Platform for those Affected by Mortgages

Description

provisionaluniversity:

"Ada Colau, the charismatic spokesperson for the Platform for those Affected by Mortgages, described how immediately after the financial crisis those who were most affected by mortgages only existed in the narratives of the media and the politicians. These narratives represented those in debt as irresponsible borrowers who now had to accept the consequences of their actions, even if this meant eviction from their homes and the continuing burden of over-inflated mortgage repayments. Nor was this just a question of representation. When activists from the tenants associations held demonstrations in support of those saddled with huge mortgage debt they found that not many of those who were actually affected came onto the streets. Where were the people who were feeling the sharpest point of the debt crisis? Where was their anger and rage? These were questions that Ada Colau and other activists were asking when the 15-M movement broke out. With the taking of the squares, social barriers and fear were disrupted for a time as people came together and developed new forms of social and political action. While the PAH had been working effectively for some years on the housing and debt problem in Spain, 15-M was important for bringing more people into contact with their organization. As more people came to their meetings and new groups were established in different towns and cities across Spain a familiar story began to be told. Luisa, an activist who had been involved with PAH from the beginning, told us how it nearly everyone who came to the meetings looking for help began with the same line: ‘My situation is unique…’ only to find that hundreds and thousands of other people were going through the same traumatic experience.

Every person we spoke to in Madrid involved with the PAH spoke of these first crucial steps in breaking the individualized dynamic of guilt and depression created by debt and the narratives surrounding it. This was not simply broken by offering a counter-narrative in the media, a ‘correct analysis’ of what had happened. It involved concretely bringing people together to talk about their situation. To begin with this required a space that was open and non-judgmental, where people felt comfortable talking about their experiences. However, people who came to the meetings were also looking for help. The first thing that the PAH could offer was information. The complexity of the legal and financial situation was such that it was one of the primary ways people felt alienated and vulnerable. The activists involved in the PAH were not of course, at least initially, sophisticated in these areas either. It was a slow, laborious process of collective, self-education that has allowed them to fight many individual cases through the courts and the institutions of the state. As well as providing information, the PAH responded to the immediate concerns of people who came to the meetings, namely the anxiety they felt going to the banks to discuss their situation with bank managers. Simply being in that situation with a group of people behind you, especially with those who may have experienced the same thing, or know something about what is going on, not only makes someone feel individually stronger but also disrupts the everyday power relations through which debt is enforced." (http://provisionaluniversity.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/the-abduction-of-europe-iv-social-movements/)