On Saturday 29 February, SCI Catalunya held its 38th Ordinary General Assembly, accompanied by members, volunteers and the team of the entity.

This year the the event was held at the Ateneu Popular l’Engranatge, in Barcelona. The “Engranatge” is a project of the local community that was born during the Movement of 15th of May in 2011 and aims to support, to organize and to speak up for the social struggles of the historically forgotten neighborhood in the city.

Around 30 people, including activists from local groups and the board members, volunteers from the work camps of SCI and historical partners, participated in various discussions, presentations and decision-making activities at the assembly.

The OGA began with a review of what has been happening during 2019 with a dynamic of questions that tested our knowledge about the entity, its projects and its activities. Later on, the local groups had their own space to explain their work in 2019 and share the challenges and proposals for 2020. During this point in the assembly, we found that we are at a strong moment in terms of local participation, 7 empowered activist groups, with a strong presence of women, continue to strengthen the local activist branch of SCI Catalunya. Proposals were presented by the groups of L’Akelarre (mixed and inclusive feminist group which has been renamed, before it was “Akelarre Violeta”), MIDIcat (which continues to work for peace in the Mediterranean area), the Centenary Group (which is recovering historical memory), Climate Justice (facing the environmental crisis), GPS (catalan abbreviation for “Group for Support of Work Camps” on the local territory), the Pull of Trainers and Entre Terres (a transformative group who creates educational guides about migrations in the Mediterranean area).

After these presentations, we opened the topics about the economics. We had to review the 2019 accounts and to approve the budget for 2020. In this section, we learned that after a difficult economic year, we are planning a 2020 recovery and improvement. The budget was unanimously validated.

During the morning we also reviewed the 2018-2021 action plan and the 2020 calendar so that everyone could put in their agenda the activities that are coming up in the spring, summer and the busy autumn.

Before lunch, it was time for the board. In this assembly we said goodbye to Carla Longares – who shared a very beautiful and emotional letter – and Aina Barceló, who, after more than 5 years, started new paths and adventures. During 2019 we also said goodbye to Pilar Diaz and Mar Millet, who were on the board during 2019.

After the voting, Marta Palau, Barbarà Casas and Laia Moliné continued their term, with the thanks and support of the whole entity, and with the new additions of Poldi Galmes and Toni Feliu. Welcome and keep it up!

At the afternoon, “Accio Ecofeminista” (a group of activists who are working on linking feminism and ecologism), facilitated a theoretical and practical workshop on ecofeminism and how to integrate it into the SCI itself. We were able to analyze the tasks of the entity and to see where do we put the focus on, regarding the productive and the reproductive tasks, as well as how much importance do we give to the safe-space and the mutual care. It was interesting to see that, despite the work that still has to be done and all the way that we have to go, we have long been incorporating good practices from an eco-feminist perspective.

Written by SCI Catalunya