Errekaleor, a better world?

Errekaleor is a neighborhood built for workers who doubled the population of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the 1950s as a result of the industrialization process. It was originally named "A Better World," but eventually it was called Errekaleor, in the wake of the dry river that passes through the neighborhood. Built on the periphery of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the neighborhood lived for decades, with a strong community identity.

In the context of the urbanization process that lived in the south of the city at the beginning of the 21st century, the institutions ordered the transfer of the neighbors in order to empty, demolish and rebuild the neighborhood. Most of the neighbors -not all of them - had to leave the neighborhood, but as the years passed, Errekaleor's reconstruction project was paralyzed by the abandonment of both urban and local institutions such as Ensanche 21. The explosion of the housing bubble aggravated the situation, while in Vitoria-Gasteiz the number of empty homes (over 10,000) and the price of sales and rentals continued to rise.

In this context, in 2013, a small group of students studying at the Vitoria-Gasteiz campus of the UPV/EHU began to meet in an assembly to deal with the expensive rentals they had to pay. It was then that the idea emerged, the starting point: the recovery of an empty house in the neighborhood of Errekaleor, in a state of abandonment for years, concretely block 26.

The Errekaleor River, known since then, has become a sea. After the ten young people who recovered the first block with the simple objective of getting a home, hundreds of people from very different backgrounds have passed through the neighborhood, recovering more housing and starting dozens of different projects.

The dry river at sea: the first steps in images

Since the beginning of the institutional attacks, the Errekaleor neighborhood has been on the media agenda, and since then, both the neighborhood and the events that took place in the neighborhood are more known. But the story of these crazy young people who began to reclaim the neighborhood is not so well known. Here are some of the videos we have prepared to learn about the journey of the early years of ‘Errekaleor Bizirik’:

Bandoleros: first concert in the neighborhood:

https://halabedi.eus/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bidelapurrak.mp4

#ErrekaleorBizirik | Auzoa en Teleberri de ETB2 (2014):

Errekaleor/La Chapola Sin Censura (2014):

First attacks on the free neighborhood

While the Errekaleor Bizirik project continued to gain strength, media pressure and institutional persecution intensified. In the final straight of the mayor of Javier Maroto (Partido Popular), on 31 March 2015, there was the first attempt to cut the light of the neighborhood between police charges.

Three months later, in June, the opposition provoked by Maroto’s xenophobic speech brought about a change in the municipal government, making Gorka Uraran mayor of the PNV. While Uraran had hitherto been more vague about Errekaleor, the first milestone had been set against this self-managed project, in advance of the position that the Jeltzales have subsequently maintained. Meanwhile, the Errekaleor Free District celebrated its 2nd Anniversary in September 2015:

Throughout 2016, the new mayor, Gorka Uraran, changed his attitude towards Errekaleor and then began the tension he has had so far against his neighbours. In an interview with radio Hala Bedi, Uraran said that "in Errekaleor you can't live." The response of Errekaleor Activa through a video had a great impact:

The issue of Errekaleor was taking more and more space on the media agenda, while new neighbours were still coming. At the same time, new projects were flourishing in the neighborhood that strengthened the auzolan and the community: the orchard, gaztetxe, the bakery, the printing press, the library, the pediment, the cinema… In addition, the walls and murals of the neighborhood have become speakers of both popular movements and different artists from all over the world. During 2016, interesting reports reflecting this situation were published, among others: ‘Errekaleor: Okupa’ [VICE] or ‘Errekaleor, from the occupation to the free neighborhood’ [Topatu].

Faced with the attacks of Mayor Gorka Uraran and the municipal government, Errekaleor Activa opened the negotiations in December 2016 with a demonstration of strength offered by more than a hundred neighbors. In that hearing, they denounced the change of discourse of the municipal government and the harassment of neighbors and neighbors:

But the offer of dialogue did not receive any positive response from the institutions. On 18 May 2017 there was the worst blow to Errekaleor: Iberdrola cut off electricity supply in the Errekaleor district by order of the Department of Industry of the Basque Government. The Ertzaintza forcefully attacked the neighbours and the locals used peaceful resistance to prevent the attack, but Iberdrola was able to reach the end of the area’s cut of light.

On June 3, 2017, thousands of people concentrated in the streets of Vitoria-Gasteiz to defend Errekaleor, uniting the party and claim into a giant mobilisation that has become part of the city’s history. In it, Errekaleor Activa presented its strategy to face the great challenges of the future: to achieve €100,000 through crowfunding and guarantee the energy sovereignty of the neighborhood to have an energy island of Errekaleor.

Errekaleor, an island illuminated by popular movement

What happened after the light cut is well known: enormous difficulties for the neighborhood, yes, but also a huge wave of solidarity. It's been hard, but Errekaleor Activa won that battle. Finally, a year after the attack, the fruit of solidarity, resistance and auzolan was presented: an island illuminated by the popular movement. In fact, Errekaleor is energetically sovereign thanks to the production of 270 solar panels and, of course, the reduction of energy consumption. They wanted to kill the neighborhood, but "we chose life," they clearly explained through the following video:

And what about the future? These "crazy" neighbors of Errekaleor have many challenges ahead. There are also many doubts in the air, including the role that the institutions will play before and after the 2019 municipal elections.

It has been five years since ten young people recovered Errekaleor Block 26, and then all it caused was unimaginable. And all the projects that have flourished in the neighborhood were unimaginable. But everything you couldn't imagine has come true in just five years. It is therefore not difficult to imagine the future that can flourish in Errekaleor in search of utopia, in constant development and evolution.