Translocal Urban Activists: Brokers and the Geographies of Urban Social Movements

Sammanfattning: Activists contesting urban neoliberalism are traveling to participate in struggles beyond their place of residence. They are sharing, teaching and advising activists from other struggles. They are also promoters of specific imaginaries and strategies of contestation. I refer to this phenomenon as translocal urban activism, a type of brokerage that aims to draw global connections among local political movements and a global activist network. By the analysis of the translocal practices against gentrification of the Spanish art collective Left Hand Rotation in Latin America, I direct the discussion to identify the mechanisms whereby translocal urban activism shapes the geography of urban movements against gentrification, and to examine how translocal urban activism contributes to the reproduction of and resistance against neoliberal ideas, values, and practices. I argue that power geometries within translocal urban activists, tend to nurture the global activist network with dominant imaginaries and practices, eclipsing other alternatives.