MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN - From Barcelona to Madrid, and Beyond By Vicente Rubio-Pueyo - Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN ROSA From Barcelona to Madrid, and Beyond LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG NEW YORK OFFICE By Vicente Rubio-Pueyo
Table of Contents
A Sea Change in the Politics of Spain (and Beyond). By the Editors.............................................1
Municipalism in Spain
From Barcelona to Madrid, and Beyond.....................................................................................2
By Vicente Rubio-Pueyo
Historical Antecedents.................................................................................................................4
The Municipalist Method and Guanyem Barcelona................................................................6
Municipalist Confluences Across Spain.....................................................................................8
Between Urgency and Transformation...................................................................................9
Overflow and Electoral Success................................................................................................11
The Feminization of Politics......................................................................................................13
Debt, Recovery of Social Rights, and Re-municipalization.....................................................14
Towards a New Urban Model..................................................................................................15
A Democratic City: Participation and Governance................................................................17
“Culture Wars”.............................................................................................................................17
International and National Networks.......................................................................................18
The Shape of a Left to Come?.....................................................................................................19
Power in Experimentation.........................................................................................................21
Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, December 2017.
City Series, #4
Editors: Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg
Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114, New York, NY 10016
Email: info@rosalux-nyc.org; Phone: +1 (917) 409-1040
With support from the German Foreign Office.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution
for civic education. In cooperation with many organizations around the globe, it works on democratic
and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social
development, and peaceful conflict resolution.
The New York Office serves two major tasks: to work around issues concerning the United Nations and
to engage in dialogue with North American progressives in universities, unions, social movements,
and politics.
ww w .r osal u x - n yc.or g
A Sea Change in the Politics of Spain (and Beyond)
In Spain’s municipal elections of May 2015, a constellation of new political forces emerged. For the
first time in almost 40 years of Spanish democracy, the country’s major cities would no longer be
ruled by either the Partido Popular (PP) or the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), or any of the
other long established political forces, but by new “Municipalist Confluences” such as Ahora Madrid,
Barcelona en Comú, and Cadiz Si Se Puede, to name just a few.
While each of these Municipalist Confluences is the product of specific local contexts, with their own
languages, traditions, and cultures, together they represent the possibility of a sea change in the pol-
itics of Spain and beyond. Especially in light of the existence of a strong, post-Francoist right, which
has committed itself to the “culture war” of Spanish nationalism, these confluences point toward the
possibility of creating a new political subject capable of breaking the impasse that has characterized
so much of national politics in the age of austerity.
Bringing together political parties new and old, nationwide movements and hyper-local social ini-
tiatives, as well as a mass of disaffected voters with long-organized neighborhood groups, these
confluences are a sort of radical experiment conducted at the municipal level. They have not only
restructured established political processes and practices, but also shifted notions of power in order
to grant traditionally underrepresented groups, including women, access to the political domain.
The election of Ada Colau is a case in point. As the first woman to hold the office of Mayor of Barce-
lona, Colau’s political work highlights the connections between gender equality and other forms of
social, political, and economic justice.
Author Vicente Rubio-Pueyo is a professor at Fordham University. He has written extensively, both
in academic contexts and in the press, on the current social and political conjuncture in Spain, and
on political forces including Podemos and the Municipalist Confluences. A Spaniard living in the US
for more than ten years now, Vicente has also been active in building connections and mutual under-
standing between these forces and their counterparts in North America.
In this excellent study—the forth piece of our office’s “City Series”—he analyzes the Municipalist
Confluences, how they came to be, and where they can take politics in Spain and beyond. Drawing on
a deep knowledge of history, combined with astute theoretical and political analysis, Rubio-Pueyo
provides an international audience with everything it needs to know about municipalism in Spain.
His work brings us up to the minute, and is sure to have value for years to come.
Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg
Co-Directors of New York Office, December 2017
1
Municipalism in Spain
From Barcelona to Madrid, and Beyond
By Vicente Rubio-Pueyo
The 2017 Catalan independence referendum Despite much international noise about the
has been called “undemocratic,” a “power grab,” worst constitutional crisis in Spain’s post-Fran-
and even a “coup d’état” in international media. coist history, the historical relevance of the
No matter the specific terminology, the referen- Municipalist Confluences predates the most
dum as well as the dispute over its democratic recent events in Catalonia. The tensions be-
legitimacy indicate that Spanish political culture tween parallel nationalist projects in Spain,
is undergoing a deep transformation. with their particular articulation as territorial
conflicts, can be traced back to the 1970s. Ever
However, the timing of Catalonia’s move to- since, the debate over nationalism versus in-
ward secession from Spain was not coinciden- dependence has structured Spanish political
tal. Two years earlier, during the May 2015 mu- discourse, thus effectively foreclosing other
nicipal elections, a series of new political forces important conversations concerning economic
had emerged that were aligned with neither of and social justice. Stuck between the options of
the two major parties in Spain. For the first nationalism or secession, it became clear that
time in the almost forty years of Spanish de- a third position—in support of Catalonia’s right
mocracy, the major cities in the country were to self-determination albeit not under the form
no longer going to be ruled by either the Parti- of the current referendum—was much need-
do Popular (PP) or the Partido Socialista Obre- ed, but that it could not be achieved through
ro Español (PSOE), or any of the other long es- popular mobilization in the streets alone.
tablished political forces, but by “Municipalist
Confluences” such as Ahora Madrid, Barcelona Like the rise of Podemos, the emergence of
en Comú, and Cádiz Sí Se Puede, to name just the Municipalist Confluences is very much re-
a few. lated to popular street protests and the po-
litical climate of 2011 with its anti-austerity
Located outside the basic bipartisan structure movements, most importantly Movimiento
of the Spanish political system, the appearance 15M, also known as Movimiento de los Indig-
of the Municipalist Confluences represents nados (Indignant Movement). While Podemos
an alternative in a political landscape that is may be considered the most powerful initia-
marked by a long-standing tension between tive of the time, it does not exist in isolation.
the centralist Spanish state on the one hand Indeed, in some cases, such as in Barcelona,
and a number of nationalist or “independen- the discussions towards building a munici-
tist” projects on the other. The confluences are palist force started well before Podemos was
the products of specific local contexts, with launched. Yet, both Podemos and munici-
their own languages, traditions, and cultures, palism should be considered translations of
and their composition is the result of a highly the 2011 popular movements into the insti-
dynamic geometry of different political forces tutional political domain, with each initiative
and elements. following its own particular strategy. One of
2VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
Image 1: Map of Municipalist Confluences, as of February 2015. Source: Diagonal.
the most important differences between the mobilization in the streets. As a result, not
two political forces is that Podemos, for var- only activist circles but also a majority of the
ious reasons—including lack of energy and less politically active population began to feel
resources for developing local party candida- disenchanted. Despite the massive sympathy
cies—focused its energy overwhelmingly on towards the 15M movement and its demands
the national and regional levels. But Podemos (which received the support of around 80%
was also aware that processes “of confluence” of the Spanish population, according to polls
were already in place at the local level, and in at the time), and after having witnessed the
many cases later sought to join them. most intense mobilizations in decades, the
street protests had been unable to stop the
The process of “confluence” took off at the end austerity measures of the People’s Party’s
of 2013, at a moment when many of the par- government. It was then that many activists
ticipants in the movements of 2011 were ex- and political networks began to talk about the
periencing a generalized sense of exhaustion. possibility of an “institutional assault.”
An increase in police repression and prose-
cution—manifested, for example, in the “Gag This “institutional assault” relied on three dis-
Law,” which heavily penalized non-permitted tinct approaches. In chronological order, the
demonstrations and other forms of public ac- first one was the techno-political approach
tivism—underlined the obstacles in achieving favored by Red Ciudadana / Partido X (Cit-
meaningful political change through popular izen Network / X-Party), which was an initial
3VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
attempt to translate the open methods and ilar technical innovations), which were later
post-ideological elements of the internet cul- incorporated by the other new political forc-
ture into principles for political organization. es. The second one was the municipalist ap-
Although not very successful politically—it proach discussed here, which was first devel-
gained only 100,000 votes in the European oped in Barcelona, where it took the form of
elections, in which Podemos surged—and citizen manifestos. The last approach was the
now revamped as a citizen’s rights and anti- populist hypothesis of Podemos, launched
corruption network, Red Ciudadana / Partido in January 2014, which has now become the
X served as a sort of laboratory for the devel- third political force in the country alongside
opment of online participatory tools (and sim- the PP and PSOE.
Historical Antecedents
If municipalism in Spain seems to have ap- the crisis and the austerity measures that have
peared for the first time in the specific con- swept the country since 2008. It calls for fast
juncture emerging from 15M, and as only one solutions to the crises in housing, public health-
among several political possibilities, its concep- care, and public education in the short term. En
tual and historical roots reach far deeper. común, referencing the now widely known con-
cept of the commons, stands for a much broad-
Conceptually speaking, Bookchin’s “Libertarian er political imaginary based on a recovery of a
Municipalism,” Lefebvre’s “Right to the City,” or basic sense of politics in the long term. Politics en
Harvey’s “Rebel Cities” are frequently invoked común is an activity not separated from the peo-
when describing municipalism’s theoretical ple, but one where citizens’ participation consti-
framework. However, even if these concepts tutes the cornerstone of the political process.
are part of a widely shared political vocabu-
lary among many movement participants, they Historically speaking, local and municipal pol-
cannot be applied mechanically but need to be itics have always occupied an essential place
adapted to specific political situations and col- within Spanish political structure. Throughout
lective visions. Indeed, to pretend that these the 19th and early 20th centuries, municipal-
concepts served as some sort of ready-made ism—to varying degrees in combination with
formula would be a case of idealism. On the anarchist and federalist traditions—has shaped
contrary, it is precisely under the light of a spe- many social and political initiatives. As a radical
cific political situation that certain concepts, tra- democratic project that has attempted to rede-
ditions, languages and methods acquire a new fine the structure of the state, it has pushed a
and fruitful sense. bottom-up federalist model with the munici-
pality as its basic political unit. As such, munic-
Ahora en Común (Now In Common) have been ipalism poses a challenge not only to centralist
the keywords that gave name to the new polit- tendencies, but because of its focus on econom-
ical formations of municipalism. They express ic questions, democracy, and its appeal to the
both a sense of urgency and a long-term polit- working classes, it also remains distinct from
ical vision. Ahora refers to the immediate need the often bourgeois-driven nationalist projects
for the recovery of basic social rights affected by that have emerged, for example, in Catalonia
4VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
and the Basque Country in the late 19th centu- periences over the past few decades. This is es-
ry. Municipalism represents a real alternative to pecially true in Catalonia, where the density of
what Ortega once called Spain’s perpetual “in- municipalism’s social fabric, associative texture,
vertebrate” condition—one rooted in democrat- and cultural identity brought about multiple lo-
ic and egalitarian concerns rather than merely cal candidacies. While many of these have been
territorial ones. active since the Seventies, they have also proven
capable of adapting to new waves of mobiliza-
While local politics condensed many of the lines tion and influences. Taking the form of candi-
of conflict that traversed the country—monar- daturas de unidad popular (popular unity can-
chy vs. republic, centralism vs. federalism, bour- didacies),3 these initiatives gave birth to the left
geoisie vs. proletariat, and formal democracy independentist party of the same name (CUP),
vs. radical democracy1—municipalism offered which played a crucial role in the discussions
other options. surrounding the referendum in Catalonia.
During the so-called Transition (ca. 1973 to Aside from these historical references, the
1982), local, self-organized initiatives sprang up emergence of municipalism in Spain is also
everywhere, fighting for access to basic social linked to other, more immediate problems,
rights and services like housing, sewage, health- which Spanish cities have been facing recently.
care, and education at the neighborhood and According to authors like Isidro López and Em-
community level. They were the more practical, manuel Rodriguez, much has to do with the ef-
locally anchored counterparts to the broader fects of globalization. After Spain had joined the
anti-Francoist movement. This network of orga- European Economic Community in 1986, and
nizations and initiatives undoubtedly played an later the European Union, the Spanish Econom-
important role in the first municipal elections of ic Model became inscribed into the international
the new Spanish democracy in 1979, in which the labor market, so that the Spanish economy now
left—that is, a coalition of PSOE and the Commu- depended mainly on the real estate, construc-
nist Party of Spain—won the major cities of the tion, and tourism sectors, which gave primacy to
country. Ultimately, this electoral success proved finance capital and the banks.
to be bittersweet, however, because it marked
the beginning of a process of cooptation of the This, alongside the need of cities to establish
movement and an increasing deactivation of its their place within the flow of international cap-
initiatives. In addition, the achievements of some ital, had a massive impact on urban develop-
of the movements’ demands as well as reforms ment. Investing heavily in infrastructure and real
in the local administration, alongside the profes- estate, an urban model emerged based on the
sionalization of many of the movement’s cadres, construction of spectacular architecture, often
soon gave way to a more technocratic approach in response to large-scale events, such as inter-
to neighborhood concerns and demands.2 national exhibitions or conventions. The trans-
formation of Barcelona in the lead-up to the
As a specific strategy towards local electoral Olympic Games of 1992 is probably the most
politics, municipalism has gathered many ex- famous case, and in a way it became the mod-
el for other cities in Spain that pursued a glo-
1 Observatorio Metropolitano de Madrid. 2014. La apues- balized, cosmopolitan, and neoliberal model of
ta municipalista. La democracia empieza en lo cercano.
Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.
2 Manuel Castells’ classic The City and the Grassroots. A 3 Gema Ubasart. 2012. “Municipalismo alternativo y pop-
Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements de- ular. ¿Hacia una consolidación de las tesis del nuevo
votes one of its chapters to Madrid’s neighborhood localismo y la politización del mundo local?” Revista de
movement. Estudios Políticos 157: 135-162.
5VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
urban design: The steel from the navy yards of different levels of administration (local, region-
once-industrial Bilbao was forged into the shiny al, and national), combined with the pressure
curves of the Guggenheim Museum in 1997; Va- exerted by the financial interests in real estate,
lencia opened a costly City for the Arts and Sci- led to systemic corruption. This was visible
ences in 1998; Zaragoza built new bridges and mostly through the establishment of what be-
pavilions for an International Exhibition in 2008; came known as “growth machines”—“virtuous”
and many other cities opened their own muse- circles created out of city dependency on rezon-
ums, convention centers, or sports stadiums. ing as a main source of direct income, in which
These are only the most visible signs of a more financial interests align with local political and
profound urban transformation that involved economic elites under the pretext of growth as
the turn to a service economy, the exploitation the ultimate goal. In a way, the growth machines
of migrant labor, the distribution of specialized can be considered a postmodern version of the
economic functions across different parts of the Spanish caciquismo, a form of local oligarchic
city, and, relatedly, the segregation of city neigh- control that is both economic and political in
borhoods according to economic criteria. nature. The results were generalized corruption
and ecological damage as well as a dispropor-
At the same time, the increasing privatization tionate growth of some parts of the city versus
of public programs and services continued. Ma- others.4 These developments found their institu-
drid and Valencia, for example, turned into labo- tional rationale in New Public Management dog-
ratories of a certain Spanish-style neoliberalism mas: outsourcing and privatization of services;
during long-term conservative governments. If individualized outreach to citizens through a
the Spanish administrative structure grants, at customer service approach; stimulation of pub-
least formally, a significant degree of autonomy lic-private partnerships; corporate governance;
to the municipal administration, the overlap of and other tenets of market ideology.
The Municipalist Method and Guanyem Barcelona
Rebel Cities, the Right to the City, the Commons, into political proposals and strategies, these and
the rejection of neoliberal policies toward urban similar initiatives have provided much of the crit-
growth—all these, as well as many other ideas ical analysis and technical knowledge later incor-
and practices, were important ingredients in the porated into the Municipalist Confluences.
formation of the municipalist method. Based on
these frameworks, a number of research initia- While the diversity of local contexts and differ-
tives—such as the Observatorio DESC (Economic, ent forces that are active in each city can make
Social and Cultural Rights Observatory) or activist it difficult to summarize and synthesize the var-
research collectives like the Observatorio Metro- ious processes that have led to the formation of
politano, but also alternative publishing houses the vocabulary and elements of practice exist.5
such as Traficantes de Sueños or self-education
4 For a more detailed account on Spanish economy and
programs like Nociones Comunes—were key to the impact of the 2008 crisis, see López and Rodriguez.
processing and elaborating these theoretical ref- “The Spanish Model.” New Left
Left Review
Review 69,
69, May-June
May-June2011.
2011.
erences. Integrating them with more immediate 5 A good summary can be found in the document How to
Win Back the City En Comú, published by Barcelona en
concerns on the ground and translating them Comú’s International Relations office, March 2016.
6VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
These revolve around the key concepts of conflu- por la Hipoteca (Platform for People Affected by
ence, new leaderships, and overflow (desborde). Mortgages, or PAH), first attempted to answer
this question on the night of the “Guanyem Bar-
Two main purposes animated the use of the con- celona” citizen platform launch in September
fluence method. On the one hand, there was the 2014 by asking back: “¿Qui Som?” (Who are we?)
intention to provide an organizational form that
was able to remain open not only to parties and Colau’s question succinctly summarizes a whole
organizations, but also to ordinary citizens. In set of intersecting social issues driving the ac-
this sense, the confluence tries to move beyond tivities and demands of this Guanyem initiative:
the logic of the usual electoral coalition, which women underrepresented in the political domain
is based on the assumption that the sum of its but overrepresented in the invisible labor of care;
parts is an immediate given and in which only neighbors fighting for the maintenance of basic
pre-existing organized entities are represented. rights and services; struggling working-class and
The political landscape opened up by the 15M unemployed people taking public transportation
movement deeply questioned this assumption. to precarious jobs or reduced social services of-
If the situation in Spain can be considered a cri- fices; educators and nurses defending basic el-
sis of both shared political narratives and tradi- ements of social welfare; migrants in search for
tional political identities, the logic of the conflu- a more hospitable city without repression and
ence provides the possibility of producing new, detention centers; experienced municipal public
unexpected realignments that are no longer servants demanding a fair and transparent use
structured strictly along a left-right axis. of public institutions and an acknowledgment
of their capacities; diverse familial groupings
On the other hand, the confluences were also denouncing the criminalization of the personal
proposed more specifically as an alternative to choices they made when building their relation-
a more traditional “left front” strategy, which ships; children with specific needs, desires, and
could have driven the new forces back into the imagination; elderly people and retirees hop-
traditional framework. This indicates the pro- ing for an assurance of their well-being and the
found novelty of the confluences as political ini- recognition of their experiences. Bringing these
tiatives and a big part of their appeal was pre- diverse realities and subjectivities together, the
cisely that they went beyond established polit- initial Guanyem Manifesto was aimed at the cre-
ical identities and limits. Without the emerging ation of a “citizen platform” to “rescue democra-
political culture of the 15M movement, these cy” and to create “new instruments of social ar-
processes would likely have followed more tra- ticulation and political intervention where both
ditional itineraries, without achieving such im- people already organized and those who are
portant electoral successes. beginning to mobilize can meet.”
The logic of the confluence also required a re- In terms of new forms of leadership, the im-
thinking of political leadership. Given that the pulse behind the manifesto was “a confluence
demarcation of the political terrain is an attri- candidacy, with a clear winning, majoritarian,
bute of power—and that power has the ability purpose. A candidacy capable of inspiring, and
not only to name reality, but also to structure of being present in neighborhoods, workplaces,
the field and terms of the political debate— cultural milieu, and which can allow us to trans-
when confronted with a new emergent social form institution for the people’s own good.”6
force, power’s first instinct is to ask: “Who are
you, and where do you come from?” Ada Colau,
6 The complete manifesto can be read in Spanish and Cat-
former speaker of the Plataforma de Afectados alan at barcelonaencomu.cat.
7VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
For this reason, Guanyem’s initial proposal ex- Given that the composition of every confluence
cluded political parties and organizations, but candidacy is determined by specific local forces
not the participation of individual party mem- and actors, Ada Colau immediately became a
bers. Later, however, political groupings such leading figure in Barcelona due to her previous
as Podemos, Iniciativa Per Catalunya Verds (Ini- experience in the PAH, which lent her candidacy
tiative for Catalonia Greens), Esquerra Unida I both legitimacy and popularity.
Alternativa (Catalonia’s United Left), and Procés
Constituent (a grassroots assembly movement More significantly, however, this localized ap-
for a new constitution and the right of Catalo- proach gave independent figures and the more
nia to self-determination) became parts of the activist social movement sectors of the conflu-
confluence. Meanwhile, due to unexpectedcir- ence a certain if largely symbolic hegemony of
cumstances, the name of the platform had to the project, which the parties nevertheless ac-
be changed to Barcelona en Comú.7 cepted without question.
Municipalist Confluences Across Spain
This also meant, however, that the political map intense internal crisis, Madrid’s United Left de-
was different in other places, where the conflu- cided not to join, although most of the young-
ences took on different forms. In Madrid, for ex- er members of its leadership left the party and
ample, an activist told me, “We don’t have an Ada, joined the platform, which by then had been
and that makes things more difficult.” It meant renamed Ahora Madrid.
that social center activists, together with par-
ticipants in the Madrid PAH and neighborhood The formation of other confluences followed
associations that were loosely attached to previ- similar patterns: the gathering of different forc-
ous initiatives like Movimiento por la Democracia es, parties, and activist groups; the development
had to figure out how to carry the intensity of the of a common framework of principles, norms,
15M mobilization cycle into a new phase. and procedures; the holding of internal prima-
ries to elect candidates; and, after the consen-
On June 21, 2014, around 300 activists gathered sual emergence of leading figures, voting in
at the Reina Sofia Museum for a meeting con- open primaries. Each participating element in
vened under the slogan: “Democracy Begins a particular confluence had varying degrees of
Close to You. New Political Architectures for influence over the confluence as a whole. For
the Citizens of Madrid.” It was at this point that example, in Zaragoza most of the in-person as-
Ganemos Madrid was created. Its first political semblies were dominated by the United Left,
interlocutor was Podemos, while other forces which was the biggest force in numerical terms.
such as Equo (Green Party) joined later. After an
The participation mechanisms and the whole
online infrastructure, however, were generated
7 In August 2014, when promoters of Guanyem Barcelona
and maintained by the more “movementist” side
registered the party with the Spanish Interior Ministry, they
were informed that a party with the same name had been of the confluence. This gave place to tensions,
registered two weeks earlier. As they found out, this “ghost but also to a diversity of languages and practices
party” was registered by three persons, and with impor-
tant procedural irregularities pointing to an acquiescence,
in different areas of activity as well as to distinct
or even complicity, on the part of the Interior Ministry. relations with diverse audiences.
8VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
The logic behind the confluences is, of course, an point for the first candidate on the ballot; one-
organizing process, but it is not one that is un- half point for the second candidate; one-third for
der the control of a single actor. While decisions the third, etc. The only condition to vote in the in-
have to be made and paths needs to be followed, ternal primaries was to be a registered user on
the confluences pay attention to the process it- the confluence’s website. As was the case with
self, allowing them to stay open and in touch with Podemos until recently, there is no formal proce-
their surroundings, so that ordinary citizens who dure to become a member of the organization.
may want to join can do so at any time. It is about
organizing and planning specific goals and out- From an organizational point of view, the conflu-
comes just as much as it is about allowing for the ences represent a potential departure from the
possibility of the unexpected—the overflow. traditional party system in Spain particularly and
Europe more broadly, bringing them closer to the
As is easy to imagine, these tensions between American version of party politics. In the United
formal and informal decision-making processes States, where parties are not so much considered
were also reflected in the process of the inter- predefined units with established political identi-
nal primaries for the election of candidates. One ties that are in accordance with rigid party lines,
of the main debates centered on the counting the party can comprise a cluster of different (and
method as well as specific voting procedures, at times even conflicting) interests and constitu-
in particular the issue of whether voters should encies, which are represented by political figures
choose among (open or closed) pre-established and currents that must cooperate and negotiate
lists or among individual candidates. The first constantly to adapt to new contexts.
option favored pre-existing formations while the
second offered, at least in principle, a more open Seen this way, the party does not serve the
approach; in practice, however, it also at times monolithic affirmation of an identity. Rather,
appeared to favor more famous individuals. as a broad space that is traversed by diverse
communities and languages, the party takes on
In general, most of the confluences used open a sort of “monstrous” form, where old and new
lists, which were considered a compromise and practices and structures meld together into a
a method that allowed for more internal diversi- new formation. Of course, the pressures of the
ty. As for the counting method, “Dowdall” was the media and the need to manage expectations of-
preferred choice. According to the Dowdall meth- ten constrain these more experimental dimen-
od, the vote is broken down proportionally be- sions of political initiatives, but they indicate the
tween the candidates in order of preference: one potential for new developments.8
Between Urgency and Transformation
Still, how do we meld together this diversity of ing the democratization of public services, the
actors and ingredients? In most confluences, the need for listening to citizens’ demands and for
initial step was the participatory elaboration of accountability (along the lines of the Zapatista
a code of ethics, which later had to be signed by
8 For example, see Fernando Sabín, Ana Méndez, and
all the actors involved. This code encompassed Pablo Bartolomé. “Reflexiones municipalistas: comuni-
a number of principles and practices concern- dades, institución y gobierno.” Diagonal. July 23, 2016.
9VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
motto to mandar obedeciendo, or “rule by obey- and services, such as access to healthcare and
ing”), and a call for measures of financial trans- education; access to water and energy (and to
parency and against corruption.9 fight against “energy poverty”); a total halt to
evictions; food subsidies for schools; programs
This participatory ethos was deepened through- for the creation of sustainable jobs; proposals
out the process of elaborating the electoral for an audit and restructuring of cities’ public
program. It centered on the confluences’ need debt; reopening the access of migrants to the
to urgently address the most pressing issues, city registry and healthcare. In some cases,
in particular the effects of austerity measures, such measures are accompanied by a partial
while also pushing for new models of city gover- or full re-municipalization of services, in par-
nance that offered a sustainable political vision ticular water and energy companies, funeral
on transparency and citizen participation. In services, and cultural resources. In this sense,
other words, the key was to identify a pragmat- municipalist programs seek to recover certain
ic way out of austerity in the short term while aspects of the welfare state by reinforcing the
beginning to put in place the building blocks for public sphere, which has come under massive
a new urban model, in direct opposition to the attack due to neoliberal privatizations, which
neoliberal one, for the long term. are both ubiquitous and acute since the eco-
nomic boom of the 1990s and 2000s in Spain.
Despite their local specificities, the programs of This also includes a decided support for the so-
the confluences usually share two main char- cial economy by providing public advisory and
acteristics. The first is a visionary and antago- financial resources for the foundation of new
nistic, or non-reformist, reformism. This was social and cooperative initiatives.
a conscious attempt of avoiding the thematic
divisions of the existing administrative struc-
The second important characteristic of the
ture and the established council offices. Thus,
municipalist programs is that, far from pro-
instead of operating within the framework of
posing a naive wish list or an abstract pack of
conventional spheres such as the economy,
empty promises, each program includes de-
public services, social programs, etc., we find
tailed plans of action that define goals, lines of
categories such as “A City for Life,” “A City in
intervention, and concrete steps and practices
Common,” or “New City Model,” which highlight
towards accomplishment. This aspect stressed
connections between social issues, ecology, and
the feasibility and practicality of the program,
gender justice. Indeed, if “every bylaw is politi-
and also speaks to the depth of technical and
cal,” as many people in municipalist circles say,
professional knowledge involved.
the confluences’ programs have also proposed
to introduce social, economic, environmental,
The method for elaborating the program’s
and gender justice criteria into the bid specifi-
content also followed similar lines across all
cations for any public contract. This approach
confluences. The definition of thematic areas
to a city’s problems raises new possibilities by
and working groups usually took place in open
drawing links between otherwise disparate con-
assemblies, which were attended mostly by
cerns with all the attached implications for pol-
activists, in meetings with civil society orga-
icy making.
nizations and technical experts, or in public
Generally speaking, the programs tend to meetings in specific neighborhoods. In Ma-
stress the need to recover basic social rights drid, for example, four main thematic lines
were defined first: City and Urban Ecology,
Economy and Debt, Social Rights, and Open
9 An English translation of the Guanyem Barcelona code
of ethics can be found at guanyembarcelona.cat. Government. These thematic focal areas were
10VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
then discussed further in several “transversal Another important shared methodological
forums” intended to uncover possible con- dimension of the municipalist projects is the
nections and overlaps between themes. The attention devoted to the transformation of ad-
discussions resulted in open formulations for ministrative structures, citizen participation,
programmatic proposals,10 which were further and openness and transparency in city gov-
defined and developed in order to underline ernment through expansion of participatory
their feasibility, incorporating specific plans of budgeting programs and public accountability
action for each one. meetings with elected officials. There were also
proposals for decentralizing a city’s administra-
The final draft proposals were then thoroughly tive structures as well as strengthening deci-
discussed both in open neighborhood assem- sion-making power of neighborhoods and dis-
blies and via online platforms, which followed tricts by instituting local councils or similar or-
a characteristically cooperative open-source gans. In line with these administrative shifts are
logic.11 Here, any citizen could propose further experimentations with public-commons forms
measures and ideas as well as vote among a list of use. Going beyond the logic of the usual pub-
of top proposals in order to rank them accord- lic-private partnerships, this is a move towards
ing to priority. Programs were usually divided shared ownership and management of public
into sections, which were listed according to spaces and resources, for example by ceding
the urgency and specificity of the proposals, public buildings to occupied social centers and
beginning with the most urgent and general collectives or transferring the management of
proposals and ending with the most concrete civic centers to neighborhood and community
and detailed ones. organizations, among other measures.
Overflow and Electoral Success
Following a participatory, transparent approach, for “alternative” or “radical” candidates, which
the election of candidates for the confluences were usually identified with Podemos. Ironically,
took place in open primaries. The candidates among the different currents within Ahora Ma-
typically reflected the internal diversity of the drid, Podemos was probably the strongest pro-
confluences, and many provided an indepen- ponent of Carmena. Her candidacy was consid-
dent appeal, thus breaking with traditional elec- ered part of an electoral strategy—later proven
toral frameworks. In Madrid, for example, Man- successful—which was conducive to weakening
uela Carmena, a 71-year old progressive judge traditional Socialist Party voting blocs. Pedro
and former member of the Supreme Court with Santisteve, in Zaragoza, and Xulio Ferreiro, in A
a long experience in labor rights and longtime Coruña, were mostly unknown to the average
ties to the Socialist Party milieu, offered a kind voter of the city, but both also had long trajecto-
of respectability that reached many voters, who ries as lawyers defending social and civil rights.
might otherwise have been reluctant to vote
Having consciously avoided bank loans, munici-
10 A visual map of these thematic areas and sub-areas, as well palist electoral campaigns were very humble in
as more information on the Ganemos Madrid Program means. Ahora Madrid’s campaign, for example,
Working Group, can be found at ganemosmadrid.info.
11 The online platform was initially created by Zaragoza en
had a budget of 150,000 euros, which had been
Común and later adopted by other confluences. collected mainly through crowd-funding tools.
11VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
Since the confluences were new political orga- themselves in spontaneous initiatives. Indeed, a
nizations without big staff resources, the bulk defining characteristic of the mobilizations since
of the campaign work was done by volunteers. the 15M movement has been their ability to tran-
This turned out not to be an obstacle, howev- scend the usual channels and spaces utilized by
er, but an opportunity for conveying a political established social and political interlocutors (par-
message that was coherent with the proposals ties, unions, etc.). The actions of the 15M—the
of the Municipalist Confluences. Campaign cars occupations of public spaces and, later, the pro-
were substituted for small bicycle carts, pa- tests of the PAH and the mareas (tides) in defense
per waste for leaflets and posters was severely of public education and healthcare rights—were
limited, and asking for citizens’ active participa- based in forms of self-organization and carried
tion thus became only logical. In line with this by anonymous yet personal contributions.
approach, many campaign events consisted of
assembly-style meetings in outdoor neighbor- Desborde then describes a collective, happily
hood squares where candidates’ speeches were unpredictable logic that is exemplified in a va-
followed by long open discussions. In this way, riety of practices—from the making of person-
citizens became active participants instead of al signs and banners to the self-summoning of
simply passive receivers of campaign messages. masses to stop an eviction; or from organizing a
“sleep-in” at a school to a spontaneous protest
Against the backdrop of this organizational ap- at a hospital. The logic of the overflow does not
proach, an interesting phenomenon termed des- only apply to informal mobilizations, however,
borde (overflow) began to emerge in Spanish pol- but can also be found in more institutional ini-
itics in 2011. The term refers to people organizing tiatives. When Podemos was first launched, it
Image 2: Campaign posters of Ada Colau (left, author: unknown) and Manuela Carmena (right, author: @javitxuela) designed
by members of MLG Barcelona and MLG Madrid.
12VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
was the popular support expressed in the form Instagram, and Tumblr to discuss ideas as well
of thousands of online signatures that finally as to share and distribute images.Started in
convinced promoters to run for the European Barcelona and Madrid, the Movimientos de Lib-
elections. Immediately, circles of sympathizers eración Gráfica were soon replicated in other
sprang up all over the country. cities. The use of social media alongside multi-
ple informal (often word-of-mouth) and famil-
Unlike Podemos, however, the municipalist iar channels (for example, in the workplace),
campaigns explicitly sought this desborde by rapidly gave the campaigns a viral character.
asking citizens to get involved in one way or
another. “You are our best campaign,” stated This proves not only that it is possible to break
one Ahora Madrid initiative, encouraging pop- through the deliberate opacity of mainstream
ular support in the form of sharing social me- media, but also gives us a sense of the class
dia posts, talking and discussing the campaign composition of many Municipalist Confluenc-
with family and friends, or hanging posters es. Having made their first appearance as a
from balconies and in apartment windows. political subject in Spain during the 15M move-
ment, the confluences consisted mainly of a
In addition, many people begun to self-organize young, urban and precarious “cognitariat,” with
spontaneously. Probably the most original and professional skills linked to the production and
famous initiative was the Movimientos de Lib- dissemination of knowledge, language, visual
eración Gráfica (Movements for Graphic Libera- arts, journalism, etc. While this was, of course,
tion), a network of graphic artists, designers, and not the only social sector to which the Munici-
sketch artists, who extended the visual imagina- palist Confluences appealed, it certainly played
tion of the campaigns beyond the official design a central role in shaping the movements’ lan-
elements. Most of them used Facebook groups, guage, ethos, and even aesthetics.
The Feminization of Politics
In addition to spontaneous self-organization, present a type of leadership that is collectively
the open-ended dimension of the municipalist built, far away from the culture too often built
campaigns also stems from a set of values and by macho political figures, and thus pointing
attitudes that broadly aligns with the “femini- toward the possibility of rethinking not only
zation of politics,” as authors and confluence leadership, per se, but also political represen-
participants like Kate Shea Baird and Laura tation. The notion of the leader as a repre-
Roth formulate it. While these values are often sentative of voters then gives way to that of a
embodied by the confluences’ candidates, and shared symbol. This figure of the leader, which
in particular by the female leadership of Ada functions like a screen onto which collective
Colau and Manuela Carmena, the notion goes values and desires can be projected, can and
far beyond the election of individual female should be appropriated by voters.12
leaders. In other words, the appeal and charis-
ma of candidates like Colau and Carmena does 12 An interesting treatment of the debates around lead-
ership both in Podemos and the Municipalism Con-
not reside in the fact that they are women, but
fluences can be found was written by Marco Deseriis.
in their insistence on ideas of dialogue, toler- “Podemos’ dilemma and why leadership still matters.”
ance, empathy, and capacity for listening. They Opendemocracy.net. July 13, 2015.
13VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
While some leftists consider this form of poli- ropolitan centers, the confluences emerged
tics a rejection of antagonism or confrontation, as indispensable political actors even without
the contrary is true: The feminization of poli- having won or accessed power, challenging the
tics does not reject confrontation, but rather traditional parties to adopt more progressive
stresses the centrality of the political subject positions. In deindustrialized, working class,
to be built—including its capacities, knowl- and commuter towns—places like Ciempozue-
edge, and constructive potential. It opens up los, Badalona, Ripollet, and Hospitalet—growing
space for active self-definition rather than re- support for existing confluences as well as the
ducing the definition of political subjects to a emergence of new initiatives hinted at the possi-
reactive “anti”-framework that has been set bility of a re-composition of former “red belts.”14
out by one’s political enemies.13
Yet, nobody said it was going to be easy and
It is the night of May 24, 2015. The new con- the Municipalist Confluences have, maybe not
fluences, with their diverse names, have won surprisingly, encountered many obstacles once
in Barcelona, and they have become the sec- they entered the institutions. Two and a half
ond-strongest forces (after the Partido Popular) years after the elections, and more than half-
in Madrid, Zaragoza, Valencia, and A Coruña. way into the confluences’ first term in office, it
The lessons to be drawn are clear: Not only are is possible to make a cursory assessment of
the confluences going to rule in these cities, but municipalism’s achievements and shortcom-
given the usual antipathy of Partido Popular ings. There seems to be a sense of the limita-
toward alliance politics, the results have also tions of local politics, and an awareness for
forced the Socialist Party as well as other pro- the human costs—the wear and tear—expe-
gressive regional forces to support the nomina- rienced by those who entered the institutions
tion of the confluence candidates for mayor. In as council members or in advisory roles. While
Madrid and Valencia this meant an end to al- some of these obstacles are due to the internal
most 25 years of the PP’s rule, as well as a break logic of the institutions—their slow rhythms
with the two-party system, which had been in of decision-making and compliance with pro-
place for the past 40 years at the national, re- cedures—there also exists a general hostility
gional, and local levels. In other smaller cities, toward the confluences from local media and
as well as in the areas surrounding major met economic interests.
Debt, Recovery of Social Rights, and Re-municipalization
The main obstacle, however, came in the form Law” (for the Tax Revenue Minister, Cristobal
of an initiative introduced by the central govern- Montoro, who proposed it), severely curtails the
ment. Disguised as an austerity measure, the spending capacities of local administrations in
Law for Rationalization and Sustainability of Lo- hiring new staff, attending to basic social needs,
cal Administrations is specifically aimed at limit- and re-municipalizing programs and services.
ing the capacity for action of local governments.
This law, otherwise known as the “Montoro 14 This is just one possibility, while the reality is much more
complex, given that in these same commuter towns sur-
rounding Barcelona, the presence of Ciudadanos—a right
13 Kate Shea Baird and Laura Roth. “Left Populism and the wing force that has been present in Catalonia for more
Feminization of Politics.” Roar Magazine, Issue 6. January than 10 years, but whose representation on the national
13, 2017. level is new—has proven equally strong in other elections.
14VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
Surprisingly, despite these limitations, the cit- example, more than 4,000 new housing units
ies ruled by Municipalist Confluences have pro- were created, 500 of them taken, after pressure
duced spectacular reductions of debt, totaling and negotiation, from the banks’ empty housing
2.3 billion euros altogether. Madrid, which is pool. Meanwhile, the city of Zaragoza opened a
the most prominent case, has been project- Municipal Housing Office dedicated to relocat-
ed to reduce its skyrocketing 5.6 billion-euro ing people affected by evictions to public hous-
debt by almost half by the end of the current ing units. A Coruña and Santiago also started a
term. Similar debt reductions are expected Municipal Social Income program, which offers
in Barcelona (from 974 to 422 million euros), subsidies of up to 250 euros per month to fam-
Zaragoza (from 834 to 450 million euros), Cádiz ilies in need. Indeed, the conflict is now clearly
(from 275 to 134 million euros), and Santiago out in the open, since these spectacular debt re-
(from 42 to 7 million euros). These numbers ductions have not avoided central government
are politically significant in that they debunk interference—in what is a clear political move,
the established neoliberal dictum of “efficient although disguised as mere technical “supervi-
management,” which is supposedly possible sion”—in the management of Madrid’s city bud-
only under right-wing or centrist governments. get, in November 2017.
Moreover, they open up an important dimen-
sion of institutional conflict by indicating that Of course, these achievements are far from
the cities—although handcuffed by budgetary sufficient and have undergone sometimes
constraints—can serve as a symbolic count- tense scrutiny, particularly from the PAH. They
er-power to the central government. nonetheless serve to show that a series of ini-
tiatives is underway and, at the very least, that
Even though the main consequence of the important issues concerning social rights have
heavy debt reduction has been the impossi- been brought out into the public sphere, where
bility of implementing many proposed pro- they are debated or in a process of negotiation.
grams,15 such as the planned re-municipaliza- In Barcelona, for example, city council plans
tion of public services and infrastructures, the to open a public energy company in the fall of
“Cities for Change” initiative has been able to 2018, and other cities are currently discussing
introduce some urgent measures and expand the possibility of public management of sports
expenses for social rights. First among these centers, park, gardens, and services such as
is a significant, albeit not total, decrease in garbage collection.16 As of now, 100% of the en-
eviction rates accompanied by important im- ergy used in Barcelona, Madrid, Zaragoza, and
provements in social housing. In Barcelona, for Cádiz is produced by renewable sources.
Towards a New Urban Model
The environmental dimension is crucial to the Madrid, for example, city hall introduced a bill
activities of many municipalist initiatives. In limiting private traffic on alternate days of the
week, later adding another measure to block
15 Fidel Oliván’s “Los ayuntamientos del cambio, a la mane-
ra de Caravaggio,” is a very useful and informed overview 16 Yeray Iborra. “Barcelona fometará el autoconsumo en-
of the first two years of the muncipalist governments, ergético bajo el amparo de una comercializadora munic-
available at Contexto y Acción, Número 125, July 15, 2017. ipal.” El Diario. July 17, 2016.
15VICENTE RUBIO-PUEYO
MUNICIPALISM IN SPAIN
the entire city center for private traffic. While ing. Under the slogan “Ciudad de los Cuidados"
both measures were eventually welcomed by (Caring City), Zaragoza, Madrid, and Barcelo-
a majority of citizens, the campaign behind na have started ambitious programs focused
them went beyond merely environmentalist, on expanding the notion of “economies of
or “ecologist,” demands. Questioning the neo- care” in the city, sparking changes across dif-
liberal city model itself, the proposed mea- ferent levels of action. On the administrative
sures sparked a debate on public health in the level, this involved the creation of gender pol-
city and on the centrality of the car in urban icy offices, or councillorships, that function in
culture and life more generally. a transversal way. Not confined to a predeter-
mined area of city government, these “techni-
This debate also opened up potential path- cal offices for gender transversalization” are
ways for other, similar demands and devel- responsible for elaborating an “Equality Plan,”
opments. Along these lines, tourism and gen- whose goal is to integrate a gender perspec-
trification have emerged as two of the main tive into all city council policy. This plan im-
battlefields. Barcelona, for example, has put a plies, for example, that “gender clauses” are
stop to new licenses for touristic businesses included in public contracts with companies,
and has begun regulating the rental market but it also outlines the production of educa-
(mostly dominated by Airbnb). It also came tional materials for primary and secondary
up with a neighborhood plan, which outlines schools; support for the creation of domestic
investments in building renovation and infra- worker networks; workshops for local police
structure—including libraries, sports centers, and other municipal services and bodies; and
and spaces for community life—that serve to collaboration with neighborhood and parents
grow the neighborhood’s fabric.17 If the mea- school associations.19
sures related to tourism were initially received
with hostility by many business owners, the Although limited, these kinds of developments
debate helped raise awareness of the dramat- constitute important building blocks for an al-
ic impact that tourism has had on a city like ternative urban model. Yet, many participants
Barcelona, where an unquestioned growth in the municipal governments express the
model has remained in place since the trans- challenge of conveying such a model to the
formation of the city for the Olympic Games electorate in an effective way. After decades
of 1992. Today, Barcelona is considered a mu- of neoliberal shaping of cities through big in-
nicipal start-up incubator devoted specifically vestments, spectacular events, and world-
to projects in the social economy, which aim class architecture, it is difficult to transmit
to stimulate women-led initiatives, communi- the message that city governments are doing
ty-based proximity businesses, and coopera- things for the public—even if they do not cut
tives for social innovation in mobility, cultural ribbons on new buildings or are avoiding ur-
activities, and sustainable tourism.18 ban projects (such as malls, sports stadiums,
convention centers, etc.) that appeal to a tradi-
Among the initiatives centered on gender poli- tional developmentalist imaginary of govern-
tics, one in particular is worth highlight ment action.
17 Barcelona pone en marcha un plan para el vecindario y con-
tra gentrificación.” El Periódico – Barcelona. March 3, 2017. 19 Interview with Arantza Gracia, council member of
18 Barcelona Activa’s mission and lines of action can be Zaragoza and delegate council member for Education
found at barcelonactiva.cat. and Inclusion, August 2016.
16You can also read
