“València is drowning.” This weekend, 15,000 people walked the streets of the city to protest against real estate speculation and denounce the social drama of housing. “The escalation of pricesthe flooding of tourist apartments and the destruction of the territory require exceptional measures throughout the Valencian Country,” the protesters concluded. Last Sunday, more than 150,000 people – according to the organizers – they took over the center of Madrid, to claim, keychains in hand, their right to decent housing. Malaga, Seville and Barcelona will follow in the same wake over the next month.
The fight of the pro-housing movement does not end in the streets. The manifestation of Valencia finished with him setting up a camp in front of the capital’s City Hall. The objectives: to increase pressure and denounce the “inaction” of public administrations. “The popular classes have shown that they are willing to fight against speculation and for a city for the people who live in it. We have endured the night and we will continue to do so. For now they are not evicting us, but it can happen at any time and we need to be many,” reads the platform. Valencia is not for sale in a statement. The social clamor also knocks on the doors of Congress and The left places housing as a priority to give meaning to the legislature.
The protests are not only against the increase in rental prices, but against an entire system that prioritizes the benefit of a few – rentiers, vulture funds and large holders – over the basic needs of the majority of the population. Housing is the sixth problem for Spaniardsaccording to the September barometer Sociological Research Center (CIS), but climbs to second position according to the latest 40dB survey published by The Country. Are we facing the germ of a new 15M in Spain?
The housing situation was precisely one of those that ignited the movement that 13 years ago filled with tentstarps and banners in squares throughout the country. The protesters were protesting at that time against the two-party system and the financial structure, after the 2008 crisis and in the midst of a recession. The rallies against evictions had prepared the ground during the previous months, with the Platform for People Affected by Mortgage (PAH) as one of the most visible faces of the revolution. Protests against gentrification and real estate speculation are similar to some of the demands of 15M, however, “what happened that spring was something much more transversal” and with a “different political context.
Pablo Simonpolitical scientist and professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid, points out the main differences between both movements. “The 15M incorporated another agenda linked to topics such as institutional regeneration or the crisis of representation. It was much broader and had other focuses, also in terms of housing: now we are talking about access problems and rising rents; At that time, the focus was on evictions. It’s difficult for it to sprout in the same way,” he recalls. Spain closed 2023 with 26,659 launches and in the first six months of 2024, it registered about 80 evictions daily.
The political context also changes in other aspects, especially with regard to the type of crisis. “In 2011 there was a bankruptcy of the banking systema massive loss of jobs and a much more general unrest,” continues Simón. The fall in the unemployment rate, the good direction of the national economy and some cross competencies in housing They make the emergence of a phenomenon of these characteristics even more difficult. “The outbreak of 15M had a high degree of generational ruptureboth on a political and social level, and grew under very defined coordinates: the elites against the people. The current parliamentary range derives, in part, from these mobilizations. Would it be possible to explode against those who already exploded in 2011? There is a brake on the resurgence of a new 15M”, they point out from the think tank Ideas at War.
Young people, leaders of the protests?
The protesters who filled the squares and streets 13 years ago appealed to a “systemic economic crisis”not only to the housing drama. The problem also affects the entire continent “in a global way” and has to do with vulture fund speculationhe boom of vacation rentals and the dynamics of mass tourism, among other issues. “We continue fighting against evictions, but the debate revolves around other axes, such as the fight between rentierism and tenants or touristification”, slip the same sources.
If both movements agree on something, according to the sources consulted by this newspaper, it is in the profile of the protesters. “Protest dynamics are normally conveyed through the younger and middle-aged population, as well as people with a higher level of education. This is common to 15M and the mobilizations for housing“says Pablo Simón. Experts, however, recognize that treating housing emergency as a problem that only affects young people is a way of “simplifying it”, of downplaying its importance.
The movement for housing, prior to 15M
Social groups remember that the housing movement existed “long before” 2011, although the 15M camps marked a before and after. “Housing platforms began to be built in neighborhoods and town halls that until then had nothing of the kind. 13 years ago, the different demands converged into widespread unrest over corruption, the economic crisis and the lack of representation in parliaments. Now, We do not see a union of pro-housing groups with environmentalistsfeminists or pensioner groups, for example. Everything is much more confusing and the movements move separately,” he laments. José María Torralbofrom the STOP Evictions platform.
Jaime Palomeraresearcher at the Barcelona Urban Research Institute (IDRA), appeals to the mobilizations called four years before 15M by V for Housing and Platform for Decent Housing. “If we make comparisons we have to think about 2007, when thousands of people took to the streets under the slogan You won’t have a home in your fucking life. This happened before the real estate bubble burst. The protesters denounced the rise in prices and the feeling that it was impossible, even then, to access decent housing and build a life project. The demands of 15M and the underlying problems have not disappearedbut the current protests are almost more reminiscent of those of 2007,” explains the activist.
The camps that started in Valencia This weekend they seek to “give continuity” to the demonstrations of recent months and “redirect energy” that was generated in the streets throughout the country. “The associative fabric is increasingly stronger in the city and the spaces for political militancy are growing; There were many people orphaned of a political space. The big difference with the 15M is that we are not starting from scratch“, they recognize from the Entre Barris collective, which is part of the movement in the Valencian capital. The activists calculate that fifty people They have been sleeping in the Town Hall square for two nights.
“The press and some parties began to raise the possibility of a new 15M after the 13-O demonstrations in Madrid. Our generation is clear about the potential that the movement hadbut above all our generation—and all those who live in the current situation and have lived through the previous political cycle—know how everything ended. The current context is similar to that of 13 years ago when it comes to mistrust towards the politicians, but the same thing cannot happen to us again – seeing how the Podemos strategy and later Sumar failed –”, denounces the Sindicat d’Habitatge Socialista de Catalunya. tenant unions They have called for a “great mobilization” in Barcelona on November 23.
The sources consulted by this newspaper do not see it in the short term “the germ of a revolution like that of 15M“, which generates the emergence of new parties, and puts the focus on the “organizational capacity” of social groups. From Between Barris They remember that Valencia was, precisely, one of the cradles of 15M and they commit to working to “move forward” with the protests. “This campaign is the result of a long process of association and political militancy, not like in 2011. The general feeling is not going to stay here and we will continue fightingwhether in the camp or with some other structure,” they say.
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