BarcelonaIn the face of liberal democracies besieged from within and without by the expansive wave of Trumpism, in the face of the evidence of the climate crisis – and denialism – and in the face of growing inequalities with housing as the main cause, the ARA has given voice for two days at the Enfoquem solutions forum, held at the CCCB, to a wide range of experts to look for plausible solutions. We detail 15 in the three areas.
democracy
Trumpism as a stimulus for European emancipation
The diagnosis is clear and there is a coincidence: “Europe – in the words of French journalist Sylvie Kauffmann – is not ready to face Trump and Putin”. Neither in military terms nor in technological terms (AI, digitization). And, as if that were not enough, it is evidence that the liberal democracies of the Old Continent are being penetrated by the virus of ultra or authoritarian populism. We will not fight over the name. “The easiest thing is to be pessimistic”, says Mark Bray, historian and author ofAntifawho was forced to leave the US and now lives in Madrid.
And faced with this situation, what do we do? What solutions are there? In summary, the experts propose five: disengage from the US, seek new alliances, recover the welfare state, selective political unity (not of the 27) and empathy with diversity.
Cristina Gallach, journalist and senior international official for decades (NATO, EU, UN), proposes three ways out. First: “An intelligent break in the current transatlantic relationship of vassalage that does not involve a total break between Europe and the US. This means investments, and here we need to see if the European economic fabric responds. And it means moving towards a change from the dollar standard to the euro standard”. Second: as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Davos, “make alliances flexible to make them both pragmatic and inclusive [amb la immigració]”. And third: “Return to the basics of protecting citizens to prevent inequalities from continuing to grow: health, education, infrastructures”. To do all this, it will be necessary to “take risks” and for Europeans to understand that “sacrifices must be made”.
The economic view
Economists Xavier Vives and Toni Roldán endorse Gallach and add the need to promote Eurobonds with the argument, above all, of defense – “the US will no longer guarantee us the public good of security” – and digitalisation. In the political field, they agree to move towards a governance of the most committed countries. Vives also emphasizes bringing down more internal barriers to trade and the need to help the opposition to Trumpism within the US (both the Democratic and the internal Republicans): “There are many reasonable Americans”.
The social researcher Blanca Garcés is committed to a Europe that is “more integrated, more based on the common good, more courageous”, a Europe that speaks “positively” and that seeks dialogue “between different”, in other words, that does not criminalize immigration and diversity. And, without ruling it out, he says that it is not enough to talk about a return to social democracy or to call for social mobilization.
Without hiding the difficulties of this European empowerment program in the face of the Trump-Putin clampdown and the Chinese threat, the idea is circulating among experts that Trumpism can be a stimulus. We will have to see if we take advantage of it.
Energy and climate change
Dialogue as an instrument to respond to the great planetary crisis
“We are in perhaps the most important decade in human history; what we do will shape our future for centuries to come.” This diagnosis by publicist and environmentalist Andreu Escrivà is an invitation to overcome the inaction promoted by both those who deny the evidence of the climate crisis and those who let themselves be overcome by the despair of believing that there is nothing to be done. Faced with this, what can be done? The experts provide five solutions.
“We need to break the climate silence, create spaces to open dialogue and realize that we are not alone in our concern about what is happening”, says Escrivà himself. “Reconnect with nature, involve ourselves emotionally in the idea that change is still possible”, harangued the audience this climate change expert, who invited those present to join, for example, one of the many citizen science groups that operate in Catalonia. In addition, he emphasizes that the union of citizens is the first step to act: “What makes no sense is to transfer the responsibility to people, to tell you that it depends on you, whether you want to ride a bike. No, it depends on whether I have a bike lane or not, if I have a place to park it safely, etc. Individual decisions must be framed in a collective context if we don’t end up atomizing society,” he adds.
Looking towards institutions and governments, the climate emergency should guide every public investment that is made. Economist specializing in energy economics and climate change Mar Reguant suggests prioritizing policies that attack mitigation and adaptation at the same time. “If we redo Rodalies now, how do we make it an efficient means of transport, which it is not, but also resilient? Or, where do we put solar panels that prevent the evaporation of water in irrigation canals or even in swamps? Let’s remember that we went through a historic drought not long ago”, suggests the economist. And speaking of climate resilience, Reguant recalls the massive blackout that the Iberian Peninsula suffered last year and issues the challenge: we must think about climate resilience not to face a blackout in April at 20 degrees, but in August at 40. “It’s also a matter of social justice and protecting the most vulnerable people”, he emphasizes.
Without abandoning the practical field, the electrification of the economy is one of the strategic paths on which efforts must be focused. “Buying an electric vehicle is the most transformative thing we can do today,” suggests Daniel Pérez, an expert in energy transition and director general of Energética (the public renewables company of the Generalitat), as an example. The technology to complete this change in the energy model already exists and, in addition, it pays off: “Contrary to what happens in food, in energy what is ecological is cheaper, and that is unappealable. There is no Donald Trump to stop it”, he says. In fact, Pérez digs into the opportunity that even a “dark” era like the current Trumpism can open up opportunities for Europe: “It will make the energy transition go faster: last year Spain installed more solar power than all the nuclear power installed.” For Pérez, now is the time to know how to communicate that we are facing the most serious crisis facing humanity. “We cannot abandon the war of the cultural story, we must provide clear information so that the thesis that is imposed is not the denialist one.”
Anticipating us is saving lives
And while looking for ways to speed up this deep, energetic and also cultural model change, the climate crisis also requires us to be aware of the risks we are already facing. Physicist and meteorologist Gemma Puig celebrates that over the years she has learned to predict “risk situations much better”, and insists that this is a path that cannot be abandoned. “Getting ahead is saving lives and resources”, he concludes, and gives the example of the warning systems that we all receive on our mobile phones lately when the weather conditions are high risk.
This anticipation is what must lead us to prepare for situations that, although they do not affect us now, will affect us in the future, as has happened recently: “Another drought will return, we don’t know when, but we know it will happen. Therefore, the infrastructures to save the water that now falls and ends up in the sea are a priority task, as is not planning new constructions in areas that we know are flooded”, says the 3Cat meteorologist.
All the solutions cannot ignore, however, that the context calls for a certain speed in the response to a crisis that is already showing its teeth in many corners of the planet, including in Catalonia. “We need speed, but we must not lose hope.” The message was launched by Francisco Javier Vera, a 16-year-old Colombian climate activist, who appealed to mobilized youth. “In the spaces of power and decision-making, we have very old people, like Putin, Xi Jinping or Trump, who are in their 80s. Instead, young people have a more long-term concern about what will happen to the world.”
Next to her, at the debate table on activism and climate communication, the biologist and conservationist Evelyn Segura sent a warning to the rulers: “We have all the information, all the evidence, but this is no longer about small actions, but about structural changes that must be made by those who have the power in the system we have now”, said the scientific communicator.
housing
More public-private collaboration to solve the most urgent challenge
There are no simple recipes to solve the housing crisis: the proof is the political polarization on this issue and the difficulty of reaching great consensus. And now it seems that a very specific one has been reached: the need to build. It’s the first of five solutions for experts.
“To build housing we need three important things: land, roof and money”, says Jordi Valls, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona’s Economy and Housing Department, who sees very clearly what the city’s future should look like: with 15% public housing. And that’s why we need public investment – at least much more than there has been in the last decade – but also “private money”.
“We have to find mechanisms for consultation with the private sector so that the social shield is shared with the administration”, says Carme Trilla, president of the Habitat3 Foundation, on how to involve small and large owners and the administration when creating incentives to increase the rental offer, which is currently the main stumbling block. This public-private approach is the common denominator, therefore, to face the two major challenges facing the country in terms of housing: growing the housing stock and regulating it.
It is true that in the latter area there is even less consensus, but what is needed is speed for those who have problems paying the rent or the mortgage or accessing a flat. For Trilla, it can be summarized in four other impactful solutions: ending evictions – last year in Catalonia there were 5,500 rentals and 1,200 mortgages -, call for private investment to bring affordable housing to the park, control speculative purchases – this element is already on the table of the Government and the Spanish Government, as well as the Barcelona City Council – and, fourth and last, make emergency accommodation to give people who live in rooms or “vertical shacks” a way out.
To discuss all these solutions, Valls and Trilla wanted to establish two premises: “Barcelona is not a city controlled by speculators, although there is speculation”, said Valls, taking into account that the cadastre figures place the majority of homes and owners as small holders. “I don’t share the separation between large and small owners”, replied Trilla. “This is a fundamental error. The forms of agreement should be the same for all”, he defended.
So for her, the solution to increasing the supply of affordable rent involves assuming just the opposite. And since increasing it means more coordination: does it have to be with big holders? “They are essential to increase the offer”, he concluded.
