Sentit Comunal congress, 2nd edition (Rural world and popular culture)

A resident of Lladrós (Pallars Sobirà), connected to the social fabric and knowledgeable about communal arrangements in the Vall de Cardós, he has participated in different initiatives in his region valuing communal organisation as a neighbourhood tool for governing resources in Pyrenean villages. He currently serves as mayor of Vall de Cardós as a member of an electoral grouping.

Most of the municipal territory comprises communal assets, regulated by the municipal ordinances governing their use and exploitation, recognising the role of the neighbours’ commons in their management.

Commoner and president of the Cabenca-Revolta community of montes veciñais en man común (communal woodlands) in Galicia. An active collaborator with several local associations (Alarma Na Terra de Montes and others). She occasionally takes part in the Brigadas Deseucaliptizadoras, volunteer eucalyptus-clearing brigades. She considers herself a foliadeira and an aldeanista.

Involved in the Rede de Áreas Conservadas por Comunidades Locais, which recently published the “Atlas de áreas conservadas por comunidades locales”.

Basket maker and weaver in plant fibres, co-creator of the Associació Terra de Mans, which worked on rural development and the recovery of old trades. She works to share and preserve ancestral knowledge, in favour of keeping a symbiotic relationship with the land. She uses basketry as a tool for social transformation, collaborating with mental health associations for a psychiatry that respects people.

He participated in rural and peri-urban collectives such as Bajo el Asfalto está la Huerta! and Los Apisquillos, an advocate of non-specialisation, at home with farming, livestock and carpentry work (and all kinds of processing and making) within agroecological networks. He combines agricultural activity with training work.

He has written “La guadaña moderna. Picado, afilado y técnica de siega. Posibilidades autogestionarias en la pequeña y mediana escala”; “Afilado manual de herramientas varias” and “Apuntes agrícolas. Nuestra práctica en las huertas colectivas de autoabastecimiento. Hacia la autonomía alimentaria, horticultura anticapitalista”.

A researcher into the deep roots of our culture(s), which led her to take part in the Auzolan initiative; she is the author of the book “Auzolanaren kultura. Iraganaren ondarea, orainaren lanabesa, etorkizunaren giltza” (The culture of Auzolan. Legacy of the past, tool of the present, key to the future).

A space linked to a network of farmhouses, organisations and people in the Penedès that has for years fostered mutual aid and “a tornallom” community work days, moving towards communal rural self-sufficiency. The property was bought through a collective process, with Fundació Emprius as the legal owner, granting a lifelong right of use.

A training and social action centre promoting knowledge of different building techniques and materials suited to construction that respects the environment and all living beings involved. A workshop school open to everyone, professionals and non-professionals alike, who wish to engage with ecological building, and especially to young people, with the aim of building a strong foundation for society’s future generations. It is located in Les Planes d’Hostoles (la Garrotxa).

A training and experiential space with two main aims: training promoters of rural life who support the revitalisation and defence of our territories, and creating a training space for the social movement that strengthens links between rural and urban settings. It will offer technical training in agroecology and fruit growing, extensive livestock farming, forest management and trades like carpentry, construction, ceramics and blacksmithing, as well as community health and social communication, always with a community approach: done by and for the village.

L’Atelier Paysan (France) provides support to farmers in the design and manufacture of machinery and buildings adapted to peasant agroecology. By bringing producers back into decisions about farm equipment, we collectively recover technical autonomy. By analysing the factors that bind us to the industrialised agricultural system, a system in which public policies and private interests constrain us, we empower ourselves to transform our land and our food system.

An association dedicated to recovering, studying and sharing traditional music and dances from the Catalan Countries, with a focus on the Berguedà region. A group of music and traditional dance enthusiasts, we share our repertoire with anyone who wants to listen and dance. From the funds raised through their activities, they promote the publication of books preserving local popular culture.

The Museu Comarcal de Berga is the city’s cultural tourism hub, open to visitors and local people alike. It organises visits to the Casa de la Patum, where you can see the parade groups of this iconic Berga folk festival.