Patio Maravillas was a multi-purpose self-managed social centre which occupied several spaces in central Madrid between 2007 and 2015.
Patio Maravillas was a multi-purpose self-managed social centre which occupied several spaces in central Madrid between 2007 and 2015.
Patio Maravillas started life in the summer of 2007, with the squatting and fixing up of a building that was formerly a school and had been closed for 7 years, at 8 Acuerdo Street, in the Malasaña district. [1]
Its opening took place on 4, 5, 6 and 7 October, three months after it opened. Different activities were organized to involve people living in the neighbourhood. Its philosophy, both campaigning and respectful, allows participation by a large number of different groups and individuals that have joined one by one and made it their focal point. Everything is for free and done by volunteers.
There were several permanent activities such as:
There were also theatre, painting, music, audiovisual, and immigration groups, that met, rehearsed, and carried out their activities in the space. There were also special activities such as concerts, exhibitions, neighbourhood meetings, talks about health and consumer issues, and meetings of different groups. There have also been performances by groups and soloists including Grande Marlaska and Amparanoia.
In 2009, an eviction attempt was thwarted by the number of people resisting. [4]
Following a legal suit by the legal owner, Acuerdo 8 was cleared by the police on January 6, 2010. [1] On the same day, the Patio Maravillas community organized a peaceful protest demonstration in the area of Plaza del Dos de Mayo, summoning hundreds of people who were guided through the neighborhood until nearby Pez Street, where a group of activists had just entered a new long-abandoned building at number 21. One day after the clearing of Acuerdo, the fixing up of the building and resuming of the Patio activities in the new space were underway. [5]
Patio Mariavillas came to have strong links with the 15-M Movement, supporting the protests at Puerta del Sol which was close nearby. [6]
Pez 21 was evicted in June 2015, one day before the mayor of Madrid stepped down. Politicians from Ahora Madrid and Podemos criticised the action. The former released a statement declaring that Madrid needed “to open and not close down citizen-run spaces. The city needs to listen to projects such as Patio Maravillas.” [5]
The same day as the eviction of Pez 21, a new building was squatted on 9 Divino Pastor Street. It was owned by Miguel Ángel Capriles López, cousin of Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles. It had five floors and a basement. [7] On August 4, 2015, this building was evicted. [8]
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.
De Blauwe Aanslag was a squat and self-managed social centre in the Dutch city of The Hague. The oldest part of the building was built in 1886. The large building formerly housed tax offices and was occupied in 1980. When the local council took over the ownership of the building, it was agreed to renovate it in three stages, with the squatters living there. However the plans changed and since 1995 the council decided to widen the roads next to the building; for this reason the squat needed to be demolished. After many efforts to block the demolition with lawsuits, the squatters were evicted by military police on 3 October 2003.
The Prestes Maia building, or sometimes simply Prestes Maia, is believed to be the largest squatted highrise building in South America, with an estimated 2000 inhabitants. The complex is made up of two tower blocks, Bloco A and Bloco B, the latter of which has the address Avenida Prestes Maia, 911 near Luz Station in downtown São Paulo. Businessman Jorge Nacle Hamuche purchased the building at auction in 1993 and co-owns it with his business partner, Eduardo Amorim. The building remains registered to the previous owner, the bankrupt National Cloth Company, where Hamuche had been employed.
Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian principles and volunteer-run, without any assistance from the state. The largest number have occurred in London from the 1980s onwards, although projects exist in most cities across the UK, linked in a network. Squatted social centres tend to be quickly evicted and therefore some projects deliberately choose a short-term existence, such as A-Spire in Leeds or the Okasional Café in Manchester. Longer term social centres include the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, which are co-operatively owned.
Eskalera Karakola is a feminist self-managed social centre in Madrid, Spain. Women squatted a bakery on Calle de Embajadores 40 from 1996 until 2005, whereupon they were given a building at Calle de Embajadores 52.
Can Vies is a building located in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, built in 1879. It has been squatted since 1997, when a group of youths occupied it and began using it as a self-managed social centre and infoshop. In late May 2014, riots broke out in a successful attempt to stop an eviction. The building was partially demolished and rebuilt by the local community.
Kukutza was a gaztetxe in the neighbourhood of Recalde, Bilbao. It operated as a squatted free space between 1996 and 2011. It was used as a youth, unemployed and cultural centre. In those 15 years it had 3 different buildings. The first one, Kukutza I, was used in 1996 and just for 3 months, then Kukutza II in 1998 and for 2 months, and finally, Kukutza III, open between 1998 and 2011 and had a large activity programme. It was set in an abandoned factory and closed in 2011 because it was violently evicted by the police.
Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.
La Ingobernable is a series of self-managed social centres in central Madrid, Spain. The squats have been used by feminist, environmentalists, LGBTI, anti-racist and other cultural groups. Between 2017 and 2019, the La Ingobernable was based in a municipal building located at the corner of Paseo del Prado and Calle del Gobernador. It was then located at Calle Alberto Bosch 4, behind the Prado Museum from March until April 2020, when it was evicted during the state of alarm. In 2021, an Office for Social Rights was set up at Calle Cruz 5.
The WNC squat was a self-managed social centre in Groningen, the Netherlands. It was squatted in 1985 and evicted in 1990.
Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.
Centro Sociale Leoncavallo is a self-managed social centre in Milan, Italy, which exists since a former factory on via Leoncavallo was squatted in 1975. It was evicted and partially demolished in 1989, then quickly reoccupied and rebuilt. It was evicted again in 1994 and briefly moved to a warehouse for six months before occupying its still extant location on via Antoine Watteau. Activities include concerts, theatre, debates, exhibitions and a radio station. The centre describes itself as Leoncavallo Self-Managed Public Space.
Squatting in Spain refers to the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. In Francoist Spain migrant workers lived in slums on the periphery of cities. During the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. From the 1980s onwards a new generation of squatters set up self-managed social centres which hosted events and campaigns. The 1995 Criminal Code among other things criminalised squatting, but failed to stop it. Social centres exist across the country and in Barcelona and Madrid in particular. In the Basque Country they are known as gaztetxes.
Kasa de la Muntanya is a squatted former Guardia Civil barracks in Barcelona. It was built in 1909, by Eusebi Güell, abandoned by the police in 1983, and occupied in 1989. It became central to the squatter movement in Barcelona as a self-managed social centre. The Güell family undertook a long legal battle to regain ownership of the building and then started negotiations with the city council about its use. The council announced in 2019, a plan to buy the building and turn it into social housing.
Squatting in Brazil is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. After attempting to eradicate slums in the 1960s and 1970s, local governments transitioned to a policy of toleration. Cities such as Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have large informal settlements known as favelas. A more recent phenomenon is the occupation of buildings in city centres by organised groups. In rural areas across the country, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) arranges large land occupations.
Squatting in Venezuela is the occupation of derelict buildings or unused land without the permission of the owner. Informal settlements, known first as "ranchos" and then "barrios", are common. In the capital Caracas notable squats have included the 23 de Enero housing estate, Centro Financiero Confinanzas and El Helicoide, a former shopping centre which is now a notorious prison.
Squatting in Cambodia is the occupation of derelict buildings or unused land without the permission of the owner. Following the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, the new democratic government introduced land reform. In the capital Phnom Penh, where in 2003 an estimated 25 per cent of the population was squatting, there are informal settlements and occupied buildings.
Chanti Ollin was a self-managed social centre in Mexico City, Mexico, between 2003 and 2017. It was occupied in 2003 by students from the 1999–2000 UNAM strike and participants in Okupa Che. It was a derelict five storey building at Calle Melchor Ocampo 424 in Cuauhtémoc. The name means "house in motion" in the Nahuatl language.
The modern political squatting movement began in Hamburg, Germany, when Neue Große Bergstraße 226 was occupied in 1970. Squatters wanted to provide housing for themselves amongst other demands such as preventing buildings from being demolished and finding space for cultural activities. The Hafenstraße buildings were first occupied in 1981 and were finally legalized after a long political struggle in 1995. The still extant Rote Flora self-managed social centre was occupied in 1989. Squatting actions continue into the present; more recent attempts are quickly evicted, although the Gängeviertel buildings were squatted and legalized in the 2010s.
Op de Valreep was a squatted building in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Occupied in 2011, the former animal shelter was converted into a self-managed social centre. The squatters resisted eviction with creative actions, such as pretending the council had given them ownership and making spoof election materials. They were forcibly removed in 2014; the building was later converted into a restaurant.
El Patio Maravillas has held, in its 20 months of life, different workshops, discussions, art performances, the 2009 Madrid Social Forum, and runs regular language classes, a Social rights Office (ODS), a hacklab, bike shop and an urban allotment (on the roof) http://www.patiomaravillas.net/ It has also been involved in the anti-Triall campaign, and recently organized a round table about 'Social centres, cultural production and social expropriation', at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, now under the direction of Manuel Borja-Vilal
{{cite web}}: External link in |quote=y cuyo administrador solidario desde el 2 de junio de 2014 es Miguel Ángel Capriles López, primo del líder opositor venezolano Henrique Capriles. [...] El edificio ocupado ayer por el Patio Maravillas en Madrid tiene una superficie total construida de mil novecientos noventa y dos metros cuadrados, distribuidos en cuatro plantas, una planta baja y un sótano.
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