WORLD WORLDWIDE US News Journal Update - (en) US, BRRN: After the Social Explosion: An Interview with the Anarchist Federation of Santiago[Chile](ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

In 2019, significant segments of the dominated classes of Chile gave
shape to what is now known as the "social explosion", a popular uprising
of national proportions. The social explosion produced a profound
political crisis which forced the resignation of then president
Sebastián Piñera and initiated a process which sought to overturn and
rewrite the country's dictatorship era constitution. ---- In this
interview with Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation (BRRN),
members of the Santiago Anarchist Federation (FAS) offer a number of
criticisms and alternative proposals to the constitutional assembly
process. Members of the FAS also speak to the role played by both the
left and institutional forces, as well as factors that have contributed
to the rise of far right and neo-fascist elements in Chilean society.

This interview was conducted and translated by the Black Rose / Rosa
Negra - International Relations Committee (IRC). Español abajo.

Black Rose / Rosa Negra (BRRN): FAS has put out a number of critiques of
the constituent assembly process, but also offered alternative proposals
on how to move forward after the 2019 uprising. What criticisms did the
FAS put out and what alternatives did it offer?

Anarchist Federation of Santiago (FAS): Our criticisms can be classified
in both form and content. In the first place, our critique had to do
with the political accord that gave rise to the process, which was led
by the most diverse sectors of institutional politics, ranging from the
traditional right to progressivism headed up by Boric. This accord was
developed while street mobilizations remained relentless, and while
State terrorism was dramatically felt. In fact, on November 15, the day
in which the negotiations of the political parties were sealed, giving
rise to the "Agreement for Social Peace and a New Constitution", Abel
Acuña died in Santiago, through brutal police repression, making it
clear that the peace of the bourgeoisie was the death of the peoples in
struggle.

Secondly, as anarchists we believe that advances in the demands that are
achieved must be within the framework of direct action. Therefore, from
the first moment we warned that this constituent process was a political
solution of the ruling class to crush the popular movement and
institutionalize the conflict, replacing the class struggle with
democratic dialogue, thus seeking to give oxygen to a weakened
institutionality. From this standpoint, we prefer to characterize the
above as a "Restoration Process", which aims to restore legitimacy to
the state apparatus by updating the limits of domination. We have been
clear in pointing out that the original issues of the class struggle
cannot be resolved in a legal-institutional framework, hence, the task
of the process was to beautify and soften the social contract that
oppresses us.

Regarding our alternatives, at that time we proposed four tasks:

Contribute toward building the revolutionary self-management power of
communities.
Contribute toward the united construction of a statement on communities
in struggle.
Develop a self-defense policy for the territories.
Contribute to strengthening a new popular subjectivity.
Through these tasks, we saw the possibility of resisting the
institutional co-optation of the social revolt and extend what was
achieved in those moments beyond the situation itself. In order not to
elaborate in a tedious way, I invite you to review our web page, where
you can find the booklet "Proceso Restituyente", which goes into more
depth on what has been expressed here.

FAS graffiti: "The electoral route failed. The only path: memory,
struggle, and organization"
BRRN: What is FAS' assessment of the results of the recent election of
the constitutional council?

FAS: Given the failure of the first constituent process, which had a
constitutional body dominated by social democratic progressivism, the
political parties insisted on a new constitution, and therefore, a new
body was elected, but this time the absolute majority has been obtained
by the extreme right, particularly the Republican Party, led by José
Antonio Kast, who represent the ideas of Pinochetism, neoliberalism,
conservatism, nationalism, and a long list of nefarious positions.

This result is not surprising, especially for two reasons. The first is
related to the fact that the extreme right was the only political sector
within the institutional apparatus that had a position against
initiating this new process, an issue that represents, in general terms,
public opinion, which is totally fatigued by the constant elections that
have taken place and the lack of concrete improvements in its day-to-day
life. Therefore, in view of the generalized apathy about the process,
the institutional sector that is most critical of it, benefited
electorally. The second reason has to do with the fact that after the
social revolt and its transformational drive, the discourse of order
began to position itself, and from there a conservative restoration has
been launched. This agenda is precisely the core of the program of the
extreme right, where we find proposals such as giving huge powers to the
police, dehumanizing migrants while blaming them as the origin of crime
and drug trafficking, and building an authoritarian regime as a solution
to all the problems afflicting the population. Unfortunately, this has
been echoed by the population, since, in the ideological battle, the
extreme right has gained considerable ground.

BRRN: What is FAS' analysis of the current situation based on the recent
constitutional process and how the extreme right wing controlled the
drafting of the new proposal?

FAS: The new constitutional proposal emanates from the extreme right,
and as such, represents a major setback in several areas. Those threats
cannot be confronted with suffrage. Democracy and its tools are
completely ineffective as a way to destroy neo-fascism. Therefore, we
are invested in popular struggle and organization as the only effective
instruments against the project of pinochetism.

Social democracy will make a call to the polls, and according to
preliminary measurements, it is possible that the constitution of the
extreme right will be rejected. But beyond that, an electoral process
will not corner the reactionary agenda, communities developing popular
power will. Therefore, our organization believes that our energies
should be concentrated in strengthening social organizations, in
deepening the commitment to Community Management (a concept discussed
below), and developing tools that allow us to advance in the ideological
struggle.

Finally, on our website and social networks, you can find our "Opinion
Letters", where we are constantly offering analysis of the current
situation and organizational proposals for struggle. There you will find
further material on characterizing the constitutional process in
particular, and the situation in general.

BRRN: Have your proposals changed at all since the plebiscite took place?

FAS: The proposals we elaborated at the end of 2019 and the beginning of
2020, rather than changing, today unfold in a completely different
terrain. Therefore, their content remains in force, but the mechanisms
we use to carry them out have certainly been modified.

But we would also like to mention a proposal that began to be elaborated
in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and its catastrophic effects on
popular sectors. This proposal is "Community Management", which aims to
be a prefigurative alternative for the oppressed class in the face of
the false dichotomy between State and Market. During the constitutional
process and the pandemic, a debate arose regarding the public-state
dimension of the economy and in the management of social services,
pointing toward social democracy, and that there would be a guarantee of
access and better living conditions for the popular classes. For our
organization, this is an illusion, due to the fact that the old "Welfare
State" makes no sense in the current crisis, and this would depend on
exacerbating the pattern of capitalist accumulation, which translates
into the plundering of our territories and the deepening of
exploitation. In short, our lives would become even more precarious.

 From the above diagnosis, we have positioned "Community Management" as
a tool that allows social organizations to assume greater responsibility
for their social and environmental circumstances, in order to advance
territorial control. For a deeper understanding of this idea, we have
available on our website, the booklet entitled "Community Management",
which is a first draft of the proposal. We hope to publish an update of
this perspective soon.

FAS graffiti: "Strengthen popular protagonism"
BRRN: What has been the relationship between the Chilean left and the
institutional apparatus throughout the different phases of the Social
Revolt, both during and after?

FAS: The Chilean left has historically been conservative in its
political positions, hence its most radical expression was the
government of Salvador Allende, a political project that sought the
implementation of socialism while respecting the margins of bourgeois
institutionality, renouncing the armed path in the midst of the "Cold
War", and we already know how that ended.

For this reason, the historical project of the local left has never
proposed a total rupture with the capitalist order, and they stick to a
developmentalist project. In line with this, the Chilean left tried to
hinder the development and impact of the Social Revolt, with a strategy
of institutionalization, which promised profound changes at political,
economic, social and environmental levels, in exchange for all the
discontent expressed in protests, territorial assemblies, and various
forms of struggle and organization, to be channeled into electoralism.
In this context, they became part of the November 15 agreement that
initiated the constitutional process, and subsequently raised the
presidential candidacy of Gabriel Boric.

Once Boric won the presidential election, all those promises vanished,
giving way to one of the most nefarious governments in living memory.
This government arrived talking about the Wallmapu and restitution of
lands to the Mapuche people, but a few weeks later, the called ancestral
territory "Macro South Zone" in a clear military discourse and they have
militarized it, an issue that continues to this day, and no government
has ever used it as intensely and constantly as the current one, where
there have been more than 500 days of deployment of army and navy troops
in the Mapuche territory. On the other hand, this government declared
itself to be ecological, but shortly after taking power they
enthusiastically collaborated with the deepening of extractivism in our
territories, going to look for investors from Canada, China and the USA,
so that they could destroy our ecosystems. Finally, this government
promised to put an end to the terrorist institution of carabineros, "los
pacos", militarized police that have historically murdered the oppressed
class with impunity. Instead, it has given them more powers and
resources than the Pinochet dictatorship itself, guaranteeing their
continuity and impunity.

For this reason we want to warn: reformism, social democracy and
progressivism are enemies of the emancipation of the oppressed class, no
matter how much they dress themselves in critical, radical and
transformational garb. They are representatives of the historical
project of the ruling class. Neither Boric, nor Sanders, nor any of
these timid ones are part of our struggle.

BRRN: How does neo-fascism present itself in Chile? What are its
dominant characteristics? How does it align with the agenda of the
ruling classes in the Chilean national context?

FAS: We want to start by saying that it is tremendously necessary to
define what we mean by "neo-fascism" and not only on a local scale, but
globally. The movements, groups, parties and leaders to whom we give
this nickname do not necessarily correspond to that historical fascism
of the 20th century, which aspired to corporatism and had strong
workerist components. Therefore, defining what is "neo" and what is
fascist in this phenomenon is fundamental for crafting a correct tactic,
which will allow us to crush them on all fronts. For the time being, we
believe that we are up to this task, and it is urgent that  anarchism
and the revolutionary movement more broadly stresses these categories
for a correct reading of the period.

However, we can point out some of the characteristics of the above in
our territories, since nationalist, xenophobic, racist, sexist, and
authoritarian positions have been strengthened. Now, in the territory
dominated by the State of Chile, there is no clear organic referent of
neo-fascism, that is to say, an organization that groups, directs, and
represents in a clear and mass level way its death project, a matter
that could change in the short term, since at a subjective level its
ideas have gained significant ground in the popular sectors, where its
slogans, especially the racist and xenophobic ones, are quickly
incorporated in the middle and lower strata of the population. This
neo-fascism that is being incubated comes to the fore in actions such as
the eviction of Mapuche community members from the municipality of
Curacautin in 2020, and the burning of migrant camps in Iquique in 2021.
Racist and xenophobic speeches encouraged both of these events respectively.

Although neo-fascism does not have a clear referent at the political
level, today the Republican Party is the one who, at the institutional
level, represents its agenda the most. This has been able to take shape
at the constitutional level, because this party has controlled the
process, some constitutional articles have embodied the fascist project,
especially around migrants, which establishes their immediate expulsion
in case of entering the territory dominated by the Chilean State in an
irregular manner, putting at serious risk the international law on
political refugees, and equal access to a fair trial. Also, in
constitutional matters, they have rolled back the right to abortion on
three grounds, preventing the free choice of those who get pregnant, an
issue that was already extremely limited in this territory. Therefore,
the institutionality of the ruling class has been totally permeated by
the ideas and anti-values of the new and old fascists.

https://blackrosefed.org/after-the-social-explosion-fas-interview/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca