Squatters and migrants in Madrid: Interactions, contexts and cycles

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2017-08, Vol.54 (11), p.2472-2489
• Main Author: Martinez, Miguel A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-fascism; Autonomy; Buildings; Constraints; contexts; Cooperation; cycles; Demonstrations & protests; Deprivation; Discrimination; Economic impact; Empowerment; Fascism; Harassment; Hispanic Americans; Historical account; Housing; Housing market; Housing policy; interactions; Madrid; Markets; Migrant workers; Migrants; Participation; Police; Police community relations; Political movements; Politics; Protest movements; Racism; Representation; Squatters; Urban areas; Urban conditions; urban squatting; Urban studies
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098016639011

Squatters and migrants use the city space in a peculiar and anomalous manner. Their contributions to the social and political production of urban space are not usually considered crucial. Furthermore, their mutual relationship is under-researched. In this paper I investigate the participation of migrants in the squatting of abandoned buildings. This may entail autonomous forms of occupation but also various kinds of interactions with native squatters. By looking historically at the city of Madrid I distinguish four major forms of interactions. I collect evidence in order to show that deprivation-based squatting is not necessarily the prevailing type. The forms of ‘empowerment’ and ‘engagement’ were increasingly developed while ‘autonomy’ and ‘solidarity’ were continuously present. These variations occurred because of specific drivers within the cycles of movements’ protests and other social and political contexts which facilitated the cooperation between squatters and migrants, although language barriers, discrimination in the housing market and police harassment constrained them too. Therefore, I argue first that two key social organisations triggered the interactions in different protest cycles. Second, I show how, in spite of the over-representation of Latin American migrants, the political squatting movement in Madrid has consistently incorporated groups of migrants and their struggles in accordance with anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-xenophobic claims and practices. The analysis also provides a nuanced understanding about the ‘political’ implications of squatting when migrants are involved. 寮屋居民和移民以独特而异常的方式使用城市空间。他们对城市空间社会政治生产的贡献通常 不被认为具有关键意义。此外，他们的相互关系未得到充分研宄。本文考察了废弃房屋擅据居 住中移民的参与。这包括自动占据，但也包括与原有寮屋居民的各种互动。通过考察马德里市 的历史数据，本文区分了四种主要的互动形式。本文收集到的证据表明，基于剥夺的擅自占据 不一定是最主要的形式。“赋能”和“交往”这两种形式日益发展，而“自治”和“团结”持续存在。 这些变化的发生是因为，对寮屋居住的一轮轮抗议以及其他社会和政治语境中的特定推动因素 促进了寮屋居住者与移民之间的合作，虽然语言障碍、住房市场中的歧视以及警察的骚扰也限 制了他们。因此，本文首先提出，两大社会组织引发了不同抗议周期中的互动。其次，本文展 示了尽管拉美移民己被各种社会组织过度代表，但马德里市的政治性寮屋居住运动一贯以来根 据反法西斯、反种族主义和反排外主义的主张和实践，整合了不同的移民群体及其斗争。分析 也为理解寮屋居住在涉及移民时的“政治”意义提供了一个细微的视角。