0:15 Who are you as an organization and where are you based?
0:38 How did you come to the Ortiga Collective?
3:06 In what areas of work does the Ortiga Collective have ramifications?
8:51 What legal form did you choose for the Ortiga Collective?
10:28 Does La Ortiga have contracted employees?
11:18 How many members subscribe to this project?
12:41 How is La Ortiga’s activity being sustained?
13:07 Do you follow the model of an assembly in making decisions within the Association?
14:37 La Ortiga Collective is a process that weaves together common cultures. A collective movement seduced by shared imaginaries: ecology, arts, food, feminisms, thought, letters. It is more a “how” than a “what.” A decentralized, trans-diciplinary, feminist, intergenerational proposal, grounded and with a universal vision. You write on your website the following: “we defend and contribute to generating networks of collaborative culture from a critical perspective.” Can you explain to us the philosophy that sustains the activity of this space?
17:53 On your website you emphasize that you are a community that wants to (re)think the ways to be in the world, to care more and better; a network of people that puts life at the center. A space of shared resistance, from which to fight, co-create, denounce, dream. You are a crack through which to breathe. What does it mean for La Ortiga to “put life at the center” in order to rethink “other ways of being in the world”?
21:02 Does the rural space favor this critical reflection?
23:22 Through La Ortiga you defend the cultivation of nonmilitant critical thought, can you explain this idea?
24:29 Was there any convergence between La Ortiga and 15M?
27:03 Toñi, you have been an active participant in citizen protest movements. What differences do you see between the 15M citizen demonstration and the processes in which you have participated?
27:50 Do you think that lessons from the past have been incorporated into present struggles?
30:54 Can you describe the territory in which the project of La Ortiga is rooted?
33:22 How many people live in Fresno del Río? 33:43 What are the demographics of the population in Fresno del Río?
34:40 Administratively speaking, how is Fresno del Río organized?
39:06 Are there communal spaces in Fresno del Río? If so, what type are they?
44:47 Which are the biggest challenges and threats faced by those who decide to live in the town?
48:24 In La Ortiga you defend the concept of “new ruralities.” Can you explain what you are referring to with this concept?
52:50 Is environmentalism integrated into this idea of a new rurality?
55:02 What are some stereotypes and prejudices that you tend to find about the rural world?
1:00:18 María, you used to live in an urban area until you returned to Fresno del Río and decided to stay and live there. Can you tell us what this transition has been like for you?
1:05:13 How do you experience the capitalist privatization of rural areas?
1:07:31 What would an energy transition that had no negative repercussions on the territory and the lives of its habitants look like?
1:10:18 You have mentioned the importance of learning to inhabit conflict as one of the pillars of this idea of new rurality. Can you explain the types of conflicts that you have encountered on the path of La Ortiga?
1:15:47 How do you understand the concept of “culture” through La Ortiga?
1:16:51 Among the different activities of La Ortiga you also publish a magazine. Where and how can it be purchased?
1:18:55 La Ortiga functions like an educative space focused on raising citizens’ awareness of different issues related to new ruralities and social ecology. Are you invited to participate as co-educators in the formal and non-formal educational spaces?
1:19:52 Given your own educational experience, what do you think should be changed in the formal education system to accommodate the kind of experiential, reflexive, sensory, and artistic education that you practice?
1:25:45 Do you work in connection with other processes?
1:26:27 What institutional response have you encountered?
1:30:49 How does La Ortiga select the proposals on which you all work?
1:33:46 How can someone connect with you to establish a partnership?
1:34:53 La Ortiga Collective is a political project, but what politics are we talking about?
1:36:00 The Constellation of the Commons is a space of good news. From the Constellation, we are working to produce a proactive and exciting imaginary that encourages citizen participation in the pending eco-social, poli-ethical and economic transformation. Can you name some moments that you think can contribute to strengthen this vision of the possibility of change?
1:37:50 How do you sustain this belief in times of energy collapse, of civilization crisis, of violence and social confrontation and of political disaffection?
1:40:30 Is there anything else you would like to share with the Constellation?
La Ortiga Colectiva is a non-profit cultural association that was born at the end of the 90s in Cantabria. La Ortiga publishes the magazine La Ortiga, organizes traveling workshops on anthropology, experimental arts and agroecology, cultural meetings, exhibitions, workshops, and other activities. It is a place for reflection and understanding of contexts and concepts like “new ruralities”, “agroecology”, the relationship between arts, feminisms, thought, poetry and literature. They also defend and contribute to generating community networks from a critical perspective. They are part of the REACC (Network of Spaces and Agents of Community Culture).
