Taking Buildings & Building Autonomous Community Spaces in Barcelona

Barcelona has been a site of squatting and community building for several decades, and has been especially influential in recent years. In 2009 it was the birthplace of Spain’s PAH (Movement for People Affected by Mortgages), which pursues direct action to stop evictions and secure housing rights. Out of the 2011 “Indignados” movement came Can Batlló, an autonomous community workspace in the city’s Sants district, which was the site of an abandoned factory planned for development. Activists took over this space and have transformed it and held it for four years, building on earlier projects such as the residential community of Can Vies. This year has seen the recuperation of el Ateneo Enciclopedico Popular, a historical free cultural center in the Raval District. Iban Ek and Aina Gallego are longtime Barcelona activists who will discuss these projects and the culture of community that has created them.