The Village Against the World

One hundred kilometers from Seville lies the small village of Marinaleda, which for the last thirty-five years has been the center of a tireless struggle to create a living utopia. Today, Marinaleda is a place where the farms and the processing plants are collectively owned and provide work for everyone who wants it.

As Spain's crisis becomes ever more desperate, Marinaleda also suffers from the international downturn. Can the village retain its utopian vision? Can the iconic mayor Sánchez Gordillo hold on to the dream against the depredations of the world beyond his village?"As the borderline between dream and reality shimmers in the heat of Andalucia, we begin to wonder if living as if change were indeed possible is the very key to making actual change happen."—Suzanne Moore, Guardian

"Hancox's book could not be more timely—with Spain on the brink of social crisis and the shadows of the past emerging."—Paul Mason, author of Why It's Still Kicking Off EverywhereDan Hancox is a journalist who has written for the Guardian, the New Statesman, Independent, Frieze, New Inquiry, National, Dazed & Confused, Q magazine, Mute and The Wire. He is the author of two ebooks: Kettled Youth and Utopia and the Valley of Dreams.