On July 18th, around 40 people crammed into the upstairs floor of the
Tamarack bar, social center, and library in Oakland, California for thelaunch of Anarchist Popular Power: Dissident Labor and Armed Struggle inUruguay 1956-76. With so little space in the upper story of thebuilding, some attendees stood in the stairwell to listen to thepresentation on the history and activity of the Anarchist Federation ofUruguay (FAU) made by author and historian Troy Andreas Araiza Kokkinis.For over an hour Araiza Kokkinis covered in harrowing detail theactivity of the FAU in the years preceding and during the civic-militarydictatorship in Uruguay. ---- From interventions in massive labor unrestat places like the Seral Shoe factory, to involvement in theWorker-Student Resistance Organization (ROE), to clandestine operationsundertaken by the federation's armed wing "OPR-33", the history ofstruggle undertaken by FAU militants covered during the brief talk wasextensive and captivating.But, as both Araiza Kokkinis and introductory speaker Juan Vera-Luz (amilitant of Black Rose / Rosa Negra) made clear throughout the evening,the presentation was not meant as a mere lesson in history.Juan Vera-Luz: "Historically, reigning approaches to politics-especiallyof the reformist and reactionary variety-have unsurprisingly emanatedfrom the North down and from West to East. Europe's imperial & colonialprojects throughout much of the last several hundred years enabled itsstate agents and capital investors to "make" that history, and accessnetworks, resources, and lackeys to spread their visions, structures,and narratives. Perhaps the most consequential contemporary example ofthis is the entrenchment of bourgeois democracy throughout the late 19thand 20th centuries, all but "ending history" as they consumed the formerSoviet bloc.Revolutionary socialist politics that aim to transform how we relate toone another and the world around us have often bucked this trend, butprimarily latitudinally. Specifically in the 20th century, the leadingmodel for overthrowing capitalism-vanguard Communist Parties seizingstate power-traveled from East to West. Similarly, Mao Tse-Tung's"protracted people's war" against Imperial Japan and China's ascendentbourgeoisie put armed guerrilla struggle into revolutionaries' tacticaland strategic toolkits. Again, though, the southern hemisphere waslargely left out of the political equation.One of the few instances of a political strategy traveling from south tonorth comes by way of especifismo. In the years since the FAU re-emergedafter the Uruguayan dictatorship's fall in the 1980s, anarchists nearand far have adhered themselves to this approach. Contact with FAUmilitants inspired South American camaradas to form groups like theAnarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (FARJ) among many others inBrazil, the Anarchist Federation of Rosario (FAR) in Argentina, and theAnarchist Federation of Santiago (FAS) in Chile. The Zabalaza AnarchistCommunist Front in South Africa, the French Union Communiste Libertaire,and Germany's Die Plattform, among many others, have also wovenespecifista tenets into their activity. Throughout Oceania, growinggroups of revolutionaries share lessons about their experiments withespecifismo via the Red and Black Notes blog. And in the United States,Black Rose / Rosa Negra adapts the FAU's contributions to practicallyorient our social insertion in mass movements.[...]As Black Rose argues in our program Turning the Tide, capitalism and thenation-state offer no solutions to the compounding crises that underlaidOccupy Wall Street's explosion. Those crises have since forcefullyerupted in similar forms: mass mobilizations to secure Black livesagainst all instantiations of white supremacy; airport shutdowns tooppose xenophobic, anti-Muslim policies; direct confrontations withanti-LGBTQ fascist footsoldiers; and more. But short-term victories haveoften been temporary reprieves against these systems' worst excesses,and once the heat in the streets simmers, business as usual typicallyreturns.The struggle for sustained wins have pushed veteran and newcomermilitants alike to reassess our strategies, and commit to long-termorganizing projects. Hundreds of thousands have started and joined laborunions over the last several years, and the number of strikes grew over50% since the pandemic began. Tenant unions of, by, and for ourselveshave coalesced into a multinational network, coordinating cross-regionalcampaigns to support shared struggles. Despite these important inroadswe have made towards rebuilding popular power, our movements have stillstruggled to wrest major concessions. Some have even concludedrevolution is impossible, that oppressive ways of structuring sociallife and their tendencies to crisis are here to stay.I and many others disagree. So how might we maximize the momentum oforganizing our coworkers, neighbors, and communities towards a worldwithout capital accumulation, state violence, and hierarchical coercion?How might we replace the everyday drudgery of domination with livesworth collectively living? Troy's investigation of the FAU offers someglimpses into how that might look."Despite the severe repression faced by its members throughout the1960's, 70's, and 80s, FAU continues to exist into the present.Originating the strategic and organizational theory of especifismo, FAUhas projected an outsized influence on the global anarchist movement inrecent decades-including on our own organization, Black Rose / RosaNegra (BRRN). Today BRRN maintains close ties to FAU, which we considerour sibling organization, through international formations which allowus to collaborate on matters of theory, strategy, and analysis.Given the resounding success of the launch event for Anarchist PopularPower, we have begun working to organize subsequent presentations byAraiza Kokkinis - please be on the lookout for announcements regarding this!Finally, we want to extend a gracious thank you to the book's publisher,AK Press, for their help in co-sponsoring this event. AK Press is astandard bearer in publishing on topics related to anarchism and otherrevolutionary politics; without their assistance this event would nothave been possible!If you enjoyed this report, we recommend Troy Andreas Araiza Kokkinis'obituary of FAU militant Juan Carlos Mechoso, who passed in October of2022. We also recommend 'Theory, Ideology, and Political Practice: theFAU's "Huerta Grande"'.https://blackrosefed.org/standing-room-only-for-launch-of-anarchist-popular-power/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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