The Fox Report: Democracy unmasked - Inspiring new visions
Patrick Chalmers considers how the Euro crisis is inspiring new visions and finds that Catalan bank heists have seeded trials of democratic alternatives
When Enric Duran stole nearly half a million euros from Spanish banks in 2008, it wasn’t really about the money. His act was more a two-fingered salute to global capitalism and its capture of representative democracy. Despite the Robin Hood comparisons, the bearded Catalan didn’t hand the cash to victims of his target banks’ reckless lending. There wasn’t enough, in any case. He and his friends used it, instead, to explore different ways of doing society’s business. Five years later Duran is on the run, though it seems he’s barely jogging. More important are the numbers joining Catalonia’s Integrated Cooperative, a grassroots counter-power movement seeking answers to the question dogging political thinkers and activists the world over. With today’s systems of government so in bed with business and money – just what are we to put in their place?
You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.