In order to understand current cities and the struggles that take place in them, it is necessary to remember where we came from. Memory elaboration. The struggles of the neighborhoods, the associations of neighbors and the contributions of the citizens at the local level transformed our cities and towns, and continue to mark to a large extent the current Basque Country. With the help of Karlos Trenor, the Asociación Centro Cultural Recreativo Eguia-Atocha de San Sebastián, we have received a brief memory of this democratic struggle.

Trenor has reminded us of the weather he had in the last years of Franco in the so-called Transition: “In the 1960s and 1970s there was a special political environment. Repression of political and trade union organizations was violent.” It reminds us of the fear of the people who lived through the 1936 War, of the shooting. But, under the influence of the new generations of young people and international emancipatory movements, “in the workplace the organization and struggles of the workers were broken, and in the towns and neighborhoods we live the beginnings of the assembly movements, which eventually acquired great strength”.

At that time, Trenor says that the living conditions of the neighborhoods were precarious: “There were hardly any equipment: there were no schools, no health services, no sports facilities. The neighborhoods emerged in the anarchic urbanism, driven by unscrupulous builders, seeking an easy short-term benefit, with the support of the administration”. For this reason, the lawyer has emphasized that the first demands of the neighborhood associations were closely linked to urbanism.

In 1964, the Law on Associations, known as the Fraga Law, was passed, which legalized cultural and neighborhood associations for the first time in Franco. The associations had to draft formal statutes in order to achieve legalization, but Trenor stressed that in practice they functioned in an assembly way. An example of this is the Asociación Centro Cultural Recreativo Eguia-Atocha, created in the Donostiarra neighborhood of Egia: “We worked horizontally, I could participate and decide who I wanted,” he says.

Basically, these neighborhood associations were looking for improvements in the neighborhood's living conditions. That was the main goal. “We were striving for urban improvement, traffic issues, housing, health services, cultural and sports equipment...”, Trenor said. The struggle in defense of the house Villa Salia de Egia must be framed in this context (see picture).

However, in the neighborhood assemblies there were also debates that went beyond the concrete problems of the neighborhoods. Both during Franco and at the beginning of the Transition, political parties were not yet legalized. Consequently, there was no room for political debate, and neighbourhood associations became, to a large extent, places for it. For example, Trenor remembers that they were acting around amnesty. But not only in the dialogue, but also in the struggles, beyond the local level, not limited to the concrete problems of the neighborhoods. The fight against repression, internationalist solidarity or nuclear energy also took place in neighbourhood associations. “There was a lot of activism, and the participation of young people was massive, in demonstrations, assemblies and making banners or propaganda,” the true asserts.

Although there was a contempt for neighborhood associations for their inter-class or inter-class character, they did not focus on the anti-system axis, i.e., the conflict between capital and labor. However, “it was proved that these struggles were able to complement each other and feed each other. For example, the neighborhoods were solidary with the struggles of the workers’ movement, developing mobilizations, boxes of resistance...”. Proof of this is the strong response from the neighbourhood associations of San Sebastian to the events of 3 March.

Legacy to this day

All of these neighborhood associations and struggles have left a profound imprint. Its political influence stands out: it was a space of politicization and awareness, a space of training in basic militancy, a space for the development of Basque identity and the consciousness and pride of class. As if that were not enough, they also served to test new forms of organization and struggle. In short, fighting in the neighborhoods, tending the political systems towards democratization, projecting the inhabitants of the neighborhoods as “citizens” with rights, extending the political rights. Neighborhood associations were an organizational reflection of this, as they became an instrument to boost the political participation of the social sectors – of the staff, etc. – that the system left out.

Also from the urban point of view, important inherited transformations occurred. Thanks to them, the neighborhoods have reached a generally acceptable level of amenities, as Trenor reminded us: ikastolas, sports clubs, cultural houses or associations of neighbors.

Today it is clear that the social reality, and especially the neighborhoods, has changed a lot, the facilities have nothing to do with those of the Transition. But the lawyer is clear that new challenges have emerged: “The housing, the gentrification, the situation of adults... Future generations will have to respond to these problems and invent other forms of organization and struggle.”