The genocide perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian
people takes us back to the worst periods of our recent past ashumanity, but it is a present that exposes the reality of the capitalist
system in this era. Israel, with the support of the US and the European
Union, is perpetrating an unprecedented genocide in this century, in the
face of the passivity of international organizations and many states in
the region itself. ---- The Palestinian people, made pariahs after the
creation of the State of Israel in 1948, following the partition of
Palestinian territory by the UN in 1947, have suffered every possible
atrocity ever since. A second Nakba ("Catastrophe") is what this people
is experiencing, due to the economic and political-messianic interests
of the Zionist collective that has governed the State since its founding.
This Zionist state has worked all this time to objectify Palestinians,
to turn them into "trash," into disposable material, therefore liable to
be mass murdered without anyone saying a word. The genocidal mechanism
that Nazism applied to the Jewish people is being repeated. Now the
State of Israel has managed to make a large part of the Israeli
population accept the murder of children and women without question in
order to expand its "Greater Israel" project. There are large investment
projects underway to create large hotel complexes in Gaza, along the
Mediterranean coast, and to expand Israeli settlements into Palestinian
territory.
The genocide has already claimed more than 67,000 certified lives; some
organizations put the number tenfold. For two years now, we have been
receiving images of dismembered children, children killed in piles,
malnourished children carrying water or food, women and men weeping for
their children, families decimated and torn apart, hunger... The Gaza
Strip has been devastated.
All of this is done with the complicity of the Arab monarchies (Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, among others) that have major
business dealings with Israel and political alliances mediated by the
US. Many interests are at stake when it comes to importing the lives of
millions of human beings... That is the mentality of the ruling classes,
those at the top, in that region and in Israel, the US, and Europe.
But in different parts of the world, people are demonstrating against
this genocide, holding massive marches and boycotting Israeli companies
or those that support Israel. The flotilla of ships carrying supplies
that attempted to break the blockade-and which was captured in a true act of
Piracy and international terrorism perpetrated by Israel-including the
kidnapping of its crews-and mobilizations of Jews against this genocide,
both inside and outside Israel, clearly demonstrate that it is the
people and popular organizations that are confronting this attempt to
exterminate the Palestinian people, who are denied even the most basic
rights, including the right to life and existence. These mobilizations
are becoming increasingly widespread, even here in our country.
But it seems the Uruguayan government still struggles to recognize that
this is genocide. It fears the Zionist lobby will act against the
Uruguayan state, and Orsi kneels submissively before those with blood on
their hands. The Uruguayan state must sever relations with Israel now!
To close this chapter, two points should be noted: first, this genocide
being perpetrated against the Palestinian people is not an isolated
incident, the sole product of Zionist aberration and the delusions of
conquest of Jewish fascists. No; it is part of a model being implemented
globally for "surplus populations," those who happen to be settled in
territories deemed valuable for their resources or other reasons that
make them important to transnational and imperialist capital. This is
not the only instance of genocide in the last 30-odd years: we can look
back to the genocide between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, sponsored by
imperialist powers, the war that dismembered the former Yugoslavia, the
invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. Furthermore, these
genocides were not thoroughly investigated, much less were their true
perpetrators punished, and at the international legal level, the
groundwork was laid to justify new genocides and ethnic cleansing.
In Latin America, various Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples have
suffered genocidal policies on different scales for over 530 years. But
what is being established here with Gaza is the possibility for the
system to carry out mass human extermination, with the complicity of
what they call the "international community," and for this to operate in
favor of the expansion of the capitalist system itself, whether at the
level of resource exploitation, investments, state expansion plans, or
population control. The billionaires and their organizations themselves
say it: the capitalist system can tolerate 2 billion inhabitants on the
planet. Therefore, 6 billion of us are superfluous. It is from this
perspective that this entire policy of death, or necropolitics, and
population control unfolds, with different variations, nuances, and
experiences in various parts of the world. It is the deployment of the
capitalist system at a stage where the arms industry is a fundamental
driving force in the economic sphere, but also where we are in the midst
of a struggle for the world order.
Secondly, the Palestinian Resistance is dealing heavy blows to the
Israeli army daily. Deaths, injuries, soldiers who refuse to return to
Gaza, those suffering from mental health issues, and several soldiers
who have committed suicide are the toll this genocide is taking on the
Israelis, without
Counting the attacks from Yemen and Iran in the so-called "Twelve-Day
War." Palestinian resistance maintains high levels of coordination among
armed militias of different political orientations, a process that began
before 2020. Therefore, this genocide is not only a response to
Operation "Al-Aqsa Storm" on October 7, 2023; it is a response to an
advance of the Palestinian resistance in terms of territorial liberation
and the achievement of the Palestinian state, already recognized by more
than 140 countries at the last assembly of the now-defunct United Nations.
The struggle for global hegemony. Imperial ambitions over Latin America
There are several fronts of conflict internationally. In addition to the
situation in the Middle East, the war between Ukraine and Russia
continues, and there is tension in various parts of the world: India and
Pakistan, and here in Latin America, US imperialism is once again
showing its claws. Underlying all these conflicts is the dispute between
the US and Chinese empires. The struggle for global hegemony is the
order of the day, and the US, in particular, moves very quickly, taking
advantage of any opportunity to destabilize a territory, change
governments, or do whatever serves its interests, so that China loses
influence.
The aggression shown by the US toward China, the world's largest
economic power today, is more than worrying. It's a straightforward,
bellicose discourse. The American empire is concerned about China and
the BRICS, and above all, about the potential loss of its global
hegemony to the Asian nation.
On the other hand, Trump's tariffs have led to some price increases for
certain products internationally, but they haven't had a beneficial
effect on the US economy, at least not yet. These imperialist displays
of power are nothing more than the flip side of the progressive
weakening of the US economy, at least.
The last bastion of US imperialism is Latin America. Having withdrawn
from the Middle East, at least militarily, since it has failed to
effectively dominate the territories it invaded (Iraq, Afghanistan), it
now sees its "backyard," as they call us, as territory to "reconquer" or
regain control of, given that in the last 20 years, China and Russia
have been gaining ground in this region, especially China with
investments and commercial activity.
One of the first measures of the Trump administration was to regain
control of the Panama Canal, buying two nearby ports that were in the
hands of Chinese companies and threatening and disciplining the
government of that country.
Then the threat against Venezuela under the pretext of drug
trafficking... It should be laughable. But when the Americans threaten,
they're up to something. Let's remember the same case, but in Panama, in
1989.
He also accused Noriega of being a drug trafficker, the Panamanian
dictator who replaced Omar Torrijos after the latter was assassinated by
the CIA for his skill in negotiating with the US government under James
Carter for the handover of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian state in
2000. In this case, it was true; Noriega allowed Pablo Escobar's cocaine
to be smuggled by small planes to the US, and when Noriega wanted to
take a share of the business for himself, the US saw its opportunity.
They invaded the country, imprisoned him, reorganized the drug
trafficking operation, and then began the pursuit of Escobar. But that
invasion left a primary toll of more than 3,000 Panamanians dead, with
working-class neighborhoods in Panama City and Colón, among other
places, being razed. Thus, the US "liberated" Panamanians from the
dictator Noriega, who was the US man in Panama.
The accusations they're leveling against the Venezuelan government are
ridiculous. It turns out the US and its anti-drug agency have taken over
12 years to realize that Maduro runs a drug cartel... Nobody believes
that. The US's only interest is Venezuelan oil and eliminating a
government that has stood up to them both on the continent and
internationally, a government that has helped a large number of small
Caribbean countries economically, including Cuba.
The Venezuelan people will pay the price for a Yankee invasion there
with their blood. This is the same people who have already suffered a
fierce US economic blockade, an attempt to strangle their economy, and
the resulting damage. The US seeks the total submission of Venezuela and
to install its friends in power, like Corina Machado, a bourgeois and
die-hard fascist, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A coup plotter
and murderer. This is the "democracy" the US wants to impose.
Of course, there are other governments that are friendly to the US,
especially under Trump. Bukele in El Salvador and Milei in Argentina.
Bukele has moved toward a dictatorial government. The Legislative branch
has been almost completely dismantled-the Judicial branch was the
first-and he rents out his prisons to Trump for the deportation of
immigrants. A government with clear neo-fascist leanings, which, under
the pretext of "security" and "the fight against gangs," has turned the
country into a prison. Now, in this new phase, he is advancing his
authoritarian and neoliberal economic project.
In the case of Milei's Argentina, we have the riskiest experiment the
capitalist system is currently undertaking in economic and social
matters. They are trying to take the market, the private economy, to its
extreme. As we have already said, if they could, they would privatize
the police and the army. They haven't been able to do it, but they have
established the possibility and the mindset that could make it possible.
Milei is not crazy; he is a product of the local and international
ruling classes, designed to perpetuate the capitalist system. He governs
for a local and international elite, and his policies are genocidal,
perpetrated through hunger on multiple levels: cuts and elimination of
social programs, hospital closures,
Pensions are under attack, as is everything he has labeled as "spending"
that, according to his ordoliberal vision, hinders economic growth.
While he starves the population and attacks public services, corruption
scandals are being uncovered, and he is indebting the country to an
unsustainable degree with the IMF, which is on the verge of bankruptcy
and a potential social explosion. Rejection of the government is
growing, although the right wing has consolidated a third of public
opinion, which is expressed through voting. For a sector of the right,
Milei is already a problem. They are already considering a "change-up
plan," and Kirchnerism is severely weakened, with little capacity to
respond and electorally mobilize.
Yes, on a social level, in the streets, anger and discontent are
manifesting themselves. Retirees, workers, and the unemployed are once
again gaining significant momentum in their mobilizations after some
years of relative inactivity. Something is brewing there; these
mobilizations will surely increase. Some forms of coordination are
already emerging, such as in the city of Rosario within labor unions.
The attack suffered by the Argentine people is extremely severe.
A new cycle of struggles on the continent?
In recent months, we have witnessed a series of mobilizations in the
region. A new increase in diesel prices has prompted the indigenous
peasant movement to take to the streets in Ecuador, with road blockades
and marches occurring in various parts of the country. The repression
has been intense and has claimed the life of at least one peasant. The
neoliberal government of Noboa, which is also accused of widespread
corruption, faces a new popular mobilization, the development of which
we will follow. The Ecuadorian people have a history of toppling several
governments and paralyzing the country for weeks, as they did in 2019.
On the other hand, in Peru, Lima's youth and transport workers have been
mobilizing, especially driven by demands for "security," criticizing the
dictatorship of Dina Boularte, now deposed by the legislature. Real
power rests with the Fujimori clan, but their room for maneuver is
limited, except in the realm of repression. It's worth remembering that
the indigenous communities of the highlands led widespread protests
against the coup in 2022 and 2023. There's talk here of youth
participation, of the so-called "Generation Z," but the truth is that
student federations are participating in these demonstrations, and it's
not a phenomenon exclusive to social media, as some media outlets try to
portray it in order to depoliticize this movement.
In Paraguay, youth and the indigenous movement are also mobilizing.
Youth have been demonstrating in Asunción, while the indigenous
movement, organized under ANIVID (National Indigenous Articulation for a
Dignified Life), is blocking roads at various points throughout the
country, demanding an end to violent evictions and full recognition of
their ancestral rights to the lands they inhabit.
In Brazil, the popular movement is taking to the streets against the
possibility of a parliamentary resolution releasing Bolsonaro, convicted
for his attempted coup in January 2023. Police repression has also
claimed the lives of three farmers from the Landless Workers' Movement
in the state of Pará, highlighting the ongoing violence in rural areas
and the role of employers and the far right.
In Central America, the Panamanian people continue their protests, and
in Guatemala there are significant mobilizations.
These protests are likely to continue and intensify, with other
communities joining in, given the high levels of violence across the
continent, such as the murder of Julia Chuñil in Chile, who was burned
alive by her killers with the complicity of the Boric government, which
represses those who fight for and defend nature and their rights. Many
Indigenous communities are reclaiming their lands and defending nature
against the advance of extractivism and multinational corporations. We
may be witnessing a new cycle of struggles on the continent, or a
continuation of the cycle that began in 2019 and was interrupted by the
Covid pandemic. Undoubtedly, the mobilization has not yet reached the
levels of that time, but this development is significant.
Within this context, there is the situation in Bolivia, where the MAS
party is clearly disintegrating and the right wing is poised to regain
power. But the Bolivian people have accustomed us to high levels of
dignity and resilience. Surely, this heroic people will once again give
us news.
Ultimately, it is the oppressed classes throughout Latin America who
resist and open up possibilities for deeper progress for those at the
bottom. These are times of struggle, of people in the streets.
Neoliberalism generates mobilization and revolt. Our rich history is a
source of method and experience.
In this little country....
After an election campaign where countless great ideas were expressed to
win the popular vote, immediate plans, medium and long-term plans, the
treasury has determined that we must be cautious with spending, and that
caution is paid for by those at the bottom.
The guidelines for the new government in the next five years are clearly
expressed through the salary guidelines and the presented budget; the
summary is clear: the great popular needs are not met under any
circumstances.
During the campaign, there was extensive discussion about the child
welfare emergency and the number of children born into poverty. All
parties described this grave situation as unacceptable, proposing plans
and measures. However, nothing has happened to radically change the
reality; no emergency child welfare plan has emerged to reverse this
tragedy.
immediate action, using the excuse of insufficient funds and the
previous government's manipulation of state finances. However, spending
on repressive forces was increased and maintained, and this is the key
issue. The majority of the Five-Year Budget goes to the Armed Forces,
including the Military Pension Fund, paying privileged pensions to
torturers and perpetrators of genocide. They speak of popular sentiment
on one hand, but on the other, their actions are aimed at maintaining
privileges and strengthening the repressive arm. They talked about a
"revolution of simple things," yet there hasn't even been the slightest
change.
that the Military Fund maintains and increases its privilege in society
and the repressive forces remain intact and there are plans to increase
its budget in the five-year period.
The allocations for housing and education follow the same pattern. In
terms of the education budget, the new Five-Year Budget Law offers
little change. Education not only remains a low priority for the
government, but it will also receive fewer financial resources to
implement the policies demanded by grassroots organizations. The
long-standing proposal of 6% for ANEP (National Administration of Public
Education) and Udelar (University of the Republic), plus 1% for
research, is once again relegated to a mere campaign promise. It is
clear that with this law, those figures will not even be met, even
considering the budget allocation to UTEC (Technological University).
Beyond this perspective, the budget allocation is also insufficient in
terms of what the agencies themselves requested as a base budget to fund
their policies. The executive branch proposes, for the year 2029, to
cover only 11.3% of what ANEP requested, 3.4% of what Udelar requested,
and 59.5% of what UTEC requested. In other words, this budget is not
even enough to cover the needs that the state agencies themselves intend
to address.
One of this government's key campaign promises regarding the education
budget has been the expansion of the food scholarship program. In this
regard, what they are trying to sell as an achievement and progress is
the funding of 70,000 Butiá scholarships (23% of public secondary school
enrollment) and 20,000 food scholarships in secondary education (15% of
enrollment).
Regarding teachers' salaries, the signing of a wage agreement by
education unions is currently under discussion. This agreement, which
the bureaucratic majorities in the various unions intend to impose on
workers, includes a freeze on real wages for the next two years and then
addresses some aspects related specifically to non-teaching staff, but
these do not substantially improve the working conditions and salaries
of teachers.
Finally, there is virtually no allocation in terms of construction and
infrastructure; the demands for the construction of new high schools,
such as
The high school in La Teja or the new high school in Las Piedras,
demands deeply felt by the community and by teachers' unions, will be
sitting in a drawer for the next 5 years.
In housing, the people's demands will continue to go unmet, and the
budget allocation remains as shameful as in previous budgets. Paying
rent consumes more than a month's salary, and the thousands living in
inhumane conditions will continue to suffer this torment. Thousands are
on the streets, thousands are paying exorbitant rents, and there is no
budget for affordable housing like that built through mutual aid
cooperatives. Twenty percent of the population rents, and for several
decades, only 0.5% of the budget has been allocated to affordable
housing. Today, there are 667 informal settlements where 200,000 people
live in precarious conditions. We are far from understanding housing as
an essential human right, as long as tax breaks for construction
companies continue and the construction of gated communities is favored.
In social security, the opinion of 111 economists is being disregarded,
despite nearly a million people expressing their opposition to the AFAPS
(Pension Fund Administrators). You won't see us participating in the
"national dialogue" on social security, nor in those charades...
Firstly, because we cannot conceive that anything can be resolved
through "dialogue" with those who benefit from the current conditions,
at the expense of the misery of thousands...
Any instance of negotiation, exchange, or potential solution to an
issue, in our humble opinion, must be based on street protests,
mobilization, and conflict. This generates a favorable correlation for
establishing conditions that tip the scales in favor of popular
interests-conditions for dialogue or negotiation imposed through
struggle. Any proposal must be built from the bottom up, constructed,
analyzed, and debated by thousands of people at the grassroots level and
within popular organizations.
There is no other option that meets more conditions in this regard than
those we defended on the plebiscite ballot, which were boycotted by the
enemies of the people and particularly by the technocracy that lives off
the benefits of this unjust system.
This technocracy, along with business interests, is currently leading
the process, essentially proposing no changes to the disastrous pension
reform enacted by the right wing and business associations. They have
defended the bailout of their own pension fund and attacked any increase
for those with the least resources.
The total absence of a struggle strategy that promotes popular demands,
based on the widespread acceptance of the ballot's contents by workers
and the poor, clearly demonstrates a willingness to participate in a
symposium and a charade of participation that will surely end in
nothing, seeking some placebo for the most disadvantaged while
consolidating the most regressive aspects for the benefit of employers,
including exemptions, subsidies, and all kinds of perks in their
contributions.
So...we will not participate in this circus, this lobbying, which robs
us of time and political independence to develop our strategic proposals
as a class. Don't count us in for that charade.
Salary advice guidelines are no exception in this scenario
De-indexing wages, leaving out of the adjustments elements of the basic
basket and innovations that do not guarantee a real increase, nor even
accompany the economic changes that always favor the employer and big
capital.
More than half a million workers with substandard wages find no way out
of their situation with these wage guidelines; unemployment is
concentrated among young people and women, with no prospect of change to
create a living wage and establish some semblance of justice. These are
starvation wage guidelines that protect employers. After a process of
wage freezes and cuts that has yielded the results we see today, it is
necessary to implement significant increases that will change this
reality immediately.
Anti-union repression and employer abuses are rampant. The government is
complicit in this situation by failing to develop policies that curb
corporate impunity. Employers are standing firm in their efforts to
dismantle hard-won gains and unions, as seen in the dairy and fishing
sectors, where, after a prolonged conflict, the government failed to
take the most basic action: revoking fishing permits from entrenched
employers who have been profiting since the dictatorship and addressing
a legitimate workers' demand.
Structural changes are being planned, for example in transportation,
opening the door not only to multinational corporations but also
allocating public funds that could be used for other emergencies.
However, at the behest of international organizations, changes are being
planned and implemented that, without strong union resistance, will
decimate current sources of employment. Passenger rail transport is
being allowed to die, isolating entire inland communities that have no
way to travel for work, healthcare, or education.
To grasp the scale of our nation's plight, let's look at the following
figures. In our country, approximately 1,200,000 people are salaried
workers, both public and private. 548,000 of these salaried workers earn
up to 25,000 pesos per month, and within that group, nearly 166,000 earn
less than 15,000 pesos; furthermore, there are
164,000 unemployed. Adding together those earning substandard wages and
the unemployed, we have 712,000 people unable to earn a living wage, or
any wage at all, representing 40% of the economically active population.
This figure indicates the capitalist model's tendency to generate
enormous numbers of unemployed and underemployed workers in order to
exploit them at will. Added to this situation of precariousness and
low-paying jobs, informality becomes intractable, with a national rate
of 23.7%, a rate that masks realities.
infamous departmental figures, with the most affected departments being
Artigas (55.8%), Cerro Largo (47%) and Tacuarembó (38.8%).
It's important to ask ourselves how long we will continue waiting for a
fair share of the wealth we workers generate. Today, with the incredible
power of technology and increased production, we can no longer tolerate
starvation wages; the pie must be shared. The country's GDP has grown to
over 81 billion dollars, which would entitle each inhabitant to
approximately 24,000 dollars annually, roughly 87,000 pesos per month
per person. This is the wealth we workers create, and it's being taken
by the bosses, who are increasingly becoming enormous multinational
conglomerates. We don't even see their faces, yet they steal the bread
meant for hungry children, condemning them to poverty.
The consequence of all this is the extreme poverty endured by thousands
of our brothers and sisters living on the streets, in shantytowns, in
the forgotten corners of the country. In a country that produces enough
food for over 36 million people, 400,000 Uruguayans still lack
sufficient food to meet their basic needs. This cannot be fixed with
government assistance; it must be fixed, first and foremost, by taxing
big business.
In Uruguay, there are 17,675 millionaires, about whom little data
exists, not even the total volume of their wealth, which is surely
concentrated in the hands of a few thousand individuals. Other data
indicates that 35 to 40% of the country's wealth is held by 1% of the
population. That is to say, between 28 and 32 billion dollars are in the
hands of approximately 34,000 people. It is likely that their level of
wealth is even higher. The tax proposed by the PIT-CNT on these sectors
would raise 800 million dollars, close to 1% of GDP, which is a
considerable sum, but insufficient.
However, various political and managerial representatives of the
country's elite came forward to criticize this idea, arguing that it
would harm the economy. They are unwilling to contribute a single peso
to society; these bourgeois are nothing but miserable rats. Any minimal
change is seen by this idle class as a "revolutionary" measure. This is
the history of our country: they raise a huge outcry against every
attempt at taxes or small reforms, including the issue of land and its
distribution to the working class. For the local bourgeoisie, their
profits and properties are not up for debate. They have historically
blocked any progress in this area.
The question we at the bottom, the popular movement as a whole, have to
ask ourselves is: how long are we going to tolerate the rich taking all
the wealth while we have comrades in the streets, hungry and living in
widespread misery?
A past that calls us to a future of justice
This October, our organization celebrates its 69th anniversary. We also
commemorate the 89th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, the epic
struggle of the Spanish people for a different society, fighting with
arms against fascism and the dominant classes and sectors between 1936
and 1939. This did not emerge from nothing; it was forged over more than
70 years of grassroots organizing, building Popular Power in those
lands, which, in the heat of war, allowed for the Revolution and the
construction of libertarian socialist collectives.
That history and example of thousands of social activists throughout the
world, but also here, the example of our comrades like Juan Carlos
Mechoso, Elena Quinteros, Pablo Farías, Telba Juárez and so many others
who have planted the seed of popular struggle for a different society,
without oppressed or oppressors, calls us to continue that struggle.
The road is long; it must be built and traveled. It is with the people
in the streets and from the ground up.
LET'S DEFEAT THE POLICIES OF HUNGER!!
NO TO THE GENOCIDE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE!!
LONG LIVE THOSE WHO FIGHT!!
URUGUAYAN ANARCHIST FEDERATION
https://federacionanarquistauruguaya.uy/carta-opinion-fau-octubre-2025/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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