Ganemos or Guanyem refers to a set of independent municipal initiatives in Spain seeking to create and improve mechanisms for more direct citizen participation in politics. The movement, like 15M , was initiated during the Spanish financial crisis amidst a growing perception of, and disdain for, corruption, privatization, a closed nature of primaries, and political stagnancy caused by the two-party system. Ganemos is used for Spanish -speaking communities and Guanyem for Catalan -speaking communities. In Galicia , similar lists were called Mareas [ gl ] ("tides").
57-468: The movement began with Guanyem Barcelona (now Barcelona en Comú for legal reasons). This political platform was initiated primarily by activists previously involved with movements such as PAH and 15M. The group’s manifesto was published on 24 May 2014 and on 10 February 2015 it announced that it would be running in the May 2015 municipal elections with Ada Colau as its mayoral candidate. Barcelona en Comú became
114-543: A ' Handy Guide to Setting Up a Guanyem ' that explains the basic political and organizational principles by which any citizen platform which wishes to adopt its name should abide. Municipalization Municipalization is the transfer of private entities, assets , service providers, or corporations to public ownership by a municipality , including (but not limited to) a city, county, or public utility district ownership. The transfer may be from private ownership (usually by purchase) or from other levels of government. It
171-539: A Guanyem” in May 2015 and another more detailed “guide to building a citizen municipal platform” in March 2016 With this action, they provided some structure for the formation of a Ganemos/Guanyem movement, recommending that prospective groups “support the Guanyem Barcelona Manifesto and the text of our ‘Principles and Commitments’ (ES). Each platform should be rooted in its local networks and social context, share
228-448: A public service commission, and inadequate auditing can allow poor utility practices to continue unchecked. Finally, the incumbent IOUs had a single, focused objective: safe, reliable power at least cost. Municipal utilities, on the other hand, also focused on the pursuit of other policy goals, which can result in higher electricity costs. Collective Private Ownership: This refers to communities coming together to take collective ownership of
285-427: A return to municipalization as a mechanism to curb monopoly power and corruption. It is also important to acknowledge that the monopoly power of many incumbent utility providers means that they have strong financial and political resources to resist municipalization. Additionally there is always a legal factor with municipalization and state laws governing municipalization vary widely across the country sometimes making
342-521: A role in the coordination of all of the Guanyem platforms across Spain, a proposal which the platform rejected and denounced as blackmail. In their communications with the Interior Ministry, members of Guanyem Barcelona pointed to their pre-existing registration of 'Guanyem' as a political party with a public notary on 13 August 2014, and the false address given by Fabià in his registration of the name with
399-492: A utility. One example is the community shares program used in Ellensburg, Washington. In this case electricity customers may buy shares in a solar field which was initially financed through the public utility and in turn receive a proportional rebate applied through their electricity billing. Customers also have the option of selling or giving away their shares to non profits or other customers. Privatization : A process by which
456-523: A validation process in order to assess the level of support among Barcelona residents for its proposal of creating a united progressive electoral list to stand at the 2015 municipal elections. It set itself the target of collecting 30,000 signatures of support for its initial manifesto by September 2014. As part of the validation process, it also held a series of 'neighbourhood chats' across the city. Barcelona en Comú's Code of Political Ethics applies to all individuals and parties standing for election under
513-526: Is a political party launched initially as a grouping of electors in June 2014. Its policy agenda includes defending social justice and community rights, promoting participatory democracy , introducing mechanisms to tackle corruption, and developing a new model of tourism for Barcelona. Many of the platform's founding members had been active for many years in social and political movements in Barcelona, including
570-442: Is a wild card that could increase or decrease relative MU/IOU rates." There are, however, benefits to this process as discussed in the motivation section above. Municipal bonds "typically have lower interest rates than investor‐owned utility bonds, resulting in lower costs." Municipal utilities also do not pay dividends to investors which can help reduce costs. Additionally, "municipal utilities are exempt from federal taxes." There
627-789: Is also potential for Economic development benefits to occur when municipalized utilities "promote economic development in their community by offering special rates or discounted connection fees for large customers or new businesses." There are also flexibility options in complementary policies such as offer" rebates, feed-in tariffs, and other programs to support increased" distributed solar energy programs. Since "Electricity rates not only recover costs, but also provide customers with price signals that influence how customers use electricity and whether to make investments in distributed energy resources, electric vehicles, or other technologies," there are potential sustainability benefits to having increased control over electricity pricing. One example of such pricing
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#1732902394242684-415: Is much more cost effective to purchase existing infrastructure in fact all processes of municipalization since the 1980s have purchased the incumbent utility assets. And the cost to the acquisitions has not been cheap, "most public power takeovers are in the vicinity of 140% of book value." Once the utilities have been acquired, local governments face the steep costs of financing the transition and developing
741-401: Is that anyone can run in the primary and anyone can vote. Members of political parties are also allowed to participate on the condition that they do so as individuals and not as coalitions, so as to attempt to put them on equal footing with the rest of the citizen participants. Ganemos movements claim that this is what differentiates Ganemos groups from “alphabet soup” political coalitions such as
798-544: Is the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, or SMUD , of Sacramento , California . In another, larger example, Fulton County, Georgia , which includes the city of Atlanta , is currently undergoing full municipalization. For a more complete discussion of this process in the Fulton County context, see the "Politics" section of the Fulton County article. While municipalization is quite rare in
855-472: Is the introduction of time varying rates which are designed to reduce peak demand they are a type of demand response policy. Time‐varying rates can have considerable impact by "encouraging many customers to make small adjustments to the timing of their energy consumption, resulting in a flatter load curve for the entire system." According to a report on municipalization prepared for the District of Columbia: On
912-508: Is the opposite of privatization and is different from nationalization . The term municipalization largely refers to the transfer of ownership of utilities from Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to public ownership, and operation, by local government whether that be at the city, county or state level. While this is most often applied to electricity it can also refer to solar energy, water, sewer, trash, natural gas or other services. Between 2006 and 2016, there have been 13 different communities in
969-541: The Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) and 15M . The spokespeople of Barcelona en Comú include former anti-evictions activist Ada Colau , Jaume Asans (lawyer), Gerardo Pisarello (constitutional law scholar), Gala Pin (social activist), and Joan Subirats (political scientist). Ada Colau has appeared in national polls as a popular alternative to current elected representatives in Spain, and has since been nominated as
1026-619: The United Left and, more recently, Unidos Podemos . However, finding the balance between aspects of a political group and a movement is one of the foremost challenges that Ganemos units must continue to debate. A related grand question Ganemos groups must tackle is where exactly to aim between a representative and a pure democracy. For example, many municipalist activists claim that the ideal government involves representatives that keep things running if people choose not to participate, but that allow direct citizen law proposals and votes (without
1083-592: The Banca Catalana and by the claims by the former anti-corruption prosecutor, Carlos Jiménez Villarejo, that he was ordered not to investigate Pujol by the Socialist Party". Since its launch, 'Guanyem/Ganemos' ('Let's win...') movements have been set up in a number of other Spanish cities, including Madrid, Malaga, Terrassa, Hospitalet and Seville. None of these other platforms are officially affiliated with Guanyem Barcelona, however, Guanyem Barcelona has published
1140-479: The Guanyem platform due to disagreements over salary limits for elected representatives. The following day, Procés Constituent confirmed its participation in the Guanyem candidacy. On 6 February 2015, members of Podemos in Barcelona voted 91% in favour of joining the candidacy. Having achieved the 30,000 target of signatures of support for the Guanyem Barcelona initiative, on 28 August 2014, representatives of
1197-634: The Ministry. The Interior Ministry rejected these appeals, upholding the registration of the party by Fabià, and obliging Guanyem to stand under a new name. On 10 of February, the platform announced its intention to stand as Barcelona en Comú. On 2 September 2014, Guanyem Barcelona initiated legal action against the family of the ex-Catalan President, Jordi Pujol , with the Spanish political party Podemos and for alleged tax evasion and corruption. Guanyem and Podemos claim that: "The Pujol Ferrusola family has, since
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#17329023942421254-551: The Trobada Popular Municipalista of the CUP to explore the possibility of creating a joint electoral list at the 2015 Barcelona elections. At its first party congress on 18–19 October, Podemos made official its decision not to stand directly in the 2015 municipal elections in Spain and to support local citizen candidacies, including Guanyem Barcelona. On 22 November 2014, the Trobada Popular Municipalista decided not to join
1311-621: The United States over the past few decades ("of these 900 municipal-owned utility firms, only 2 percent have completed municipalization since 1990") there are a few key, and recent, examples that are often cited. Basic Information: "The Long Island Power Authority territory consists of New York's Nassau and Suffolk counties and part of Queens, New York City , including the JFK International Airport ." Key motivating factors: The effort to municipalize Long Island's electricity
1368-431: The United States that have successfully switched from an IOU to a municipal utility. Most of these communities consisted of 10,000 people or less. Although proponents of municipalization have attempted to municipalize via ballot initiatives , many have failed. The key motivation for municipalization stems from a difference in priorities and goals of the community members and the incumbent utility. While incumbent IOUs have
1425-461: The aims and working methods of Guanyem and be led by citizens. Any person or political party that wants to be involved should accept these minimum conditions, and no Guanyem platform should be led by any political party.” Today many Spanish cities have a local Ganemos/Guanyem platform. Some local variations of Unidos Podemos took inspiration from these lists. Catalunya en Comú was founded by Podemos, ICV , EUiA and Barcelona en Comú . En Marea
1482-442: The benefit of the citizens and that by undertaking municipalization of electricity services, a city government can exercise greater control over electricity generation and distribution (also often tying this process to sustainability measures). There is also a neoliberal argument stemming from the historical formation of utility conglomerates . The transition from direct current (DC) systems to alternating current (AC) systems in
1539-412: The city to municipalize its electricity faced strong opposition from the incumbent utilities. Both ballot propositions were defeated, one by a narrow margin of 500 votes. 2002: Advocates tried ballot measures once more but were outspent by the incumbent utilities, which spent over $ 2 million. Results: This is a key example of a place where several attempts to municipalize have failed giving evidence to
1596-602: The community to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to the target established by the Kyoto Protocol . 2005: In response to having difficulty meeting the goals of Resolution 906 and wanting more energy decision-making control the city created a task force to explore municipalization as an option for faster innovation capacity. 2005: "The feasibility study found that munipalization would increase renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gases, maintain reliability, and reduce rates for customers. The study also found that this would make
1653-417: The contrary aside) take them as they exist. Libertarian municipalism, by contrast, is an effort to transform and democratize city governments, to root them in popular assemblies, to knit them together along confederal lines, to appropriate a regional economy along confederal and municipal lines.” On the other hand, we consider Podemos: the left-leaning, “populist” Podemos party which also spawned from 15M and
1710-563: The cost and to promote the idea that water is a human right rather than a commodity. There are also efforts to reduce high costs from monopolies and oligopolies by having the state sell the commodity for a lower price. This ideology of putting “privatized” commodities into public hands is also the rhetoric used to back another fundamental pillar of Ganemos from municipalism: having environmentally friendly cities. Barcelona en Com%C3%BA Barcelona en Comú ( Catalan for "Barcelona in Common")
1767-426: The early 1990s, when after the end of the communist states in eastern Europe state-owned companies in many public service sectors were broken up and transferred to municipal control. This was typical in sectors such as water , waste management , and public transport , although not in electricity and natural gas . Such regional companies either remained under municipal control, or were privatized . Privatization
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1824-458: The early twentieth century allowed for greater access to electricity for Americans and enabled the electricity industry to shift to a larger scale. The economies of scale associated with providing a utility created natural monopolies and the associated consolidation of different types of electrical service in urban areas: street lighting, building lighting, industrial machinery, and streetcars. The recent efforts to municipalize electricity represent
1881-488: The easement agreement — and are "working on a final agreement on costs" in the process of the city's negotiations with Xcel Energy. Key Motivating Factors: The California energy crisis spiked public support for publicly owned and controlled municipal utilities. Timeline of Significant Events: 1990s: Angered by power outages and rate hikes San Franciscans engaged in various attempts to municipalize their electricity. 2001: Two ballot propositions which would have enabled
1938-427: The end of a more purely democratic society justifies the means of exploiting current, less purely democratic institutions to get there. A final central idea for Ganemos taken from municipalism is transferring to municipal ownership assets owned by higher levels of government or, more often, corporations (also called municipalization ). For example, groups with privatized water seek to put it under city control to reduce
1995-596: The expertise to run a comprehensive system of electricity distribution as well as, in some cases, generation and transmission. The transaction costs are high, because cities must borrow to pay the IOUs for the power lines, they must develop the expertise and ability to manage a LTS, and they often face years of battles in courts and in elections due to challenges from the IOU. A study done by the Bay Area Economic Forum found that
2052-478: The fallout of the financial crisis, and to many is culpable of what Bookchin describes above. However, while many agree that Ganemos puts more emphasis than Podemos on being open and participatory, many Ganemos groups rely on the structural power of Podemos to maintain interest in leftist causes that allow victory and promotion of the Ganemos cause in local elections. Really, then, this is a question of whether and how much
2109-400: The for-profit private sector supplants the public sector's provision of goods and/or services. There are a number of methods of privatization including the transfer of ownership from public to private entities, the displacement of public spending by private financing, or private entities assuming management and operational responsibilities of public services. Nationalization : Nationalization
2166-555: The highest in the New York Metro Area. This reflects that the key motivating factors were addressed. Key Motivating Factors: The effort in Boulder were motivated by having greater autonomy and customer choice so that the city could more directly meet its Clean Energy goals. This effort was primarily motivated by sustainability concerns. Timeline of Significant Events: 2002: The Boulder City Council passed Resolution 906, committing
2223-431: The importance of the transaction costs associated with municipalization. The costs of municipalization tend to both front loaded and high. The largest costs come from the process of passing a ballot measure and acquiring the utility company. Although these many seem simple at face value these steps are often extremely costly and difficult because of the financial and political power that incumbent utilities possess. Still it
2280-480: The key cost components that determine whether a new MU's rates will be higher or lower than the incumbent IOU's rates are: 1) "the combination of the income tax exemption and debt-only capital structure, both of which lower MU rates relative to IOU rates;" 2) "the premium over book paid for the distribution assets, which will increase MU rates relative to IOU rates;" and 3) "the MU's cost of generating or purchasing power, which
2337-593: The minority government with 25% of the electorate. Shortly after its birth, new municipal initiatives from around the country began contacting Guanyem Barcelona to ask for advice, support, and permission to adopt the name (or, in many cases, the Spanish equivalent: Ganemos). Guanyem Barcelona recognized that they have neither the ability nor desire to lead an institutional organization that is bigger than Barcelona itself, but agreed to recognize and share ideas with related initiatives that might independently spawn. With this in mind, they published their first “guide to setting up
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2394-458: The municipal service provider in those unincorporated areas. The county is left offering only those services mandated of it by the state constitution , which are generally only extensions of state government like courts and sheriff departments . As with utilities, the county's assets usually end up being distributed among the cities, though this is less likely if the process is gradual rather than all at once. One example of municipalization
2451-418: The objective of reliable and safe electricity that can provide a competitive profit for the investors, municipalized utilities are free from the need to provide for private profits and can focus on the pursuit of other policy goals, especially sustainability measures and experimentation with alternative energy policy. Efforts to municipalize often begin with the sentiment that the IOU is not managed primarily for
2508-476: The other hand, municipal utilities face challenges that can result in higher costs. The acquisition cost for the municipalized infrastructure was in some cases significantly higher than what was being recovered by the IOU, putting immediate and long‐lasting upward pressure on rates. Operationally, IOUs often have economies of scale that can lead to lower legal, management, and purchasing costs per unit of energy. Municipal utilities are not typically monitored closely by
2565-429: The pending Electric Resource Plan proceeding." Results: The municipalization effort's most significant expenses have been from delays and regulatory roadblocks. In the last four years, Boulder has been involved in legal proceedings with Xcel at the local and state levels, and courts have ruled both in favor of and against municipalization. As of 2/26/18 Boulder has "two agreements done" — the interim cost agreement and
2622-470: The platform applied to register the name 'Guanyem Barcelona' as a political party with the Spanish Interior Ministry. They were informed that the party 'Guanyem Barcelona' had been registered two days previously by Julià de Fabià, a city councilor of Santa Maria de Palautordera. In November, Fabià requested a meeting with the platform in which he offered to give up the registration in exchange for
2679-507: The platform's candidate for and elected as the mayor of Barcelona. The platform has its origins in the new social and political movements that emerged in the wake of the Spanish economic crisis and the 15M protests. Over 2000 people attended the launch of the initiative at a public meeting at the Collasso i Gil school in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona on 26 June 2014. The platform launched
2736-476: The platform's name. It was drawn up using a participatory methodology consisting of two days of open debate on 10–11 October 2014, and an online platform where the proposed document was open to comments and amendments. From its launch, Barcelona en Comú entered into discussions with local political parties including the Citizen Network X Party , Podemos Barcelona, ICV -EUiA, Procés Constituent , Equo , and
2793-506: The power system and causing extensive outages. LIPA faces intense criticism for its response. 2013: In an effort led by Governor Andrew Cuomo , the LIPA Reform Act of 2013 which reorganized LIPA, placing the day-to‐day operations under PSEG was approved by the state legislature. Results: The effort has been largely successful given that customer approval has improved to over 90 percent satisfaction level and LIPA's rates are no longer
2850-471: The process impossible. There have been two main waves of municipalization in developed countries. The first took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when municipalities in many developed countries acquired local private providers of a range of public services . The driving reason in most cases was the failure of private providers to sufficiently expand service provision outside wealthy parts of urban areas. The second wave took place in
2907-437: The representative as intermediary) when they decide they want to participate. These activists see Ganemos as not going far enough toward pure democracy. As Murray Bookchin , the credited creator of the concept of municipalism, frames the argument for further purity: “These adherents or opponents of libertarian municipalism, in effect, look at the civic structures that exist before their eyes now and essentially (all rhetoric to
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#17329023942422964-550: The transition to democracy in Spain, been part of a business scheme that has worked in the interests of the family and companies close to them... It enjoyed impunity as long as Jordi Pujol has continued to support the parties of the current ruling regime (the Popular Party and the Spanish Socialist Party) as they rotate in and out of government. This is demonstrated by the shutting down of the preliminary investigation into
3021-546: The utilities more aligned with the needs of the community and would allow any excess energy revenue to be reinvested in Boulder." The study was, however, all predictive and acknowledged many uncertainties. 2017: "The City of Boulder, along with 14 other parties, signed a stipulation filed with the Public Utilities Commission , which gave the commission the opportunity to evaluate a Colorado Energy Plan Portfolio during
3078-478: Was charged with taking over the Shoreham plant and its debts, as well as controlling electricity costs. 1998: Governor George Pataki led the effort to take over LILCO's entire system due to customers still facing high utility prices. The takeover was financed through public bond offerings and over the next few years customers experienced reduced rate. 2012: Hurricane Sandy hits Long Island significantly damaging
3135-515: Was done variously: by selling them to investors, by giving a concession or a management contract. Examples include the water sector in the Czech Republic , over half of which has been privatized. In the United States, municipalization often refers to incorporation of an entire county into its municipalities, leaving no unincorporated areas . This generally ends de facto the county's own home rule, which in most states allows it to act as
3192-416: Was named after the "mareas" lists and was replaced by Galicia en Común . The basic ideology underlying Ganemos is the political system proposed by municipalism , which involves creating a directly democratic confederation through citizen assemblies in towns and neighborhoods. To pursue this goal, almost all Ganemos groups maintain a citizen candidature. The difference from a regular Spanish political party
3249-471: Was primarily motivated by rising (and high) prices and bad reliability. Timeline of Significant Events: 1980s: The investor-owned Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) faces near bankruptcy catalyzing the effort to municipalize led by then Governor Mario Cuomo . Despite public support for municipalization the effort faced strong opposition from LILCO. 1985: The Long Island Power Authority Act passes which established Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). LIPA
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