Workshop with Andrea Cavalletti and Marcello Tarì. La Base - barcelona 3 - 4 de November 2016.

Dolores Tjeada Saavedra, the Councillor for Work at Marinaleda Town Council, gives a simple and detailed account of how a grassroots social movement has managed to socialize the means of production, housing, health, education and leisure in this small town in Southern Spain. Dolores explains the many benefits of having an active trade union, with the political power of the town counciland the productive force of cooperatives in the hands of the people. Marinaleda has a population of 3000, and an unemployment rate of 0%. Anybody who wants to self-build in the town is only charged 15 euros per month, and working families only pay 12 euros a month for childcare including meals, to name just two of a long list of social benefits. A true oasis in a country dominated byunbridled capitalism and the shabbiest and most retrograde government in Spain’s short history of democracy, which has left the country with an unemployment rate of 27% – 50% in the case of youth unemployment – and three million people living in poverty.

Fez is the Moroccan city with the liveliest tradition of artisans. Far from being "just a job", the activity of the artisan reflects a whole conception of the world and a way of experiencing time and giving it meaning. This native wisdom is passed down from parents to children, from the maalem, the master, to the apprentice.

"As poor people we shouldn't work, being poor is already a job, isn't?"

Back in the old days, a 'maquila' was a “millers portion”, the amount of grain that farmers paid millers to process their grain. Now maquilas are tax-free factories set up in underdeveloped countries to produce their goods using cheap labour. In Nicaragua, 100,000 people work in maquilas, which pay $0.32/hour and violate all workers rights. The Nicaragua maquilas are virtually unknown to international public opinion, and essential to the supply of the US consumer market.