The Gamonal neighborhood beats again against the PP and Vox

“All the power to the neighborhoods,” reads a goal in the Gamonal neighborhood (Burgos), which resists the City Council scoring what they consider a goal against alternative culture: eliminating the Recovered Social Center (CSR). This area of ​​Burgos, with a leftist tradition and multicultural population, made headlines ten years ago for taking to the streets against a real estate speculation project that was finally frustrated. Now they celebrate the anniversary while fighting to preserve an alternative space, readapted after being abandoned for 13 years, where cultural or social events are held although it lacks a license. The previous City Councils, first of the PP and then of the PSOE, allowed, despite the lack of permission, the operation of this center, of which there are no problems or tumults in 10 years of existence, but now the Corporation governed by the PP and Vox tries to close it. Where the City Council uses security reasons, activists perceive “ideological persecution.”

Those responsible for the CSR assure that the germ of the current fight they have with the City Council is in a sports tournament, an “anti-racist world cup” held a few weeks ago on some fields in front of the Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente park, decorated with murals that read “Artillery communal, Gamonal Assembly”, “The neighborhoods decide, Burgos is not for sale”, “The fight is the way” or “Turn off the TV and turn on your city”.

The members of the group decline to show their image or give their names, although they assume that the Police have already “signed” them. The group, meeting on a terrace, is made up of men and women of varied profiles: between 30 and 75 years old and different professions. They emphasize that they are united by a desire to offer cultural alternatives denied by the City Council. “It's like a family, we are in this together,” explains one of them before reciting the functions of the space, from where they coordinated, for example, a fight against betting houses in Gamonal. The venue hosts theater and circus workshops for children, and its managers detail that it also screens films, provides advice to migrants, housing assistance and support for the elderly, organizes a food bank and holds concerts or poetry recitals.

Precisely these last two activities have increased the tension with the City Council. On November 17 and 18, the CSR called for a poetry contest and musical performances, but the City Council tried to prevent it from taking place. The attendees also came, despite the fact that the Municipal Police had been stationed at their doors. No incidents or neighborhood complaints were recorded.

The property had been abandoned for 13 years when the CSR moved into the building. It belonged to the Caja de Burgos Foundation, with a 75-year municipal concession, but, according to the Councilor for Citizen Security, Ignacio Peña (Vox), it has now been transferred to a religious institution “which has expressed its concern” about the use of the facilities. Peña points out that “there is no controversy.” He is aware, he says, that the CSR's intended objective is to “celebrate cultural activities.” “But the facility fails to comply with all security conditions. We demand certain conditions from hoteliers and establishments with an audience. “Why ignore it in a squatted place?” Peña emphasizes that the space lacks emergency exits and recalls the recent case of the fire in two nightclubs in Murcia in which 13 people died. Regarding the CSR managers, he states: “What are they going to say? It is a group declared anti-system, anti-fascist, and they take advantage of the opportunity. “He has no justification or right, the premises are not his.”

Those responsible for the space point out that after the neighborhood conflicts of 2014, the PP City Council of that time avoided the confrontation and they were able to operate in the facilities. The situation was similar between 2019 and May 2023, with the PSOE of Daniel de la Rosa, who told EL PAÍS that there was “tolerance towards the activities because they were considered positive for the neighborhood.” “Although we respect that the Foundation made decisions,” he says. Now, with the popular mayor Cristina Ayala, allied with Vox, the managers feel that “the City Council wants to control culture” and cite the suppression of a street theater festival, carried out as soon as the PP-Vox coalition came to govern.

Two elderly people, residents of Gamonal and who request anonymity, have never set foot in the place but oppose its closure. One of them asks: “Why do we have to close it if it doesn't do any harm? “Before it was abandoned.” And another adds: “They have never waged war and have done supportive things.” Mohamed Dahman, 19 years old and from Western Sahara who has lived in Gamonal for 10 years, walks in front of a mural that says “Any civilization is miscegenation.” He appreciates the CSR's help “for those discriminated against by society.” Dahmán feels loved in the neighborhood and suspects that there are ideological motives in the efforts to close the space: “Let them do their part, it is all for interests.” Beatriz García, 33, pushes her baby's stroller near the cultural center guarded by the Police. “They have a civic behavior in a neighborhood where there is nothing, my father is a hotelier and they make it impossible for them to hold events or take tables out to the park,” she argues. “Why remove it if it's not uncivil?” She asks, before continuing to walk in front of that sealed door through which, for the moment, the neighbors continue to pass.

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