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Global Community: “We Should Not Pay”

Categories: Western Europe, Spain, Breaking News, Citizen Media, Economics & Business, Politics, Protest

[All links lead to Spanish language pages]

On October 13, the initiative #globalnoise [1], supported by different activist movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Yosoy123, etc., called for a global “pots and pans” protest to let politicians know how they feel about the crisis that is happening around the world. The website #globalnoise [1] coordinated the initiatives of movements and individuals:

Convocatoria de la cacerolada #GLOBALNOISE? Image taken from the web [1]

Want to join #GLOBALNOISE?
Image taken from the web

Activistas de los movimientos occupy, 15m, indignados, etc comenzaron una campaña para lanzar la acción #globalNOISE #RuidoGlobal, una mani o cacerolada mundial planeada para el 13 de Octubre. La idea es que cada movimiento haga suya la propuesta, usando el método del ruido y el sonido para protestar por lo que ellos crean conveniente.

La cacerolada es un medio de llamar la atención sobre los problemas de nuestra comunidad a los que la estructura de poder no atiende, utilizando un método que es difícil de ignorar. (…)

Activists of the movements Occupy, 15M, Indignants, etc. rang the bell to launch action for the #globalNOISE world community on Oct. 13. The idea is for every activist movement to make a proposal, and use noise and sound to protest for what they believe is right.

The pots and pans protest is a way call to attention to those who are not benefitting from governmental power, utilizing a method that is difficult to ignore.

On the website Disassembling Lies [2] you can read a manifesto with the claims from this citizen initiative, which are, among others:

  • Exigimos la moratoria en el pago de la deuda hasta realizar una  auditoría ciudadana, y repudio del pago de toda aquella deuda que resulte ilegítima por no haber repercutido en beneficio del conjunto de la población;
  • La determinación de responsabilidades civiles y penales a los gestores políticos y económicos que han generado la deuda ilegítima;
  • La creación de una banca pública, bajo control social, al servicio de las personas y la sociedad y no sometida a otros intereses que los generales; (…)
  • We demand a moratorium on debt payments until a citizen audit is made, and repudiate all the debt payments that might be illegitimate for not benefiting the whole population;
  • The determination of civil responsibilities and penalties of politicians and economists that have generated the illegitimate debt;
  • The creation of a public bank, under social control, to service the people and the society and not submitted to anything other than general interest;

Many other organizations and websites have united in this initiative- We Want Real Democracy! [3] published a list of organizations [4] that have joined the call in Spain.

This movement has already been called in 130 cities around the world including all of Europe, Mexico, Australia, United States, Canada, and various countries in Latin America. There have also been movements called in some Arabic cities of the world such as Tunis, Cairo, and Ankara. On this interactive map [5], click on each city to see the dates of each movement and the websites.

On twitter, hashtags including  #GlobalNoise [6], #O13 [7], #13o [8], #cacerolada [9], #OcupaWallStreet [10] or  #CaceroladaGlobal [11] also offer information and related links.