Right, I have just had a very pleasant afternoon there reading Dan Hancox's excellent book on Marinaleda. Part travelogue, part history lesson, part biography and a general rumination on the utopian possibilities of the present I am tempted to say it's a success on every level.
The centerpiece is a meeting with the pugnacious Mayor of Marinaleda, Sanchez Gordillo complemented by an extended series of reflections on how the Marinaledas have managed to achieve their Communist utopia, how real it is, how scalable, how replicable elsewhere and the conflict at the heart of Spanish culture nicely captured in the title, between the traditions of struggle and mutual aid and a sense of necessary penitence. It's fascinating, heartfelt and clear-eyed despite the author's obvious attachment to Andalusia present and past, brisk, lyrical, politically engaged.
What more could you ask for?
Dan has kindly made the PDF available here.
And it's also available at Amazon here.
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