We live in accelerated times. Times when political change is no longer an aspiration of a radical minority, but an immediate goal of a clear social majority grown tired of the misery that we are condemned to by the austerity policies of the corrupt regime of the 78 and the Troika.

When we started Podemos with Pablo Iglesias and other comrades many said we were crazy. We would not change anything, we were destined to be another electoral failure. Reality has demonstrated something very different: Podemos is the vehicle through which the outrage of the citizens is expressed and a unique opportunity to break fundamentally with the miseries inherited from the dictatorship and forty years of neoliberal capitalist and oligarchical offensive.

Many things have happened since we co-founded Podemos. Everything has changed and we must change also to continue to work in the prospect of building a socialist democracy.

That is why we have taken two decisions:

A) Although we do not agree with the ban on so-called “double militancy”, we are going to abide by it. We believe that it poses a serious risk to pluralism within Podemos and is a totally ineffective way to avert the danger of the arrival of careerists in Podemos. The key to combating these phenomena is control from below, from the circles and the spaces of construction of popular unity, as well as the maximum freedom in debate and criticism. However, in spite of maintaining our opposition to the measure, we accept the decision taken by a large majority and, in accordance with it, no activist in Izquierda Anticapitalista will contest the elections of the State Citizen’s Council of Podemos.

B) As the core founder of the initiative, we’ve decided to continue to contribute our ideas, approaches and work in the construction of Podemos as an instrument of democratic and social change. We believe that in Podemos we can fit all those who defend human rights and want a just society, democratic and egalitarian. However, so that real change is possible, self-organization is essential, as well as the possibility of maintaining areas of development, education and initiative. Given that Podemos, in addition to being our project, has decided to become a political party, our party, we are going to hold the first phase of our congress in the last weekend of November to adapt to the new framework that has been decided by the Citizens’ Assembly.

Thus, we will continue to work as loyally as we have until now, doing everything in our power to ensure that we can win the elections and building people’s power from below so that when we conquer government, we have sufficient social support and organized strength enough to transform society and not disappoint the hopes that millions of people are placing in us.

Izquierda Anticapitalista