The area that we were living in in Barcelona was one that showed many parallels to the “Anarchism and the City” book. There are wide wealth gaps in Urban centers, but seeing the wealth gaps in the population of the neighborhood we were in was astonishing. As we stepped onto the street, there was a man with a shopping cart outside of our hotel. He had filled trash into this cart, and he was opening up the trash can right outside of the hotel to search for more items to salvage. Our nice, air conditioned hotel was next to this area filled with poverty. This contrast was seen multiple times. As we sat and ate outside, a woman walked over to a bench in the public square. She sat down on the bench and passed out. Multiple people walked up to her to try and wake her up, but by the time we were done eating she was still passed out. On these streets I saw homeless and blue collar workers walking alongside tourists wearing designer brands. These wealth divides remind me of the wealth divides discussed in the book “Anarchism in the City.” The wealth divides of that time were caused by resistance to political changes by the rich. This created the divide that caused uprisings in Barcelona from 1898-1937. These urban spaces were and still remain perfect spaces for people to convey their disapproval.
We saw one of these uprisings while walking to lunch in Barcelona. There was a public square that had La Senyera flags up. A man walked out of the street dressed in the flag. This flag is a symbol of the independence of Catalonia. He began singing what we assumed was an anthem for the independence of Catalonia. Being in this area of Barcelona, it was evident that Barcelona’s history is that of one with massive class divide, and struggles for independence. In addition to this, the area we were in showed evidence of Spain’s massive amounts of immigrant population. It seemed that the area we were in had high populations of immigrants because there were many shops that had their signs in different languages including Urdu and Arabic. Barcelona, and Spain’s rich but complex history of class divide, immigration, and struggles for freedom is evident in the streets of the city even today. Another proof of this was the stickers supporting different movements around the city. These stickers had phrases stating to end fascism, welcome refugees, and advocated for the freedom of the Palestinian people. These stickers and graffiti as a form of political messaging further show Barcelona’s role as a revolutionary city. One of these phrases “Visca Palestina Lliure” is a phrase in Catalan that is adapted for the phrase for Visca Barca meaning long live Barcelona.
Revolutionary Cities 