Sunday 13 July 2014

is it ok to steal 500, 000 euros from the bank?

There's quite a tradition of 'doing things differently' in Catalonia:

photo of Stacco Troncoso
Stacco Troncoso
4th April 2014

Come Back” is a full-length documentary film detailing the aftermath of Spanish activist Enric Duran’s notorious action against 16 major banks. In case you’re not familiar with his act of “financial civil disobedience”, Duran attained roughly half a million Euros in bank loans and subsequently distributed the funds to support anti-capitalist activist movements. This documentary revisits the years-long preparation for the action itself, and interviews the various groups of activists who consequently benefited from the money. The action also led to the foundation of the revolutionary Catalan Integrated Cooperative, a transition-minded post-capitalist community, which is currently thriving. You can read more about Duran and the CIC in this recent interview with Duran, conducted by Michel Bauwens, John Restakis and Neal Gorenflo.


“In this documentary over twenty people who had so far remained silent explain how they lived the facts of which they had first hand knowledge before they became public, and recall the projects and initiatives in which those resources were allocated.
The documentary has been released today, 6 months after the statement of the last 17 of September which said:
Today, taking into account that the Spanish legal system includes a law by which all crimes punished by less than 5 years of prison will go in to prescription five years after they happened, I can say that this action would not have been possible without the contribution of many people . Of paramount importance have been all the processes of consensus decision which allowed us to collectively choose how to use much of those funds and how to carry out the projects. Being aware of the origin of the money gave it a revolutionary political meaning with which we aim to develop alternatives to the established system which it would not have had if it had only been an individual action.
Perhaps now, taking advantage of the time gone by, it’s be more feasible for other people to share how they experienced this action and about how those funds were allocated.
Answering that call, many people begun participating in a process which made it possible to share this documentary today, 5th anniversary of PODEM, and of my arrest at the University of Barcelona. Come Back is a collaboration between about 20 people, many thanks to all of them, those who were present and those who, for various reasons, couldn’t be.”
P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » Video of the Day: “Come Back” – the Story of Enric Duran’s action and its aftermath

The story's been covered in the English-language media:
Spain's 'Robin Hood' swindled banks to help fight capitalism | World news | The Guardian
‘Robin Hood of the Banks’ to RT: We'll create different world with our own rules — RT News
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