Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona
In 2013 Ada Colau gave evidence at a parliamentary hearing on Spain’s housing crisis, as spokesperson of Mortgage Victims’ Platform, PAH. With a history of grass roots activism, her passion and eloquence marked her out from others in the room as much as her gender.
She called out the previous speaker, Javier Rodriguez Pellitero, Deputy General Secretary of the Spanish Banking Association, as a “criminal”. A video of the accusation went viral, and it seemed much of Spain were behind her. Just over two years later, Colau was elected as the first female mayor of Barcelona.
Born and bred in the City, Colau is proudly from the left-wing tradition of peoples’ rebellion, of barricades and ground-up social uprising. In fact it feels she is the personification of La Rosa de Foc (the Rose of Fire) - the nickname given to Barcelona in the early twentieth century. In a Europe of polarised politics, that this tradition is on the rise makes you weep with relief, not least because of what the alternatives could be.
Her platform Barcelona en Comú is part of a move towards “Municipalism”, a much-encompassing term, but broadly an urban movement to fight xenophobia, fiscal austerity, increase affordable housing and combat climate change.
Also at the centre of her manifesto is the battle with over-tourism; residents’ collective right to the city and simultaneously a preservation of that which tourists come for. Mass tourism is creating a city that even the tourists themselves don’t want. Hopefully municipal control of the industry will improve the city for residents and visitors alike.
And she is certainly following through on that promise so far, with 4,900 illegal tourist flats shut down and Airbnb and HomeAway fined heavily (although Airbnb appealed, and I’m not sure they ever paid).
It’s an administration that, in another great Barcelona tradition, tends to naturally align itself with other European cities, rather than to others in Spain. There is much in common with Anne Hildalgo in Paris (newly re-elected) and Femke Halsema in Amsterdam, both also the first women mayors in their respective cities, and with policies that prioritise the climate and social justice.
What marks Colau out as a politician is her humanity – frequently exhibiting emotion and empathy in an arena where to do so is revolutionary. She effortlessly keeps it real: I feel her pain when she posts the “miracolo!” of a moment alone in her bedroom during lockdown. She’s showing us what a feminisation of politics could look like: rigorous and determined, sure in it’s values, approachable, and with it’s citizens always at it’s heart. I can’t wait to see what the next three years brings.