Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria

Organization on the island of Gran Canaria

Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria

Federación Anarquista de Gran Canaria

Abbreviation| FAGC
Formation| May 15, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-05-15)
Type| Anarchist federation
Purpose| Right to housing
Location|

* Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,  Canary Islands

Origins| 15-M Movement
Methods| Squatting

Official language

| Spanish
Website| anarquistasgc.noblogs.org

The Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria (Spanish: Federación Anarquista de Gran Canaria, FAGC) is an anarchist organization on the island of Gran Canaria, founded in 2011. It is focused on defending the right to decent housing.[1]

## History[edit]

In a context of social and labor precariousness, as well as the economic crisis in the Canary Islands, the Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria was born from the confluence of different participants of the 15-M Movement in the Plaza de San Telmo in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, within which they identified themselves as the black bloc.[2][3] They shared "the ácrata sentiment and a great desire to promote a change in this unjust system."[1] From then on, the FAGC was made up of "groups and individuals from different parts of the island, by people and groups with different experiences, sensitivities and preferences".[3] The group, partly made up of non-anarchist members, is made up of 90% women.[2][4]

## Premises and actions[edit]

The FAGC try to seek self-sufficiency based on the premise, "do as you can and receive as you need", and they have aligned themselves against any type of dirigisme.[3] They claim the active role of the street and the need for a horizontal and self-managed action.[5] They defend that it is necessary to first look for practical solutions and then develop the theory, thus exposing the problems of practice in a self-critical way.[4]

They have openly shown their criticism of yellow unionism.[6]

In 2013, the FAGC managed to relocate more than 70 people into empty buildings that belonged to banks or financial entities, following the ideas of the squatter movement and until 2016 it had managed to relocate more than 400 people on the island.[7] The FAGC, unlike of the Stop Evictions platform, emphasizes cases of squatting, homelessness and renting.[8]

They also deal with the dissemination of libertarian ideas through social networks and, during their early years, with a weekly radio program: Voces libertarias.[3]

In 2018 a project emerged to give testimony in a documentary of the actions of the FAGC and the Tenant Union of Gran Canaria, under the title Precaristas: crónica de la lucha por la vivienda en Gran Canaria.[9][10]

### "La Esperanza" Community[edit]

The organization Comunidad "La Esperanza" was born in the municipality of Santa María de Guía, which constitutes the largest squatting project in Spain[7][5] and the most ambitious project of the FAGC.[4]

## Publications[edit]

* Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria (2019). Federación de anarquistas de Gran Canaria: las ideas, los hechos. Barcelona: Col-lectiu BAUMA.[5]

## See also[edit]

* Anarchism in Spain

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Quiénes somos". Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
2. ^ a b Rodríguez, Iris (27 December 2015). "Comunidad La Esperanza: el experimento libertario en Gran Canaria". LaColumna.cat (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
3. ^ a b c d "El Portal entrevista a la Federación de Anarquistas Gran Canaria (FAGC)". Portal Libertario Oaca (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
4. ^ a b c Larios, Guille (3 April 2018). "Ruymán Rodríguez: "La gente no se hará anarquista escuchando lo que digo, sino viendo lo que hago"". Briega (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
5. ^ a b c Anarchist Federation of Gran Canaria (2019). "Federación de anarquistas de Gran Canaria: las ideas, los hechos". DDT Banaketak (in Spanish). Bilbo Zaharra. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
6. ^ Gutiérrez, Ernesto (9 June 2014). "La Federación Anarquista de Gran Canaria anuncia su regreso a la arena política". Canarias Semanal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Consultado el 1 de mayo de 2019.
7. ^ a b Larios, Guille (18 February 2016). "El juez imputa de oficio al guardia civil que agredió al activista de vivienda Ruymán Rodríguez". Diagonal (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
8. ^ Pérez, Eduardo (17 April 2013). "Gran Canaria: 55 inmuebles ocupados en 2013". Diagonal (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
9. ^ Pérez, Eduardo (14 March 2018). "La historia de película del Sindicato de Inquilinos de Gran Canaria". El Salto (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2019.
10. ^ Inercia Docs (23 April 2018). "Precaristas: Crónica de la lucha por la vivienda en Gran Canaria". Verkami (in Spanish). Barcelona. Retrieved 1 May 2019.

## External links[edit]

* Anarchism portal
* Spain portal

* Web page of the FAGC