This Sunday, June 15, thousands of people will take to the streets in different European cities.
Not out of nostalgia. Not out of romanticism.
But because they can no longer live in their neighborhood. Because they have been expelled, made invisible, or turned into extras in a set designed for others.

The Barcelona model: a neoliberal showcase

For years, Barcelona was sold as the model city: modern, open, innovative. A showcase of Mediterranean globalization.

But that story hid something essential: urban and tourist success was built on the constant displacement of its own people.

Since the 92 Olympics, every major event or urban transformation has had a common pattern:

  • Increase in land value
  • Arrival of investment capital
  • Displacement of the working classes

Those who today call themselves the "middle class" —children of workers with degrees and precarious salaries— continue to be expelled just like their parents, only now they don't even have the right to complain: they were made to believe that the city was theirs too.

Tourification as a symptom (and not as a cause)

Tourism isn't the problem.
It's the most visible symptom of a city that surrenders to quick capital.

While Barcelona is promoted to millions of visitors each year, here's what's happening inside:

💸 85% of a young person's salary goes to rent
🏘️ Thousands of homes are empty or turned into tourist apartments
🏦 Vulture funds buy entire buildings
👻 Neighborhoods like Gòtic or Gràcia are filled with “cool” businesses but no residents
🍽️ Daily life becomes more expensive, homogenized, and empty

The city becomes an aesthetic experience for those who come and a financial hell for those who stay.

Who benefits from this city?

Digital platforms:

  • Airbnb, Booking, and the like, which transform homes into financial assets.

Investment funds:

  • Blackstone, Cerberus, Azora: they buy properties, evict tenants, and multiply profits.

Tourism industry:

  • Cruises, low-cost airlines, hoteliers: quick profits, profound impacts.

Public institutions:

  • City councils and governments that prioritize tax revenues and the narrative of “global success.”

Cultural and media elites:

  • They keep selling the “Barcelona brand” while hiding behind talk about innovation, sustainability, and creativity.

And who loses?

You.
Your parents.
Your neighbors.
Young people who can't become independent.
The elderly who no longer recognize their street.
Workers who support tourism but can't afford a home.

This isn't just gentrification. It's programmed expulsion.
A city where those with the least are always the first to leave.

What about immigration? The invisible (and necessary) piece of the puzzle

Another key element —and rarely addressed honestly— is the role of immigration within this city model.

The constant arrival of migrants is not a "problem" in itself, but a logical consequence of a system that needs cheap, unprotected, and replaceable labor.

They are the ones who fill the void left by the very low birth rate.
Those who sustain entire sectors of the economy that the majority don't want to touch: cleaning, care, construction, delivery.
And yet, they are criminalized or made scapegoats for social unrest.

But it's not the fault of those who come to earn a living.
It's the fault of those who systematically profit from their precarious situation.

It's the fault of the businessman who:

  • pays as little as possible and demands the maximum;
  • that outsources, subcontracts, and falsifies contracts;
  • that defends the free market only when it benefits it, while repeating that the State is a hindrance, useless or unnecessary.
Those same business owners who later cry about “lack of productivity”, while exploiting those without papers, voice, or rights.

It's not inevitable. It's a choice.

The word “gentrification” sounds technical. Almost neutral. As if there were no alternative.

But this is a political decision sustained over time:

  • Deals with investment funds
  • Urban reforms that raise land prices
  • Tax models that favor visitors over residents
  • Campaigns that turn the center into a theme park
It's not about modernizing.
It's not about beautifying.
It's about who has the right to stay. And who is expendable.

✊ This Sunday, the protest isn't just against tourism.

We're protesting against the city-as-a-business model.
Against those who say growth justifies everything.
Against those who give you culture with one hand and take away your home with the other.

People are protesting for the right to live where they were born.
For the right to have roots.
To have a community.
To have a future.

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(Published by URBAWAKE - urbawake.com)