¡No nos callarán! (Nosotras insonorizamos)

The aim is to raise enough money in order to complete the renovations demanded by the local council to be able to use again the Escalera Karakola with all the different types of activities that we usually have. We aim to create a warm atmosphere, accessible to everyone, also with consideration for the neighbours in the knowledge that they won't be bothered by noise.

We have to make various improvements to continue with our activities:
-Soundproofing and thermal insulation of the space
-Changing the main door to guarantee the soundproofing
-Insulation and remodelling of the toilet to make it accessible for people with functional diversity.

This project is important for:
-People who think that it is important that an autonomous, self-managed, transfeminist and feminist space, continues existing in the centre of Madrid.
-People who believe that it is necessary that safe spaces, where the diversity of people with functional, gender or sexual identification, have to be key elements for social transformation. This means an accessible place where everybody is welcome, but also where there is respect for self-identification where any kind of identity is promoted, accepted and defended.
-People who support the existence of food cooperatives and direct relationships between consumers and producers, that also allows and encourages other types of relations in terms of connecting rural areas and the city.

The aim is to raise enough money in order to complete the renovations demanded by the local counciI to be able to use again the Escalera Karakola with all the different types of activities that we usually have. We aim to create a warm atmosphere, accessible to everyone, also with consideration for the neighbours in the knowledge that they won't be bothered by noise.

The basic goal is to obtain the initial 13.132€ that would allow the acoustic insulation and soundproofing of the space.
If we reach the optimal goal of 19.302€, apart from soundproofing the space, we’ll be able to change the main door for a semi-acoustic one, insulate and improve the toilet so it is accessible to everyone and thermally insulate the windows, leaving the place completely finished.

As we don't receive public financial support or any other kind of grants, for the past years, La Eskalera Karakola has been running thanks to the contributions of its members and supporters and from the small but continuous contributions coming from the collectives and projects that give life to our place. These small amounts are enough to pay the bills and cover all the daily expenses of both buildings, such us rent, community taxes, water, gas, etc. The initial work to prepare for use the two buildings were paid for thanks to the collaboration and cooperation of members, supporters, friends and allies of this project.

The collectives that are working currently at the space are:

BAH de verde
Cooperative group (Bajo el Asfalto está la huerta). We are a self-sufficient cooperative group. We produce vegetables in rented lands in Perales de Tajuña that we distribute and consume ourselves. One Sunday each month, we make an agroecological lunch, which is called "V-Vermut". Our aim with this activity is to raise awareness about our own project, agroecology and other ecologically friendly ways of consumption. It also allows us to raise funds for the cooperatives expenses.

En Lucha
We are an organization of revolutionary people, feminists and anticapitalists who fight for a different world. A world without oppression, state or private property. To do this we come together, create and fight in different social movements: feminist, ecologist, trade unions, LGBTIQ, animal liberation, students etc. We believe that to achieve social, ecological and gender justice, reforms are not enough; a grass roots social revolution is essential. Those who are in power and privilege today wont let it go easily. We edit a newspaper, a debate magazine, flyers and books. We also organise different public activities to spread our ideas.

Espacio Viernes (Friday Space)
Espacio Viernes (Friday Space) was created to generate common ground within feminism through different artistic and cultural expression, in the form of a multiformat laboratory. It will be a place where different workshops will take place, which attempt to encourage reflection, play and the political implication of those involved to promote a world of more horizontal relationships, through caring for and respecting others.

Karakoleka
Self-run food cooperative. We meet in the Karakola on Tuesday evenings to try and consume in a fairer, more local, healthier, tastier and cheaper way. To do that we make our lives a little bit more complicated, although once you get the hang of it its easy. We remedy little difficulties with beer. Sometimes it seems chaotic but it’s a chaos that works.

Migrantxs Trasngresorxs (Transgressive Migrants)
We are a collective of diverse migrants with different sexual and gender identities (neocolonized, precarious, transfeminist and intercultural) who transit between geographies and bodily, emotional and symbolic territories to deconstruct and construct spaces from which political and sociocultural representations are proposed that vindicate transgressive actions.
Our actions are framed within the participation in activist and academic spaces. We form part of the transfeminist movement and the activities that are organized from it. As a collective we drive the campaign “I decide my own name” so that trans people can decide their name on their I.D.

Pandi Trans
We are a collective of people self-indentify as trans*, brought together by the need to feel supported within our own community, and during the situations that we face. We are our own chosen trans family, which is one of self-care, accompaniment and self-managed.
We come from different realities, places and activisms. We go through different body and geopolitic frontiers. One of our aims is to pass and break through those barriers imposed by the heteropatriarcal structures and the establishment power, which limit, restrict and incapacitate our daily wellbeing.

Sangre Fucsia
Sangre Fucsia (Fuchsia Blood) is the loud zine of Ágora Sol Radio that broadcast from Eskalera Karakola. Each Friday we take the effervescence of Madrid (and worldwide) and transform it in sounds, noises, words. We celebrate feminist culture, edge art, subversive poetry and music made by women and transformative activism. To make radio is a visceral desire, so strong and intense as blood. It is dyeing of fuchsia that goes beyond and encompasses violet, red-black, pink and rainbow colours.

Surco a Surco Karakola
We are an agroecological production and consumption cooperative, working since 2002 and we are actually formed by eight food consumption groups, which are located in different neighbourhoods in Madrid. We have our own vegetable patch and we consume the vegetables that we produce there. The agroecological approach is more that eating ecological vegetables: it’s about taking care for the health of the land, creating jobs in rural areas which should not be precarious, reducing the energy required to produce and to transport our food. We think it is both possible and necessary to do this in our actual society. We believe in sustainability through the good use and in an agricultural model not involving to accelerate its times or to manipulate its capacities with harmful chemicals.

Territorio doméstico
We are a group of mainly immigrant women employed as domestic workers and we provide a space for mutual support and struggle for our rights as workers. We consider ourselves a cross-border collective, being formed by women from different parts of the world. In this sense we are the central figures in the global chain of care work and therefore our politics emerges from ourselves, from our experience and knowledge. For this reason our slogan is "without us, the world doesn't move" and our logo is the image of a woman with a cogwheel.

Transfeminist self-defense
We are a self-run group of women, dykes and trans* who use the Ekka for training in feminist self-defence techniques. Self-defence is an important means of individual and collective empowerment, which strengthens our solidarity and self-awareness. We use transfeminist self defence to challenge the stereotyped female role of passive victims and the myth that men are stronger than women. We raise our consciousness that fear, defencelessness and weakness are social constructs and therefore we have the power to transform this fear into anger and strength, allowing us to respond to different types of aggression.

Feminist reading and debate groups in English and French
We have two heterogeneous groups of women, dykes and trans* who meet once a month to debate a given text from a feminist perspective. The debates as well as the text are in English and French. We use these languages in order to be up to date both with texts which haven't been translated to Castellan and contemporary debates. We also want to create a forum for people who prefer to use English or French or would like to practice it. The groups are open and no long-term commitment is needed, so if you're interested, come and give it a try!