This week I had the opportunity to record an interview with Mikel Oleaga, a core member of El Patio Maravillas since 2008. Mikel has been one of my key contacts during the summer and I have discussed El Patio with him on a number of occasions. The interview was an opportunity to record some of these answers for an international audience. Normally I prefer to interview someone in the language they are most comfortable with, however, as Mikel had studied in the USA and said he did not mind doing the interview in English, I felt it would be more accessible to people viewing this site.
This interview clarifies a lot! For one thing, it sort of affirms my hypothesis that the space itself matters less than the movement. For another, it shows why the movement is so hard to pinpoint — its strength is in its transparency and openness. That said, what *are* the essential values of this movement then? Is it simply against private property or against touristification? Or is it just modeling collective decision-making? I may have asked these questions before, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself. Also forgive me if I keep asking you to look at Anamika’s posts (and vice-versa.) Her post about the Atlanta conference especially captures some of the ways in which the collective functions.