Spains 'Utopia' For Our Grandchildren in The Future

[Debby]

I got a little video across my FB feed that piqued my interest so I Googled it and came up with the following:

'Marinaleda, in impoverished Andalusia, used to suffer terrible hardships. Led by a charismatic mayor, the village declared itself a communist utopia and took farmland to provide for everyone. Could it be the answer to modern capitalism's failings?'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/marinaleda-spanish-communist-village-utopia

The mayor, Sanchez Gordillo, who was first elected in 1979 and is still the Mayor, said '"I have never belonged to the communist party of the hammer and sickle, but I am a communist or communitarian," Sánchez Gordillo said in an interview in 2011, adding that his political beliefs were drawn from those of Jesus Christ, Gandhi, Marx, Lenin and Che.'

A long story but made short, a completely impoverished town in the heart of Spain, where the day labourers and farmworker people routinely starved in the midst of a rich farm region, went to court against the rich landowners (I don't know what the charges were) and the court awarded them 1200 hectares after a 21 year fight and numerous types of protest.

Since then, they have developed a society that shares completely in the support of that community. When young people needed apartments, land and materials were given to the construction workers in the community and they proceeded to build the apartment building. And when it was done, each worker(family?) moved in and they each pay 15 Euro's per month ($16.25) to buy their own homes.

Every person earns 47 Euro's per month no matter their job description because every person's work in a society supports the needs of others equally. Everyone is important and those who are old or unable to contribute (the sick and disabled out of the 2700 population?) are taken care of.

If anyone is interested in hearing more, can watch this 5 minute video. I found it interesting to say the least, considering how we've always, only heard that communism is bad.

If you look at the link above and read, you will hear that four years ago, Spain was doing terribly. I don't know how it is now, but probably not real good. What I wonder is, if robots take over like I think they will in a 'few' years, and the climate goes completely crazy which will effect the economy too, is this kind of life in the example of Marinaleda, the sort of lives our grandchildren will learn to live in (considering that the idea of Guaranteed Income is not popular with governments or the rich guys who have all the cash but manage to pay little taxes)?

 

[Mike]

I didn't yet watch the video, but I will tomorrow.

What I want to do is to comment on Spain, I quite often
visit there and find it very clean and the people very helpful,
The bins are emptied every night, through the night and the
road sweepers work until 10PM every night.

Yes Spain is a very nice place to retire, the people are so
friendly.

Mike.

 

[Ruthanne]

There is so very, very much bad or even hostile information about communist societies but some of us know better than to believe it. I am too tired to watch the video but will watch it soon. Thank you for posting this topic.:neat:

 

[Debby]

Besides the fears of our government being overthrown with the result being an avalanche of bad PR about that kind of governance, I think the biggest problem with it is the potential for abuse by whomever is 'chosen' to be the group leader. You've got Stalin and Mao to look back at, not to mention the guy in N. Korea.

But the people in Spain in this small community have not given in to that kind of takeover and I think are actually doing it the way it was meant to be, where the society is run communally and everyone carries equal weight and responsibility instead of everyone losing everything and then being told what to do by the top despots who take the glory and the goods.

 

[Mike]

Debby that is only one village/small town.

You have more in the United States, the Amish and their
sub-sects run into hundreds of thousands and they all
over the place.

They may be more communist like than the people of
Marinaleda, they certainly rely more on their immediate
family to make a living and put food on the table.

Mike.

 

[Ruthanne]

Besides the fears of our government being overthrown with the result being an avalanche of bad PR about that kind of governance, I think the biggest problem with it is the potential for abuse by whomever is 'chosen' to be the group leader. You've got Stalin and Mao to look back at, not to mention the guy in N. Korea.

But the people in Spain in this small community have not given in to that kind of takeover and I think are actually doing it the way it was meant to be, where the society is run communally and everyone carries equal weight and responsibility instead of everyone losing everything and then being told what to do by the top despots who take the glory and the goods.

I'm packing up and heading for Spain!:cheers1:

 

[Debby]

Debby that is only one village/small town.

You have more in the United States, the Amish and their
sub-sects run into hundreds of thousands and they all
over the place.

They may be more communist like than the people of
Marinaleda, they certainly rely more on their immediate
family to make a living and put food on the table.

Mike.

You know, my mother always uses that to justify not doing good things in a country, province, or region.

But what if every small town in a country operated with the same philosophy and the cities, etc.. Little cells of consideration and mutual support for one another? And the big picture would show a country that cares and takes care of one another because 'together' we are stronger. But with capitalism, it is finally shaking out to the very, very few, having most of everything and the many scrabbling for the crumbs and often failing with the result being a sense of hopelessness and the violence than that goes along with it. Quite the choice.

Those folks aimed for everyone to be a participant and to feel a reward for being part of that community. In our cultures, there are huge rewards that go to the workaholics, the criminal, and those who are willing to walk upon the backs of the less able and those who are unable and who don't have the same capabilities or opportunities look for dry places under the bridge. We tolerate both extremes because we all aspire to be at the top of the heap. Consumerism=capitalism=the haves and the have nots vs. a communal society where we each are there for the next guy and he is there for us and we have what we need.

We used to go to Camp Meeting every summer with our church and what I loved there was the sense of community. Sure, there were folks who had more stuff in their home lives, but there we all felt more equal and safe because we were all looking out for one another and 'lending a cup of sugar' sort of attitude and looking after each others kids and . That's what I sense is the attitude of the folks in that little town and with their examples being Gandhi and Jesus and the Buddha and Che Gueverra, etc., much more likely that people will live with a sense of the kind of security and peace that at heart, most of us crave don't you think?