dez
4th April 2013, 02:27
http://www.vice.com/read/spains-robin-hood-prefers
In 2008, anticapitalist campaigner Enric Durán borrowed €492,000 ($642,306) from 39 different financial entities with absolutely no hope or intention of paying it back. But—as you might expect from an anti-capitalist campaigner—he didn't spend it all on diamond kitchen knives and luxury frisbees. Instead, he ploughed it into a number of unspecified anti-capitalist causes and spent the rest on Crisi, a free newspaper that detailed how he'd done what he did and urged others to do the same.
That display of reckless Robin Hoodery turned him into a hero overnight, but the one problem with becoming a hero through questionably legal means is that, for whatever reason, the police feel like they have to go and lock you up for it. Enric spent two months in jail in 2011 and was released pending trial, which was set for earlier this month. His minimum sentence would be eight years, which might explain why he refused to attend the first trial dates, prompting a warrant to be put out for his arrest.
I’ve been trying to interview Enric for a couple of years now, but—as the 14 financial entities currently trying to send him to jail for embezzlement can attest—he’s kind of a tough guy to get a hold of. After countless emails, we eventually set up a Skype date. That too got pushed back by three hours, but I guess when you're trying to implement a complete overthrow of the capitalist system you don't see time in quite the same way as everyone else. When we eventually got to chatting, we spoke about fucking the banks, his theory of civil disobedience, and his latest project: the creation of a completely autonomous town on the outskirts of Barcelona.
In 2008, anticapitalist campaigner Enric Durán borrowed €492,000 ($642,306) from 39 different financial entities with absolutely no hope or intention of paying it back. But—as you might expect from an anti-capitalist campaigner—he didn't spend it all on diamond kitchen knives and luxury frisbees. Instead, he ploughed it into a number of unspecified anti-capitalist causes and spent the rest on Crisi, a free newspaper that detailed how he'd done what he did and urged others to do the same.
That display of reckless Robin Hoodery turned him into a hero overnight, but the one problem with becoming a hero through questionably legal means is that, for whatever reason, the police feel like they have to go and lock you up for it. Enric spent two months in jail in 2011 and was released pending trial, which was set for earlier this month. His minimum sentence would be eight years, which might explain why he refused to attend the first trial dates, prompting a warrant to be put out for his arrest.
I’ve been trying to interview Enric for a couple of years now, but—as the 14 financial entities currently trying to send him to jail for embezzlement can attest—he’s kind of a tough guy to get a hold of. After countless emails, we eventually set up a Skype date. That too got pushed back by three hours, but I guess when you're trying to implement a complete overthrow of the capitalist system you don't see time in quite the same way as everyone else. When we eventually got to chatting, we spoke about fucking the banks, his theory of civil disobedience, and his latest project: the creation of a completely autonomous town on the outskirts of Barcelona.