SEDOAC is an interesting organization to map out, because they do not have an office or a traditional workspace. Therefore, there do not have a “home base” from which to map, or a set location for their events or for their members to convene. This is partly because all of the members of SEDOAC have huge time commitments between their families and their jobs as domestic workers. Many of the women work as internas, meaning they live at their employers’ homes, and often only get one day off per week. Thus, the women in SEDOAC do not have the time or funds for a full time office space, and paying rent for an office in Madrid would most likely not be the best use of their already limited funds.
So, to map out SEDOAC, I decided to map out different locations where they have had meetings and events. Their events, or events affiliated with them, have ranged from meetings, self-defense workshops, movie screenings, academic panels, and social media workshops. Their vast array of events requires a vast array of places, which can make it difficult to location them and to know what events are coming up. They also do not have a very regular schedule, most of their events are on Saturdays but that is not always the case, which can add to the difficulties of locating them. Some of these issues create a vicious cycle. It is hard for SEDOAC to have a regular schedule because they do not have a consistent space to use, so it is hard for them to gain traction and publicity with their events, and this lack of traction and publicity can make it more difficult to have regular or easy access to meeting spaces. On the map, it is obvious that SEDOAC’s events are not even guaranteed to be in any particular part of Madrid, which can add even more to the difficulties members have finding events or being able to go to different areas in the city at different times every week.
A common feature amongst most of SEDOAC’s events is that they are at community centers. This interested me, because the intersections of SEDOAC’s work with like-minded organizations are complex, and problematic in many cases. In previous posts, I have delved more into the negative aspects of community organizations that SEDOAC has to work with, and the issues SEDOAC can have getting real solidarity with such organizations, but looking at this map and where there events are, I feel as though I have provided a concrete example of some of the positives of SEDOAC’s collaboration with like-minded organizations. SEDOAC has to be reliant on either public city buildings or organizations that do have offices with capabilities to hold their members and hold meetings. Other organizations have to be willing to allow the women of SEDOAC to use their space on weekends, and without their support, it would be nearly impossible for SEDOAC to meet and gain any traction at all.
One example of a like-minded organization is the Alianza por la Solidaridad, or the Alliance for Solidarity. They are an organization that focuses on having a global network of organizations focusing on advancing women and minority rights. They are a large organization with a large office and a good amount of resources. They have repeatedly invited Carolina, the head of SEDOAC, to present at forums and participate in open tables discussions, such as the open table at “Mujeres migrantes como sujetos políticos,” or “Migrant Women as Political Subjects,” at the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions. Last week they helped SEDOAC gain access to camera equipment and let them use their office at Calle de Jaén 13 to film a PSA about domestic workers’ issues in Spain which will hopefully gain SEDOAC followers and spread awareness about the Enmienda 6777, a new amendment I have previously discussed that they are currently fighting. The Alianza por la Solidaridad has been hugely helpful and important in SEDOAC’s work, and is a great example of how bigger organizations can be extremely helpful towards organizations such as SEDOAC, and that not all efforts towards solidarity are inherently problematic or would require SEDOAC to make large sacrifices at their members’ expenses.
A map of some of SEDOAC’s event spaces show that there are organizations that can help SEDOAC that do not require SEDOAC to make sacrifices or lose their autonomy, and this project actually gave me some hope after spending weeks writing about all the problems SEDOAC faces with solidarity. Solidarity and help from other organizations can be great, and the organizations that support SEDOAC and allow them to have events and continue to grow are proof of that. The help of like-minded organizations allows SEDOAC to survive and grow, ideally without compromising their values.
“Presentación.” Alianza Por La Solidaridad, Alianza Por La Solidaridad,
www.alianzaporlasolidaridad.org/en/nosotros/presentacion.
I’m having a little trouble accessing your map, so make sure it’s set to “public” in the permissions settings. But I think seeing the map is actually less important than what you say above, which sounds like a bit of a breakthrough for you! First, I think the decentralization of the group sometimes can be an strength because it allows for these opportunities for “in kind” actions of solidarity, such as sharing space. That can lead to more actions for shared causes. This decentralization can also further emphasize the vast network of domestic workers that are in Madrid because, in fact, probably NO place would be centrally located for everyone even if they could all meet at the same time. So space and geography matter here, but not in the same way we might expect.
Also important is thinking about the interdependency of social movements and resources, as well as of public resources. Sometimes we ask in the U.S.: well, if a park is privately owned, but the public can still access it, what does it matter if a private entity owns it? The answer, of course, is that public space in a liberal democracy can better allow for a spectrum of political organizing and demonstration, while private space is driven by private interest. So it’s important that SEDOAC can use publicly owned, community centers (more reason to protect public assets) and also that their alliances give them other options too. Have you looked at Erin Johnson’s project on Paisaje Transversal from a couple of years ago? You should look at it on our GGFUP web site — she makes a similar observation. Basically, she finds overlap between community gardens and other kinds of activism.