Las Vulpes was the first spanish punk rock band formed only by women. It was founded in Baracaldo (Vizcaya, Basque Country) in the summer of 1982, as a result of the guitarist´s desire on creating an all women punk band. After a few changes, the final formation consisted on: Loles Vázquez (guitar), Mamen Rodrigo (voice), Begoña Astigarraga (bass) and Lupe Vázquez (drums), all between 17 and 22 years of age.
Fundacion Voces and Festival Mulafest got together to promote creative ideas for social change. They started a campaign in social media to ask people to donate their Vespa motorcycles. After they collected the Vespas donated by the people, they put them together again and invited known artists to intervene them.
El albañil anarquista Lucio Urtubia falsificó miles de cheques del First National City Bank, en la segunda mitad de los años setenta, hasta prácticamente llevar el banco a la ruina. Urtubia donó el dinero así generado a diversos movimientos de guerrilla europeos y latinoamericanos.
In an effort to provide abused children with a safe way to reach out for help, a Spanish organization called the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation, or ANAR for short, created an ad that displays a different message for adults and children at the same time.
The Yayoflautas, or Iaioflautas is an organized group of senior citizens from different cities and regions of Spain. Like many others, the movement started during the first months of life of the 15-M movement, in Barcelona.
Comusitària is a Community Cultural Development agency based in Barcelona run by Noemi Rubio and Laia Serra. They work in the production, management, research and dissemination of artistic projects that build social capital and enable citizens to live more active, critical and creative lives.
Whether or not they follow politics, it’s fair to assume most people don’t actually read electoral programs. Podemos, Spain’s growing leftwing party, which got nearly 21% of the votes in last year’s elections, doesn’t think that’s good, so it adopted an unusual marketing approach to tackle that problem: it printed the program as an Ikea catalogue (pdf, link in Spanish).
Spanish soccer has witnessed and engaged in a variety of conversations in the last few years: Racism, politics, xenophobia, territorial issues, corruption, inmigration. However, there is an issue that remains untouched, and this issue is homophobia. Soccer is still a context where it is acceptable to use the word "marica" ("queer") in a pejorative way.
On November 7, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI visited our city. He would have been better off staying at home. Even before he touched land we had rendered him impotent for life. Yes: im-po-tent.
Even though Spain is constitutionally defined as a non-confessional nation, the Catholic Church still holds great power. For example, the Catholic Church is exempt from paying certain taxes, and can reclaim certain buildings as their property. This often creates frictions and conflicts with the activist groups and organizations that would prefer a more secular political environment.
Showcasing death to defend life
El Pais, Madrid
Activists protested with the organization Animal Equality (Igualdad Animal) in Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Burgos, and Toledo on December 10, commemorating the international Animal Rights Day.
El movimiento 15M ha abierto la veda a una protesta insistente, que mantiene la presencia en la calle. Según la delegada de gobierno, Cristina Cifuentes, en Madrid hay ocho manifestaciones diarias.
"Las sinsombrero" ("without hat") were a group of spanish women formed by the artists Maruja Mallo, Margarita Manso, Concha Méndez and the socialist activist Margarita Nelken.
Francisco Goya created “The Disasters of War” from 1810-1820. These 80 etchings and aquatints show scenes from the Spanish struggle against the French army under Napolean Bonaparte, who invaded Spain in 1808. When Napolean tried to install his brother Joseph Bonaparte, as King of Spain, the Spanish fought back, eventually aided by the British and the Portugese.
Spanish street artist El Rey de la Ruina uses murals and installations to critique inequality and government policies. His works, especially during the pandemic, voiced concerns over healthcare, housing, and public resources in Madrid’s urban spaces.
A Centro Social Okupado Autogestionado (Self-Managed Occupied Social Center) or CSOA is an occupied building dedicated to the development of social and cultural activities. They are part of the “movimiento okupa” (“squatter movement”), a label created and circulated by the mainstream press.
Late last year the Spanish government passed a law that set extreme fines for protesters convening outside of government buildings.
In response to the controversial Citizen Safety Law, which will take effect on July 1, Spanish activists have staged the world's first ever virtual political demonstration.
"If you want something different, do something really different."
And they did it!
Spain, January 1st 2013, an anonymous device was launched through the networks combining a communication guerrilla with a political-electoral aesthetic. The video used for take-off went viral receiving 200.000 visits in 48h: https://youtu.be/90deuJiQfTw
La huelga general europea del #14N no sólo nos dejó un importante seguimiento y abrumadora movilización en España y otros PIG's, sino que también desplegó la habitual fuerza y originalidad creativa de la cual se vienen dotando las protestas en España desde el 15 de mayo.
On Wednesday, December 15th 1976, a referendum was held in Spain. The question was to pass or not to pass the Ley para la Reforma Política (Political Reform Act). This Act was the legal instrument that allowed Spain to transition between Francisco Franco’s dictatorship to a democratic constitutional regime, a parliamentary monarchy.
La Casa Invisible project was started in 2007 in Malaga, Spain, when a group of socially involved participants squatted in a run-down building, aiming to eventually claim the legal rights to the property (Moor & Smart, 2016). The space was opened to local artists and creators, quickly becoming a hub for free local music, performances, and seminars as well as creating an important meeting space for social groups (Moor & Smart, 2016).
The Spanish 15M/INDIGNADOS social movement represents a citizen break-up with the current political system while proposing an alternative one, creatively transforming the prevailing participation and action patterns in its society.
On 6 January 2012, Metrópolis (TVE 2) broadcast "Activismo y Ficción", a report directed by Enmedio members Leónidas Martín and Núria Campabadal. It looks at a series of creative projects that lie somewhere between fiction and social activism.
"On July 5, 2002, a strange new brand began cropping up in the streets of Barcelona. That day, at the height of sales season, more than fifty people rushed through the center of Barcelona to the Bershka clothing store to perform the very first Yomango fashion show.
David Wojnarowicz was born on September 14, 1954, and died on July 22, 1992, at the age of 37 due to AIDS-related complications. Before he became an artist, he attended a Performing Arts high school from which he dropped out of in order to make a living as a farmer in Canada. This was up until he made a name for himself as an artist in New York’s cultural scene.