Carles Riera (Barcelona, 1960) is fond of taking walks through the forest, with all five senses on alert, to enjoy the experience, but also because he has a tendency to get lost. This summer the leader of the CUP hopes to walk, although he already has less than expected. He chooses to be photographed in Poblenou, his neighborhood, next to the Can Framis museum.
You like to walk in the woods, in what area?
I will mention two enclaves to which I am likely to go this summer: Collsacabra and Priorat.
Do you make known routes?
I must confess that I have a tendency to get lost, better known routes and in any case I have to pay close attention not to get lost. In Priorat, they will surely be new routes, but since they will guide me there is no danger.
Do you go alone sometimes?
I like to go alone and also in a small group of family or friends; I'll combine it, I guess.
Going alone is a completely different experience.
Yes, it allows you to pay attention to what is around you, it is a more contemplative experience and also one of more contact with yourself. And the group experience is more fun.
So, more than taking advantage of the walk to think about something, do you disconnect?
For me, walking has more to do with contemplation than reasoning and I like it that way. That does not mean that walking cannot be accompanied by a reflection, but it is more unexpected, when walking you make a little mental stillness and give rise to ideas or reflections that can be a response to things that worry you, topics about which you have to make decisions. But it is not so much the result of thinking about it but from contemplation and serenity to create the conditions for ideas or answers to appear.
There is a mystique around walks in the woods, silence, the connection with nature, the essential oils that the trees give off... do you think about that?
It's more instinctive, more intuitive, I feel good, it revitalizes me. The forest reconnects us with something very original, very basic, which is also healthy, although I am not an expert.
In the forest you have to dose forces and be prepared for any contingency... all of this can be transferred to politics, which is not a foreseeable scenario.
I wish it was. In recent times especially, that I am living it more in the front line, without a doubt it requires this more contemplative gaze. Long look, beyond the punctual and the anecdote. Because we are in politics to change society. Panoramic view and see the strategies, but at the same time there is a challenge to respond to the immediate, the everyday. And it is true that everything is also quite unpredictable, there is a lot of volatility in the political scene.
Citizens have become accustomed to asking for immediate results. And that determines politics.
There are problems that require immediate and quality solutions, social and economic situations, and it is logical that the citizen expects it. And we have this responsibility, but it is not easy to give immediate answers. The paper supports everything, making statements, but the facts...
A mature society has to know how to manage frustration and not think that a politician is a fraud because he cannot keep what he promised, don't you think?
Society has every reason in the world to criticize politics and politicians because everything that is promised in an electoral campaign and in political programs is very far from what is actually done, there are many words and few facts. Sometimes you even get the feeling that institutions are organized more to perpetuate the status quo and to stop change, when it should be the other way around. Criticism is understandable, but we must be careful not to fall into the anti-politics that the extreme right tries to build.
People don't rebel, why?
Instead, notice that when he rebels he is very effective. When society rebels, it is insurgent, 15-M has important consequences, 1-O. Although they are neither the final battle nor the ultimate victory. To transform a society so that it is socially just, feminist, environmentalist, many 15-Ms will be necessary. When you want to exercise a right like that of self-determination in a regime like that of 1978 with just one October 1 you won't get it, you'll need a lot. We have to have a lot of confidence and a lot of faith in these episodes of rebellion, which are the lever of change.
If the citizen looks powerless, he may be tempted to walk by, do nothing.
They have to see that the change is in their hands, the institutions make the change when society has already done it. My experience as a deputy is when there is movement in the street, my capacity for political legislative influence is multiplied by a lot.
For the CUP to be irreducible, does it need the street to push?
Exact. And at the same time we have to get involved in the street to activate it.
This legislature is at the Parliament table, more work, more responsibilities, will you have time to read?
Very little, that is why I have a surely exaggerated hope in the readings that the summer will allow me and then it is always much less than expected.
What will you read?
The initial wish for the summer is to read Gabriel Ferrater, an author I know little about, and Joan Fuster, an author I like to revisit. I would like to read Black Marxism , an update on Marxist thinking from views other than those of white Western culture, and I always like to go back to Karen Horney. I probably won't make it halfway.
Are you going on vacation?
I hope so, in the second half of August we will stop for a few days, but we always have to be ready to respond to any emergency.
Paper or electronic book?
Paper. I am a romantic. I like the paper, the smell of the paper and the contact with the book.
