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Collective

La Ortiga

This video has timestamped descriptions to allow viewers to jump to particular topics and sections. Links will open the video in YouTube.

Who are you and what is your relationship to the La Ortiga project? 0:25
When, where, and why was La Ortiga started? 1:05
What kind of neighborhood is it? 2:09
Have you managed to involve the neighborhood residents? 3:08
Why the name La Ortiga? 3:49
Can you explain to us what that means? 4:29
How does a self-managed social center sustain itself? 5:03
Why not ask for specific grants to cover the operation of some activities? 6:40
What has 15M meant for La Ortiga? 9:23
So what legal entity was chosen for this project and why? 10:22
Why is a social center necessary in a city like Valladolid? 11:32
On the web page, you  talk about your horizontal structure and the use of a general assembly for decision making. Can you tell us about your experience with the assembly? What problems have you had so far and how have you been solving them? 13:22
How do you make decisions? 16:09
I see that you offer a series of monthly activities.  How do you organize them? Who takes care of the coordination? 18:32
Online it says that you have a “social library” that you describe as “a space to consult books, magazines, newspapers, and other written materials.  Some publications that people of power don’t want you to know about.” What materials might we find in this “social library”? 19:17
What are the ideas that you have in the library that “power doesn’t want you to know about”? 20:04
Why not collaborate with the public library? 21:12
What does the coffee talk consist of? 23:02
Could you explain what a social mapping consists of? Why is it a necessary tool? 23:30
Can you explain what both activities consist of? 25:16
Do your activities have any relation to the implementation of socialism as an economy? If so, can you explain this concept and how it relates to the sustainable life you explore? 26:40
Are there any other tools that you’ve used that have been especially useful for carrying out your work as agents of social change? 27:46
Thinking about all the activities you mentioned, would you say that La Ortiga is, in some way, an informal education project? 29:28
Speaking from your own personal experience, what’s your opinion of current education policy? 32:23
Thinking about your life path, how have you come to question the current system and participate in this group? 34:53
Are there people over 50 years old in your group? 37:02
What does La Ortiga mean by “the social”, “the common”, and “the public”? 39:16
We’re discussing a political project, but what policy are we talking about? 40:31
What do you mean by an “antispecist” struggle? 41:11
From your experience with the collective, what does our model of society need? 42:13
Do you work in a network with other groups and Social Centers? 42:55
What social movements would be the most important in this city of Valladolid? 45:23
Do you think that the migrant population is represented in the social movement of the city? 46:15
What does La Ortiga think about the re-politization of younger people? 46:55
In a social moment when we seem to be living in a crisis of trust, how do you use La Ortiga to form trust? 49:50
Keeping in mind the climate of precariousness and political unrest, what keeps the motor of hope alive in La Ortiga?” 51:02
What does it mean for La Ortiga to grow?  54:06

La Ortiga is a, Self-Managed Social Center (Centro Social Autogestionado, CSO) located in the working class neighborhood Las Delicias in Valladolid. The group aims to be a tool for fomenting self-organization in the neighborhood, creating opportunities for connections between members of the neighborhood, and fostering debate in Valladolid. Those leading the group chose the name La Ortiga because it is a wild plant that strings if you don’t know how to harvest it and is used as a natural medicine, to make creams and infusions. The social center is self-managed and works in an assembly-styled manner. The organization supports solidarity, free culture, autonomy, anti-patriarchy, veganism, anti-speciesism, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-capitalism.

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