After 2 years living underground, the time has finally come for me to prepare my journey back to freedom. The journey won’t be easy, and will require a lot of work building widespread support. This is why I’m making this appeal, to create teams for the ongoing collaborative effort required to make this happen.

A few opening remarks, before getting into the details:

My legal and personal background

I’ve spent roughly 2 years living underground after failing to appear at a criminal trial on February 12^th 2013. The prosecuting attorney and 16 banking institutions sought an 8-year prison sentence against me for the acts of bank-related civil disobedience I carried out between 2005-2008. An arrest warrant has been in effect since then, but hasn’t been enforced since the authorities have never found me.

Before the trial began, the provincial court dismissed each and every one of the 30 witnesses my defense had intended to present in order to prove that the negative impact of the banking system, especially regarding money creation, was (and is…) such a significant factor in our society that it justified my actions.

What they really wanted to do at the hearing was silence my arguments and put me in jail for common crimes, completely ignoring the counter-claims we made proving the long-term damage that the banking system has caused in the lives of the majority of the population of Europe and the rest of the world.

This, plus the proven complicity between the judicial and executive branches and the banking powers, gave me good reason to turn my back on the official judicial process. I began to seek alternative ways to finding justice. With the situation as it stands, I think it’s easy to understand why I chose not to cooperate with their farce.

About 1 year ago, the court suspended the case, pending my apprehension. More than 1 year ago, an independent mediation group began working on a restorative justice procedure. Unfortunately, this has gone nowhere, due to the unwillingness of most of the involved banks to build a dialogue.

Now, all we have left is dissemination, mobilization and social pressure.

An image of the welcome party 21-05-2009 after two months in jail

Current social and political context

Many things have changed since those events; put in the context of the historical rate of acceleration we’re living through, there have been even greater changes in just the last two years.

People are unmasking the corrupt powers that, until recently, seemed to believe they could do whatever they pleased.

The political class now fears the people; it hasn’t been this way for decades.

Reports about repression and the impunity of the police and courts are all over the covers of newspapers and magazines (thank you #ciutatmorta).

To put it bluntly, this isn’t just a time of change, this is a whole new era.

The banking system, along with other powers, has been discredited for years now. Extortion by the central banks has been met with reactions by citizens and new political actors. There is more support every day, as shown by SYRIZA’s winning the election in Greece.

However, the very root of banking’s privilege – the unjust system of money creation – persists. This hasn’t had much impact on public opinion, although some significant cracks are appearing in the status quo (the discussion that took place in British Parliament a few months ago is one example).

Now is the time to multiply these cracks and transform the monetary system once and for all, so it responds to the needs of the ordinary people instead of the minority’s lust for power. History has shown that it’s possible.

For these reasons, I want link my freedom campaign with the question, “how is money created?”. Putting this question at the center of public debate would be in line with the intention behind the initial action, which was meant to expose this question.

In-person group to prepare my return and to activate FairCoop

The most concrete and important part of this call is extending the invitation to proactive and motivated people who are available to travel for some period of time. I want to form a team of 6 or 7 people, exceptionally confident and available for in-person cooperation directly with me. We will change locations whenever it’s necessary in order to achieve our goals: #returntofreedom and #faircoop

After two years, and faced with the significance of the challenge, I feel that in order to launch a campaign with an adequate sense of assurance, we must form a nucleus where we can steadily build strength against all odds and contingencies that may arise.

Only from this pivotal position can we take the necessary steps together and make this happen!

This group will also manage the dynamic extension and future projects of FairCoop, the global cooperative. This challenge requires a highly pro-active ability to handle the upcoming goals and projects.

Remember the goal: to enable the transition to a new world, reducing economic and social inequalities among human beings as much as possible, and simultaneously contributing to a new global wealth accessible to all humanity in the form of the commons. Find out more here: http://fair.coop

While we actively denounce the current political and banking systems, we’re also constructing a new economic model based on cooperation, decentralization and everyone’s inherent right to have his or her basic needs covered. All of this centers the objectives of our economic activities on human beings and the planet.

If you’re a motivated, pro-active, courageous person interested in social justice, respect for human rights and the implementation of new, post-capitalist economies (among other forms of activism), and you find yourself free and available in this moment, without any job responsibilities…you’re invited!

WHAT WE OFFER:

• The possibility of living and working in an environment of collective activism (good vibes, mutual support, love for the revolution), based on the integral revolution, commons transition, and the construction of a new economic and social system with the human being at its core.
• Your expenses for lodging, travel, food, etc., will be covered based on your active participation.
• The opportunity for making extensive connections with other networks and activist collectives, through which you can share, grow, and learn so much.

To qualify for participation in this group, you must first do the following:

• Send a short letter explaining your motivation to: [email protected]
• Fill out this form (to be attached here via link)

Once this is received, and if in-person cooperation is possible, we will share encryption keys (and if necessary, tutorials) to enable secure communication. If it applies, we may ask for more details and references to establish the necessary trust for participation.

Our top priority in forming our team is to find people with the appropriate skills and experience for the work we must do together. We value specific knowledge and experience, as follows:

• Website edition and administration
• Communication in digital media, social networks, etc.
• Proficiency in written English and good writing/editing skills
• Creating social movement networks on a transnational level
• Graphic design for digital media
• Project expediting / organizational abilities
• Proficiency in multiple (spoken) languages
• Programming ability in languages such as PHP, Python and C++

As you can see, we need to assemble a team with diverse skills, covering as much of the above as possible.

Travel will be within Europe only; we might go back and forth between spaces where we can collaborate, but only as long as doing so helps achieve the group’s goals and ensures consistent participation.

You can join this working team beginning February 10^th, but we will also consider bringing additional people in a little later, if necessary.

Call to create local support groups

For the better part of our colleagues who won’t be able to participate in-person, we invite you to create your own local support groups in your area, autonomously. The group you create can help spread and develop the support initiatives proposed and announced by the in-person support groups.

If you intend to create a group or would like to participate, send an email to [email protected] and we’ll see how we can get started collaborating.

More information at: http://www.enricduran.cat/en
Enric Duran – January 28th, 2015