La Bassa Mar is a self-organized collective project, created for and by trans, inter, non-binary and queer people, centering those impacted by racism. We offer a house that serves as a welcoming space for groups and collectives to carry out their activities, strategize, connect and rest. Our space is located in L’Ampolla, Tarragona, two hours south of Barcelona, in Catalunya, Spain.

The marginalized communities we are part of are often denied access to resources such as land, space and time to rest, to feel respected and encouraged in a supportive environment, to exchange strategies for survival and political organizing. In our context as in many other places, access to rural areas for rest and peace systemically excludes racialized and migrant people, who are present in rural areas here in Spain almost exclusively as agricultural workers, in often terrible working conditions. Moreover, activist exhaustion, mental health issues and material precarity are wide-spread struggles in our networks and communities. We believe that access to nourishment, rest, and slowing down is essential to rethink, re-prioritize, and envision new ways of moving forward—both individually and, mostly, collectively, especially in today’s world. The project La Bassa Mar offers a collective gathering and retreat space, which responds to the vital need of slowing down, recharging, connecting with the sea, land, and one another, while empowering each other in elaborating better strategies to not only survive but to thrive. This vision has been the driving force behind our project. Since opening our doors in 2022, we have hosted hundreds of people coming as part of groups or as individuals and collaborated with a wide variety of activists gatherings, workshops and collectives. Over the years, we have worked with many grass-roots groups, including a consistent collaboration with Casa Kuà in Berlin (also organized by Trans and non-binary BIPoCs.) Strengthening networks of mutual collaboration between different groups is central to our mission and we are always open to new collectives and individuals who wish to engage with our space.

La Bassa Mar’s work is organized along three main axes:

• locally, coordinating with organizations in the area together with the Espai Trans of the Terres de l’Ebre (of which we are also part);
• regionally, working with groups from nearby cities and hosting activities both in our space and elsewhere;
• internationally, building alliances and weaving networks with other groups to share strategies, knowledge, and experiences.

We are proud of how much we have grown over the years and of having become a reference space for many people and groups, both locally and internationally. We remain committed to this path of collective growth and our doors are always open.