A-Infos (en) Greece, APO, Land & Freedom:[Chile]Road Map - Anarchist Proposals in the debate for the Present and the Future (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

[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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