On October 21 we invite you to meet both the Vitorians and all the citizens of the Basque Country. What are you going to find?

It will be an all-day approach and we wanted to organise a broad and varied offer. In the morning, on the one hand, and in the Plaza Kai opposite the Radio Hala Bedi, there will be a fair of collectives and craftsmen and Jamaican music. On the other hand, the Gaztetxe ondo plate will be a playground with workshops, music or magic. At noon a kalejira was organized from the Gaztetxe to Errekaleor and after the event a popular meal was organized. We have decided to organise the afternoon and night programme in Errekaleor and the list of artists is long. We extend the night to the small hours of the morning.

We want to build an example of that Gasteiz that we have claimed this Saturday for many years and that we continue to claim today. From the Old Town to Errekaleor through the Judimensiondi.

Five groups or projects have developed the dynamic. Who are you and what unite you? Why did you decide to run the campaign?

Hala Bedi is 40 years old, 35 Gaztetxe de Vitoria, 15 Frontones Auzolana and 10 Errekaleor. Sumendi, a youth center in the Judimendi neighborhood, celebrates another year 7 years. Among the five we turned 107 this year. That is why we launched this dynamic to celebrate the fact that in Vitoria-Gasteiz we continue living and eager to continue reading and to give strength to the ideas that have gathered us at five during these long years: assembly, self-management and occupation.

100 years, not only can you organize around the motto. What do you mean?

That we are alive, that collaboration and cooperation are alive, and that among the different groups we have a strong network, with great strength. One of the hallmarks of Vitoria-Gasteiz is the collaboration between the different popular movements.

On 21 October is the point of arrival of an annual dynamic, what have you done so far and what assessment do you make?

At the beginning of the year we started to add the five agents. We use the round date of 3 March to carry out the first initiative together and claim ourselves as grandchildren of the workers who were killed. We went out together in carnivals, taking as a witness the custom of the Gaztetxe of Vitoria to disguise and organize the horse. On the other hand, we have given importance to the anniversary of each project and its joint celebration has been a good excuse for building and strengthening relations between us.

All the groups that are part of the initiative have experienced direct threats or aggressions, both police and municipal, of one level or another. What is the current situation in this regard?

The gaztetxe demolition ghost has been around the building from the beginning and can be a good example of the relationship between the spaces managed by the popular movement of Vitoria and the different municipal governments. The following sentence is attributed to the Deputy Mayor of Vitoria at the time of the occupation: “They must abandon the arrival of excavators.” Although the threat of dropping gaztetxe has existed since the beginning, and some ideas have been raised, a clear project has never been defined. The one that most excited about the building was Alfonso Alonso. The most famous culmination of this mayor was the construction of the Fifth Tower, adding a fifth tower to the famous skyline of Vitoria, founded by the churches of San Vicente, San Francisco, Santa Maria and San Miguel, where the Gaztetxe was located. In the face of these attacks, the forest showers went down to defend gaztetxe. This campaign and the demonstration that was organized along it was supported by over 80 groups and Alonso did not even dare to play the Gaztetxe.

The conflict between Uraran and Errekaleor may be another example. He publicly dared to constantly threaten Errekaleor to respond to an absurd electoral calculus. Subsequently, after two legislatures, Gorka has left town hall, the Errekaleor free neighborhood project is more stable and powerful.

Today, we have no direct threats. But that doesn't mean we're quiet. Moving and killing remind us at all times what our reality is through fines, threats, blows or arrests. On St. Prudencio's eve this year, when we were celebrating the anniversary of the Gaztetxe de Vitoria, they entered the Police Gaztetxe and took the arrested sound technician, for example, is still fresh in memory.

So Bedi was born in 1983, Gaztetxea in 1988, Auzolana in 2008, Errekaleor Bizirik in 2013, Sumendi in 2016, each in different contexts, with its own characteristics. What are you going to demand in the current context?

We are here and will continue for many years the self-managed projects of Vitoria. Thanks to this exciting process without turning back, we will also claim that the old Vitoria, full of clergy and military, began to demolish more than 100 years ago.