The Club de los Iguales is a group of men and women with various social, national and professional backgrounds and ideological attitudes, who have been matched "on the level" for their participation in socratic banquets and shared conversations. The Club is an informal group of people who have being gathering together way in several cities as from 2002, at the beginning in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain), then Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao and, more recently, London.As of January 2020, the following uses and customs that have formed out of the Club’s social practice:
1.-The Cenacle. The exclusive objective of the Club is to organize periodically during the months of September to June a Cenacle with a guest with a view of having a polite, but lively conversation, on topics of common interest.
2.-The Conveners [1] or Convocantes are the people who manage the reservations, the dinner, select the monthly guests and summon the members of the Club and are in charge of collecting the contributions needed to pay the dinners.
3.-The Custom. The Club does not require an official membership, and is simply comprised of people interested in attending, —without obligation, but with some assiduity — the Cenacles.
4.-The Call. On their own initiative, the Conveners scale up or down the number of the invitees so as to ensuring that the participants in each Cenacle are between fifteen and twenty-five. Calls are made by email and the invitees are not required to explain or justify their absence but, as a matter of curtesy, they are expected to confirm, as soon as possible, their attendance to the relevant Cenacle.
5.-Expenses. The Club does not require the payment of fees and expenses are limited to a pro rata contribution to the monthly guests’ dinner and in some cases their travel or accommodation costs. The incurrence of such additional cost is disclosed in the notice of call.
6.-Punctuality. The Cenacle is convened half an hour before the start of the Dinner so that attendees can greet each other
7.-Forget-me-not. Each dinner finishes, according to the customs of the hosting town, at a specific and [prudent] time, by [imposition] of the distinctive pin of the Club, the blue flower of Forget-me-not (don't forget me)
8.-Courtesy and Freedom. The Club invites as monthly guests people with all kinds of backgrounds, politics, culture, university, business, society, etc., and does so as it considers that they can provide a wide range of viewpoints and information. For the sake of clarity, the invitation does not mean adherence to, or sympathy with, the monthly guests’ ideology or arguments. For this reason, it is not customary for the attendees to applaud and it is strictly forbidden to boo the interventions of the monthly guests. The attendees are expected to be always respectful and grateful to the monthly guests for their generosity in sharing their time with the Club.
9.-Common Sense. The aforementioned rules are not inflexible and can be amended by common sense to ensure consistency with other precepts having or acquiring the force of custom.
10.-We remind you with gratitude. In all these years many people have agreed to share dinner and conversation with us, in the different cities where the Club meets; we cannot mention everyone but some of the best known: Joseba Arregi, (UPV), Ramón Jauregui, Alfonso Alonso, Mayor Oreja, Valentín Diaz (TVE), Patxi López (Lehendakari), José Luis Sanz (paleontoloy), Ginés Morata (CSIC), Alfredo Melgar, Ilia Galán (Universidad Carlos III), Amelia Valcárcel (Consejo de Estado), Ouka Lele , Javier Gomá (Fundación March), Ángel Gabilondo, Javier Maroto, Inma Shara (Orchestra conductor), Marisa Gallero, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, Karmele Jaio, Mario Onaindia, Fernando Savater, Enrique Tierno (son), Aitor Esteban, Josean Fernández, Pepe Oneto, Eugenia Salaverri, Marzenna Adamczyk (Ambassador of Poland in Spain), José Antonio Pérez Tapias , Luis de Lezama (Pbro.), Luisa Etxenike, Antón Perez-Iriondo ( Cuatrecasas Lawyers), Arantza Quiroga, Cristina Almeida, José Antonio Pagola (theologian), Mike Kennedy (Los Bravos), Juan Carlos Girauta, Jesús Cacho, Dr. Rafael Matesanz (National Transplant Organization), José Luis Cobos, Aintzane Ezenarro, Nicolás Sartorius, Juan Ignacio Vidarte (Guggengheim Bilbao), Antxon Urrosolo, Joseba Lakarra (Euskaltzaindia), Eugenia Salaverrri, Francisco Echeberría (forensic anthropologist), Daniel Kutner (Ambassador of Israel), Helena Pimenta (Compañía Nacional Teatro Clásico), Inocencio Arias...
21 February 2020. "The Oak of London"Notting Hill.