Thursday 26 April 2007

Control















Anarchist barricades in Paral.lel, the main road down to the port,
Poble Sec July 1936

So the neighbours were right. The shelter was much bigger than
the 30 or so metres (marked in red on the plan below) I had
photographed. 3 entrances (though one section of the tunnels
seemed to be separate from the rest), 6 toilets... And, according
to my neighbours, excavated by hand by the people who had
lived in my street.

The strange thing was the date: 17th February 1939. Barcelona
had fallen to Franco's troops on the 26th of January and plans
of other shelters published in Estanislau Roca's book were all
dated from during the war.

But, of course, it turned out the plans had been drawn up by the
fascists. Underground tunnels have subversive possibilities.
Especially in what had been one of the anarchist strongholds
during the war.

I have great taste in Barrios.

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