LA CONSTRUCCIÓ D'UN SOMNI PER FER-NE REALITAT D'ALTRES

As May transitioned into April, 8 months of hard manual labor and a little dreaming paid off with the amazingly successful inauguration of the Ateneu Candela in its huge new location. I and many others were doubtful we’d be able to pull it all off in the exhaustive days leading up the opening. There was still major structural work to be completed and huge piles of debris littering the converted factory space up until the last minute.

But everything came together in the end. The concert/conference space looked immense and gorgeous, the bar and eating area was equally attractive and the library/free internet station, the ecological cooperative, the community radio/recording studio, and the two upstairs meeting rooms were decorated with photo and lit. presentations from the various collectives working out of the Ateneu (gender, precarity, intercultural, solidarity groups with communities in Guatemala and Nicaragua, etc.). I spent my final available hours meticulously selecting, mounting and hanging a beautiful collection of political posters representing left politics and social movements from about a dozen countries. We officially opened our doors to the public shortly after I finished teaching my Friday afternoon English classes.

By night’s end the place was packed so densely with hundreds of visitors from around Terrassa and other parts of Spain that it was hard to move, much less take all the drink orders in between the cabaret, poetry, folk, and rock performances (side note: although terrible at it, I found my first bartending experience almost addictive. I’ve scheduled a weekly volunteer shift to keep at it).

The Ateneu Candela is now one of the largest and most important movement-oriented social centers in all of Spain. Our space will serve as a reference point for those working to strengthen the social fabric of the region and promote political reflection and mobilization. From here on we’re charged with programming daily activities and special events with the aim of involving a much wider audience. The inauguration proved that we have the capacity to break out of the “activist ghetto” by attracting a crowd that reflects the surrounding community: teenagers, the retired, families with children, immigrants, and the more typical 20’s-30’s set. The diversity of inauguration activitities, ranging from kids theater, a communal paella lunch, fire juggling and the screening of a 30 min. documentary of interviews with Ateneu Candela participants (with a few embarrassing cameos from yours truly) helped ensure as much.

Without visiting the space it may be difficult to get a sense of its actual potency and what sets the Ateneu Candela apart from the more traditional civic centers and the more alienating ‘okupa’ squats. (Side note: “ateneus” were first developed at the turn of the 20th century by the worker’s movements. They were social spaces that helped sustain a vibrant culture of resistance and solidarity. These spaces were also some of the only institutions where one could receive a secular, democratic education at the time). Creating physical spaces that us folks on the left can call our own should be a more central component of our transformative strategies. Such spaces can provide a stable home for our community-based projects (conferences, campaigns, film screenings, collectives, concerts, etc.), promote a welcoming politicized cultural milieu, and allow us to intervene and create social bonds within a given territory.

With that said, I once again extend an invitation for you to visit us here in Terrassa. And once I’m back in the States in August (most likely), perhaps you would like to join me (and Jan!) in promoting the development of such spaces within the U.S.