reclaiming citiies

7/24/2019 Reclaiming Citiies

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2/21/2016 ROAR Magazine

https://roarmag.org/magazine/rebel-cities-and-the-revanchist-elite/ 1

I u e # 0

A U T H O R

C a r l o D e l c l

R e e l C i t i e a n d t h e

R e v a n c h i t l i t e

R C L A I M I N G T H C I T Y

If municipal platform are to ecome a

tandard earer of ocial jutice and

democrac, autonomou counterpower will

have to e developed from elow.

I

n a world flooded new of

fluctuating market, tagnating

economie, outraged multitude and

0 . U I L D I N G P O W R P A G 1 2
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inurgent violence, it i a if anthing can

park widepread revolt, whether it a mall in

Turke, the price of a metro ticket in razil or

a quat eviction in arcelona.

The imultaneit of thee event oftenocure the voice in the crowd, reducing

them to inditinguihale frequencie in a wall

of noie. Yet, if we tune out of the roader

context of gloal unret and tune in to the

local level at which protet are taking place,

we can hear a common theme underling

them.

That theme i people eeing their ailit to

decide what kind of communitie the want

to live in perverted facele procee that

are far removed from their realit and

unaccountale to it. It i a ituation Marco

Revelli refer to a the new diorder of

gloalization, which refract and divert an

attempt to trace a continuum over the

uniform patialit of the old world great

ditance and national pulic phere. Within

thi diorder, the cit i once again emerging

a the ke terrain in the cartograph ofemancipator truggle.

It wa in a imilar ituation of ocial upheaval

that Henri Lefvre defined the concept of

the right to the cit. In the wildcat general

trike and decentralized occupation of Ma A Y F I L M L O G

U C R I L O G I N

M A G A Z I N

A o u t D i p l a e t t i n g h o p
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3 1 2

1968 in France, the ociologit aw a common

demand for a tranformed and renewed

acce to uran life. Year later, David

Harve revived Lefvre idea, writing that:

For Murra ookchin, thi collective power i

emodied in the hitorical notion of the cit, a

notion that uranization i ultimatel at war

with. In that war, the delierative ocialit of

the politic practiced the cit i detroed

through the impoition of tatecraft a

centralized power, uordinating the ocial

organization of life to the technical logic of

capital.

Revelli complement thi idea when he claim

that the maive infratructure of highwa,

railroad, potal, electric, telegraph and

telephone network recode ocial pace (i.e.,

the phical and non-phical pace of

human interaction) a a pulic pace

T h e r i g h t t o t h e c i t i f a r m o r e t h a n

t h e i n d i v i d u a l l i e r t t o a c c e u r a n

r e o u r c e : i t i a r i g h t t o c h a n g e

o u r e l v e c h a n g i n g t h e c i t . I t i ,

m o r e o v e r , a c o m m o n r a t h e r t h a n a n

i n d i v i d u a l r i g h t , i n c e t h i

t r a n f o r m a t i o n i n e v i t a l d e p e n d

u p o n t h e e x e r c i e o f a c o l l e c t i v e p o w e r

t o r e h a p e t h e p r o c e e o f

u r a n i a t i o n .

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contructed and controlled within the order

of the nation tate.

In oth of thee framework, pulic pace i

conceived a overeign power a the

mooth pace linking node in the gloalcircuit of capital. The optimal tate of that

pulic pace i one in which all of the value

produced within it oundarie adhere to the

norm that ind the capitalit order, while an

alternative form of value i expelled.

Inofar a the nation tate eek tohomogenize the diverit of it population

under a ingle identit, it i the ideal

intitutional form for carring out uch a tak.

Yet the identit that utain a nation tate i a

curiou one: ditant and atracted from dail

life in the local realitie it eek to encompa,

it i ultimatel local to nowhere. Herein lie

the diruptive and emancipator potential of a

radical municipalit politic. Through it

proximit to the realit of cit life, it confront

the tatecraft of the overeign.

C I T I F O R T H C O M M O N G O O D

ince the indignadofirt urt onto the cene

in 2011, pain ha een a laorator for

ottom-up organization and empowerment.

The movement not onl managed to et the

political agenda framing neolieral


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auterit and tructural adjutment a

contrar to aic notion of democrac, ut

alo generated countle neighorhood

aemlie and amplified pre-exiting

aeml-aed movement, uch a the

Plataforma de Afectado por la Hipoteca (the

PAH or Mortgage Victim Platform).

However, the ailit of thee movement to

gather upport from the vat majorit of the

countr population did not tranlate to

much in the wa of intitutional change,

depite their effort to ue all of the formal

mechanim at their dipoal. A people grew

increaingl frutrated with the indifference

of the political cla, man egan to perceive

an intitutional gla ceiling.

A a

reult,

2014 aw

the

emergence of everal radical municipalit

electoral platform that not onl poke the

In pain, 2014 aw theemergence of everalradical municipalitelectoral platform thatnot onl poke thelanguage of the pot-

2011 ocial movement,ut alo contained omeof their mot familiarface.


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language of the pot-2011 ocial movement,

ut alo contained ome of their mot familiar

face. Compoed of prominent activit,

communit organization and ome political

partieut effectivel diolving the

organizational logic of the lattertheir goal

wa to activate citizen control through a

ottom-up politic of proximit and direct

democratic practice.

Thee citizen convergence candidacie

were remarkal ucceful in the 2015

municipal election. In Madrid, arcelona,

Zaragoza, adalona, antiago de Compotela,

Irua, A Corua and the countr

unemploment capital Cdiz, cit

government are currentl run prominent

ocial activit.

Perhap the mot notale example of the new

municipal agenda i arcelona n Com, who

pearheaded the wave of municipalit

candidacie when Ada Colau, the popular

anti-eviction activit, announced that he

would enter electoral politic if it entailed

catalzing a proce of radical citizenparticipation.

The firt tep wa demontrating popular

upport for the idea. Colau aid he would run

onl if the platform (called Guanem or Let

Win arcelona at the time) gathered 30,000


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ignature in upport of the move, with half of

thoe coming from reident of arcelona and

half coming from the ret of the panih tate.

The latter condition wa intended to confirm

the idea reonance in citie eond

arcelona.

In their firt three month in office, arcelona

n Com have alread made a numer of

audaciou move with important political

implication. The alarie of elected arcelona

n Com official were capped at 2,200 per

month (jut over three time time the

minimum wage). For the firt time, citizen

were ale to vote for individual ditrict

repreentative. Monument to notale figure

with tie to the lave trade are eing taken

down and the King of pain likene i et to

e removed from cit hall.

tep are alo eing taken

to preure the regional

and central government

to cloe the cit

immigrant detention

center, and a network ofrefugee citie i eing

etalihed to confront

pain candalou refual

to let people in. Finall, the new cit

government ha challenged the local hotel

and tourim loie, whoe power at the local

In their firt threemonth in office,

arcelona n Comhave alread made a

numer of audacioumove with importantpolitical implication.


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level i difficult to overtate, introducing a

one-ear an on new tourit accommodation

a well a appling heav fine to unlicened

tourit apartment and promoting their

converion into ocial houing.

Cruciall, the new cit government are

taking tep to avoid acting a mere iland of

reitance in a hotile tate. To mark their firt

one-hundred da in office, their maor met

in arcelona for a two-da encounter and

workhop called Citie for the Common Good:

Winning haring xperience of Change.

The event wa attended thouand and

culminated in the deciion to form a network

that will not onl work to reolve municipal

iue ut alo confront other level of

government.

On the econd da of the encounter, working

group were et up to tackle technical iue

related to governing a municipalit and

opening up opportunitie for temic change,

a necear tep given that the vat majorit of

the new repreentative have little to no

experience in intitutional politic. The majortheme of thee eion included fomenting

citizen participation, ocial innovation,

tranparenc and accountailit through

pulic hearing, popular conultation and

citizen initiative.


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Participator udget were another major

goal expreed the repreentative. We

need to turn excitement and common ene

into concrete, pecific action, aid the maor

of Corua Xulio Ferreiro, who argued that

the reel maor hould e the pole of a

political vanguard that project the

municipal viion on a gloal cale.


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A N U P H I L L A T T L

The goal epoued the radical municipal

government in pain are certainl amitiou.

Their firt one hundred da in office have

een characterized a promiing pragmatic


11/21



approach to implementing a old polic

program coupled with the occaional

flamoant geture, like Jo Mara Kichi

Gonzlez replacing a painting of the King of

pain in the maor office with one of Fermn

alvochea, the nineteenth-centur anarchit

maor of Cdiz.

ut the

challenge facing cit government are man.Again, the cae of arcelona n Com i

illutrative. Le than a week after election,

the upper rank of the cit police handed in

their reignation. The were upet that one of

the new cit government main

repreentative i Jaume Aen, a prominent

human right lawer who ha helped

proecute Catalonia igget corruption

candal, uncovered cae of torture cit

police and frequentl defended quatter, ex

worker, anarchit, participant in the Gaza

freedom flotilla and Guantanamo prioner.

A a political move, it wa remarkal imilar

to the New York police union action

againt Maor ill De laio, whoe relativel

mild remark regarding the murder of ric

Garner were le flattering than what police

have ecome accutomed to hearing from

The challenge facingpain radical citgovernment are man.


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elected official.

Moreover, the are alo facing an intenel

hotile media landcape dominated media

group who clearl ide with the

etalihment. The mot widel readnewpaper in arcelona i the conervative

dailLa Vanguardia, which elong to

pain oldet media holding, the Grupo

God. Primaril controlled the famil of

the Count of God, the group alo own a

tremendou portion of the Catalan televiion

channel and radio tation.

The ret of the cit media landcape i

ditriuted among the etalihed panih

media group. Meanwhile, independent media

outlet have mall audience fragmented

diverging opinion on the new

repreentative deciion to enter intitutional

politic.

Finall like mot of the radical municipal

platform, arcelona n Com are currentl

governing the cit from a minorit poition,

meaning that man of their deciion mut e

approved the other partie in order to e

implemented. Though the radical left pro-

independence Candidatura dUnitat Popular

(CUP) i otenil an all, the do not hold

enough eat to make a majorit. Thu, an

deciion mut count with the upport of at


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leat one etalihment part.

All of thee diadvantage were on dipla

during a revealing dipute that took place

during the ummer of 2015. In the week

following the new government inauguration,arcelona main commercial and touritic

area aw an increaing preence of African

treet vendor, pecificall in part of the cit

where the were previoul le viile. It i

unclear whether thi increae wa impl due

to a higher numer of tourit (their main

clientele) or if, a ome treet vendor have

claimed, cit police told them to ell in thee

area.

Over the following week, the Grupo God

ran dail report portraing the ituation a

the reult of a chaotic tranfer of power. Thi

wa not the firt time the had done thi. The

lat time a left-wing coalition governed

arcelona,La Vanguardiaran a erie of

front-page torie depicting treet vendor,

protitute, homele people and quatter a a

prolem of ocial hgiene and uran and

moral deca.

Their narrative wa a paradigmatic example

of what the geographer Neil mith refer to a

the revanchit cit, a vengeful reaction of

elite againt the uppoed theft of the cit,

characterized a deperate defene of a


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challenged phalanx of privilege, cloaked in

the populit language of civic moralit, famil

value and neighourhood ecurit.

Againt the reaction of the

cit revanchit elite,ociall marginalized

group have practicall no

collective voice.

Againt thi reaction,

ociall marginalized

group have practicall no collective voice.To defend their interet, the are forced to

delegate political action and rel primaril on

the protet and pulic tatement of activit

and NGO, who are often ditant from the

ocial realitie of the population targeted

ocial cleaning.

Further complicating the ituation, the lack of

contact and enormou gap etween the

realitie experienced African treet

vendor and average citizen ha allowed

inidiou mth to take root in ociet and

proliferate unchallenged. The mot perniciou

of thee i the idea that treet vending

network are controlled o-called mafia,

a notion that i frequentl parroted in the

media aed purel on anecdotal claim.

Coupled with their lack of elf-repreentation,

thi make it epeciall difficult for the treet

Againt the reaction of

the cit revanchitelite, ociall

marginalized grouphave practicall no

collective voice.


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vendor and imilarl marginalized group to

advance a counter-hegemonic narrative

concerning their work, much le engage in

meaningful collective argaining.

Nonethele, arcelona n Com repondedto the conflict with a tematic effort to look

for a ocial repone to the prolem faced

treet vendor, a oppoed to a police

repone to the prolem of pulic order

decried the media and the police. The

convened a negotiating tale that rought

together cit police, ocial organization,

activit, NGO and treet vendor to look for

a jut olution. It wa the firt time treet

vendor were recognized a legitimate

interlocutor the pulic adminitration.

Their effort, however, were motl drowned

out the hotile rhetoric of theetalihment pre.

When no agreement wa reached at the

negotiating tale, the conflict dragged on.

Then on Augut 11, a enegalee treet vendor

named Mor lla died under quetionale

circumtance during a police operation inalou. The conflict ecalated dramaticall and

a riot roke out in the center of the touritic

town.

Intead of reponding to the tene ocial

climate thi generated relaxing preure on


16/21



treet vendor, arcelona police continued to

act aggreivel, reulting in everal clahe.

Finall, when a cuffle roke out in a central

metro tation and ome vendor reponded

throwing rock at the police, four police were

injured, a well a four vendor and one

tander. Diappointingl, arcelona n

Com reponded deploing riot police in

the cit center to diuade the vendor from

gathering in the area where the had een

working.

T H P O W R O F L F -

R P R N T A T I O N

The ucce of the revanchit campaign

againt African treet vendor outline the real

ditriution of power in a major cit. With no

majorit, a hotile media landcape and a

tatu quo in which the dominant ocial

norm utain an unjut ocial order, even a

government made up of ocial activit with

ear of experience in ottom-up organizing

and civil dioedience can e puhed to make

deciion that reinforce the order the eek to

uvert.

Perhap mot unettling i the ailit of the

police to condition the political agenda. The

potentiall diatrou repercuion of

allowing the police to impoe it own ideolog

on governing intitution cannot e


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overtated.

If

arcelona i to ecome, a arcelona n

Com tate in their program, a tandard

earer of ocial jutice and democrac, thi

cannot e achieved decree. Autonomou

counterpower mut e developed to

challenge dominant cultural framework and

force the cit government to advance the

interet of it mot marginalized reident.

In the revanchit cit, thee reident areoverwhelmingl thoe whoe povert i

criminalized: ex worker, treet vendor, the

homele, treet artit, mall drug offender,

addict and o on. There i a preing need for

autonomou platform that allow the

aforementioned collective to repreent

themelve without having to delegate theircollective voice to other. A roader

movement for the right to the cit could alo

e a tep forward. However, it i alo poile

that uch a movement would end up

aoring marginalized voice in an attempt

to link them with middle-cla interet.

If arcelona i toecome a tandard

earer of ocial juticeand democrac, thicannot e achieved decree.


18/21



Another critical challenge i the media

landcape. Independent media have een

ucceful in periodicall reaking important

torie. ut the have not een o ucceful

in promoting a counter-hegemonic narrative

eond their limited audience. uch a

narrative, or erie of narrative, will need a

much tronger foothold in the media

landcape if the are to produce and utain a

cultural hift.

Thankfull, promiing initiative are emerging

in arcelona. The firt i a elf-organized

network that watche over the area mot

favored treet vendor, filming their

interaction with police to prevent aue andchallenge duiou police report. The econd

i a coalition of neighorhood aemlie and

local migrant right collective that i

working to amplif the voice of the treet

vendor themelve through elf-organized

local event in the cit center.

I G N U P F O R O U R

N W L T T R

The latet content

in our inox.

U C R I D O N A T

H L P U T A I N R O A R M A G A Z I N

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Independent media have een working with

thee platform, dimantling the maintream

media toxic narrative through rigorou

invetigative journalim. The have alo

received the occaional ump from arcelona

n Com utantial preence on the ocial

network and een their meage echoed in

cit hall oth arcelona n Com and

CUP.

It i ea to e dicouraged the uphill attle

of the new municipalit platform. ut it i

important to keep in mind that the current

ituation wa unimaginale in pain four

ear ago. Toda, expectation are highand

it i a good time to e audaciou.

M O R

>

C a r l o D e l c l

C a r l o D e l c l i a o c i o l o g i t , r e e a r c h e r a n d

e d i t o r f o r R O A R M a g a z i n e . H i r e e a r c h

i n t e r e t i n c l u d e i n t e r n a t i o n a l m i g r a t i o n ,

o c i a l t r a t i f i c a t i o n , f e r t i l i t , u r a n o c i o l o g ,

o c i a l m o v e m e n t a n d c u l t u r a l t h e o r .

N X T M A G A Z I N A R T I C L
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ecurit

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imagination providing graroot perpective

from the front-line of the gloal truggle for

real democrac.

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