Brazil, We are writing History! - On the fares struggle - by Khaled - Coletivo Anarquista Bandeira Negra (pt)

"We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing in this minute". 
Buenaventura Durruti ---- After spending the last few days in S?o Paulo, I return to 
Florian?polis with all my thoughts taken up by the subject that has monopolized 
conversations in the city: the demonstrations of the Free Pass Movement. I do not know 
exactly whether it was by choice or due to the necessities of life (perhaps a mix of the 
two) that I left S?o Paulo to live in the capital of Santa Catarina, but the truth is that 
despite more than 5? years that have gone by, I have never broken the political and 
emotional ties that tie me to S?o Paulo, ties which are now stronger than ever because of 
the political situation the city is going through.

I hope the colder and more impersonal among you will forgive me, but I was never able to 
hide my emotions. The truth is that today I can no longer think without using my heart.
Even the quotation up there must have sounded a bit "tacky". But I bet there are many more 
besides me who also feel the same emotion.

On the way home, I was seized by a whirlwind of memories that forced me to write (you know 
what I mean?). It was then that I began to remember the first meeting of the "Free Pass
S?o Paulo" that I participated in at the headquarters of the JOC (Working-Class Catholic 
Youth) in March 2005, even before that group formally joined the Free Pass Movement, which 
came about between June and July of that year, shortly before the 2nd ENMPL (National 
Meeting of the Free Pass Movement). I also remembered that tumultuous and fateful meeting 
in Campinas: after the "Public Transportation and Free Passes - the de-commodization of
public transport" seminar, again in October of that year, when I first had contact with
the guy who came to "change everything", L?cio Gregori, who introduced the idea of the 
Zero Tariff to us. Then came the National Week of the Fight for Free Passes at the end of 
the same month, with events where the movement had its local committees and which for me 
was marked by the first appearance of the MPL Drum Circle and the launch of the first and 
only issue of the MPL's magazine.

(A word on the side: it is worth recalling an e-mail sent by one of the members of the 
MPL-SP Drum Circle after that first round of fights, entitled "Possessed":
"Hey people,
What was that?? Sparks were coming out of the instruments during the last performance in 
the centre!! Never played so well in all History!! The drummers gave a side show and the 
people hung out of their windows and stood sambaing to the sound of drums on fire!! 
Everything worked! It was beautiful... Congratulations to us!!"
(Pedro)
After that, it is impossible to list everything that followed: the fight against the 
increase in 2006, when for the first time the demonstrators exceeded the hundreds and we 
gathered thousands of people in the demonstrations that we called, and many, many more 
activities. I remember how hard it was to speak about Zero Fares at that time - we were
simply labelled as crazy by everyone and it took a huge job of training, preparation and 
discussion, seminars, lectures, and a myriad of activities until the proposal began to be 
understood and minimally accepted by different sectors of society, including within even 
the left.

In over eight years of the movement, be it in S?o Paulo or in Floripa, there were 
innumerable decisive moments which went to create what I am today, as well as all the 
great people and great friendships I made. There were many, many people who went passed
through the movement, the discussions, the controversies, tensions, crises... I know that 
I dedicated, along with many other comrades, hours and hours of work, meetings and 
activities to the movement. There were many who spent a considerable part of their "best 
years" of their youth in this movement, losing their hair, acquiring grey hairs and 
gaining a few extra kilos. And it was not always easy: on the contrary, the "low" moments 
may have exceeded those where the MPL was on the rise. There were many doubts, and those 
moments of disbelief where we would ask ourselves: "Is it really worth it?".

All these collective efforts in order to widen not only the organization but also the 
ideological aspect of the struggle, of convincing the population about the correctness of 
this agenda, I now see being added to the spontaneity of the thousands that are coming out 
onto the streets today - in S?o Paulo but also across Brazil and in many cities throughout 
the world. And from the merger between organization and spontaneity, we are witnessing 
this moment, rich in mobilization, in the development of practical direct action, in 
horizontality and autonomy, principles which are dear to the movement. The organization of 
the MPL is adding itself to the courage and strength of thousands of people, from all 
walks of life, who with all the violence and brutality of the State have faced repression, 
trial and all the manipulation of the mass media, and are continuing to rock S?o Paulo and 
threaten to stir up the whole country in a difficult process of analysis and foresight.

***

"If you remained isolated, if each one of you were obliged to act on their own, you would 
be powerless without a doubt; but getting together and organising your forces - no matter 
how weak they are at first - only for joint action, guided by common ideas and attitudes, 
and by working together for a common goal, you will become invincible."
Mikhail Bakunin
Thus we come to the present, the culmination of all our history, without doubt surprising 
all expectations. We have arrived at the centre stage of national politics, gaining 
unprecedented prominence and recognition.

I do not know what will become of it all - beyond being sure that the repeal of the 
increase will come about in S?o Paulo. One way or another I know that I, and many others 
besides me, today hold enormous pride in having contributed in some way to writing this
story. With great conviction, even in the worst moments of doubt and distress, we carried 
the knowledge that we would never regret it all. A certainty based on a bet, because when 
we fight nothing is ever guaranteed.

The only thing I keep thinking now is: it was worth it. We are writing History, friends, 
friends, comrades, comrades in struggle and class.

What will happen from now on cannot be predicted. But I have learned that everything we do 
today, however small it may seem, can have repercussions tomorrow. In the words on 
voluntarism of Errico Malatesta:
"We believe ... that the revolution is an act of will - the will of individuals and of the 
masses; that it needs for its success certain objective conditions, but that does not 
happen of necessity, inevitably, through the single action of economic and political forces."

Translation by FdCA - International Relations Office

Related Link: http://tarifazero.org/2013/06/17/estamos-escrevendo-a-h...oria/