Abstract
This chapter focuses on small cultural collectives and interventions that have emerged in Spanish cities after the 15M with the objective of recovering the “public” in public space. Saltzman characterizes the diverse forms of grassroots activism (from those that have a fixed space to those that are nomadic) and shows how they organize themselves and operate in rhizomatic ways (Deleuze and Guatarri). Subsequently, she zooms in on one nomadic intervention in particular—#femPlaça [#LetsMakeThePlaza], which occurs monthly in a gentrified plaza in Barcelona. Without obtaining the required municipal permission, the participants (activists, random passersby, immigrants and children) practice everyday activities together (eating, drinking, sitting and playing) to raise awareness about the social cohesion, diversity and history that are lost with the neoliberalization of public space.
This chapter is a result of many ongoing conversations. Me gustaría agradecer profundamente a Daniel, Alberto Corsín Jiménez, Elena Guim, David Juárez y Miquel Reñé por su paciente respuesta a mis preguntas.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, social centers in Italy and Germany were particularly influential on Spain’s early okupa movement (Rubio Pueyo).
- 2.
Adolfo Estella and Alberto Corsín Jiménez define a prototype as ‘a socio-technical design characterized by the openness of its underlying technical and structural sources, including, for example, access to its code, its technical and design specifications, and documentary and archival registries’ (np).
- 3.
I refer to the “political” in the way Jacques Rancière conceptualizes it in Disagreement and “10 Theses on Politics.” From these texts, I interpret the “political” as anything that intervenes in “the normal order of things,” exposing a social difference and inequality (Disagreement 12).
- 4.
The PAH (Afectados por la Hipoteca) is a highly organized and successful social movement fighting for vivienda digna (fair housing policies). The PAH has spread nationally and stopped over 2000 eviction cases, as noted by afectadosporlahipoteca.com.
- 5.
The 15M gave way to around one dozen different grassroots mareas (tides). Each marea is defined by a color and a thematic political objective (e.g. white: to stop government austerity measures; green: to protect public education; blue: to advocate for clean water).
- 6.
By politically confrontational/direct I refer to those movements whose organizers consciously attempt to communicate with political leaders to transform policy.
- 7.
Pla Buits (Empty Plans) is a municipal response to grassroots collectives’ and neighborhood associations’ increasing demands for public use of the abandoned urban spaces. Pla Buits requires that the collectives apply and compete for these spaces by proposing a detailed public use and maintenance plan. The City Council then grants temporary land use to about one dozen of these collectives (Reñé; “Pla Buits”).
- 8.
From interviews I conducted from 2012–2018, it seems that most funding for these projects comes from either municipal or European Union competitions, while national funding rarely exists.
- 9.
See Corsín Jiménez and Estella.
- 10.
Due to word limit, I left out much of the material, inanimate realm of this less-confrontational activism (e.g. graffiti, campaign posters, flyers, signs from balconies), which, as generally ephemeral and rhizomatic, could be conceptualized as “mobile” interventions of semiotic value. In addition, I also excluded the official cultural institutions that address socio-spatial inclusion (the Federations of Neighborhood Associations, youth centers, museums, Medialab, Matadero, City Council departments, etc.) because they tend to be partially managed by salaried workers. Nonetheless, these two realms also engage with the activities described above.
- 11.
The information in this paragraph derives from the abundance of research on the “Barcelona Model” and the neoliberalization of spatial and cultural politics in Barcelona from the 1970s to the 1990s. See Capel, Delgado and Borja (for an empirical overview); McNeill (social movements and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán); Heeren (specifically on Ciutat Vella); Resina (Catalan identity and twentieth-century literature); Illas (macro-ideological confluences and culture); and Balibrea (political study through film and sports). (My apologies for this abbreviated list that grossly oversimplifies their significant contributions.)
- 12.
“Superblocks” are a municipal experiment to limit vehicle traffic and parking within convening blocks to encourage citizen use of public space and reduce pollution (Ajuntament, “Superilles”).
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Saltzman, M. (2019). Post-15M Grassroots Interventions in and for Public Space: Resurgence in Everyday Forms of Control and Resistance. In: Pereira-Zazo, Ó., Torres, S. (eds) Spain After the Indignados/15M Movement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19435-2_13
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