Unions controlled by the rank-and-file can serve as a dual power bridgehead towards the democratization of cities, states and capital. Photo: Pixabay

The term ‘common space’ describes commoning processes as opposed to a purely physical space. Its particular spatiality is a dynamic condition of space sharing that produces spaces in the making. Through self-managed initiatives, the ‘right to the city’ becomes the right to collectively produce it...

In this podcast there’s a discussion of the work of Murray Bookchin, relating it to the experiences and debates around municipalism and wider left political practices and theory. The guests focus the discussion on the recent edited collection of Bookchin’s work: The Next Revolution: Popular...

How has COVID-19 affected municipalism’s confederal and democratizing mission? In Spain, as elsewhere, the government’s response to the pandemic has implied a centralization of power. At the same time, municipalities are seeing their already limited resources stretched to the limit by the health and economic...

The emergence of radical municipalist experiences across the world is challenging  the hegemonic liberal vision that has dominated global politics hitherto. By incorporating a global vision to the municipal approach, the new movement, articulated around the Fearless Cities conference that took place in Barcelona in...

By building a “democracy from below,” the Zapatistas recognize the leadership of, and carry on a long tradition of resistance by Indigenous communities in Chiapas. Photo: Gareth Davies

The municipalist movement in the US today is like a seedling. It is small and delicate, fresh and brimming with potential. Although we often look for leftist leadership in big cities like New York City or Chicago, these new municipal leaders are rooted in relatively...

If we want to create a democratic culture that invites people in, though, we can’t restrict our thinking only to big-P “Politics” as represented by elections, Westminster, and political parties. Participatory and collaborative decision making happens in all sorts of settings and places.We need a...

An interview with Debbie Bookchin to discuss how municipalist movements are implementing her father’s ideas and what the potential challenges are for libertarian municipalism. Photo: Pixabay

The tension between right-wing tenets and progressive policies is raising across Europe. If victorious in the 2019 European elections, the right-wing forces would undermine the transnationalist basis of the Union, thus jeopardizing the whole EU project. Overcoming the nation-state approach, both downwards (internally) and upwards...

This paper seeks to outline the changes that enabled the citizen platform Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for “Barcelona in Common”) to win the elections in Barcelona in 2015, a victory that signaled a rupture in the status quo of Spanish politics. Although the citizen platform...

Barcelona has become one of the key targets – and victims – of the global tourism and property industry, spurred by financial firms such as Blackstone. But inhabitants and social movements are fighting back. Photo: Daniel Von Appen