Save the Comunas! They have what 'we' are struggling for, but they are losing it. The Comuna of Santa Clara de San Millan, Quito.

Giulia Testori PhD student at IUAV University of Venice and OSA KULeuven

Curriculum in urbanism g.testori@stud.iuav.it

Comuna

a legal and administrati

ve Ecuadorian land entity

Name of the community who lives in

it

Comuneroshave their

organic law, legal, social and

economic structure

constituting a communal

government they have

sovereignty and autonomy

communal land shall be unalienable, immune from

seizure and indivisible(Ecuadorian Constitution, art.57-4)property based

on the right to usufruct

Assembly in Comuna de Santa Clara de San Millan_ source: Facebook page “Comuna of Santa Clara de San Millan”

Assembly in Comuna de Santa Clara de San Millan, celebrates one century 2011 _ source: http://prensaquito.ec

Assembly in Comuna de Santa Clara de San Millan, 20th of August 2015 _ source: by the author

1. a LCT in Parkdale, Toronto. Source: www.milkywaygarden.ca, 20 May 2016 2. Chinese Tachai 1965 Source: www.doyoucity.com

Murales in santa clara de San Millan (by the author)

1_The execution of Athaualpa http://www.kimmacquarrie.com/ 2_Shiri_Inca_Athaualpa https://lh3.ggpht.com 3-4_Indigenous agriculture http://www.imagui.com/

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Santa Clara de San Millan

Comuna de Santa Clara de San Millan. Personal Elaboration from dwg Secretary of Territory of Quito, 2015

Archive of the MAGAP (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries of the Ecuadorian Government.) Personal research

Sign at the entrance of the comuna remembering the 1911 decree. Source: frame from the video “Dia del Comunero” https:// www.youtube.com /watch?v=-mnrRaJKh7c

What the inhabitants constructed

in Santa Clara

through mingas

Actual size of Santa Clara

Ancient borders

Actual size of Santa Clara

Ancient borders

Actual size of Santa Clara

Ancient borders

Ecuadorian agricultural landscape 30 June 2015 Source: by the author

*

The massive superm

arket ‘Santa Maria’ on a land previously com

munal. Source: google street view

2016

*

1_The massive superm

arket ‘Supermaxi’ on a land previously com

munal. Source: google street view

2016 2_A comm

ent to a newspaper article online by a

comunero declaring he w

ould like to privatize his comm

unal land to finally access to mortgage loans. Source: http://w

ww

.noticiasquito.gob.ec/ 23rd June 2013

Limits of the Comuna of Santa Clara de San Millan in 2013 Source: Secretaria del Territorio del Ecuador, 2013

1_ The current Cabildo . Source: Facebook page “Comuna of Santa Clara de San Millan 2_New logo of the Comuna’s Facebook page. Source: ibid. 3_: The launch of the local journal “El Comunero”. Source: ibid.

Ecological park “La Clarita”

through mingas

Mingas in the park 17

.12.2015. Source: Facebook page “Comuna of S.C. San M

illan”,

1-2-3_ Views of the Comuna SCSM Source: Secretaria del Territorio del Ecuador, Pablo Ortega, November 2014

View of Quito from the MAGAP, august 2015 Source: by the author

Views of the Comuna SCSM from La Gasca neighborhood Source: by the author

Comuna

autonomy in decision makingthrough

assemblies

Direct and participatory democracy represented

Comunerosdecide on their

territoryFar from top-

down development

Society can be invented from below

Common are safeguarded as shared values

There are other forms of social organization

possible(Stavrides, 2015)

as an urban alternative

Shows that:

Fiesta de Santa Clara, august 2015 Source: by the author

Ecuadorian Constitution:Art. 56: of the Constitution it says that the collective rights of the comuneros are recognized and that they can freely uphold, develop and strengthen their identity, feeling of belonging, ancestral traditions and forms of social organization.

Art. 57: inhabitants cannot be displaced from their ancestral lands and that the State shall guarantee the enforcement of these collective rights without any discrimination, in conditions of equality and equity between men and women.

Art. 60: then says that comunas that have collective land ownership are recognized as an ancestral form of territorial organization

COOTAD (Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization)Art. 307 - 308 comunas are identified as ‘basic participation units’ and all citizens can enjoy popular initiatives to make proposals for regional standards, districtual and at the state level.

Fiesta de Santa Clara, august 2015 Source: by the author

Save the Comunas!

They have what 'we' are struggling for, but they are losing it. The Comuna of Santa Clara de San Millan, Quito.

Giulia TestoriPhD student at IUAV University of Venice and OSA KULeuven Curriculum in urbanism g.testori@stud.iuav.it