[The following publication is the translation of the Roadmap brochure of
the Anarchist Assembly of Valparaiso by the collective Circle of Fire -member of the Anarchist Political Organization (APO).]
Prologue ---- "(...) why not; man, man, woman, child, none superior and
none inferior, always equal (...) how are we going to do it, how are we
going to get there? there is only one way: the revolution, yes, the
Revolution, the general strike, the abolition of property, the
socialization of the means of production, free love, free agreement, all
seemed like a dream, perhaps it was, or rather it certainly was a dream
, but who knows if everything was always a dream and yet it came true or
will come true... who dreamed of the wheel, who dreamed of electricity,
who dreamed of the telephone? Everything was confusing, but once it was
even more confusing and there was no point in stopping to think if it
was or wasn't, the main thing was to work to make it a reality soon, and
the sooner the better..." -- Manuel Rojas, Sombras contra el muro
It has been over two years since we made the call and met to create the
Valparaiso Anarchist Convention, a ground that serves as a meeting point
and action point for residents of different areas of Akunkawa * . At
that time, we were looking for a space of dialogue, fermentation and
political imagination among anarchist comrades, in the midst of that
emotional, political and social vortex of the first months of the
Uprising that broke out in October 2019. From December of that year, we
opened this process of the collectivization of thoughts and conclusions,
feelings, self-criticism and different propositions among people who
were already associated with anarchist ideas or who were then coming
into contact with them.
In this process, one of the fundamental points of self-criticism
concerned the political isolation and introversion that characterized
the actions and spaces of anarchists in recent years, making it
difficult to develop a necessary and vital dialogue, both internally and
externally. with other political and territorial communities, which is
necessary if we want to deepen and clarify our goals and proposals.
Our composition, as an assembly, has changed during this time and with
it our horizons, values and practices have changed, translated into
different possibilities for action in this particular place and time.
Today, more than two years after our first meeting, and with the
conviction and certainty that we are part of a larger and more complex
process that brings us together as communities of struggle, we recognize
the immense need and imperative responsibility to imagine, plan and to
give flesh and bones to goals, tactics and strategies that contribute to
social processes of emancipation.
Following this line, and convinced that the only way to proceed on this
path is the systematic exercise of collective thought and imagination,
we considered it necessary to write this text, as a means to organize
our ideas in the context of ongoing discussions and reflections, in a
first humble attempt to create a road map.
*Akunkawa , in the Mapuche language, is the name of the valley and the
homonymous river that crosses the Valparaiso area from the mountain
range to the sea.
Starting point
"The bond that unites us is not a matter of choice. We are brothers. We
are brothers in all we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer
alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know
it, because we were forced to learn it. We know that there is no other
help for us than mutual help, that no hand will save us if we do not
stretch out our hands."
Ursula Legane, The Anarchist of Two Worlds
In order to produce this collective analysis, we consider observation,
knowledge and experience of our historical, political, social and
material context as key elements. We feel part of the great majority who
are forced, in one way or another, to sell their labor power in order to
survive. We recognize ourselves in the toils and joys of our class, in
its miseries and beauties. We see contradictions as inherent in our
communities, seeing ourselves as the offspring of countless violent and
traumatic processes intertwined with colonialism.
We are dunghills, orphans, bastards, bastards. We recognize ourselves in
the history of immigrants who spread far and wide the Idea of anarchy
along with the expectation of Social Revolution, as well as in the
struggle experiences of the Valparaíso Tenants Union (Liga de
Arrendatarios de Valparaíso), the resistance communities and of the
anarchist Athenians, who at the dawn of the 20th century, through the
public houses, workshops and social centers, fought for a dignified
life. In the struggles of the residents on the outskirts of the cities,
who built their dreams there, giving form and life to the social
landscape. We recognize ourselves in the experiences of the industrial
zones, the folk kitchens, the eternal struggle of women and outcasts to
defend life, the resistance against the dictatorship and the thirty
years of oblivion that followed.
We feel part of the long history of struggle of the oppressed classes,
with their mistakes and their victories. From there, and to systematize
our analysis, we identify three axes of dominance that we consider to be
the structural basis in our historical, cultural and geographical
experience: Patriarchy, Capitalism and Colonialism. These three axes
function as a model of production and reproduction of eco-social life,
constantly imposed on the oppressed bodies of society and on the earth.
According to our analysis, it does not make sense to prioritize these
axes, as we perceive them as interrelated constructions, which, in a
close and inseparable dynamic, reproduce exploitation and domination.
Some of the key mechanisms of reproduction of these axes are: the
appropriation of eco-social wealth through individual property, the
gendered division of labor and the invisibility of care, the imposition
of the family and heterosexual system through bio-visible and binary
perceptions on bodies, identities and relationships, uneven development
in global centers and peripheries, the commodification and speciesist
appropriation of the non-human world, the precariousness of life in general.
We also realize that today, the politico-military structure that
maintains these axes of dominance are the Nation-States, which are
reproduced in everyday life through the dominant culture, the monopoly
of organized violence and the hegemonic educational processes that shape
our eco-social relationships .
Tools (about theory and principles)
"To remain isolated, with each individual acting or willing to act by
himself, without consultation with others, without preparation, without
rallying the feeble powers of individual individuals, is tantamount to
condemning ourselves to impotence, to we waste our energy on trivial,
ineffective actions and, very quickly, lose faith in the cause and fall
into utter inactivity."
Eric Malatesta
The first of our tools is the development of the material and collective
analysis of our historical reality. We recognize the existence of social
classes and the structural antagonism between them, and therefore take a
stand in the class struggle as an active part of the larger class of the
oppressed and exploited.
On the other hand, we adopt the historical tools of anarchism, meaning
the practice of mutual aid, direct action, horizontality and
self-management, as necessary principles on this path, which, however,
need to be enriched and strengthened with tools that we have
historically gleaned from other pieces and communities of struggle.
Trans, class, and intersectional feminisms have provided us with
countless elements of social analysis and political action. For example,
they have succeeded in highlighting the complex and often contradictory
dynamics within the oppressed classes. They have also made visible the
crisis of care and its central role in the production and reproduction
of social life. On the other hand, social ecology, with its ecosystemic
perspective on social conflicts, has allowed us to expand and perceive
as more complex the horizons of our struggle against the destruction and
mining that affects our lands, expanding both imperative resistance in
defense of life in all its diversity. In addition, we find useful some
illuminating points of anti-authoritarian communism, namely its fixation
on the central oppressive character that money, economic value and the
commodity hold in the capitalist edifice. We find useful evidence in
democratic confederalism as it is practiced and spread in Kurdistan and,
of course, in the organizational, communal and ancestral tools inherent
in the tradition of anti-colonial struggle and territorial autonomy
throughout Abia Yala * .
All these theoretical and empirical tools are useful as points of
reference for us to develop our political imagination and go beyond the
limits of ideological purity and sterile bitterness. They also show us
that imagination, freed from naivety and adventurism, is an essential
starting point in the debate about the present and the future.
* Abya Yala: the American continent, as its indigenous peoples call it.
In which direction; (about purpose and strategies)
"Radical movements can no longer afford to rush recklessly into action
just for the sake of action. (...) The patience, the hard work involved
in the responsible commitment to the day-to-day work of building a
movement, must outweigh the theatrics of the "primandoons" who are
always willing to "die" at the barricades of a distant "revolution", but
too proud to engage in the menial tasks of spreading ideas and building
an organization.'
Murray Bookchin, Remaking Society
We believe that the deconstruction of the system of dominance and the
reproduction model of eco-social life that it advocates is not only
possible but also imperative, and this is not an ideological whim, but a
vital necessity. We believe that while it will not be a quick process,
we do not see it as an elusive utopian future. The bet for us is to
constitute a real and concrete process that will include the dispute for
the present and the future.
This controversy is oriented towards the struggle to build a model of
production, reproduction and organization of eco-social life that puts
the vital needs, dignity and joy of the people at the center. In order
to create this other model, a process of revolutionary ruptures is
necessary that will mark the end of the axes of dominance on which the
current social regime is built.
From a strategic point of view, and in relation to the main objective
we have already mentioned, we identify three axes of priorities,
planning and action. The revolutionary transformation of the model of
production and reproduction of eco-social life that we propose is
possible only with the decisive participation of the organized and mass
forces of the oppressed classes.
The development and expansion of the dynamics of transformation from the
class of the oppressed, which we will call popular power * , is
undoubtedly the main and first strategic axis that we envision
collectively. We believe that the development of this power, which is
understood as the capacity to act, is a collective learning process that
must be fueled by the development of the possibilities of the oppressed
strata themselves, in dispute and in conflict with the State, seeking,
through the creation of a anti-hegemonic popular bloc, a series of
revolutionary ruptures that will leave behind this system of death.
For this to happen, anarchists must work together with other people, as
part of the oppressed classes. From this finding stems the second
strategic axis proposed here: the promotion and broad and full
development of anarchist organizations. The need to deepen and stimulate
the political, theoretical and ideological development of the anarchist
field calls us to overcome spontaneity, informalism and the purity of
"kinship", pursuing the search for permanent and stable organizational
spaces over time, which, through the long-term of work, will aim to root
anarchism in the popular field, as a true tool that allows us to imagine
and realize collective emancipatory horizons.
A third strategic point is the so-called prefigurative politics. By this
term we mean the need to build here and now the foundations of the
different model of production and reproduction of eco-social life. That
is, by participating in today's struggles, to experiment collectively
and materially on the possibilities of another world that we imagine.
It is crucial, in our opinion, to try to disengage from restrictive,
dichotomous schemes between the present and the future, between ends and
means, since in reality they are contained in one another, shaping the
fields of analysis and action within which everyday life unfolds. our
life, our possibilities and our proposals.
* For the term " popular power/poder popular " and its untested
translation as " popular power ", see the relevant discussion in the
interview with the partners.
How; (about tactics and methods)
"Without discipline, without organization, without humility before the
greatness of purpose, all we will succeed in doing is amuse our enemies
and never win."
Mikhail Bakunin
We understand strategies as pathways that allow us to move towards
achieving our short, medium and long term goals. Tactics are the steps
needed to follow these paths. Specifically, they are the movements that
we develop in various cases and act as bridges between organized theory
and planned action in a specific area, understanding its particularities
and historical, political, demographic and cultural conditions. In this
direction, we consider it imperative to be an active part of the spaces
and initiatives of socialization, struggle and broad popular
organization linked to basic material needs, such as housing, health,
education, defense of lands and water, nutritional independence, etc. In
these social fields, whether we have created them or pre-existing, our
role must aim to strengthen them by consistently contributing our tools
and ideas in opposition to reformist and/or authoritarian tools and
ideas, and strengthening the processes of class self-organization. In
this sense, and at the level of tactics, struggles with specific demands
in the present, which bring about tangible improvements in the lives of
people and communities, are fertile fields for the accumulation of
experience, trust and collective knowledge -- elements that are
necessary for the formation of a popular initiative with real
transformative power and emancipatory perspective. As an anarchist
organization, we must promote the widest possible participation and
leading social presence in all fields of struggle, participating in the
struggles for the defense of the commons, and at the same time pushing
in the direction of the people and communities taking control, planning,
management and decision-making for all eco-social issues.
At the same time, it is important to create and maintain links with
other organized anarchist and non-anarchist political groups, with the
sincere intention of breaking the chains of capital, patriarchy and
colonialism. The goal is the mutual reinforcement of the fields of
political participation and action, naively assuming that differences
between groups are resolved within the struggle to build popular power
and not through the barren terrain of pure ideological trenches.
A second tactical point is the existence of open and public anarchist
organizations; organizations that make social anarchism visible as a
valid and feasible historical project, through continuous, consistent
and organized work, giving meaning to or challenging concepts that
appear in public social dialogue. Organized anarchist voices, their
positioning in the face of the moment and their ability to face the
unpredictability, is a step towards this claim and towards the building
of another world. Bringing anarchism out of obscurity and socializing it
is imperative in our time.
Our third tactical proposition concerns the practice of prefigurative
politics. This practice includes and is based on broad, stable and daily
educational processes that aim at the development of new institutions,
infrastructures and eco-social relations, applying methodologies of
depatriarchy and decolonization to all collective processes, which we
perceive as experiments for life, relationships and communities we want
to build.
Prefigurative experiments of other forms of social life should be
arguments for the empowerment, the acquisition of knowledge and the
consolidation of popular organizational capacities. They should not be
seen as a repudiation of the struggles that claim rights or services,
nor should they function as islands cut off from the daily life of the
rest of society.
The path to implementing our tactics is through the politicization of
affection and collective care. It is necessary to cultivate, deepen,
create and implement different methodologies and simple proposals that
will contribute to the thorough destruction of this system of death, and
at the same time, step by step, will contribute to the transformation
and building of social and political relations in which affection, care
and joyful complicity will be an essential part of the community and the
territorialized political context. The real possibility of
transformation of everything must be sought in the sphere of the
everyday and the permanent, and not in the sphere of the anecdotal and
the spectacular. These tactics are designed for the specific area.
Epilogue (for now)
This text is an exercise, an experiment that required us to share and
compare experiences, knowledge and different reflections in relation to
the debate about the present and the future and in relation to the
possibility of moving towards emancipatory horizons, which we recognize
and desire collectively. At the same time, it seemed to us a good and
honest way to open a dialogue with other collectives and people who may
show interest, curiosity, or even discomfort towards what we as an
organization have discussed and propose in terms of analysis and action,
in the short term , medium and long term in terms of our communities and
territories.
We perceive the road map as a compass for our orientation. It inevitably
responds to the analysis of our current context and current experiences;
therefore, our path is variable and the ability to change, deepen and
specialize more complex propositions always remains an unfinished work,
which requires our constant attention and responsibility.
The proposal to claim the present and the future through the
organization and mobilization of the exploited may seem naive or
sophisticated in today's conditions. But we are sincerely convinced that
the only essential thing there is to work to achieve it soon. And the
sooner the better.
https://landandfreedom.gr/el/diethni/1650-anarxikes-protaseis-sti-diamaxi-gia-to-paron-kai-to-mellon-synentefksi-melon-tis-a-s-tou-valparaiso-xili
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