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Countercultural squatters in Spain

Martínez, Miguel A. (2006). Countercultural Squatters in Spain. SOHO China 63, 16-19 and CASA Zine 3, 8-15. Available at http://www.miguelangelmartinez.net/?Countercultural-squatters-in-Spain

Estimated reading time: 1 minutes

For a better understanding of the contemporary cities all around the world we can adopt sociological views from above or from bellow. Global metropolis and big amounts of goods, services, information and money, are only one face of the coin –usually, the lens we use from above, the focus on macro. These dynamics share the power to influence our lives and ideas, even while living in the least urbanized places, with other apparently less important processes and apparently affecting to less people: migrants, informal economy, alterglobalization movements, cultural hybrids, etc. However, the focus on micro could lead to think again in simple terms of dominant and dominated groups, ignoring that social domination is always a sort of hurricane where all areinvolved. Some small particles and movements in the windy and accelerated jungle of cities can change their direction, their pace, even without the total inversion of the power relationships embedded in urban spaces. The question is how to perceive the relevance of those groups within the social and cultural diversity that feed those micro processes.

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Published: 27 de Outubro de 2006