Social Struggles in Spain

Depot, Breite Gasse 3, 1070 Vienna

On May 15, 2011 hundreds of thousands of people began occupying the central plazas of cities across Spain, developing new forms of sociality and politics. A decade after the transnational occupation movements transversal texts published a series of three books, that take the Spanish 15M movement as a point of departure for far-reaching theoretical and political thinking. From three cities—Madrid, Málaga, and Barcelona—and from three theoretical viewpoints—political philosophy, activist urbanism, and a feminist perspective on municipalism and care—an imaginary of contemporary struggles emerges that extends far beyond the social and political practices of Spain in the 2010s.

In the first part of the event, these three books will be presented individually and put up for discussion; the following evening panel will discuss the most recent developments in Spain's social movements, from the municipalist movements to feminist activism and to current anti-war positions.

Event in English

16:00 Book presentations
Moderation: Isabell Lorey, Gerald Raunig

Manuela Zechner: Commoning Care & Collective Power. Childcare Commons and the Micropolitics of Municipalism in Barcelona

Raúl Sánchez Cedillo: Das Absolute der Demokratie. Gegenmächte, Körper-Maschinen, transdividuelles Netzwerksystem ("The Absolute of Democracy. Counter-powers, body-machines, transdividual network system")

Kike España: Die sanfte Stadt ("Soft City")

[break / buffet]

19:00 Panel discussion: Social Struggles in Spain
Moderation: Niki Kubaczek, Monika Mokre

With Kike España, Sara Jiménez and Raúl Sánchez Cedillo