Eskalera Karakola is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

self-managed social centre Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. Women

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

a bakery on Calle de Embajadores 40 from 1996 until 2005, whereupon they were given a building at Calle de Embajadores 52.

History

Eskalera Karakola (EKKA) emerged from a squat on Lavapiés 15, in the

Lavapiés Lavapiés is a historic neighbourhood in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the administrative ward (barrio) of Embajadores in the downtown Centro District, southwest of neighbouring neighbourhood La Latina. The name literally means "w ...

district, in 1996. Staying in Lavapiés, several female participants decided to make a women-only occupation in a former bakery at Calle Embajadores 40. The project was eventually legalised in 2005, when it moved to its present location at Calle de Embajadores 52. The bakery was evicted in 2005 and subsequently demolished.

Activities

Eskalera Karakola works on the principles of autogestion and organizes activities focusing on

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

and women's

precarity Precarity (also precariousness) is a precarious existence, lacking in predictability, job security, material or psychological welfare. The social class defined by this condition has been termed the ''precariat''. Catholic origins Léonce Crenier, ...

post-industrial capitalism In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy. The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to sim ...

. In 2002, it created a ''Female Workers' Laboratory'' (''Laboratorio de Trabajadoras''), and has carried out

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

activities, in particular with female

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, since 1998. Eskalera Karakola also took part in the organization of the

LGBT Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...

and the forum "Women and Architecture". It participated in

alter-globalization Alter-globalization (also known as alternative globalization or alter-mundialization—from the French alter- mondialisation—and overlapping with the global justice movement) is a social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and ...

events such as the

European Social Forum The European Social Forum (ESF) was a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement (also known as the Global Justice Movement). In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but late ...

and is part of the European nextGENDERation network. It publishes a review, ''Mujeres Preokupando'' (a pun between "Concerned Women" and "Pre-Squatting Women"). The research collective Precarias a la Deriva formed out of discussions at the social centre. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Spain The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Island ...

, its activities went online.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1996 establishments in Spain Squats in Spain Culture in Madrid Feminist organisations in Spain Infoshops

History

Activities

References

Further reading

External links