Translation

This biography is a translation of Movimiento por la Democracia’s Manifesto, as expressed in the opening of the Spanish version of their “Charter for Democracy”. You can read our translation of the charter right below.

We are the Movement for Democracy. Our movement was born after years spent in the streets, squares and networks. We were born in the wake of the Citizen Tides, from lessons learned through thousands of initiatives, evictions, struggles and actions.

We emerged during the destruction of an economic and political model that, by its decadence, makes us poorer, excludes us, and exiles us from our own cities and towns. We are the people making life possible while the ship goes down . We’re organized in collectives, groups, initiatives, and joined in friendships, networks, families and love.

We are the Movement for Democracy and we are here to transform our collective desire into new institutions and new laws. We are here to take democracy into our own hands, to defend against the constant threat of its systematic robbery. We are the nights of sleepless anguish spent thinking about jobs we don’t have; we are also the joy in the rights we have won and defended.

We are the Movement for Democracy and we encourage you to banish all who’ve condemned us to a life of uncertainty and sorrow. Those that deny us our rights, that make like we’ll never find out, never step up…we are the Movement for Democracy and we came into being to say, “Yes we can!” a thousand times and more. And as we hold this to be true, that we actually can, we will challenge whoever tells us it’s impossible.

We at the Movement for Democracy and we came into being along with many other initiatives, with many other people, to expel from power all who’ve stolen our democracy. But not so that others may come along, instead we intend to define a new citizen agreement. One that won’t make problems disappear, but which will at least try to solve them differently. A new agreement, one that’s ours, that belongs to the common people.

The old agreements are useless. They don’t protect us. Those holding on to them do not defend us; they’re simply preserving their privileges. We need a new constitution for a democracy that stands up to the times: times of financial economy, unemployment, borders and plunder; of new economic models and new models of State; times of debt and globalization; but also times of strength, of a citizenship that canbe stewards of the Commons, caring for it, managing and defending it.

We have no another life. We can’t afford to lose this one. There are no other worlds, this is the one we have. We are the Movement for Democracy and we want political democracy, economic democracy, territorial democracy, rights and guarantees. We are you and we are us, if you want to be part of us. This is our invitation.