Squatting, the 15-M Movement, and Struggles for Housing in the Context of the Spanish Social Crisis

Abstract

The last few decades have seen the rise to predominance of social movements emphasizing ideological aspects of mobilisation. This new tendency invites a re-evaluation of the material aspects of social mobilisation. Since the onset of the last economic crisis, the housing issue, and mobilizations around it, have assumed increasing significance. Occupations of vacant housing in Spain by people in need have escalated rapidly. This research describes the housing movement in Spain, and occupation as a solution. Before the economic crisis, occupation was fundamentally linked with the squatting movement. Now it is linked more with struggles against eviction. This article examines the specific cases of Seville, and the Corralas movement.