The Sobremesa Podcast

10 years on prominent mayor Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo will not stand for re-election in 2023's local elections. He is standing down from his post after 44 years of public service. How did the village get here and where is it going? Alan and Dan discuss these questions and more in this episode of the Sobremesa Podcast.

Book Description from Verso Books. You can buy it here.

One hundred kilometres from Seville lies the small village of Marinaleda, which for the last thirty-five years has been the centre of a tireless struggle to create a living utopia. This unique community drew British author Dan Hancox to Spain, and here for the first time he recounts the fascinating story of villagers who expropriated the land owned by wealthy aristocrats and have, since the 1980s, made it the foundation of a cooperative way of life.
Today, Marinaleda is a place where the farms and the processing plants are collectively owned and provide work for everyone who wants it. A mortgage is €15 per month, sport is played in a stadium emblazoned with a huge mural of Che Guevara, and there are monthly 'Red Sundays' when everyone works together to clean up the neighbourhood. Leading this revolution is the village mayor, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, who in 2012 became a household name in Spain after heading raids on local supermarkets to feed the Andalusian unemployed.
As Spain's crisis becomes ever more desperate, Marinaleda also suffers from the international downturn. Can the village retain its utopian vision? Can Sánchez Gordillo hold on to the dream against the depredations of the world beyond his village?

This week Eoghan speaks to political analyst Mario Ríos about the current reorganization of the Spanish left around deputy prime minister Yolanda

This week Alan and Eoghan sit down with Jim Jump, Chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, to talk about his father's experience in the Brigades, the 85th anniversary of the Battle of the Ebro and why he thinks the story of the international volunteers who went to Spain in the 1930s still fascinate and resonate today. They also discuss the work of the IBMT.

This week's guest is writer, historian and guide Catherine Howley. Catherine runs the Spanish Civil War Walking Museum tours with Nick Lloyd in Barcelona and has written extensively on Barcelona's architecture and working-class history. In this episode she talks to Eoghan about the historicial context in which Antoni Gaudí designed his iconic buildings in the city and how that context and the ideology of the Catalan ruling class is reflected in the work of this reactionary genius.

Steven Marsh joins Alan to give an overview of Spanish film. They touch on the autobiographical film written by Franco, how Ken Loach inspired 90's cinema and the legacies of prominent Spanish directors such as Pedro Almodóvar and the late Carlos Saura.

Originally from the UK Steven Marsh is a specialist on Spanish film. Before coming to the US he lived in Madrid for many years. He is the author of two monographs and an edited anthology. He is currently writing two books: one on contemporary Spanish politics (provisionally titled "The Rule of Law in the Age of Crisis: Judicial Politics, the Left, and the Case for Radical Justice in Contemporary Spain"), the other on filmic form in the work of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American filmmakers.

Publications

Popular Spanish Film Under Franco: Comedy and the Weakening of the State

Simon Deefholts from The Clapton Press joins me to discuss the memoirs of Kate Mangan and Jan Kurzke, which until recently had been languishing in a Dutch archive only accessible to professional historians. Here he recounts the love story that can be found in Kate's memoir (but not in Jan's!) and how with the help of historians and Kate and Jan's daughter Charlotte, they were able to publish both works. We also discuss some more memoirs which the press have rereleased in the past few years.

You can buy all the books mentioned here: https://theclaptonpress.com/ 

Eoghan is joined by Irish journalist Brendan Boyle to talk about the innovative urban model of his adopted home city of Pontevedra, which has largely eliminated the use of private cars. Traffic in the city of 65,000 has been reduced by 97 percent under current mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores . Brendan also compares his pre-pandemic life in hectic Madrid with his new one in Galicia. His latest work can be found at his blog: https://brendyboyle.medium.com/

Nerea joins Alan to discuss why she is standing as a candidate for Izquierda Unida in for the regional parliament of Extremadura. Here they talk about some of the other factors around the 'empty Spain' and Extremadura in particular. 

Alan and Eoghan are joined by IE University's Joe Haslam to discuss the year in Spanish politics - from Pablo Casado's political assassination in February to Pedro Sanchez creating his own luck in the Christmas lottery. Also a shout out to Popular Party MP Alberto Casero who voted mistakenly in favour of the coalition's labour reform, thus tipping the majority in favour of the legislation and saving the government from a potentially fatal parliamentary defeat. He tried to blame the electronic voting system but then made the same mistake again in September! 

Jose Armengol, Professor of English at Castilla La Mancha University, joins Alan to discuss how masculinity and aging have changed in their form of representation in Spanish literature and film. Eoghan and Alan also discuss a closely related polemic that includes the Ministry of Equality and Minister Irene Montero.