Who are you and what’s your relation to the social collective La Molinera (Spanish for
‘The Miller Woman’), and this social Center? (0:18)
Where are we? What kind of neighborhood are we in? (0:41)
Do you consider yourselves a “social collective”? Can you explain what this means? (1:52)
You’re a social collective that decided to occupy an abandoned hotel and open a social center for the Valladolid locals. Can you explain to us what kind of social center you’re imagining? Why is this social center necessary in Valladolid? (2:43)
How did this building go from being a flour factory to a 5 star hotel? (5:25)
The social collective La Molinera was born before the social center we’re in. Can you talk about how the collective was started? (5:49)
Who belongs to this collective? (7:10)
Why the name “La Molinera” (‘The Miller Woman’ in English) for the Center? (7:55)
Thinking of the process of how the building was occupied, can you explain how and why it was occupied? (8:54)
Can they evict you at any moment? Did you seek legal advice beforehand? (13:17)
Where’s the owner of the hotel? (14:32)
How has your relationship been with the Valladolid City Council? (15:11)
What concrete plans do you have for this social center? (19:50)
What’s the difference between a social center and a civic center? (24:08)
For many of the collectives I’ve talked with, the 15M activist movement signified a moment of reorganization, (re)invention, and strengthening. What has this moment meant for La Molinera? (24:55)
Are you thinking about the sustainability of the center as a self-managed space? (29:30)
In an interview, I read that you talk about this social center emphasizing the collective sphere in the face of capitalistic individualism. What does La Molinera understand by “the social sphere,” “the common sphere,” “the collective sphere,” and “the public sphere”? (32:05)
We’re talking about a project that’s about weaving a network together with the people of the neighborhood, and their necessities. Could you explain how you’ve established these relationships and this communication? (36:13)
You’ve talked about the tradition of the community members from Castilla as a guiding model of the collective. Are there other models that you’ve had in mind as you generate the project? (39:02)
Based on what you’ve been explaining, we’re talking about a collective meeting point for transforming society while we learn and unlearn. Do you consider yourselves a part of the movement of informal neighborhood education? (42:19)
Thinking of your personal experience, what are the major unresolved issues of the current formal educational model? (45:45)
As far as being a political project, what kind of politics are we talking about? (49:32)
How do you organize your operation through assembly? How has that experience been? (53:12)
Do you make decisions through consensus, or through voting? (58:12)
What, for you, are the keys to the healthy function of the collective? (58:52)
From this experience, what would you recommend to a collective that’s thinking of opening a social center? (1:02:06)
How does this collective think about incorporating the diversity of neighbors’ abilities, knowledges, realities? (1:06:17)
Have you thought of working collaboratively with other social centers? (1:09:06)
What does growth mean for La Molinera? (1:12:18)
Keeping in mind the atmosphere of political discontent and instability in which we live, can you tell us how you maintain hope as an engine motivating La Molinera? (1:16:05)
Within the frame of social structuring of La Molinera as a social collective and self-managed social center is an expression of common organization and action. It is an alternative social space for reconfiguration, removed from the logic of capitalist fighting for power and accumulation. We understand that when we talk about social collectives we are necesarily talking about a construction of a collective intelligence through a horizontal social structure and through the exercise of one’s own autonomy, liberty, self-governance, and above all the practice of solidarity that is the guiding axis of all of our actions.
