When the lefties run a city…
One of the reasons why I wanted to study Political Ecology in Barcelona was to witness first-hand the progressive municipalism of Barcelona en Comú (the Comuns).
In 2015 a group of activists decided to run for office. They had been challenged to do so; they realized there were limits to what they could accomplish outside the halls of power. Instead of starting a new political party they created a progressive platform. To everyone’s surprise they won and Ada Colau became the first female mayor of the city.
I heard about the Comuns early on; they helped the organize the Fearless Cities conference I attended and presented at in NYC in 2017. In particular I am really drawn to Ada’s presence and communication style. She speaks about the issues and the solutions without much jargon or rhetoric. They talk about a city where everyone can live, kids can play safety, elders can get around with ease and support, cleaner air and trees, ending the dominance of cars and retaking the streets for people, improving worker conditions and pay, and creating loads more affordable housing. Care is at the center of the work and this makes it a truly feminist platform.
In the eight years the Comuns was in power they managed to:
- Stop Airbnb expansion and try to provide oversight to the sector (it was contributing to rising housing prices)
- Stop issuing new hotel permits and in certain parts of the city, not reissuing hotel permits when they shut down
- Stop the rental of short-term housing in touristic parts of town.
- Invest in social housing — now 30% of all units in new developments must be for social housing. In addition the city is constructing new subsidized housing and has bought properties off the private market to add to the housing stock.
- Build over 100 km of protected bicycle lanes — now the city has over 200 kilometers of bike lanes and 90% of Barcelona residents live within 300 meters of a protected bike lane.
- Start a municipal babysitting service at libraries, theaters, and museums, so you can drop your kid(s) off and do errands. Or just take a rest. For free.
- Install air conditioning in schools (they hadn’t had it and there have been some major heat waves here). Turning the schools into climate refuge spaces.
- Turn many hectares of city streets into pedestrian spaces (I need to find a number for the whole time the Comuns have been in power). While the superblocks are most well-known, there’s been a move to create smaller but still significant green spaces in many more neighborhoods. Planted tens of thousands of trees.
- Make the bike share free for youth
- Reduce metro costs in half (I pay 20 euros for a monthly pass)
- Start their own 100% renewables energy company, Barcelona Energia, and move all city energy to this company, away from the large private corporation Endesa. Bills have gone down 40%.
- Create a solar park to power 180,000 homes, reducing their energy bill by 30%
- Start a city-run dental service, mental health service, and eye care service — all which had been inaccessible to low-income people
- Massive expansion of public transportation — street trams and metro
- Reduce traffic in the city by 17% over the last five years
- Start a new center supporting social and solidarity economy busineses
- Creatr new protections for domestic workers
- Experiment with different waste management strategies to increase recycling and composting
- Try to limit cruise ships and stopping airport expansion
- Achieve the lowest unemployment rate in 15 years
- Ban new casinos / gambling spaces in the city
- Stop 93% of evictions
- Build new libraries and sporting centers
- Make over 200 schools safer by protecting students from noise pollution and making them safer from cars
And this is just what I’ve heard about. I know there’s much more.
A lot can happen in eight years with political will and imagination.
There is a reason why people love living in Barcelona. It’s not just the weather and the beach (ok, those are big ++++s).
One of my professors this year worked for the city and was active with Barcelona en Comú. I only had two seminars with him but I wish I could have asked him questions for hours. He spoke honestly about the challenges in governing; the vision to make the city a more just, sustainable, feminist, affordable, liveable place for all — and the walls set up by the regional and national government and the EU, that protect capital above all. To make these kinds of big changes you need to take risk but you also need to be creative. You make progress by looking for loopholes in the law.
As progressives with political power you’re always trying to stay afloat while moving forward. If you’re too ambitious then industry will throw everything to stop you. If you’re too reformist, your supporters will get upset, saying you sold out and are not looking out for their interests.
And now, after eight years, the Comunes have lost power in the latest municipal elections. They’ll be in the city council and it’s unclear if a coalition government including them will take power. I’ve heard it’s because of the “war on cars” — which mobilized the wealthier voters to turn out at much higher rates. And the usual right wing rhetoric about crime (even though crime has technically gone down). Also, they have had to govern during the pandemic and with massive inflation, and like everywhere else, housing prices have soared here. And they’ve been hit with frivolous lawsuits that have gotten a lot of press but almost all (if not all) have been thrown out.
I followed the campaign and stayed up til 2am on election night waiting, hoping, that the final votes would shift the Comunes to second place (which would have meant they could stay in power through coalition). They lost second place by 400 votes.
I’m a short-timer here — am heading back to Seattle in August. But I will forever be inspired by Barcelona en Comú and Ada Colau’s leadership. I hope I can find a way to bring some of the spirit of this people’s revolution back with me.
PS. Really great article about Barcelona en Comú. https://portside.org/2023-05-12/lessons-barcelonas-8-year-experiment-radical-governance