Each different level acts independently, making the decisions that affect its section, local Union, industrial federation, territorial confederation or whatever without outside instructions. In this way, its autonomy is limited only by voluntary belonging to a confederal organisation which covers a larger area, obliging them by their own choice to respect the agreements and compromises which are mutually arrived at.

This does not avoid the existence of conflicts or tensions. Although it may be uncomfortable, the CGT is closer to difficult diversity rather than monotonous and boring plain homogeneity. Perhaps that is because free choice by force gives rise to discrepancies and dissidence, and because our style is not that of stifling opinions through discipline or internal executive decisions. We try to settle conflicts amongst ourselves through common sense and respecting the discrepant parts. Many times we achieve this, other times we don't.

This is because we press for a libertarian and anarchist spirit and tradition. That is why we talk about --and try to put into practice-- federal relationships, self-government or "that everyone is capable of resolving their own affairs"; solidarity when our own strength is not enough; direct action to solve our own problems without intermediaries; autonomy with respect to political parties and religions; respect --of course!-- towards the different opinions which coexist within the organisation; the need to share with the whole world our desires to fight; and our true desire to transform this unjust society. All of this, and a few other things, are what enliven libertarians, anarchosyndicalists, revolutionary syndicalists and rebels. These are what we are.

One last question: Where will this revolutionary battle take place? There isn't one single answer, as the battlefield is everywhere and in everything. Wherever there is injustice, someone must intervene. And we make this point because, as we like to say, "we are more than just a Union." We are, in the CGT, in essence a Union, an organisation that acts in the world of labour. But the problems we face are not just in the world of labour, nor is only the classical worker --if this concept still exists-- the only one to have a right to a place amongst us. Syndicalists, conscientious objectors and draft dodgers, anti-authoritarians, anti-sexists, ecologists, ..., each and every one of them has their role, without "revolutionary specialisation," conscious that the job of transforming society is everywhere.

With these few lines we are not trying --nor have we achieved-- anything beyond a brief approximation of what is CGT is. Definitions tend to be of little use, and that's why we won't go into much depth here. Above and beyond what we say about ourselves, we are what we are, which means that the CGT is nothing more than the sum of a him over there, a her here, a them there ... and you, fellow Spanish worker, if you are game to it.

Leaving behind these introductions, we live in a period of time that deserves mention. A time of change, to be certain, built on new technological possibilities, and on an aggressive policy of those who are in power and have the money and power to make decisions. All of this met by striking passivity maintained by official Trade Unions, and on a sense of powerlessness that has spread throughout society.

We live in a richer and richer society with more and more poor. Every day wakes up with more material possibilities to improve the lifestyle of the majority, but in reality when night falls this lifestyle is always a little more intimidated. The so-called neo-liberal arguments establish productivity and profit as its sole aims, belittling the hard-won social conquests or the need to provide a living space for the people.

Unfortunately, the trade unions are not totally innocent. The still recent signatures of the new labour reform in Spain as well as the modification of the pension system makes it clear that the reformist unions in Spain, CCOO (Communist) and UGT (Socialist) are willing to accept whatever breadcrumbs that big business is willing to through to them. They do nothing to mobilise workers or to demonstrate their social strength. And when we do manage to get them moving a bit, experience shows that they limit themselves to artificial fireworks to justify themselves, then willingly accept frozen salaries as was recently shown in the case of civil servants.

There is, of course, another way of doing things. We invite you to join us in it. We must be strong and show the real strength we have. We must fight against the neo-liberal policies that thwart workers. Official photographs and speeches are not the right forum: we must massively organise our strength in order to best negotiate. Social solidarity must be recovered: that little voice that tells us we must be present in all struggles in which the wellbeing of the majority is present. There are no private or separate cases: my fight doesn't finish in the four walls of my workplace. The fight over there is mine, old-age pensions are a struggle for the youth, the war against unemployment is also one of more or less stable workers.

This is where we stand and this is our invitation to Spanish workers and, indirectly, to workers, to the precariously employed, to household workers, to all the oppressed around the world.