The premises now occupied by Traficantes de Sueños, in the heart of a central area of Madrid with a marked commercial character since the 17th century, housed the defunct La Universal tailor shop for decades. There could not be a better successor than this bookstore: if there is one thing that characterizes the project, it is its ability to weave ties that go beyond any established limits. From this place, at number 13 Duque de Alba Street (halfway between Tirso de Molina and La Latina), these privateers of letters have been a reference for the neighborhood and the neighbors, but also for thought for ten years. political or cultural of the entire city.
A space that is not immune to the processes of gentrification and general increase in real estate prices, factors that mark day-to-day life in cities like Madrid. A year ago, the owners of the property expressed their intention to sell it. The threat of a new landlord who would expel them or prevent them from continuing with excessive rent increases led Traficantes to make a drastic decision: to assume the purchase on their own, together with the Red Interlavapiés and Senda de SERVICIOs groups, and get part of of the necessary financing through a crowdfunding on the Goteo platform.
“The only option for a project like ours, which aims to generate spaces for care, support and struggle, was to buy the premises. That or assume that our resources are lost for the movements in Madrid, cultural activity and political dissemination,” says Pablo Carmona in conversation with Somos Lavapiés. He is one of those responsible for the political project of Traficantes de Sueños, one of the 20 people who work (along with a huge network of readers, collaborators and neighbors) so that the bookstore continues to be a point of reference.
Pablo says that those 20 people carry out Traficantes de Sueños “in an assembly-based manner and without any hierarchical structure.” Together they decide “the organization of the collective”, which in addition to being a bookstore is also a publisher, distributor, design and training workshop or political thought group. He admits, however, that despite his diversified activities “90% of the financing is obtained from the sale of books through the bookstore, the publishing house and our distribution system.”
Organization, resilience and some fortune
When the owners informed them of their interest in selling the premises, they began to organize for the purchase. They are aware of their “exceptional” fortune, since in an area as juicy as the center of Madrid, the owners were willing to prioritize the continuity of the bookstore. A vital circumstance for it to now be viable to safeguard “the social project against the interest of investment funds and large speculators who quickly put very tempting offers on the table.”
Despite this, and even with “a small reduction in the price”, the task is still complicated: the already signed sale of the property requires an outlay of 1.2 million euros. Added to this is an investment of hundreds of thousands of euros with which they want to renovate and expand the space, improvement works that they consider “unavoidable.”
This rehabilitation is the main destination of the collection from the Goteo platform. “There is a minimum goal of 60,000 euros [ya alcanzado] for the purchase of the establishment and small transformations. Then an optimal one of 80,000 [que rozan con las yemas de los dedos] to give a new impetus to the premises: expand sections, enable new rooms or spaces, reinforce our function as a social meeting point and generally improve cultural life.”
Through Goteo, but also through other means, they have received “donations from people who live in Lavapiés or are regular customers,” says Pablo Carmona. He appreciates how “once again those who have meaning and a feeling of community were the first to respond.” And he adds: “This network makes it possible for the project to continue.”
The essayist and writer also emphasizes the warning about the “gentrification process, the uncontrolled rise in rents and the massive presence of housing for tourist use.” In his opinion, this leads to a “replacement of the population by another that has much higher income levels.” Something that has already materialized in “the closure and reduction of social centers or local businesses.” In Traffickers of Dreams, luckily, they will avoid that very common outcome in the form of eviction or closure.
“Given the standard of franchised commerce that increasingly covers the Tirso de Molina – La Latina – Lavapiés axis, staying is an act of resistance,” says Pablo. At least this time resistance has been an option, compared to the thousands of cases in which there is no alternative to expulsion.
The collective dream that began in a stall at El Rastro
“There is a common thread that runs through the Tirso de Molina post in El Rastro that was the seed of Traffic and its current incarnations: the idea that books are bricks to build the edifice of social transformation,” wrote Luis de la Cruz when the collective announced its crowdfunding. The political effervescence of those positions gave rise in 1996 to a bookstore installed in an apartment on Hortaleza Street, where, as they continue to do today, they shared activity with other social groups.
In 2005 they moved to a passage on Embajadores Street, but the poor external visibility of the location made them look for a new location. In 2014 they moved to the Duque de Alba headquarters (this is a story marked by leaps of nine years), where they finally found a showcase worthy of their work.
Given the standard of franchised commerce that increasingly covers the Tirso de Molina – La Latina – Lavapiés axis, staying is an act of resistance
A year later they received the National Award for the Best Cultural Bookstore, worth 9,000 euros and awarded by the Spanish Confederation of Guilds and Associations of Booksellers (CEGAL) and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Along the way, they went from activism to self-employment and continued developing the publishing house, the distribution company and the rest of the branches of their activity. They even opened another headquarters at the Ateneo La Maliciosa, the space they share with Ecologistas en Acción in Arganzuela.
Pablo does not want to let the occasion pass without highlighting the work of Red Interlavapies and Senda de Cares, the other two initiatives with which they coexist in the Duque de Alba location: “They provide support to immigrants, domestic workers or union organizations.” Contributions to the neighborhood and society that are completed with the “cultural space of thought” in which they work from Traficantes. Together they make up an ecosystem “not mediated by consumption, but by political and social commitment.” A spirit impossible to gentrify.
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