The encampment at Plaça d'Espanya continues: “We will remain here until the right to housing is real"

Palma"You are doing very well, don't give up. If I were younger, I would come too." An eighty-year-old lady approached a group of young people who are maintaining the encampment for the right to housing at Plaza de España in Palma this Tuesday at noon and wanted to convey her support. The scene, explains Albert, one of the spokespersons for the encampment, is not exceptional. Throughout the last few hours, people of all ages have gone to the tents to encourage them and, in many cases, to bring them food or other products they might need.

"So far we haven't had to buy anything," explains the spokesperson. Solidarity has caused the tent set up as a pantry to fill up with food and other products contributed by people who wanted to join the protest in this way. "Many people have come since we've been here and asked us if we need anything," he recounts.

Likewise, people have also come throughout the morning to convey their dissatisfaction with the housing issue and the obstacles they have encountered in order to access it. "During this morning some people have come to see us to explain that they are scheduled to be evicted and what they could do, one of them with an imminent eviction," he said. "What we have done so far is collect their data and transfer it to the Union or the PAH to see how they can be helped," he comments.

The encampment began in the early hours of Monday to Tuesday, after the massive demonstration at the Plaça de Cort called by the Sindicat de Llogateres de Mallorca under the slogan 'Not one more Maricarmen! Until we conquer the right to housing'. When the mobilization ended, a group of people moved to the Plaça d'Espanya and decided to set up tents to spend the night and give continuity to the protest.

About thirty people stayed to sleep there during the first night, and this Tuesday at noon there were still about ten people at the encampment. The participants are now organizing themselves into rotating shifts to ensure that the space is maintained and that the action has continuity throughout the hours. The initiative is inspired by the encampments that have been launched these days in other parts of the State, especially in Madrid, where the protest started after the eviction of Maricarmen—an 87-year-old woman who had lived in the same home for more than seven decades—has turned the Puerta del Sol into the main focus of the mobilization for the right to housing. The Madrid encampment has grown to gather hundreds of people and has been organized through assemblies and different committees.

Also in Catalonia, the movement has raised the possibility of moving the protest to the street with an encampment. The Tenants' Union of Catalonia has not ruled out setting up in Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya and has defended that Maricarmen's case is not an isolated incident, but rather represents a problem that affects many other people.

A protest that aims to remain organized

In Palma, the participants have begun to structure the encampment with different organization groups to distribute tasks and ensure its operation. The goal, according to them, is to maintain a protest action that they define as peaceful resistance. Not everything they have received, however, has been support. Another member of the organization explains to ARA Balears that, although most of the reactions are positive, they have also had to face insults, looks of disapproval, and people who have recorded them with photographs and videos.

Solidarity, on the other hand, has also translated into material aid that has allowed the first hours of the encampment to be sustained. The improvised pantry is one of the most visible signs of this citizen response. With a view to this Tuesday afternoon, the campers have called an open assembly at 6:30 PM, where it is planned to specify the next steps of the protest after knowing the content of the new housing decree promoted by the Spanish government.

"We are not waiting passively"

Another spokesperson for the Mallorca Tenants' Union, Mariona, asks for caution regarding the decrees from the state executive. "We do not want to rush," she points out.

The union considers that there are measures that could align with their demands, but warns that it is still pending to verify which of the proposals it considers fundamental will finally be incorporated into the text. Among their demands are more stability for rental contracts, protection measures against evictions, and regulation of temporary and room rentals.

This Tuesday, precisely, the Spanish government reached an agreement between the PSOE and Sumar to move forward with the housing measure package after a last-minute negotiation. Among the proposed measures are the regulation of room and temporary rentals and protection measures for vulnerable households, while the automatic renewal of contracts has been placed in a second regulatory package.

For the Tenants' Union, however, waiting for the definitive content does not mean stopping mobilization. "We are not waiting passively; we are waiting by organizing ourselves," Mariona defends. "We know that these mobilizations have been massive, we have advanced a great deal, we are exerting brutal pressure, and that is why we must continue on the streets." The spokesperson maintains that the mobilization will continue until the right to housing has, in her words, protection comparable to other social rights. "We want to be able to have decent housing and be able to live without fear of being kicked out of our homes every X years," she states.

Talks and activities during the week

The encampment is not limited to overnight stays. The participants also intend to organize various activities and tasks over the coming days to turn Plaça d’Espanya into a space for debate and organization regarding the right to housing. Among the proposals on the table are the holding of talks and conferences on housing and anti-repressive struggle, although they are not yet finalized nor do they have a defined calendar.

The attendees also encourage civil society and all people who share their demands to join the encampment and participate in the various actions that may be organized. In fact, among the first proposals is the possibility of holding a collective dinner this Tuesday evening, after the open assembly at 6:30 PM, although it is still pending confirmation.

The continuity of the encampment will be decided, in large part, based on this Tuesday evening's assembly and the Spanish government's response to the set of demands. In Palma, for the moment, the first night has left about ten tents installed in Plaça d’Espanya and a group of people willing to keep them occupied. And, as Albert explains, also a citizen response that goes beyond the usual participants in the mobilizations: "There are people of all ages who come and tell us to keep going."