Municipal Recipes. A conversation about caring for our citie

What

Recetas municipales (Municipal recipes) is a documentary produced by ZEMOS98 under the project Radical Democracy: Reclaiming the Commons. It is a look at the weeks leading up to the municipal elections in May of 2015, which turned the tide for many cities in Spain; a lunch with people that participated in the development of municipal popular unity candidacies. Guillermo Zapata (city councillor, Ahora Madrid), Gala Pin (city councillor, Barcelona en Comú), Pablo Carmona (city councillor, Ahora Madrid), Francisco Jurado (activist and academic) and Marta Cruells (activist and academic) reflect on the current political climate.

How

The documentary tells how we have arrived at this point through movements such as 15M, La Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (Platform for People Affected by Mortgages) or Las Mareas, a story that stems from questions about the possibilities and limits presented when entering institutions of social movements. Recetas Municipales asks how we can articulate the democratic revolution that is spreading across southern Europe. It maintains the conviction that these movements are riding off the energy of other ways of developing political cultures that constitute new forms of citizen participation in institutions.

Why

Recetas municipales is an important documentary for understanding not only the framework of possibility that opens when communities from different social movements agree that local institutions are a key spaces for taking control of our lives; it is also a testimony to the cultural and social effervescence that produced this state of possibility.

Resources and networks

Municipal Recipes website

eldiario.es: Recetas municipales: así se cocinaron Barcelona en comú y Ahora Madrid