Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH; Platform for People Affected by Mortgages) is a Spanish

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

organization that takes direct action to stop

eviction Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgage ...

s and campaigns for housing rights. The PAH was set up in Barcelona in February 2009 and by 2017 had 220 local branches across Spain. It was established in response to the

2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

that triggered the bursting of the Spanish housing bubble and resists evictions due to foreclosures.

Activity and campaigns

The Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH, Platform for People Affected by Mortgages) was set up in Barcelona in February 2009, by activists previously involved in V de Vivienda (H for Housing). The group aimed to protest and combat the foreclosures which were evicting people from their homes. It is organised horizontally by assembly and grew exponentially across Spain, with 220 local groups recorded by 2017. The group organises non-violent resistance to evictions and campaigns for a social rent and more aid for people unable to pay their mortgages. The PAH had successfully stopped more than 2,000 evictions by 2016.

Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano (; ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who is the current Mayor of Barcelona. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen municipalist pla ...

was one of the founding members of the PAH, acting as its spokesperson until May 2014. Since June 2014, Colau has been a spokesperson for citizen platform

Guanyem Barcelona Ganemos or Guanyem refers to a set of independent municipal initiatives in Spain seeking to create and improve mechanisms for more direct citizen participation in politics. The movement, like 15M, was initiated during the Spanish financial crisi ...

(Let's Win Back Barcelona). She won a simple majority in the elections and on 13 June 2015 she became

Mayor of Barcelona This is a list of mayors of Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. Wi ...

for

Barcelona en Comú Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for "Barcelona in Common") is a citizen platform launched in June 2014 that is currently governing in minority in the City of Barcelona. Its policy agenda includes defending social justice and community rights, promotin ...

. PAH achieved notoriety for its practice of "escraches" in which the homes and offices of politicians were visited.

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a vote of no confidence ousted his government. On 5 June 2018, he announced his resignation as People's Party lead ...

, the Spanish

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

condemned escraches as "undemocratic" and

María Dolores de Cospedal María Dolores Cospedal García (born 13 December 1965) is a Spanish politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of Castile-La Mancha from 2011 to 2015 and as Minister of Defence of the Government of Spain from 201 ...

, Secretary-General of the People's Party called them "pure Nazism". A lawyer representing PAH commented "We don’t like to carry out escraches but they've left us with no other choice".

Awards

In 2013, PAH received the Premio Nacional de Derechos Humanos, a national award for human rights. It also received the European Citizens' Prize.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Organizations established in 2009 Squatters' movements Housing in Spain Squatting in Spain Civil disobedience 2009 establishments in Spain

Activity and campaigns

Awards

See also

References

Further reading

External links