Son[i]a #239
Miren Etxezarreta
Miren Etxezarreta is a writer, essayist and activist. She holds a PhD in economics and has taught applied economics at several universities. She is currently Professor Emeritus at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a member of the Seminario de Economía Crítica Taifa, a critical dissemination and education platform on political economy with the aim of transforming society.
Based on a Marxist, anti-capitalist perspective, Etxezarreta’s work has revolved around agricultural economy, economic policy, and economic development. Her analysis springs from two seemingly simple ideas that are often overlooked: firstly, that the economy is never neutral, and secondly, that capitalism is not the only possible system of social organisation.
Accordingly, she defends the political imagination as a means to disrupt the established order. Etxezarreta argues that when the collusion between the political and economic spheres has reached today’s alarming and shameful levels, options for social change can no longer be left in the hands of political parties. Instead, she suggests operating through grassroots activism, creating new networks of cooperation and collective associationism.
In this SON[I]A, Miren Etxezarreta dismantles the false myth of the pensions crisis and explores new financing strategies. She also analyses the cooptation dynamics of neoliberalism, the recent rise of the right, and the crisis of the left, and discusses new citizen action strategies.
Maria Eugenia Rodriguez Palop
María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop talks about “new municipalism” , about the need to adapt justice and human rights to citizen empowerment, about the left’s failure and about the need to recognise ourselves as vulnerable, interdependent beings, and to adapt our public policies accordingly, from a feminist activist perspective.
Yayo Herrero
Yayo Herrero talks about different forms of ecofeminsim, about the political management of desires, expectations, and needs, about the importance of reproductive work and the need to find new patterns of social and institutional co-responsibility, and about the management of the commons.
Deleted scenes
We dig up some unreleased fragments of the interview with Miren Etxezarreta that we were unable to include the first time around.
Manuel Asensi
Interview with Manuel Asensi, co-director of the Independent Studies Programme (PEI 2006).