#Worldwide #Information #Blogger #LucSchrijvers:#Part1 #Update: #anarchist #information from all over the #world - 11.04.2020

Today's Topics:

   
1.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL - AL #303 -Read: The
      rage against the reign of money (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  iwa-ait: Statement of KRAS - IWA Regarding the Introduction
      of House Arrest (ca) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Britain, AFED, organise magazine: Mutual Aid vs Corvid-19
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire - UCL Montreuil press
      release: Drama of undocumented migrants facing Covid-19:
      emergency in Montreuil (fr, it, pt)[machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
 5.  [Italy ] USI-CIT health sector announcement By ANA (pt)
      [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  Declaration and requirements on the impact of Covid-19 in
      India By ANA (pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  US, black rose fed: Create a Strong People: Discussions on
      Popular Power (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1



In this series of conferences, translated and published by Libertalia editions this fall, author John Holloway explains the central and
specific role of money as a tool of capital, as "away of connecting all our different and respective social and productive activities" ----
Holloway then returns to the basic principle that the capitalist operating system is driven by money. He finds that money is the basis of
its own reality, that it is constantly self-expanding, that it has become the main vector of social relations. ---- However, the author
notes that in recent years a rage more and more shared by the popular classes of the world is rising against this dictatorship of money,
governor of the life of each and everyone. A " refusal to accept[...]a world which ignores us, which relegates us to the rank of objects "
rises.
John Holloway, Rage against the reign of money, Libertalia, September 2019, 80 pages, 5 euros.
But Holloway recalls that at the same time, we have to think " the policies of anger " and that this rage can also quickly turn into anger
against others, a rage of hatred and destruction.

To do so, he proposes to recreate the common, to create new relationships of collaboration and solidarity, to develop this dignified and
legitimate rage. This involves the expulsion of money from vital sectors (health, education, etc.), the fight against the monetization of
social relations and the restriction of spaces where money is dominant.

For him, " the only way to abolish class exploitation is through the abolition of money as a form of social cohesion " and the development
of " rage that opens towards the possibility of a different world ". All these considerations will only remain wishful thinking if they are
not anchored in social struggles. This work, easy to read, clear in its analyzes and at a very accessible price is to put in all hands.

David (UCL Grand-Paris-Sud)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-La-rage-contre-le-regne-de-l-argent

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Message: 2



The authorities finally threw off their democratic mask. By order of the authorities of Moscow and dozens of other regions, residents, under
the pretext of the Coronavirus epidemic, are forbidden to leave the apartments in which they live. This means the actual establishment of a
totalitarian regime. In Moscow alone, some 15 million of inhabitants of Europe's largest metropolis are under house arrest, like de-facto
prisoners. ---- The unfortunate or daredevils who cannot endure a days-long imprisonment in the four walls of their small cells will be
severely punished with anything from giant fines to imprisonment. Some cities have already introduced special permits for leaving the home;
in Moscow, a similar "innovation" is being discussed. Methods of total surveillance and control are being introduced, which make us recall
the darkest pages of Orwell and dystopian cyberpunk.

The system of public health care in Russia, as in many other countries, was virtually destroyed or greatly weakened by politicians, proteges
of the rich, during the "optimizations" of recent decades. It is with this that problems have arisen almost throughout the world with the
treatment of not only hundreds of thousands, but even just hundreds of seriously ill people. It is precisely with this situation that the
mass panic around the epidemic is associated, which the media and the ruling circles of various countries have demonstrated. They are trying
to solve these problems with short-term emergency measures (temporary reprofiling of existing hospitals and sanatoriums, temporary increase
in doctors' salaries, temporary investment in health care), without changing the overall socio-economic course pursued in the interests of
the largest capitalists and senior officials.

Today in Russia, the population has been punished by house arrest, job loss and the deprivation of the ability to live normally because it
did not adequately resist the neoliberal "optimization" of the medical sphere: reducing beds, squeezing professionals out of healthcare,
eliminating emergency substations, selling research institutes, transferring medical services to the private sphere instead of providing
assistance, the destruction of the medical examination system and professional examinations, etc.

The totalitarian measures of the authorities have dealt a heavy blow to the socio-economic situation of the working population. The shutdown
of many enterprises, firms and services deprives hundreds of thousands of workers of their livelihoods. In some places they are promised
material compensation, but it is not enough to live on. Owners of many firms refuse to continue to pay salaries for downtime. The most
vulnerable parts of the working people are in a particularly difficult situation - those who work "informally", without contracts and in the
"shadow" sector of the economy: they won't get anything at all! Those who, on the contrary, are forced to continue to work (in transport, in
healthcare, in shops, etc.) are often deprived of basic means of protection against infection.

The authorities completely transferred the material burdens of the crisis situation to the shoulders of the working people. The ruling
oligarchy still does not want to force the rich to pay. Instead, it continues to levy new taxes on the small savings of people, which took
them years to save.

In these difficult days, the Russian section of the International Workers Association expresses strong protest against the totalitarian
actions of the authorities and full solidarity with all working people. We are aware that under conditions of a general house arrest regime,
the possibility of massive and open resistance is small. But each person who is forced to sit at home today or continues to work, better
than others can realize his abilities and evaluate the potential of his actions.

Of course, an epidemic is an epidemic, even if its danger is hysterically exaggerated, and it is necessary to observe elementary norms of
individual hygiene. But all the more reason to demand from the authorities and bosses enhanced measures to ensure proper labor safety for
those who continue to work today: they must be provided with all protective equipment at the expense of bosses or the state, regular
sanitary treatment must be carried out, etc. We urge labor collectives to put forward these demands and resolutely pursue them, up to
organizing strikes where work is still ongoing.

Those who are forced to remain unemployed (temporarily or permanently) should continue to be paid salaries. This demand must be put at the
forefront! If the company or institution where people worked turns out to be ruined, this money should be paid by the state, since it made
people stop working. It might want to take some money from the billionaires!

Acceptable opportunities for people to shop in stores and to take a walk (which enhances their immunity( should be sought. For those who
have actually been put under house arrest by the authorities, new forms of protest and resistance are unrelated to actions in the workplace,
for example, a housing and utility payments strike, similar to a tenants 'strike organized by Spanish anarcho-syndicalists on April 1!

And of course, mutual assistance "from below" remains the most important thing in conditions of forced social isolation and attempts by the
authorities to break our social ties: assistance in buying products for those who are not able to leave home, support for sick and
quarantined people, solidarity with each other.

We urge workers not to lose touch with each other, not to succumb to social exclusion imposed on us and to organize themselves - first in
social networks, and then - at the place of residence and, when the opportunity arises, at workplaces in order to assert their human and
labor rights and interests.

Our rights are not subject to quarantine!

Do'nt mourn - organize!

https://aitrus.info/node/5431

https://iwa-ait.org/content/statement-kras-iwa-regarding-introduction-house-arrest

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Message: 3


As the global pandemic is upon us, a number of mutual aid groups have started forming across the country. These groups aim to provide
community support to those who are more at risk from the virus: be it help with running errands or cooking. This is a wonderful example of
Anarchistic mutual aid and solidarity! ---- To help raise funds to support this fantastic work, we are holding a design competition and will
subsequently be selling T-shirts on a none profit basis to raise funds and keep these organisations in food, fuel and supplies in general.
---- From the 20th of March till the 3rd of April we will be accepting design submissions which we will then put up for a public poll over
the following weekend. The favourites will be printed. ---- Entries must be in a single colour, as they will be screen printed. ----
Submissions should be sent as .pdf files to MUTUALAID@PUNX.UK

Those chosen designs will are be rewarded with a T-shirt and some assorted prizes tbd

T-shirts will be available in several sizes from the 10th of April at a cost of £15, with the option to make an additional donation.

Funds will be shared directly and regularly with groups to help them buy critical supplies and carry on their amazing efforts. This will be
done in co-ordination with those helping to organise the efforts on a national level and will happen immediately and without stymie.

You can find out more information about here.
www.freedomnews.org.uk/covid-19-uk-mutual-aid-groups-a-list

Find out how to set up a mutual aid group and access other resources here
www.covidmutualaid.org

Supporting Organisations

Punx UK
Sabcat
Anarchist Federation
Freedom
Seditionist
We shall overcome
Bookfair 2020
Autonomous Design Collective
Class War

Please contact us if you would like your organisation to be added to the list. ?

http://organisemagazine.org.uk/2020/03/20/mutual-aid-vs-corvid-19-fundraiser/

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Message: 4



Shocked by the untenable situation and the shameful conditions in which the 273 undocumented workers live, installed for 5 months in a shed
at 138 rue de Stalingrad, citizens of Montreuil follow and support the former residents of the Bara home. ---- In September 2018, the town
hall of Montreuil closed the historic Bara foyer, which has been unhealthy for many years due to the lack of maintenance carried out by the
managing body Coallia. It relocates residents in a precarious way in the old AFPA center, promising a long-term relocation, in the long
term, for all. In October 2019, residents, who paid all their rents, were removed from AFPA. Those who are in good standing with their
papers have been able to stay in temporary buildings. While residents who do not have formal papers are evacuated by the police on October
29, on the orders of the Prefecture. Two days before the winter break, these people are left on the street for several days before being
firmly invited to join the hangar on Stalingrad Street.

This building, consisting of old offices, is devoid of all amenities, without real windows, empty, equipped with two toilets, it is
unsuitable for residential use. The town hall piled up bunk beds and made some temporary installations: four additional toilets in the
courtyard and six shower stalls with cold water. Leaving all 273 residents in intolerable living conditions for more than five months.

Read also: "Enough police harassment, housing for all !" in Montreuil + Bobigny on September 7»

Demonstration of undocumented workers on February 29 in Montreuil, for regularization and housing
cc UCL Montreuil
Today, the confinement situation linked to Covid-19 makes the daily life of the ex-Baras even more unacceptable and dangerous. These men
survive in an insanitary squat, they are crammed on top of each other, without privacy - lack of sufficient space and adequate facilities.
They are unable to cook because the electric meter jumps as soon as the kettles heat up.

These men find themselves trapped by unbearable conditions and are weakened by these successive moves, adding precariousness to
precariousness. While their objectives are to work, to learn to master the language, in order to acquire a residence permit, the only way to
be finally completely independent and protected by law.

We, neighbors, associative and political activists, and citizens of Montreuil, are trying in this emergency situation, and intolerable
abandonment, to consolidate and organize a chain of solidarity around these men. With the objectives of providing them with support,
proposals and basic necessities (food, hygiene products, blankets), so that their humanity and dignity are respected.

But our movement is running up against obstacles or obstacles, both yesterday and today, which stem from the organization of political
power: we are dependent on the decisions of the Town Hall, the Region, the Prefecture, to unlock the funds necessary for quality assistance
and support them for a dignified rehousing.

To date, the Île-de-France Region, despite the announcement of a health emergency plan launched in the epidemic context, has still not
released the funds announced. Other partners are providing temporary aid, such as Emmaus Alternatives, which will provide a hot meal for all
residents for a week with the first fund granted by a private foundation. Or the Salvation Army, which brings cold meals daily which allow
them to eat in the evening.

The town hall, which took three weeks to intervene, has now committed to intervene from this Friday, April 3:

distribute a hot lunch until mid-April for 243 people in the hangar (Emmaüs alternatives will then take over from this distribution for a week)
to feed the 30 people transferred to a hotel in Bondy
to redistribute the hygiene products which it has not distributed for 3 months and which are now stored in an establishment in the city.
It is now imperative that the NGOs providing medical care receive the funds requested to provide the necessary care and protection for our
neighbors in the hangar on Stalingrad Street.

It is equally imperative that from April 22, either the Region or the town hall, continue the distribution of essential food and that of
hygiene products (basic products + masks, hydroalcoholic products, gloves, etc.), until the end of containment.

Beyond the emergency solutions being organized, several crucial questions remain on the housing conditions:

In the immediate term, faced with the risks of the epidemic, the question arises of accommodating collectively in an emergency all the
residents in a larger, safer place, with less risk for the spread of the epidemic than the hangar on rue de Stalingrad. From this point of
view, AFPA must remain a possible option.
In the medium term, how do the Town Hall and the Prefecture intend to rehouse the collective of people confined to the hangar under the
security conditions defined by the State ? It is not negotiable that the residents are separated, nor settled elsewhere than in Montreuil.
In this context, what is the timetable planned by the Town Hall to honor the relocation commitments it made when the Bara home was closed ?
The town hall has officially reported on a study carried out by the Foundation of Emergency Architects on the rehabilitation of the hangar
on rue de Stalingrad and ready to be presented to EPFIF - the Public Establishment of Île de France. When will the meeting take place and
with whom ? Obviously, this can only be a transitory situation which does not respond to the urgency of the epidemic because of the crowding.

The coronavirus crisis has only exacerbated the violence of the situation of undocumented workers in the former Bara home. Today we want
firm commitments from all concerned and responsible actors and a calendar of real actions.

We will fight tirelessly with our friends and neighbors on Stalingrad Street to protect their basic human rights. Beyond this crisis
situation, we will fight for them to obtain papers, so that they can work, live, and breathe with dignity in our city. It is essential that
the prefecture proceed to regularize their situation, a regularization will put these workers today without papers safe from expulsion at
the end of individual containment measures.

For our part, we intend to keep these commitments over time. And we believe that it is up to all citizens to ensure that the municipality
which has just been re-elected respects its own, and keeps its word.

April 5, 2020,

The undocumented workers at 138 rue de Stalingrad ;
The unitary support collective for residents of the former Bara home, as well as Montreuillois and Montreuilloises and beyond, committed
alongside undocumented workers, with the support of: Collective of undocumented workers of Vitry (CTSPV) , Collectif Montreuil Rebelles, CNT
STE 93, Workers' struggle, New Anticapitalist Party, Libertarian Communist Union

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Drame-des-sans-papiers-face-au-Covid-19-urgence-a-Montreuil

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Message: 5



At least 37 billion euros, or 43,000 workers, which means the elimination of 70,000 beds, including 3,000 in intensive care. In recent
years, these have been cuts in healthcare. ---- For years, we have prepared ourselves with "scientific rigor" so that we do not have
sufficient means to face a health emergency such as the current one. In these days of coronavirus emergence, the cry for alarm in the face
of the massive cuts that have hit our health system over the years takes on a central role. Now, all problems become evident, as well as the
limits they impose. ---- The progressive cuts in the National Health Service and the systematic reduction of human and technological
resources, due to the cuts in the Health Fund, led to a generalized implosion of health services. Consequently, access to treatment has been
reduced for an increasing number of people. Today is the coronavirus, tomorrow it could be another virus or even any trivial disease:
maintaining only essential levels of care (ALS) is signing a death sentence. When deaths occur gradually, it seems that it is not that
obvious. But now, deaths from coronavirus are many in a very short time.

Now, at the height of the emergency, the importance of public health is clear. People, women and men, who have worked in inhuman conditions
for years, are praised as heroes and heroines: under a lot of stress, under blackmail, suffering harassment and sanctions by the
administration, which assesses us (with newsletters), which has repercussions on our salaries, with indecent contracts that have not
improved for years.

We, men and women workers in the public and private health system, were affected by a process of deconstruction of the system. In addition,
we find ourselves abandoned and neglected in adapting the health response to the country's needs. What about the needs of those who provide
the service? More than ten days after the coronavirus emergence, healthcare workers are forced to work without masks and with insufficient
protection. The result is that more and more doctors and health professionals are infected and at risk of infecting patients and their
families. Health workers who may be exposed to infections are no longer tested. Exhaustion abounds, both physically and mentally, and pills
are used to help you sleep for a few hours between exhausting shifts, when you can't stop thinking about what happened. You can see
experienced co-workers crying, patients abandoned in the halls, people alone, far from their loved ones. The coronavirus makes us die alone.
We health workers are at the forefront of the trenches, under relentless bombardment. We are witnessing a carousel of regulations and
protocols, sometimes contradictory between regional administrations and central government. They all complain loudly about the depletion of
supplies, to hide a chronic shortage that was not even considered to have been filled after the outbreak of the epidemic in China. The
coronavirus makes us die alone. We health workers are at the forefront of the trenches, under relentless bombardment. We are witnessing a
carousel of regulations and protocols, sometimes contradictory between regional administrations and central government. They all complain
loudly about the depletion of supplies, to hide a chronic scarcity that was not even considered to have been filled after the outbreak of
the epidemic in China. The coronavirus makes us die alone. We health workers are at the forefront of the trenches, under relentless
bombardment. We are witnessing a carousel of regulations and protocols, sometimes contradictory between regional administrations and central
government. They all complain loudly about the depletion of supplies, to hide a chronic shortage that was not even considered to have been
filled after the outbreak of the epidemic in China.

For years we have been denouncing, together with all class unions, what these years of devastation in the national health system could mean.
In these days of coronavirus emergence, the reasons that justified our alarm for massive cuts came to light even more clearly. It is the
fault of governments and politicians in general, of course, but not just them. Brunetta, the former minister of public administration in the
Berlusconi government, called health workers vagabonds and parasites, wage earners and the like, and enjoyed much approval.

Whenever we let a hospital bed close, we feed our fear and anguish today. In recent years, health care assemblies and strikes have not been
sufficiently supported. Now we have people on our side who applaud health workers. The legacy of this pandemic will have to be a generalized
struggle to demand and recover an effective and universal health service, ready to face any possible emergency.

USI-CIT Milan Hospitals and USI-CIT Health

Source:  https://www.icl-cit.org/es/italia-comunicado-sector-de-sanidad-de-usi-cit/

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Message: 6



Statement by Muktivadi Ekta Morcha (Libertarian Solidarity Front, anarcho-syndicalist organization) in times of coronavirus. ----
Coronavirus and the effect of implementing isolation without proper planning is proving fatal for the working class. In New Delhi alone,
100,000 workers are at home at a standstill and without income due to isolation measures. Not only that, but due to the closure of public
transport, such as interstate buses and cars, many working people have to walk back to their villages, walking hundreds of kilometers! This
crisis is just as serious in Madhya Pradesh (a large state in central India). ---- Health workers are at the forefront of this crisis. Due
to the negligence of the government apparatus, they do not even have the equipment, or adequate protection. On the other hand, delivery
workers of all types of essential goods face constant risks.

Muktivadi Ekta Morcha (MEM) together with workers demand from the central and Madhya Pradesh government special protection and care for
these courageous workers at risk.

The requirements:

1. Government and companies must ensure that workers in the informal sector, whether the company gives them "workers" status or not, receive
monthly compensation of Rs 7000 (approximately $ 90).

2. Safety and quality equipment - masks, gloves, etc. - must be provided to all persons who deliver, clean and service essential workers.

3. During this epidemic - and even afterwards - cleaning and delivery workers must have regular working status and increase their wages,
delivery rates and increases so that they do not have to work 12 hours to support themselves.

4. The monthly minimum wage must also be given to intermittent and unemployed workers.

5. Free food, fuel, medicine and care must be provided immediately to all working families and their dependents.

Muktivadi Ekta Morcha-MEM

FB: Muktivadi Ekta Morcha

Translation> Ophelia

anarchist news agency-ana

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Message: 7



This piece by Brazilian anarchist Felipe Corrêa offers important commentary on the concepts of popular power, the state and power more
broadly speaking. ---- Translation by Enrique Guerrero-López ---- Versión Español By Felipe Corrêa ---- "Strong people don't need leaders"
---- Emiliano Zapata ---- The Strategy of Social Transformation ---- To begin the discussion on popular power it is important to reclaim the
idea of social transformation strategy, since our political practice - as anarchists - is what could point toward this transformation. The
program of the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ) raises the following about the strategy of social transformation:
"To propose our strategy of social transformation is what we are trying to achieve in this text. First of all, to reflect on the first
question, to map capitalism and the State which give shape to the society of domination and exploitation. Later, to reflect on the second
issue, try to articulate our final objectives of social revolution and libertarian socialism. Finally, to reflect on the third question,
propose a social transformation that stems from social movements - constituted in popular organization - in constant interaction with the
anarchist organization. All this taking into account the interests of the exploited classes as a priority. Thus, behind the conception of
all this theoretical material, there is a strategic reasoning."[1]

Therefore, the strategy we conceive of is based on popular movements (mass movements), on their organization, accumulation of force and use
of violence with a view toward achieving revolution and libertarian socialism. This process occurs in conjunction with the specific
anarchist organization which, acting as a catalyst / engine for this process, acts in conjunction with the mass level and provides the
conditions for transformation. These two levels (the popular movements and the anarchist organization) could also be complemented by a
third, that of the tendency, which adds a related sector to popular movements. One could say, then, that the path for the construction of
this social transformation is related to our conception of concentric circles:

"The fundamental concept of the libertarian political organization is concentric circles. This concept is simple and requires different
forms of activity and levels of commitment. The political-specific level corresponds to the ideological and concerns the politically
organized militants[the specific anarchist organization]. Since this organization is not mass, it does not have an open affiliation. It is
understood that the political-social and social levels must be massive and open to all popular militants. The political-social order
corresponds to a related sector that shares a style of organizing, but not necessarily followers in the ideological-doctrinal sense[the
tendency]. The social, properly speaking, corresponds to the range of oppressed classes, to the generalizable notion of people as a whole.
It corresponds to the general areas of the class and popular struggle, that provides the organization to the socio-productive fabric, which
is the pillar and foundation of Popular Power[popular movements]."[2]

Thus, a discussion about popular power must take into account several premises. First, that capitalism is a class society and that,
therefore, the class struggle is a central aspect. Secondly, mobilization of the exploited classes and the popular struggles of the masses
are essential, since basing themselves on their needs, will and organization, they expose the contradictions of this class system. Finally,
the discussion on popular power must consider the idea that social transformation must be based on the leadership of these movements, that
is, on the leadership of organized people, which differentiates this approach from others who conceive of transformation as the work of some
vanguard party or as a result of the action of a minority group isolated from the base (as in the case of insurrectionary anarchism -
propaganda of the deed - or foquismo).

Primeira Feira do Livro Anarquista de Belo Horizonte


The Political Question
Politics must be understood beyond the State. While many sectors strictly relate politics to the State, we understand that, in a different
way, it is much more than that, accounting for the relation of forces in society - which links it directly to questions of power - and the
management of social affairs - which includes the issue of decisions and, therefore, of politics. In this case, the political relations of
society would include the different forces at play and, for an analysis of contemporary society, it is necessary to understand the main
force which is the class struggle, in which a set of exploited classes (urban and rural workers, peasants, precarious sectors, etc.) is in
constant conflict with a dominant class (urban owners, rural owners, administrators, etc.), who have the State as one of their allies.

Returning to our strategy in relation to this conflict, we intend to increase the social strength of the exploited classes and organize them
so that their strength will have an impact in the conflict, that is, to build popular power.

Contrary to what authoritarian sectors emphasize, for us mass movements not only have the capacity for short-term economic struggle, we
understand that it is possible, in the economic organization around needs, to develop a struggle that contains political elements to
generate so that these movements become protagonists in the construction of a new society.

Popular Power in Latin America
 From the information we managed to consult, it seems that the concept of popular power is relatively new, although its content can be
recognized in the classics such as Proudhon or Bakunin, from an analysis of social forces in conflict.

In Latin America we can identify two main sources that have used this expression since the 1960s. First, the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation
(FAU), which called for the need to create a strong people since the 1960s and stated in "The Political Organization is Decisive," around
1970, the following:

"The problem of power, decisive in a profound social change, can only be resolved at the political level, through political struggle. And
this requires a specific form of organization: the revolutionary political organization. Only through its action, rooted in the masses, can
the destruction of the bourgeois state apparatus and its replacement by mechanisms of popular power be achieved. Indeed, the forms of power,
the State, are located at a precise level of the current social structure. Although they obviously have interdependent relations with the
remaining levels of social reality (economic, ideological etc.) they cannot simply be reduced to them. In concrete terms, this means that
political activity cannot be reduced to economic struggle, to union practice[...]."[3]

The Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) of Chile stated the following in the 1970s:

"We conceive of popular power as an independent power of the current government,[...]as an autonomous power that unifies all the social
sectors (workers, students, peasants, employees, small merchants) of a given commune, taking this as the cellular organization of every city
or region.[...]The task of the working class is to destroy the capitalist state and for this it must develop popular power, which will
progressively face the power of the bosses[...]popular power is not created for anyone's pleasure. It is born and strengthened in the heat
of struggle.[...][The problem of accumulating forces must be taken into account. A pre-revolutionary period implies a particular way of
joining forces, through the unity of all layers of the people in[...]organizations of popular power. These will forge a solid class alliance
throughout the social confrontations, and from there they will mature the situation toward a revolutionary situation that allows the working
class to take power."[4]

However, at that time, as is the case today, the sectors that proclaimed popular power wanted to say different things with that term, let's see:

"We believe that the idea of Popular Power, so in vogue in the 60s and early 70s, is a true reflection of the persistence of an underground
libertarian tradition within the left. Now, it should be remembered, that the term ‘Popular Power' received different interpretations: while
for the more conservative supporters of Popular Unity, Popular Power meant only bases of Government support, since they did not conceive of
a process outside the Government, nor against the State (perhaps because they did not conceive of a movement that went beyond mere reforms),
for workers' and popular grassroots sectors, and for the Mirista culture, Popular Power meant the direct organization of the people, as
opposed to the State and bourgeois power. What meaning was given to it, whether tactical or strategic, is also another discussion. Many
sectors that had this understanding of Popular Power assigned it a role only in the fight against the State, but believed that it should
assume a subordinate position once the vanguard party conquered power. Now, for the base of Mirismo, linked to experiences of popular
construction in Comandos Comunales and Cordones Industriales, these should be the same bases of the future society."[5]

In this way we can see that, from the beginning, popular power is a concept in dispute, not unlike socialism or anarchism. For the FAU,
popular power should be built within popular movements and stimulated by the anarchist political organization. Another important element
that appears, and that will be highlighted by the FAU years later, is the challenge of the infra and superstructure framework, denying that
the economic transformation could solve the whole problem of power present in other instances. For MIR, popular power is built through the
struggle of the exploited classes, independent of the government, with the aim of accumulating forces to overthrow the state and capital,
giving the people all power. In both positions we identify the idea, also present in revolutionary trade unionism, that it is within the
current society, in the midst of struggles, that the embryo of the future society is built.

Socialismo Libertário na América dol Sul: Uma entrevista em mesa ...
The Concept of Power
Many anarchists in the past were motivated to say that anarchists were against power, often associating power with the state or domination.
However, for various anarchists of our current, who made theoretical elaborations in light of authors who discussed this issue some time
later, power is linked to the issue of social forces at play and can be good or bad, depending on how it's judged. Consider again two good
definitions that approximate what could be understood as power. In a joint document on the subject, the Gaucho Anarchist Federation (FAG)
and the FAU say:

"It is clear that this leads us to the treatment of another concept: power. An indispensable tool. The studies that seem most rigorous
indicate some fundamental questions, namely: that power circulates throughout the social body, through the different structured spheres.
That is to say, for all social relations. We would thus have power in the economic, legal-political-military, ideological and cultural
spheres. We would have power at all levels of society. On a smaller scale, power also acquires importance in light of embryonic formations
of the new civilization, represented in various forms of self-organization or self-management."[6]

Fabio López, in his book "Power and control: an anarchist vision" discussed, in my view, in a very successful way this issue and defines
power as follows:

"A social force has a certain capacity to act. The capacity to act can be understood as the possibility that a particular social force has
for producing, when it is put into action by the agent who holds it[...]When the agent has the ability to perform or produce a certain
effect, it is said that it has power. It is none of this. The agent may be able to establish a power relationship, but not all that the
agent carries out is power.[...]Our work is restricted to power as a social relationship. So, by power we only understand what affects
social agents. Nor can power be understood as synonymous with repression: power builds, power creates, articulates and is capable of
structuring the whole society. Always in favor of its owners. However, this is not necessarily anti-popular.[...]Power cannot be a simple
synonym of social force, because to have power it is necessary to make use of its strength and this, in turn, generates an effect - or at
least be able to use this force (at its convenience) and this being sufficient to achieve the effect[...]Power is the imposition of the will
of an agent that mobilizes through social force to overcome the force deployed by those who oppose it."[7]

Let's take a look at some elements of the FAU, FAG and Fabio López. First, a relevant issue is that power circulates through all social
relationships, whether between classes, between groups or even between two people who maintain a relationship. Thus, the point is not to end
power, since power is linked to conflicts and conflicts are endless. Power can be modified, but never cease to exist. Thus, we can
understand that there is no political vacuum, because if one of the parties involved in a conflict does not have power, we can say that the
other has it.

Therefore, when dealing with the class struggle, the issue is not to discuss how to end power relations, but how to forge a libertarian
proposal in accordance with what we consider essential, both for the definition of struggles - from a militant viewpoint - and for the
society we want to build.

Another important point: one thing is the ability to act when someone is capable of producing a social force, another thing is when there is
a social force involved in conflict, and yet another is when this social force overcomes the other forces at play; that is what constitutes
power. Let's address these concepts by quickly applying them to our society: social classes, or even all individuals, have a capacity for
action. Take the example of the exploited classes: they have this capacity, that is, an elementary and potential force, but it is necessary
to put them into practice to constitute a real social force. As Bakunin stressed:

"It is true that there is[in the people]a great elementary force, a force without a doubt beyond that of the government and that of the
ruling classes as a whole, but without organization the elementary force is not a real force. It is this undeniable advantage of organized
force over the elemental force of the people on which the force of the State is based. Therefore, the problem is not so much to know if[the
people]can revolt, but to see if they are capable of building an organization that gives them the means to reach a successful end - not
through a casual victory, but by a prolonged and definitive victory."[8]

When, as Bakunin puts it, the people organize themselves by putting their strength into the class conflict and build an organization capable
of generating the means to guarantee the desired ends - that is, social revolution and libertarian socialism - they can overcome the forces
of the ruling class. Using the concepts of FAU, FAG and Fabio López, we can say that at the moment when the people manage to invest their
social force in this conflict and reach the revolution, they consolidate, in fact, a power that, by being consummated by the exploited
classes, could be called popular power.

But if anarchists are not against power, what do they fight against? Here comes another important concept that differs from that of power:
domination.

"Dominance (or domination) is to have the social power of the others (the dominated) and, consequently, of their time to achieve their goals
(of the dominator) - which are not the objectives of the subject agent.[...]Domination cannot be the same as power.[...]In domination we
find exactly the same elements, but the difference is that in the power relationship, the object controlled by the powerful is different
from the subjugated. In the relation of domination, the controlled object is the subject's own social force. In the relationship of
domination, the social force of the dominated is no longer controlled by him, but by his dominator.[...]In order for us to consider that the
agent is dominated, he will have to use his social strength to achieve the dominator's goals."[9]

In the case of dominance, the difference is that the social force of those who were subjugated in the conflict is used in favor of the one
that dominates, where the goals of the dominated are different from those of the dominator, although this domination may or may not be
consensual. Applying the concept in the class conflict of capitalism, we can say that capitalist society is a society in which dominance
exists, since the owner, for example, through private ownership of the means of production, dominates the workers forcing them to sell their
labor power, which is used for the objectives of the owner - obtaining benefits, among other forms, for obtaining surplus value. Dominance
is never popular and cannot be defended by those who want to build a society based on freedom and equality. Therefore, we can say that it is
not against power that anarchists fight, but against domination.

Many anarchists argue that building power (which is characterized by the mobilization of the grassroots sectors from the bottom up) and
therefore of popular power, is, in reality, the path of transformation. Let's look more deeply at the concept of popular power.

Popular Power
Here are some definitions of popular power to continue the discussion. Gilmar Mauro, a member of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST),
has an interesting way of defining popular power, as a new form of power:

"Popular power, therefore, arises and is realized with and by the people (as a social class) in a project of building socialism. It is the
ability to think, propose and make our own destiny and the destiny of the community, region and country, respecting cultural differences and
individualities. Individuality, here, understood not in the sense of bourgeois individualism, but of the physical and mental capacities and
subjectivity of individuals, since every process of building Popular Power will necessarily have to be collective.

Building new power, that is, creating popular power, means creating new forms of human relations, new social relations, new political
relations. These cannot start from the "taking" of the state apparatus, but must take place in the process, along the way.[...]If we want
freedom, our actions must be libertarian.

Building Popular Power means building new relationships on a daily basis in the processes of struggle, in schools, in families, in relations
between militants, in organizational structures. In all spaces we must forge and exercise the values and culture of popular power. Subjects
are not made by a concession that is given to them, but by their struggle, because through it rights are conquered and awareness of self is
acquired. Popular Power consciousness will not be imposed from the outside or from the top down, but will take form through a process of
innovative ‘praxis', fight / reflection, practice / awareness, errors / successes.

Today, and in order not to fall into idealism, Popular Power, as a form, must be a ‘popular democracy', since we experience and learn amid
inequalities. If there are inequalities, there must be a democracy that respects the opinions and rights of minorities (politically
speaking), and that, at the same time, makes a permanent exercise of building the hegemony of the working class as horizontal as possible.
However, there cannot be a bourgeois democracy, imbued with the false notion of equality, where the possibilities are differentiated by the
possessions of each one. It should be an exercise in solidarity democracy, direct participation and the construction of class
consciousness."[10]

Juan C. Mechoso, of the FAU, also contributes with the following definition:

"Popular power exercised by workers and the people with organisms that they control, broadly democratic and participatory, will be those
that assume such control, appropriating the tutelary functions exercised from the state sphere. That is why a strategy of popular power must
have, as an essential premise, the construction of these organizations, and this is a key political task that should already be playing a
front-line role in determining whether the revolutionary future will be socialist and libertarian or not. Therefore the defeat of the
capitalist and authoritarian order is being played out every day, along with an authentic popular power, in relation to how political and
social work is permanently oriented and concretized."[11]

 From these definitions we can attempt to tie some things together. First, we insist that solving the problem of power, in terms of social
relations, does not mean being a friend of the boss. We are talking about a class society and a process that takes place in the class
struggle and, therefore, must always have a class perspective. Therefore, a project of popular power is one that constantly tries to
increase the social strength of all the oppressed, applying this strength in conflict, conquering short-term struggles and maintaining a
revolutionary and socialist horizon. At the moment when the oppressed manage to superimpose their strength on that of the ruling class, they
consolidate their hegemony and popular power, since we believe that this power can only be fully realized in a new society of equality and
freedom, that is, a society in which dominance does not exist, in which associations and organizations are voluntary, not alienated, and in
which there is no more exploitation and domination; a society in which individual liberties exist, but which exist within a framework of
collective liberties.

This necessarily implies an analysis in terms of means and ends, which is also present in the discussion of popular power. In other words,
if we want to build a society where freedom and equality are its pillars, we have to choose a path that leads to this end. And anarchists
will always demand this coherence between means and ends, arguing that the path we take will determine where we get to. We will not consider
taking a road south if we want to go north. Thus, creating popular power, that is, creating a strong people, who are protagonists of both
their struggles and the future society, requires that the people take their destiny into their own hands. Therefore, thinking about popular
power means thinking about a model of popular organization, a militant style for the struggles that will determine the final objectives. The
form of these struggles must build the new world within it, and, within these struggles, we must try to reclaim a culture of the exploited
classes and strengthen new social relations, which will contribute to the construction of popular power. To talk about how struggles should
be built, we need to discuss a bit about strategy.

Popular Power and Strategy
Popular power must be thought of in two distinct moments. One, when it is being built in current struggles, and the other, when it is
consolidating in the post-revolutionary moment.

Thinking about popular power today implies thinking about the struggles of popular movements. Therefore, building popular power today can
only mean two things: creating movements with a popular base or integrating existing ones. In this case, it is a tactical question whether
one should do one or the other. In situations where it is possible to act in existing movements, it is the best alternative, but if this is
not possible (due to the movement's operating scheme, etc.) or if there are no popular movements, you can choose to create them, remembering
that in our conception the movements must be constituted on the basis of needs (employment, land, work, housing, struggle against violence,
etc.) and fight for short-term benefits (reforms) which is ultimately what mobilizes. The way in which these reforms will be achieved and
the way in which the struggle will unfold will determine whether or not popular power is being created and whether it aims at a new society
as we understand it. Let's see what characteristics of social movements point toward a project of popular power. According to the FARJ:

"They are as strong as possible, with the largest number of people and a good organization, and they are oriented to the fight they consider
a priority.[...]Social movements should not adjust and limit themselves to an ideology, whatever it may be,[...]in the same way we think
about the issue of religion.[...]Another important characteristic of social movements is the autonomy that is established mainly in relation
to the State, political parties, bureaucratized unions, the church, among others.[...]Their combativeness. By affirming that they must be
combative, we mean that social movements must achieve their social gains by imposing their strength and not depending on favors or good
deeds from any sector of society, including the state.[...]Direct action, as a form of political action that opposes representative
democracy. Social movements should not aim to gain the trust of politicians who operate within the State to represent their
interests.[...]Movements are always organized outside the State, with the argument of returning political power to the people.[...]Direct
democracy as a method of decision making. Direct democracy takes place in social movements when everyone involved is effectively
participating in the decision-making process.[...]Decisions are made equally in horizontal assemblies (all have the same voice and the same
voting power), where issues are discussed and deliberated.[...]In this model of social movement it is important to carry out a militant
conduct with ethics and responsibility.[...]Social movements are a privileged space for the development of culture and popular
education.[...]all those who mobilize strengthen their learning, and the new forms, manifestations, languages, experiences and life lessons
reflect the spirit of struggle.[...]Short-term conquests, called reforms, when achieved by social movements, will serve as a strategy to
lessen the suffering of those who fight and, at the same time, teach the meaning of organization and struggle.[...]The revolutionary
long-term perspective. In this case, the idea is that social movements, beyond having their specific flags (land, housing, work, etc.), can
aim at revolution and the construction of a new society. We understand that the short and medium-term struggle is complemented by this
long-term perspective and is not exclusive."[12]

Therefore, these characteristics of movements, fostered by a particular style of work that implies a process and militant behavior, will
lead to the construction of popular power. In other words, it aims, within the class struggle, to create a strong people capable of leading
a social transformation.

Having a social revolution, popular power, which would be built up during the struggle, would have to function as a "transitional period,"
in the sense explained by Dielo Truda in the "Platform": guaranteeing the destruction of the State and its replacement by generalized
popular participation, that is, by self-management and federalism in the fullest sense. It is in this order of ideas that the collective
Lucha Libertaria addresses this issue:

"Popular power is also socialist, since everyone will be able to participate in all the planning and decision-making processes of society
through the federative mechanism that allows everyone to participate and, if necessary, has a superior decision-making body. In other words,
power will be effectively socialized.[...]As for the functioning of Socialist Popular Power, the mechanisms are exactly the same as those we
project for political federalism in the anarchist-communist stage: participation of all, collective decisions, revocability of functions,
equal access to information and decision-making power, etc. Regarding the organizational structure, the same is presented: councils with
deliberative tasks and industrial federations with executive tasks."[13]

Therefore, it is in this sense that popular power is built through struggles, at the same time that it provides the development and the path
of the future society towards the consolidation of libertarian socialism.

In this discussion of strategy, a series of questions arises that we are not going to be able to develop in this article, but they deserve
reflection in the future. These are questions that accompany the discussion of popular power and are really very extensive. We can cite some:

i) the question of the revolutionary subject, since in the anarchist conception of popular power no preference is given to a class or class
sector, as the socialists who emphasize the working class and the industrial sectors and in the base and superstructure scheme, since for
the anarchists, despite recognizing that the economic context is absolutely central, they consider that it does not determine all the other
spheres of society and, therefore, a project of power popular must take into account, in addition to the economic sphere, the
legal-political-military and ideological-military spheres;

ii) the relationship between the political organization and popular movements, since if we understand that the anarchist organization acts
as a leaven / engine of the processes, we must know precisely how it will carry out its work to give protagonism to the movements and not to
itself;

iii) the role of the anarchist organization focused on the creation and organization of struggles, or simply on the dissemination of propaganda;

iv) the differences between theory and ideology, since for us ideology is in the field of aspirations and desires, much more than in the
field of science, and therefore, there is a need to prepare readings with a conceptual goal that, based on theory and science - not ideology
- will allow us to see things clearly;

v) the role of anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist struggles and against the oppression of gender and race in the construction of popular power;

vi) finally, tactical and strategic alliances and the need for coherence of tactics with strategy. Much more could be said about these and
other issues.

Finalizing and Concretizing the Debate
One of the issues to be addressed is the level of disagreement around the concept of popular power by those who use it. There is no doubt
that our current developed very productive discussions and arguments on the subject. Unfortunately, however, if we broaden the search on
this debate a bit, we will see that today popular power, as a concept - like socialism, democracy, freedom, etc. - does not say much on its
own. Many other currents, outside of anarchism but still within the field of the left, have been claiming popular power as a project to be
built within the scope of government relations with the State and the bureaucracy, while others claim it as a popular project that, at the
most opportune moment, should give rise to the vanguard through hierarchical structures.

For this reason, when we are in social work within social movements, saying that we defend popular power does not mean much anymore. We
always need to give an explanation and debate this concept which, although others defend it, many times in the middle of explanations
irreconcilable differences are evident. This can be a positive point, since having an affinity with the term offers possibilities for giving
it the meaning that we want.

Today in Brazil, the FARJ, despite using the same conceptual logic described in this debate, so far prefers not to resort to the term
popular power to differentiate itself from other sectors. Simply consider that it is not a concept worth arguing about. However, other
especifista organizations, in addition to using the term popular power, place it at the center of their strategy for transformation and
propaganda. It seems important to me, at this time, to listen to the arguments of both perspectives in the debate, with their respective
arguments. This will be crucial for the future. We must be open to arguments, measuring and judiciously evaluating the pros and cons of
these claims.

Ultimately, it is necessary to debate and discuss more on the underlying issues that I tried to outline in this article. Certainly, an
especifista anarchism at the national level will need to be qualified on this subject, which I consider of utmost importance. That is why I
invite colleagues from this or other anarchist currents, or from other sectors of the left, to start a debate on the issues presented here.

In conclusion, let us return to the phrase of the revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, used as the epigraph of this text, when he emphasizes that
"a strong people don't need leaders." We fully agree on this. For a project of popular power, in the terms that we try to present in this
article, call it what you want to call it, it is essential to create a strong people. Only in this way will the people be the protagonist in
the desired social transformation.


Felipe Corrêa is a teacher and political militant in São Paulo, Brazil. He is a participant with the Institute of Theory and Anarchist
History (ITHA) and Coordenação Anarquista Brasileira or Brazilian Anarchist Coordination.

* Texto traducido por el Centro de Investigación Libertaria y Educación Popular - CILEP (http://www.cilep.net)

* Título original: "Criar um Povo Forte. Contribuições para a discussão sobre Poder Popular." Este artículo recoge algunas contribuciones y
debates de un seminario interno de la FARJ sobre la cuestión del poder popular, celebrado en diciembre de 2009. Doy gracias a los compañeros
Rafael Viana y Gabriel Amorin por sus reflexiones en Sao Paulo y Río de Janeiro que contribuyeron a este trabajo.

Notes:
1. FARJ. Anarquismo Social e Organização. São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro: Faísca/FARJ, p. 198. Leer el documento completo en:
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/10861.

2. Bruno Lima Rocha. "A Interdependência Estrutural das Três Esferas," 2009 (tesis de doctorado). Lo que figura entre paréntesis fue
adicionado por mí.

3. FAU. "La Organización Política es lo Decisivo." En: Juan Carlos Mechoso. Acción Directa Anarquista: una historia de FAU. Montevideo:
Recortes, s/d, p. 194. Hay partes de este documento que fueron compilados por mí en el artículo "A Organização Política Anarquista"
(http://www.anarkismo.net/article/10387).

4. Víctor Toro, dirigente del MIR, en una entrevista publicada en la revista Punto Final en 1973. Ver la entrevista íntegra en el final del
artículo de José Antonio Gutiérrez Danton "Los Libertarios y las lecciones del Golpe de Estado en Chile"
(http://www.anarkismo.net/article/9846).

5. José Antonio Gutiérrez Danton "Los Libertarios y las lecciones del Golpe de Estado en Chile."

6. FAU/FAG. "Wellington Gallarza y Malvina Tavares: material de trabajo para la formación teórica conjunta."

7. Fabio López. Poder e Domínio: uma visão anarquista. Rio de Janeiro: Achiamé, 2001, pp. 61-62.

8. Mikhail Bakunin. "Necessidades da Organização." En: Conceito de Liberdade. Porto: Rés Editorial, s/d, p. 136.

9. Fabio López. Poder e Domínio, pp. 83-87.

10. Gilmar Mauro. "Construir o Poder Popular: o grande desafio do novo século."

11. Juan Carlos Mechoso. "La Estrategia del Especifismo: entrevista a Felipe Corrêa," 2009. Aún inédito, pero muy pronto será publicado en
portugués y español; social is here understood as a ongoing involvement with social movements.

12. FARJ. Anarquismo Social e Organização, pp. 111-122.

13. Luta Libertária. "Socialismo Libertário: um projeto em construção." (http://www.treinoonline.com.br/osl/documentos.asp).

https://blackrosefed.org/create-a-strong-people-discussions-on-popular-power/


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