Four spokespersons for the 26S encampment in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol have read a final manifesto agreed after several days of discussions. The document sets out the movement’s origins, demands and plans for continuing its campaign as the protest moves towards dismantling, although no final date has been announced.
Housing is at the centre of the manifesto. Its main slogan is “no people without homes and no homes without people”, alongside a call for social housing and other affordable forms of accommodation. The protesters also demand changes to neighbourhood planning and architecture to promote coexistence and shared spaces, as well as working conditions that leave people enough time to live and participate in their communities.
The movement links its protest to housing insecurity, the deterioration of public services and the loss of neighbourhoods. It identifies the eviction of Maricarmen as the event that triggered its mobilisation and describes the encampment’s mutual-aid model as an example of collective organisation. However, it argues that people’s rights should be guaranteed by institutions rather than depend on the camp itself.
The manifesto calls for a broader social transformation, including changes to living conditions, moral values and collective identity. It criticises the economic and labour pressures that create precarious lives, and denounces the role of major property owners, eviction companies and investment funds in removing families from their homes, with what the protesters describe as institutional complicity.
The demands extend beyond housing. The movement says that no human being is illegal and calls for an economic model less dependent on franchises, large corporations and tourism. It also addresses anxiety, depression and loneliness, describing them as symptoms of a violent system, and demands an end to psychiatric abuses, forced medication and the pathologisation of precariousness.
The protesters present collective action, civil disobedience and direct action as tools for pursuing their objectives. They propose Puerta del Sol and other public squares as meeting and assembly points after the encampment ends, and say they will continue trying to stop evictions and removals. The manifesto also expresses support for the general strike planned for 11 November.
The statement says the 26S movement extends beyond the physical camp and has generated networks reaching beyond Madrid. Its authors describe the encampment as a temporary city whose methods, relationships and political energy should continue after the tents and tarpaulins disappear.
On Monday, the camp’s spokespersons declined to provide details about when the settlement would be dismantled. Most commissions had announced their withdrawal over the weekend, while further information was expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. The protest had begun discussing its closure nearly three weeks earlier, when a general assembly proposed preparing a manifesto to preserve the movement’s demands and organisation beyond Puerta del Sol.
Sources: elDiario.es.