Collectivising life. A vision beyond co-operativism

The Base collective in Poble Sec is celebrating its anniversary and has lined up loads of really interesting activities! They’ve asked us to join a panel on experiences of collectivising life. How do we move beyond individualising practices and collectivise land, the economy, food and care? And how do we do it in the city?

Co-operatives are one way to organise individuals against capitalism, to find each other again, share, and assert that other ways of living and meeting needs are possible. For many of us they’ve been a stimulus and a first step, but we don’t want to stop there. We want to imagine other ways of living that go beyond individual identity and put community at the centre. Ways to live out that founding phrase: “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs”.

There are small experiments in everyday collectivising everywhere — ways that inspire us. That’s why the Base is hosting this debate: to hear about their practice and open up shared thinking.

We’ll be on the panel with folks from Vallbona Suport Mutu and the Sindicato de Manteros street vendors’ union. We’re really keen to share our approach and reimagine together what a city with community at its heart could look like.