by Anarchist Networks (Redes Libertarias) translation thefreeonline https://wp.me/pIJl9-Hum 21 Sept 25. Tgrm t.me/thefreeonline/4273
How and when did the Magdalena Anarchist Local come about? Tell us why Magdalena and how you are connected to the Lavapiés neighborhood where the Local is located.
The origin of the Local stems from a need to bring together various projects. It was born in a CNT space on Magdalena Street, a space that the union had been using since the 1970s.
In the 1990s and 2000s, they shared it with other groups that met there. There came a time when the union no longer participated in the local, and these other groups continued to use it.
To give you an idea, it was a large apartment with several rooms, so each room was used by different projects. From the Anarchist Youth of many years ago to the Anarchopunk Federation, etc., very different collectives without a common project passed through there..
Then, there came a time when the Klinamen publishing house and the Mundo Muerto distribution company also got involved, and projects began to emerge that gave rise to the library as we understand it today.
In 2003, the library was born under the name Biblioteca Social Enoch, then the bookstore, and later the video library and archive. At some point, all these projects were understood as a common project, which is Local Anarquista Magdalena.
We have never been a project directly linked to the neighborhood, although there have been many stages in which we have been.
Ultimately, we are a libertarian space whose strength is that we are in the center of Madrid and it is a meeting place, whether you have come for a book, an assembly, or an activity. We have projected ourselves more as an infrastructure for the city’s collectives than for the neighborhood.
But for several years, we have participated in assemblies against the gentrification of Lavapiés, such as STOP HOTEL (to stop the construction of the IBIS Hotel in Plaza de Lavapiés) and Paremos Hotel Cabestreros (with the intention of stopping the construction of a hotel in Plaza de Cabestreros).
We have also tried to bring the libertarian and anti-prison discourse to the streets by redefining a crossroads between two streets (Calvario and Ministriles), renaming it Plaza de Xosé Tarrio, where we have hosted screenings, talks, and workshops.
https://plazaxosetarrio.noblogs.org/
It has also been influential that the Magdalena assembly has never included anyone who lives in the neighborhood; instead, we have been people who have spent many hours in Lavapiés and have felt it is our neighborhood. Since none of us live in Lavapiés, at specific times, such as the COVID lockdown and the day of the blackout, we were unable to offer or use the space as a neighborhood infrastructure.
Also, due to the gentrification of the neighborhood and the expulsion of neighbors, fewer and fewer of our neighbors are using the space.
Despite these difficulties, we want to be a tool and an infrastructure for the Lavapiés neighborhood, something that can be complicated when we’re not there ourselves in their daily lives. But both the library and the space are available and open to the neighborhood.
In fact, we recently established a very nice collaboration with the “Lavapié Dragons,” where kids come every Tuesday to play chess.
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