The premises now occupied by Traficantes de Sueños, in the heart of a central area of Madrid with a marked commercial character since the 17th century, housed the defunct La Universal tailoring boutique for decades. There could not be a better successor than this bookstore: if there is one thing that characterizes the project, it is its ability to weave links that go beyond all established limits. From this location, at number 13 Duque de Alba street (halfway between Tirso de Molina and La Latina), these privateers of letters have for ten years been a reference for the neighborhood and neighbors, but also for political thought or cultural. entire city.
A space that does not escape the processes of gentrification and the general increase in real estate prices, factors that mark daily life in cities like Madrid. A year ago, the owners of the property expressed their intention to sell it. The threat of a new owner who would evict them or prevent them from continuing to increase rents excessively led Traficantes to take a drastic decision: to assume the purchase alone, with the groups Red Interlavapiés and Senda de SERVICIOs, and to become part of the necessary financing through a crowdfunding on the Goteo platform.
“The only option for a project like ours, which aims to generate spaces for care, support and struggle, was to buy the premises. That or suppose that our resources are lost for the movements in Madrid, cultural activity and political diffusion,” says Pablo Carmona in conversation with Somos Lavapiés. He is one of the leaders of the political project of Traficantes de Sueños, one of the 20 people who work (with a vast network of readers, collaborators and neighbors) so that the bookstore continues to be a point of reference.
Pablo affirms that these 20 people make the Traficantes de Sueños “in an assembled manner and without any hierarchical structure”. Together, they decide “on the organization of the collective”, which in addition to being a bookstore is also a publisher, a distributor, a design and training workshop or a political think tank. He admits, however, that despite his diversified activities, “90% of the financing comes from the sale of books through the bookstore, the publishing house and our distribution system”.
Organization, resilience and a little fortune
When the owners informed them of their interest in selling the place, they began arranging the purchase. They are aware of their “exceptional” fortune, since in an area as lucrative as the center of Madrid, the owners were ready to give priority to the continuity of the bookstore. A vital circumstance for it to now be viable to safeguard “the social project against the interests of investment funds and large speculators who quickly put very attractive offers on the table”.
Despite this, and even with “a small reduction in the price”, the task remains complicated: the already signed sale of the property requires a disbursement of 1.2 million euros. Added to this is an investment of hundreds of thousands of euros with which they wish to renovate and expand the space, improvement work that they consider “inevitable”.
This rehabilitation is the main destination of the Goteo platform collection. “There is a minimum objective of 60,000 euros [ya alcanzado] for the purchase of the establishment and small transformations. Then an optimal of 80,000 [que rozan con las yemas de los dedos] give new impetus to the places: enlarge the sections, set up new rooms or spaces, strengthen our function as a social meeting place and generally improve cultural life.
Thanks to Goteo, but also by other means, they received “donations from people who live in Lavapiés or who are regular customers,” explains Pablo Carmona. He appreciates that “once again, those with meaning and a sense of community were the first to respond.” And he adds: “This network makes it possible to continue the project. »
The essayist and writer also highlights the warning against “the process of gentrification, the uncontrolled rise in rents and the massive presence of housing for tourist use”. According to him, this leads to “a replacement of the population by another with much higher income levels”. Something that has already materialized through “the closure and reduction of social centers or local businesses”. In Dream Traffickers, fortunately, they will avoid this very common outcome in the form of eviction or closure.
“Given the level of franchised commerce that increasingly covers the Tirso de Molina – La Latina – Lavapiés axis, staying is an act of resistance,” says Pablo. At least this time, resistance was an option, compared to the thousands of cases in which there is no alternative to expulsion.
The collective dream that started in a Rastro stand
“There is a common thread that runs through the Tirso de Molina post in El Rastro and which was the seed of Traffic and its current incarnations: the idea that books are bricks to build the edifice of social transformation,” wrote Luis de la Cruz when the collective announced its creation. crowdfunding. The political ferment of these positions gave birth in 1996 to a bookstore installed in an apartment on Hortaleza Street, where, as they continue to do today, they shared their activity with other social groups.
In 2005 they moved to a passage on Embajadores Street, but the poor external visibility of the place pushed them to look for a new location. In 2014, they moved to the headquarters of Duque de Alba (it’s a story marked by leaps of nine years), where they finally found a showcase worthy of their work.
Given the level of franchised commerce that increasingly covers the Tirso de Molina – La Latina – Lavapiés axis, staying is an act of resistance
A year later, they received the National Prize for Best Cultural Bookstore, worth 9,000 euros and awarded by the Spanish Confederation of Corporations and Associations of Booksellers (CEGAL) and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Along the way, they moved from activism to self-employment and continued to expand the publishing house, distribution company and other branches of their business. They even opened another headquarters at the Ateneo La Maliciosa, the space they share with Ecologistas en Acción in Arganzuela.
Pablo does not want to let the opportunity pass without highlighting the work of Red Interlavapies and Senda de Cares, the two other initiatives with which they coexist in the Duque de Alba headquarters: “They provide support to immigrants, domestic workers or trade union organizations”. Contributions to the neighborhood and to society that complement the “cultural space of thought” in which they work from Traficantes. Together, they constitute an ecosystem “not mediated by consumption, but by political and social engagement”. A spirit impossible to gentrify.
