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por (((i))) ralpho y rafa • Tuesday March 18, 2003 at 12:08 PM
http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/91658.php
Several weeks before the 2003 presidential elections, the social tension in Argentina is intensifying. The people's response to the economic crisis has included many examples of autonomous collective organizing, and the government is responding now by increasing repression. Many social projects, such as occupied factories, occupied houses, cultural and social centers are in danger of being evicted.
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The recent amplification of repression began, in Buenos Aires, with the eviction of the squat El Padelai, a building occupied for the last 20 years, and the home of approximately 500 people. (Fotos of the eviction: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | english summary)
Now in danger is the worker-controlled factory Zanon, which has been producing and distributing its ceramics products under full worker control for over a year. More than 270 people are employed there, and massive resistance to eviction is expected.
Next on the hit-list is the autonomous social and cultural center Tierra del Sur, that has hosted an impressive array of popular social projects, as well as a residential collective, for the last year and a half. It is slated for eviction within two weeks, and with the social center goes the occupied house next door - home to 40 families and a community kitchen.
The list goes on, but these are only the targets of the next few days or weeks. There are many more social spaces in danger of eviction as the repression intensifies. You can read more in the text, and check for the latest news at Indymedia Argentina.
!No al desalojo! - No to eviction!
Support the social movements in Argentina!
The popular uprising of December 20th, 2001, marked the onset of a globally recognized explosion of collective Argentinean resistance to the everyday exploitation and oppresion of the neoliberal economic order. Individuals and social movements all over the world have taken inspiration from the spirit of resistance and direct democracy of the Argentinean uprising. The popular movement here has opened up a space to dream for many people in the world, a vision of the possibility of ongoing substantive resistance to global capitalism.
The many social movements in Argentina that had existed long before December 20th, 2001, also experienced tremendous growth after the uprising. Many projects developed that have provided important foundations for continuation of everyday struggles, a kind of autonomous infrastructure. There are social and cultural centers, occupied houses and factories, neighborhood assemblies, and the expansion of the projects of well-established groups such as the organizations of unemployed workers (the piqueteros).
During the upcoming presidental elecctions in April, not many people are expected to vote, at least not in the sense that we usually understand 'voting.' Voting in Argentina is mandatory, so the option of registering dissent - or apathy - by non-participation is all but eliminated as an option. Instead, Argentineans that are dissatisfied with the options provided by electoral process show their dissatisfaction by 'spoiling' their ballots. This can include anything from marking the paper at random, to scribbling profanity, cartoons, or slogans, to affixing stickers to them. These spoiled ballots actually won the last election by a plurality. They are also expected to place first in the coming election - it is estimated that as many as 50% of voters will spoil their ballots. In contrast, whoever is elected this April is expected to receive no more than 18% of cast votes.
It is believed that this demonstration of a popular lack of faith in the electoral system itself is one reason why the repression of social movements is getting worse, as the government attempts to somehow maintain the status quo. An addtional factor is that all of the candidates and their prominent supporters - most whom are already serving in regional or city governments - in this pre-election period are feeling the necessity to demonstrate to (busines interests and the middle class) that they can do something - anything, however misguided - about the economic crisis. For example, Carlos Menem, one of the most ardently neo-liberal candidates, as well as the architect of the current crises during his earlier tenure as executive, recently made campaign promises to "clean the streets of marxists and delinquents" and to have "the army in the streets to stop the social chaos." The meaning here is clear: the answer given by the state to any widespread grassroots effort to respond directly and collectively to the economic crisis (that itself was imposed from above by the institutions of globalization) is a resounding, decisive, and violent "No!" And it seems that in this moment, the popular movements are vulnerable , and the repression is great and growing. This open call - by Menem, a prominent candidate for president - for the militarization of public life not only effects social movements, but also the everyday life of the poor and unemployed, who are due to be subject to an ever greater degree of forceful regulation.
The first victim of the last weeks was the occupied building of "el Padelai". It was first squatted over 20 years ago, and at the time of eviction over 500 people were living there - the majority of them under 18 years of age. On February 25th the residents were forcefully evicted by a contingent of over 300 police officers. The requests of residents inside the building to negotiate with the authorities were answered with teargas and rubber bullets. 86 people were arrested, and more than 40 were wounded. Starting with the use of force by the police that morning, street battles continued until midnight that night.
For over a year more than 270 people have been employed in Zanon, an occupied cermaics factory in the town of Neuquen. The workers decided to occupy the factory after the owners abandoned it, fleeing the economic crash. They have been in production under self-management since that time, and not only survived but have increased production, creating 40 new jobs within the organization. Counting all of the people supported by the earnings of the Zanon workers, more than 1500 people owe their living to this experiment in industrial self-management. The threatened to Zanon is disastrous news for this community, and massive resistance is expected to be mounted to any attempts to carry out the eviction.
Tierra del Sur is an autonomous social and cultural center in the bohemian Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Boca. Created about four years ago, for the first several years of its existence it was housed in a rented building. Eventually the founding collective ran out of money, and the decision was made to squat a building rather than abandon the project. For the past year and a half, the new building has housed a residential collective of 20 individuals, as well as hosting an impressive array of independent projects. Demonstrating new models of social and political organization, Tierra del Sur is run completely autonomously, and does not receive financial help from any other organisations or political parties. The list of past and present projects includes: construction and performance of puppet shows for children and adults, other forms of theatre, bike repair, percussion workshops and performance groups, underground publishing, cultural events like parties and concerts, and as well offering free meals to students and locals. The collective members are also active participants in the nieghborhood Asamblea Lezama-Sur, and lend space to the children of the 40 families that currently live in the occupied building next door.
Now both the Tierra del Sur and the occupied residential house next door are scheduled to be evicted within the next two weeks, an unmitigated disaster for the people who live in these spaces, as well as a tragedy for the larger community they share.
There are numerous other social projects in occupied houses that are in danger of being evicted in the next weeks or months, such as:
As the government is already well aware that they have retained very little legitimacy in the eyes of the vast majority of Argentineans, it is increasingly difficult to oppose repressive tactics through social pressure. The political elite, mainy of whom are often spat on or slapped when recognized on the street, realize that they have little to loose, and possibly much to gain, by turning to force to safeguard their power. Many within the movement feel that the only viable strategy for the various groups creating social change is to simulteneously raise the financial and political cost of the evictions (and other forms of repression) as high as possible at home, while at the same time to cultivate international solidarity against the the repressive actions of the Argentinean government - especially in those places where they still have an image to maintain; i.e. where they have something to loose.
There is no question but that the first half of this strategy has been taken to heart by the movements here. There appears to be little other option but to keep organizing collectively, to maintain and expand the struggle against the everyday exploitation and degradation of the capitalist system. The second half strategy, however, requires the cooperation and solidarity of individuals and groups elsewhere, all over the world. An international solidarity movement would attempt to ensure that the Argentinean government is aware that it is not only the IMF and international investors that are carefully watching what happens in Argentina, but also that a global society at the grassroots is paying close attention, and is willing to organize and fight against the repression of democratic social movements in any part of the world. Whether through direct confrontation against the outposts of the Argentinean elite, i.e. embassies, consulates, or events featuring visiting dignitaries, or through mobilizing to influence their own governments and businesses in order to apply indirect pressure on the Argentinean power structure, groups all over the world have the opportunity to help the struggle of autonomous social movements here, even as they struggle for social justice in their own neighborhoods.
Somos lo que hacemos por cambiar lo que somos.
(We are what we do to change what we are.)