The Global Movement Against Gentrification

http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/18/the-global-movement-against-gentrification/
Date Written:  2019-06-18
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23731

Accounts of worldwide efforts to promote municipal engagement and organize locally for justice are given in the book Fearless Cities: A Guide to the Global Municipalist Movement.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Four years ago, Barcelona voters made international news when they chose Ada Colau, a young feminist and housing rights activist, to be mayor of Spain’s second largest city. Colau was backed by Barcelona En Comu, a social movement coalition opposed to gentrification, eviction of tenants, privatization of city services, and growing inequality between neighborhoods....

Thanks to the recent publication of Fearless Cities: A Guide to the Global Municipalist Movement (New Internationalist Publications, 2019) the organizational model and radical platform of En Comu will continue to be a source of cross-border inspiration.

Compiled by Colau, En Comu and Debbie Bookchin, the Guide describes municipal reform campaigns in fifty cities and 19 countries....

"The best way to engage people," they argue, "particularly, those with no previous interest in electoral politics, is to go and ask them what they think about their neighborhood, about how they would change it. Focusing on shared goals, rather than potentially divisive negotiations over who should stand as a candidate, is also a good way to bring people from diverse backgrounds and from different organizations together and to create a sense of common purpose."