, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Xulio Ferreiro, Mayor of A Coruña, Pedro Santisteve, Mayor of Zaragoza, Martiño Noriega, Mayor of Santiago de Compostela, Caren Tepp, Councilor of Rosario (Argentina), Andrea Reimer, Councilor of Vancouver (Canada), Helen Gym, Councilor of Philadelphia (USA) and Áurea Carolina de Freitas,;Councilor of Belo Horizonte (Brazil). They came together to share their vision of what it means to be a “fearless city”, from resisting state authoritarianism and combatting the far right to fighting speculation and guaranteeing the rights to the city. Mayor after mayor and local leader explained the importance of defeating the fear that divides communities, and the urgent need on which all were agreed to 'feminise politics' – in order to widen the spectrum of self-management and community management of public goods and common goods. Up to now they declared, cities had been built through "the invisibilisation of the people's will". That has got to change.
Over the week-end speakers from all over the world continued to address such issues as how to organise a municipalist platform; how to deal with the challenges of mobility and pollution; comparing commoning experiments; municipalism in towns and rural areas; housing, gentrification and tourism – a huge challenge in our host city; public space; transparency and the fight against corruption; radical democracy in city councils; social networks; creating non-state institutions; crowdfunding ethics; creating a participatory municipalist candidacy and the economy.
