Desokupa Universe: the ultra company that wants to teach Spain to defend itself from anything

The illegal occupation of real estate has become one of the protagonists of Spanish public life. A criminal phenomenon whose constant presence in the media and in the discourse of politicians does not correspond to the real data of the Spanish courts, but which the right and the extreme right use to feed a specific discourse: that of insecurity and the ineffectiveness of the State. Desokupa, Daniel Esteve’s company, is surfing the crest of all these waves with a new business model, its ‘Desokupa Club’, with which they convince the population that they need to know how to defend themselves from knife attacks and that they have extended, to through agreements, to the security forces: the National Police and the Armed Forces.

The latest example is the agreement signed with the Spanish Troop and Marine Association (ATME) that the Ministry of Defense has already demanded to annul. The courses, which according to Esteve will start in Madrid next January, will have one objective: to train soldiers who are going to reintegrate into civil society so that they can work in the private security sector. The sector from which a relevant part of the workers of this type of property vacancy companies come.

Both Esteve’s company and all those that have emerged over the last five years seeking their portion of the ‘squatting’ pie have always sought to position themselves on the side of the State security forces. Balancing the fine line that separates their pseudo-police representations from actions that, in the case of companies like Bastión Desokupación, judges have even considered criminal. And its new line of business is to offer training, directly, to thousands of national and military police.

The agreement with ATME comes four months after Desokupa signed another agreement with the Unified Police Union (SUP). Historical union training of the National Police, one of the ones with the most members in this sector of the security forces in Spain, and which since last summer has offered its tens of thousands of members training with Desokupa in matters of “personal defense” . The recipients of these courses are the same agents who, at any given time, could have to intervene in an eviction related to the company.

The landing of Desokupa in the unofficial training of police and military derives from the launch of a ‘Desokupa Club‘ with which Esteve’s company conveys a clear message: “Provide people with the necessary skills to defend themselves in dangerous situations on the streets.” Without differentiating between men, women or children. Because in his messages on social network X, the company leader states that they offer their training to young people of 14 and 15 years.

The amalgamation of promotional messages, such as “children do not touch each other” or “the military does not touch each other” lead to a single framework promoted by this and other similar companies to find a space in the Spanish public debate: the current State is a State failed, there is no security on the streets and Justice is not capable of recovering an illegally occupied house. Neither the Interior nor Defense train police and military personnel so that they can defend themselves from the real dangers that lurk in the streets. All in constant and daily alliance with the political slogans of Desokupa, which has come to hang a giant tarp calling for the expulsion of Pedro Sánchez from Moncloa, has asked for the vote for Vox or has publicly allied himself with Luis ‘Alvise’ Pérez.

The agreements that the company has signed with unions and professional groups of police and military, some mired in tough fights for their representation in their respective bodies before radical unions, involve taking Desokupa’s speech to police stations and barracks. Places where the way these types of companies act is not always well received. An example of this is when Esteve led the procession of thousands of people from Ferraz Street to the vicinity of the Congress of Deputies during the November 2023 protests. A concentration that he himself called off when the riot police commanders, putting distance with This supposed police mimicry that Desokupa promotes, they warned them of the danger of the riot he was promoting together with Alvise.

The slogans of the extreme right

Desokupa’s commercial strategy is clear. Spread the word that the streets of Spain are not safe and sell self-defense courses to protect yourself and your loved ones. One of the many slogans of the Spanish and European extreme right that Esteve’s company has spread in the last five years and used to its advantage. From racism against migrants to machismo and with specific political objectives. Leading, for example, demonstrations in Barcelona against Ada Colau or in Madrid against the central government.

The alleged inability of the State to protect its population is a recurring point in the arguments of the extreme right that Desokupa has managed to monetize, as happened previously with illegal occupations. Where judicial data does not support the existence of an unleashed criminal phenomenon, the alliance between these companies, the media and the Spanish political right has managed to turn this issue into one of the most powerful weapons in the Spanish public debate. Deliberately confusing the reality of the phenomenon, hiding the judicial action and, above all, without explaining who their clients are beyond the cases they show on television. The ones that no one is able to discuss.

The consequences that this incursion into the Police and the Army may have for Desokupa and its new allies are unclear. From the Ministry of the Interior, its head Fernando Grande-Marlaska has described this type of companies as “thugs and small-time pimps,” although his department has closed without sanction the file that it opened against the SUP for allying itself with Daniel Esteve. Defense has gone further and has used an internal legal report to demand the annulment of that agreement.

The alliance between professional associations of the security forces and this company, whose business model and ideological base is based on replacing said security forces on the ground, takes the expansion capacity of Desokupa, until now supported by their own communication channels and media that have chosen to spread their version of the evictions without verifying what is behind it.

Now the machinery is activated again with a similar story: citizens must train to protect themselves because the Police are not capable of doing so. And one of the most important unions in the history of the National Police has indeed signed an agreement with the same company so that 30,000 officers can receive the same training. The message, once again, direct from Desokupa to the client without anyone questioning it.