Speaker 1: Alz Media.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to it could happen here. I'm Andrew Sage.
Speaker 2: I'm on Andrewism over YouTube, and I'm not on YouTube
Speaker 2: right now. I'm on pic could Happen here, and I'm
Speaker 2: joined by the disembodied voice of the one and only
Speaker 2: Garrison Davis.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, one and only that I know of, unless
Speaker 1: there's another one born around, which would be freaky.
Speaker 2: There might be, There might be. But today I want
Speaker 2: to continue our journey through Latin American anarchisms and their histories. Now,
Speaker 2: compared to all the other countries I've discussed so far,
Speaker 2: such as Peru and Chile and Argentina and Brazil and Cuba,
Speaker 2: this one had a bit less information about anarchism in
Speaker 2: its past. So this will be a sort of a
Speaker 2: smaller Sandwiche anarchist history, perhaps fitting of the country that
Speaker 2: is sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil. Speaking of course, about Paraguay,
Speaker 2: known for its fraud history of warfare, politically volatile landscape,
Speaker 2: series of dictatorships, and indigenously intertwined cultural and social fabric,
Speaker 2: anachism took root in this rather unique setting and downs
Speaker 2: to the work of Anhil Capelletti and a few other
Speaker 2: scattered sources, I've been able to piece together the history
Speaker 2: of anarchism in Paraguay without further ado nos comencemos. For
Speaker 2: much of its early history, Paraguay's identity was distinct within
Speaker 2: South America, from its time as a Guarani settlement to
Speaker 2: its formation as a Spanish colony in the sixteenth century.
Speaker 2: Spanish Jesuit missionaries wielded significant influence, and for over a century,
Speaker 2: Paraguay was a self sustained colony with a rigidly hierarchical
Speaker 2: system based on the Spanish cast system. Paraguay's economy primarily
Speaker 2: revolved around agriculture and cattlehooded, unlike the mining economies and
Speaker 2: other Spanish territories. The Guarani people had a significant cultural
Speaker 2: impact throughout Paraguay's history, and the language and traditions rained
Speaker 2: central even as Paraguay evolved through the centuries. Even today,
Speaker 2: most of the population speaks some variety of Guarani alongside Spanish.
Speaker 2: Fast forward to the early nineteenth century, as South American
Speaker 2: nations began to clearing independence from Spain, Paraguay took a
Speaker 2: unique approach. Rather than aligning with the neighboring revolutionary movements. Paraguay,
Speaker 2: under the leadership of Jose Gasparrodriguez deve Definancia, declared independence
Speaker 2: in eighteen eleven and adopted an isolationist authoritarian path. Francia
Speaker 2: ruled as the country's supreme dictator for nearly three decades,
Speaker 2: envision a self sufficient, cometic society. He strictly controlled foreign influences,
Speaker 2: banned European migration, and restricted trade. By the mid nineteenth century,
Speaker 2: Paraguay had built up a significancy infrastructure under Francia's successor,
Speaker 2: Carlos Antonio Lopez. However, this era of economic development was
Speaker 2: short lived, as Paraguay entered the catastrophic War of the
Speaker 2: Triple Alliance between eighteen sixty four and eighteen seventy against Brazil, Argentina,
Speaker 2: and Uruguay over territorial disputes. This conflict proved disastrous for
Speaker 2: Paraguay as they suffered staggering losses. Nearly seventy percent of
Speaker 2: its population died, its economy was shattered, and its territory
Speaker 2: was significantly reduced. And yes, you heard me right, nearly
Speaker 2: seventy percent of its population perished, including most of its
Speaker 2: male population. In the wars aftermath, Paraguay was plunged into
Speaker 2: political chaos, economic ruin, and a period of foreign interventions.
Speaker 2: Due to the economic devastation of the war, the country
Speaker 2: became indebted to British creditors. With that leverage, Briturn pushed
Speaker 2: for the development of a free market economy and privatization,
Speaker 2: which brought Paraguay into closer contact with the global economy
Speaker 2: and eventually led to a more pronounced class de vatuside,
Speaker 2: an establishment of an exploitive agricultural export system. Land that
Speaker 2: had once been communitly managed was swiftly privatized, driving indigenous
Speaker 2: communities and small farmers off their lands and into the
Speaker 2: workforce of larger estates. On those estates, workers would find
Speaker 2: themselves in debt bondage tied to the estates, as small
Speaker 2: debts at workers over to landowners would spiral into insurmountable
Speaker 2: debts that would become nearly impossible to repay. Laborers, called pionies,
Speaker 2: were typically paid in vultures or script that could only
Speaker 2: be redeemed at the estate's store, where prices were exorbitantly inflated.
Speaker 2: Any attempt to leave or challenge the conditions was met
Speaker 2: with violent repercussions from estate managers, creating a cycle of
Speaker 2: economic entrapment. There was essentially slavery by another name. Paraguay
Speaker 2: became a country of ever more wealthy and powerful landowners,
Speaker 2: with a struggle in rural working class. As twentieth century approached,
Speaker 2: the labour struggles and social divisions the Paraguay and society
Speaker 2: were clearing. Cron inequality, Explosive working conditions, and the dislocation
Speaker 2: of adious communities created foot ground for radical ideas among
Speaker 2: rural campusinos and urban workers. European immigrants flee in political
Speaker 2: oppression brought with them some rather radical ideas that began
Speaker 2: to resonate with partaground workers who were desperate for a
Speaker 2: way out of their circumstances. For people who had survived
Speaker 2: centuries of oppression and authoritarian rule, anarchism had a unique appeal.
Speaker 2: By the eighteen eighties, workers in Paragua had become organized
Speaker 2: in mutual aid societies, and one such society of typographers
Speaker 2: would organize themselves into a union, the first in the
Speaker 2: country's history. By eighteen eighty six. That same year, so
Speaker 2: the rise of construction workers, carpenters, tailors, postal workers, and
Speaker 2: bakers unions. Those bakers would also conduct the country's first
Speaker 2: ever strike action in October of eighteen eighty six. The
Speaker 2: first distinctly anarchist publication I could find in Paraguay was
Speaker 2: organized by a group called those eCos del Chaco, who
Speaker 2: published a libertarian manifesto in eighteen ninety two. They call
Speaker 2: themselves anarchist communists and declare their intent to abolish private property,
Speaker 2: the clergy, the state, and the armed forces. Quote. We
Speaker 2: seek the complete emancipation of the proletariat as we fight
Speaker 2: abolished the unjust exportation of man by man. We dedicate
Speaker 2: all of our moral and physical strength to overturn all
Speaker 2: attorneys established genuine liberty, equality, and fraternity in the human family.
Speaker 2: We seased to transform private property into a common good,
Speaker 2: which needs to do so because individual property is the
Speaker 2: basic cause of all the evils that afflictors. It's on
Speaker 2: that basis that the dregs of humanity, government, clerics, lawyers, militaries,
Speaker 2: entrepreneurs maintain themselves in power, live as parasites and to
Speaker 2: continued enjoyment of their funder of finances large armies with
Speaker 2: the products of our labor end quote. Even prior to
Speaker 2: that manifesto, anarchists were making moves in the graphic railway
Speaker 2: and bakers unions as early as eighteen eighty nine, fighting
Speaker 2: for and winning the eight hour weekday by nineteen oh one.
Speaker 2: Strike actions in this period were focused on that goal,
Speaker 2: alongside wage increases and with the improvements to working conditions.
Speaker 2: The anarchists also tried to establish a national Trade union center,
Speaker 2: but unfortunately did not succeed. In eighteen ninety two, thanks
Speaker 2: in part to the growing Spanish and Argentine immigrant populations,
Speaker 2: there was a wave of the Berterian Union formation throughout Paraguay.
Speaker 2: The anarchist was quite successful among the peasantry as they
Speaker 2: helped organized armed resistance societies to aid in their struggles
Speaker 2: against the landowners. Anarchists also managed to establish Rafaa Barrett
Speaker 2: Cultural Center in the early nineties, hosting an impressive collection
Speaker 2: of books by fellow Paraguayan and foreign writers, and them
Speaker 2: bolding in the formation even more trade unions. Rafhaya Barrett,
Speaker 2: by the way, is one of the most significant figures
Speaker 2: in Paraguay and anarchist history, according to every account I've read.
Speaker 2: Born in Toda Vega, Spain in eighteen seventy six, Barrett's
Speaker 2: early life was typical of a welds do intellectual he
Speaker 2: studied languages, pan and eventually engineering. By his late twenties,
Speaker 2: he was drawn to Latin America party by adventure and
Speaker 2: party to make a difference, Driven by a gruing commitment
Speaker 2: to justice and solidarity. He arrived in Budas Airis in
Speaker 2: nineteen oh three, where he found work as a journalist,
Speaker 2: soon making ways with an article that condemned the stock
Speaker 2: inequality he observed in Argentina's capital. This critique cost him
Speaker 2: his job, yet had deepened his dedication to speak for
Speaker 2: those who were voiceless. But as experiences of CEA and
Speaker 2: European amercront workers toiling on the brutal conditions fueled his
Speaker 2: indignation against unchecked wealth and poverty's vicious whold on the
Speaker 2: working class. In nineteen oh four, but that made his
Speaker 2: way to Paraguay. He essentially welcomed as a correspondent for
Speaker 2: LTMBO and even held government positions, including as a director
Speaker 2: of the Department of Engineers and the Railroad Agency, but
Speaker 2: his comitments, exposed in the country's political and social rat
Speaker 2: soon puts him at odds with Paraguay's new liberal government.
Speaker 2: He saw that simply swapping our conservative leaders for liberals
Speaker 2: did little to improve conditions for ordinary Paraguayans, as demonstrated
Speaker 2: by the continuous labour struggles that arose and response to
Speaker 2: the industrialization undertaken by the liberal government. Workers were fighting
Speaker 2: to abolished child label, improve their conditions, increased wages and
Speaker 2: so on. He couldn't stand by in silence, so he
Speaker 2: resigned from government service, now fully committed to social justice,
Speaker 2: even as his grown radicalism began to alienate the political elite.
Speaker 2: Brett's personal experiences sharpened his perspective, transformed him from a
Speaker 2: sympathetic observer to a dedicated anarchist. His writings in Criminal
Speaker 2: became essential reading for workers and peasants alike, urging them
Speaker 2: to see beyond superficial reforms and to challenge the entire
Speaker 2: structure of the pressure. But that condemned the government's abuses
Speaker 2: and spoke out against exploitive systems that kept the majority
Speaker 2: of Paraguayan's martialized. He was a fiery advocate for social justice,
Speaker 2: and one write in particular, Acrosto Robastos, called him the
Speaker 2: discoverer of Paraguayan's social reality. Because Wrette didn't just observe
Speaker 2: these injustices. He threw himself into exposing and condemned them
Speaker 2: with fufor His impact was so significant that even when
Speaker 2: he was forced to flee Paraguay in nineteen oh eight
Speaker 2: under Goffun pressure, his ideas endured. His health was deteriorating
Speaker 2: from tibergulosis, where he continued to write, receiving support from
Speaker 2: intellectual comrades in Uruguay and Brazil his final years, which
Speaker 2: is a continuation if his relentless dedication. Even as his
Speaker 2: health continued to decline. In nineteen ten, he went to
Speaker 2: Paris to seek treatment, but his health failed and he
Speaker 2: passed away in December of that year. But just before
Speaker 2: Barret's exile and passing in nineteen oh six, the anarchists
Speaker 2: would form their first and for some time only workers
Speaker 2: federation in the country by joining together the illustrators, carpenters
Speaker 2: and drivers uniors. Rafaelbert actually became something of a thought
Speaker 2: leader for this group, and this was the Federacion Opreira
Speaker 2: Astricanal Paraguay or four, partially inspired by the Federacion Obreira
Speaker 2: Reginal Argentina or FORA, where they borrowed many of their
Speaker 2: programmatic ideas. If you recall the episodes I did on Argentina.
Speaker 2: You know that the reasoning for the name was ideological.
Speaker 2: By adding the adjective regional, it made plain that the
Speaker 2: country in question, whether Paraguay or Argentina, was not being
Speaker 2: considered a state or political unit, but a region of
Speaker 2: the world in which workers struggled for their liberation. Soon
Speaker 2: after its founding, on the first of May nineteen oh six,
Speaker 2: the Forpe held the country's first international workers data demonstration,
Speaker 2: despite police attempts to shut it down. Four also launched
Speaker 2: their official publication, El Espertade in the same year, and
Speaker 2: the paper carried articles while the anarchist movements in Europe
Speaker 2: and Latin America printed works by authors such as Peter
Speaker 2: Kopotkin and Selmronzo. Published reports of the Forbes activities, named
Speaker 2: and shamed and known strike breakers, and encouraged its members
Speaker 2: to pay their union dues promptly. Subsequent years would introduce
Speaker 2: other libertarian newspapers, such as later Billion, La Tribuna and
Speaker 2: Acierl Futruro. After the nineteen oh eight coup by Emiliano
Speaker 2: Gonsalves Naverro Dey stabilized the economy and restricted Assuncion's labor movement.
Speaker 2: Anarchism still found strength among rural and tanan industry workers.
Speaker 2: Despite increasing hostility from figures like Presidents Kndre and Jarre.
Speaker 2: Labor strikes continued, which were met by fierce oppression, arrests,
Speaker 2: and forced deportations. With the outbreak of the Paraguay and
Speaker 2: Civil War from nineteen eleven to nineteen twelve, anarchists and
Speaker 2: other labor organizations faced a government crackdown. Groups like the
Speaker 2: FORP became inactive temporarily at least, and by nineteen thirteen,
Speaker 2: in the wake of the war, a schism was emergent
Speaker 2: as some unions moved toward reformist ideologies, influencing part of
Speaker 2: the populist Colorado Party. Meanwhile, FORPE reaffirmed to anarchostynicolus routes,
Speaker 2: forming a federal Council that included both workers and intellectuals,
Speaker 2: a meant to reconne union activities. Amidst a wave of
Speaker 2: reorganization post World War One, a new surgeon demand for
Speaker 2: Paraguay and exports revived the labor activism. In nineteen sixteen,
Speaker 2: the Corps or Centro Oberrero Regional Little Paraguay to call
Speaker 2: the role of championing anarchos, syndicalism, and labor rights. This
Speaker 2: one gained support from a wide network, launching influential publications
Speaker 2: like El Combat and Renovasion. Other groups like COMDE and
Speaker 2: the Revolutionary Nationalist Alliance, which sought a federalist union. Other
Speaker 2: peoples of Latin America also took part in the resurgions
Speaker 2: of anarchist ideas. In nineteen twenty two, the Paraguayan anarchists
Speaker 2: were able to finally establish links with the International Workers Association.
Speaker 2: By the nineteen thirties, Syriaco Puarte emerged as a prominent
Speaker 2: voice advocating for workers rise despite you know everything. He
Speaker 2: was a protege of fellow anarchists and printmaker Felix Cantalisio Aracuyu,
Speaker 2: a Paraguayan mestizo of mixed indigenous and black ancestry. At
Speaker 2: one point, Aracuyu and his comrades had helped organize a
Speaker 2: tram workers strike in Asuncion, which compelled the government to
Speaker 2: round them up and dump them in the middle of
Speaker 2: the jungle in Matu Grusso, hoping that they would die,
Speaker 2: and yet Aracuyu and his friends made their way through
Speaker 2: over one thousand three hundred kilometers of mountain jungle, surviving
Speaker 2: on roots, fruits, and game to make their way back
Speaker 2: to their hometown of Incarnacion and speaking of Incarnacion both
Speaker 2: to our Day and Aracuyu took part in the little
Speaker 2: known attempt at an anarchist uprising in Paraguay, which was
Speaker 2: actually centered in Incarnacion. On the twentieth of February nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty one, a group of one hundred and fifty workers
Speaker 2: and students organizing a couple of popular assemblies, took control
Speaker 2: of the city of Incarnacion with the goal of establishing
Speaker 2: a libertarian commune, part of a plan to spark a
Speaker 2: wider anarchist Syniclius revolution in Paraguay. This was the culmination
Speaker 2: of a series of strikes and widespread leaf Latin by
Speaker 2: anarchists and students in support of revolution. It wasn't meant
Speaker 2: to be centered in the Karnacion, as there was a
Speaker 2: planned construction worker at Donald Striking and Sudanzion, and similar
Speaker 2: action in Villary and Concepcion, but key organizers in those
Speaker 2: struggles in those cities were deported in the days leading
Speaker 2: up to the action, so those planned actions ended up failing.
Speaker 2: After sixteen hours when their efforts to have reinforced by
Speaker 2: workers in the rest of the nation. The interactionists of
Speaker 2: Encarnacion took over two steamboats and made their way along
Speaker 2: the river to Brazil, but not before they attacked the
Speaker 2: Yuromatic companies and burned the records related to indentured laborers
Speaker 2: in two ports. Their solidarity never died, even after they
Speaker 2: went through everything they went through, they didn't lose their
Speaker 2: sight and what really mattered. Sadly, the seventeen students and
Speaker 2: workers who remained in Incarnacion were arrested. Duarte found himself
Speaker 2: jailed and interned in Marcurita, Ireland after Liberal Party president
Speaker 2: Jose P. Kogiari outlawed trade unions. Other revolutionaries were dropped
Speaker 2: off from the jungle to die at a random point
Speaker 2: along the Parana River. Seven of the captured seventeen met
Speaker 2: this fate, and the other ten spent a few months
Speaker 2: in prison before being deported to Argentina. Movement then faced
Speaker 2: distinct challenges during the Chaco War from nineteen thirty two
Speaker 2: to nineteen thirty five between Paraguay and Bolivia, which halted
Speaker 2: much of the anarchist activism. May anarchists joined the war
Speaker 2: effort reluctantly, including Duarte, who performed duties in the Rear
Speaker 2: Guard while working as a type setter for various pressors,
Speaker 2: including anarchist pressors the Paraguay and Victory. Following the war,
Speaker 2: the return to domestic concerns saw a resurgence of anarchists
Speaker 2: and labor activities. The government's crackdown of lefster'c ideologies in
Speaker 2: the late nineteen thirties nineteen forties under present Wrinigo's rule
Speaker 2: led to severe repression of anarchists and cynicalist groups do what.
Speaker 2: He spent some time as a worker representative at the
Speaker 2: National Labor Department or DNT, who was under considerable fire
Speaker 2: from the communists were taken hold of the treading movement
Speaker 2: after anarchism waned in popularity. He finally resigned from his
Speaker 2: post in nineteen forty one after a worker's coordinating committee
Speaker 2: of seamen, tram workers, bakers, print workers and other trades
Speaker 2: issued a protest note to President Morinigo threatening to withdraw
Speaker 2: from the Workers Delegate for the infringements of their rights
Speaker 2: assembly to unionize and to strike. Of course, their protest
Speaker 2: note was completely ignored. The president's authoritarian tenure pushed several
Speaker 2: anarchists and socialist organizers into exile. Duarte himself ended up
Speaker 2: in exile in Argentina by nineteen forty two, but eventually
Speaker 2: was able to return and reclaim his appointment as a
Speaker 2: worker representative. Then, not long after, he became a victim
Speaker 2: of a police crackdown during the nineteen forty four general
Speaker 2: strike after labor movement was hijacked by the Republican Workers Organization.
Speaker 2: After nineteen forty seven, Duarte dropped out of trade union
Speaker 2: activity entirely and refocused to publishing articles and trade union
Speaker 2: publications abroad and urgent research into Paraguay and trade union history.
Speaker 2: Yet faced d arrests and took part in strikes anyway,
Speaker 2: advocating for workist rights across various industries. He continued his
Speaker 2: activism against fascism and authoritarianism, operating from Argentina at times,
Speaker 2: while still supporting strikes at anarchist literature in Paraguay. The
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty four ascension to power of General Alfredo Streisner
Speaker 2: marked a significant period of intensified authoritarianism. Streuisner's regime viariently
Speaker 2: suppressed opposition, including anarchists, for over three decades. Even in
Speaker 2: his seventy years. During the nineteen seventy years, Duarte was
Speaker 2: harassed by Straussner's secret police. Many other anarchists were imprisoned, exiled,
Speaker 2: or disappeared by Streuisner, who imposed tight control of unions
Speaker 2: and labor organizers. The nineteen fifty four to nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: nine dictatorship of Streisner stifled anarchist activities severely and forced
Speaker 2: them underground, where they would have to preserve anarchist literature
Speaker 2: and ideas through secret print publications and solidarity movements. The
Speaker 2: result of this dictatorship was that anarchism in paraguay I
Speaker 2: experienced resurgence much later than other Latin American nations, with
Speaker 2: the spark rekindled only in the early two thousands. This
Speaker 2: rebooth of anarchist sentiment emerged largely within the punk count
Speaker 2: culture and youth led social movements, often interconnected with struggles
Speaker 2: for indigenous rights, economic justice, and environmental causes. The establishment
Speaker 2: of spaces like Laterraza and Anarchist Squad provided platforms for
Speaker 2: activists and community engagement, while publications such as Autonomia Zene
Speaker 2: and Grito Fanzine disseminated anarchist ideals despite Paraguay's history of
Speaker 2: anarchist repression. These newer movements, however small, signify some small
Speaker 2: hope for a renewed interest in the materian ideas within Paraguay,
Speaker 2: one that can be seen even more violently in other
Speaker 2: parts of Latin America. Paraguay and anarchists have shown us
Speaker 2: the drive for freedom and equality is a daily equipment
Speaker 2: to defy attorney and resist exploitation. Despy facing decades of
Speaker 2: silence and and the destroys stand dictatorship, anarchism did not disappate.
Speaker 2: The seeds are resistance late dormant, but they are ready
Speaker 2: to bloom again as new generations can take up the struggle.
Speaker 2: As we conclude, let's remember the words of Rafael Barre,
Speaker 2: who fought tirelesslie for the people he came to call
Speaker 2: his own justice, justice above all things, justice, even if
Speaker 2: it costs blood, all power to older people. Please, it
Speaker 2: could happen.
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