WEBVTT - Anarchism in Argentina Part 2 ft. Andrew 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:06.960 The media. Hello, and welcome back to it. 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:11.799 He am Andrew Sage Farm you on YouTube at Andrew's 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:14.200 I'm here once again. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:20.040 With oh beer hah. That was by c Yeah, indeed, yeah, 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:21.240 she's She's here. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.079 And today we'll continue in the Latin American Anarchism series 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:29.920 with our exploration of anarchism in Argentina. That's the scholarship 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.200 of Chuck Moss, Jeffrey de la Focade, and hil Capelletti 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:40.440 and Jose Antonio Guterrez and Ian McKay. When we us 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.440 left of all FAIUS laws and government actions, we're pressed 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.040 hard on the anarchist cause in the country. Which when 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.800 the anarchists executed, jailed or exiled, what become of the 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:56.000 anarchist movement? Where things get better or worse? Sad to say, 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:00.400 I think you know the answer. Nineteen ninety marked the 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:05.200 year of La Simana Tragica or the Tragic Week, when 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.000 several metal workers were killed by strike breakers. This led 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.720 to a general strike that shut down the entire country 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.399 and pushed Buenos Aires into a state of chaos for 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:19.080 several days. The anarchist paper A protester noted the complete 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:24.560 shutdown and praised worker's solidarity. But despite the revolutionary atmosphere, 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.520 the movement lacked a clear objective, which weakened its long 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.160 term impact. They had the power, but didn't do too 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.600 much with it. Eventually, the police and Argentina's first fascist organization, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.679 Lega Patriotica, were able to subdue the rebellion. The fascists, 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.000 by the way, we were backed by military figures like 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:48.200 Rare Admirals Burmech Garcia and O'Connor. They attacked and killed 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.480 with impunity, and in the end the fifty five thousand 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.640 were detained, with anarchist sent to Martin, Garcia, Ireland, and 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.720 as many as seven hundred were killed and four thousand 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.840 were injured. The anarchist movement persisted, as they always do. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.520 The protester continued publishing, alongside the launch of new papers 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:11.239 like Mandera Roja and Tribuna Proletaria. Even after the government 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.800 banned anarchist press in March nineteen nineteen, the movement continued 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:19.400 to organize, culminating an extraordinary Congress of two hundred unions 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:23.240 in September nineteen twenty. Throughout the nineteen twenties, four or 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.240 five remained a powerful force in Argentina's lable movement, pushing 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.360 for causes like the six hour weekday and resistant rise 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.960 in nationalists and military sentiments, but throughout came more oppression. 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.160 In nineteen twenty one, Argentinian workers and that for A 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.960 style in the Chaco region were brutally killed for demanding 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:45.680 better wages and conditions. The anarchist four her proposed solidarity actions, 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.160 but the more reformist FORA the Ninth Congress, distanced itself, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.920 leaving the movement unsupported. This indifference, unfortunately also extended to 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.200 other violent incidents, such as the murder of workers were 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.840 the fascist legal Patriotica in Guaalles guaid and we're still 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.320 with the largely unreported massacres of striking rural workers in 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:09.480 Patagonia by the army, sending fifteen hundred to death by 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.360 firing squad, an event ignored by most media except for 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.440 anarchist outlets like that Protester. In this case, at least 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.760 the anarchists got their get back somewhat later, when German 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:25.640 anarchists could Wilkins assassinated Hector Valera, the military leader responsible 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.200 for the killers. That whole story is so wild because 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:35.080 the German assassin was also a pacifist, but it's just 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:36.839 like fuck it with ball Yeah. 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.120 I mean sometimes they had to do what you had 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:38.360 to do. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.760 Yeah, And I mean the government got it to get 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.119 back as well, because Wilkins was later murdered in retaliation 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:49.880 for his murder of Hector Valera. But at least that 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.680 led to general strike across Argentina. 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.880 It truly is a wild story. 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.880 Anarchists in Argentina further agitated in opposition to the trial 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:05.080 and execution of Italian American anarchists Sacco and Fanchetti in 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.040 the United States in nineteen twenty seven. This was a 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.480 notorious case, by the way, but we'll pull that string 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.560 another time. There was a certain anarchist who took the 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:19.560 protest in a different direction, though known to be prolific 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.680 in his acts of violence. Italian anarchists Severino the Giovanni, 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.400 carried out bombin's against the American embassy to protest the trial, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.960 bombings against the Italian consulate to protest Italian fascism, and 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:36.680 robberies throughout the country. The Giovanni's actions sparked debate among 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:41.479 anarchists about the issue of quote unquote anarcho banditry. Some 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.880 papers like Landtorchia defended the Giovanni, others like La. 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.960 Protester, attacked him. 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:51.000 The Giuvanni's fight came to an end in nineteen thirty one, 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.479 when he was arrested and executed for carrying out the 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.800 murder of one of his fascest fellow anarchist critics, a 0:04:56.880 --> 0:05:01.360 certain La Protester editor named Emilio Lopez a Ango. As 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.880 it could probably imagine, they weren't any general strikes to 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:11.880 protest the Giovanni's execution. General Jose Felix Uriburu led a 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.720 coup in nineteen thirty that marked the rise of fascism 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:21.160 in Argentina and the continuation of systematic persecution against workers 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:26.400 and anarchists. Many were imprisoned, deported, or killed, including prominent 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:31.040 figures like Juan Antonio Moran and Joaquin Penina. Anarchist groups 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.960 and unions were oppressed under Uriburu's martial law, whither more 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:40.279 moderate Confederacio and General del Trabajo or SGT, dominated by reformers. 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.760 Socialists survived and became the main representative of workers in 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:49.760 the country. Thanks to Uriburu's corporative stance. Martial law was 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.279 peeled back slightly by nineteen thirty two. With such heavy 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.120 blows the movement, Anachus had to pull back to the 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.599 more countercultural efforts to define their movement. In the eighteen 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:05.039 eighty for Our resumed publishing activities, with That Protester returning 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.920 as a daily, but government pressure, including action against his 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.680 editors and restrictions and postal services, made it difficult to 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:17.200 maintain this daily schedule. Eventually, La Protester transitioned to a weekly, 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:22.880 then bi weekly, and family monthly publication. Despite these challenges, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.039 a group of anarchist militants and via devotoprism, conceived the 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.120 idea of a national Anarchist Congress. This congress first met 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.120 in September nineteen thirty two in the Rosario, with that 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.480 it gets from across the country and one key outcome 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.240 of this congress was the creation of the Committee Rijonal 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:46.760 de re Laciones Anarquistas or the CRORA. This later foundation 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:51.120 for became the Argentine Anaco Communist Federation or FACER in 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:55.200 nineteen thirty five, although the organization never really gained a 0:06:55.320 --> 0:07:00.480 mass following. In nineteen thirty five, anarchists also establish a 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.320 taker Popular Jose in Hiniros a library and social center. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.000 While initially founded the support of socialists, the anarchist took 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:13.239 full control after the socialists left. Around this time, anarchist 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:17.960 group's campaign fiercely to free Voto Maini and the Diago comrades, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.040 who had been tortured and imprisoned for over a decade. 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.800 The newspaper just this year was created solely to advocate 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.120 for their release, who was finally granted in nineteen forty two. 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.440 Throughout this period, the anarchist press remained active, the number 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:37.360 of publications diminished, Several publishing houses like not Review, Iman Tupac, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:42.800 and Reconstrier kept anarchist literature alive, publishing key works and essays. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.840 In nineteen thirty three, Accion Libertaria emerged and eventually became 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:50.840 the voice of FACER, later owners the Federacion Libertaria Argentina 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.240 or FLA until nineteen seventy one. But the most significant 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.480 international event for Argentine anarchists during the nineteen thirties was 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.480 the Spanish Civil War. The rise of fascism among the resistance, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.120 led by the CNT and Federacion and Anarchista Iberica or FAI, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.560 inspired Argentine anarchists to provide solidarity and support. Many traveled 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.640 to Spain to join the fight, with Jose Grenfeld becoming 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.440 the secretary of the FAI. Campaigns to support anti fascists 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.280 in the Spanish Civil War were also launched, with FACA 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.200 publishing books and pamphlets in the struggle. FACCA launched Saladari 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.960 Dad Opera in nineteen forty one, edited by Juan Corral 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.040 and Loreano Rieira, though it was later shut down by 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:37.240 the first Justicialista government under Peron. FURA also began publishing 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:41.000 a series of booklets, including Toros coundre la Guera in 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.800 nineteen thirty five and Lucca Constructiva pola lebordad i justicia 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:50.120 in nineteen forty four. One notable libertarian cultural journal, Ombre 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.280 de America, ran from January nineteen forty until the end 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:58.360 of nineteen forty five, covering nearly the entire duration of 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:02.000 the Second World War. FACA was clear about its position 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.680 on the global conflicts of the time. In nineteen forty 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.720 two general Plennary, the group denounced both Western democracies, which 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.520 they saw as vlain capitalist exploitation, and the Soviet Union, 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.920 which they deemed bureaucratic capitalism. However, they saw the greatest 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:21.079 threat in national socialism the Nazis and the rise of 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.679 the Third Reich, one in the total Tyranism was the 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.959 worst danger of their era. Faker's statement of solidarity with 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.520 the oppressed under the Nazi barbarity also recognized the threat 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.400 posed by Soviet expansionism and the force promises of post 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:41.760 war democracies. Domestically, Faca and fa faced a new challenge 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.959 with the rise of Juan Domingo Pern. His populist approach, 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:51.800 while beneficial somewhat to workers, was paradoxical for anarchists. Prone's 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.640 government promoted a state centered, jingoistic project that co opted 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:01.760 labor movements through control networks, undermining annuine proletarian and democracy. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:06.439 Anarchists rejected Peranism Seniors as a threat to the revolutionary 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:11.720 ethos of Wuker's Hilarity. Despite this, fora retained some influence, 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:16.040 especially among agricultural workers, who were caught between the identities 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:20.640 of peasants and workers. In June nineteen forty six, anarchists 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:25.400 launched a new newspaper, Reconstruire, with Luista Nusi as editor. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.760 The first issue featured Jacobo Prince's critique of Peranism in 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:35.319 an article titled El totali Tarismo falsea il Principio de 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.840 Justicia social, calling out the regime's distortion of social justice. 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:45.040 By the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties, Fora's 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.720 influence had waned, and anacocynicalism was reduced to a smaller 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.839 rule in Argentina's labor movement. However, the societ Dad there 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:57.560 Resistencia del Pers del Puerto, aligned with FORA, demonstrated their 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.320 commitment to anarchosynicalism in nineteen fifty two by rejecting a 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:06.079 compulsory wage tax to fund a monument to Eva peron 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:07.120 Jesus Christ. 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:09.640 Yeah. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.679 This act of defiance led to the imprisonment of several 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:14.280 militants for six months. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:16.720 Imagine you decide you want. 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:22.480 To reject extra taxes because the dictator's wife demands a 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:27.440 monument like that's the e throw in jail because you 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:28.960 decide you don't want to pay that tax. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:31.880 God, this terrible stuff. 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:37.120 While Peeran's regime weakened free unism, he did so by 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.000 means of corruption rather than violence, contrasting with the methods 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:42.040 of his predecessor. 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:42.720 Uriburu. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.480 Faca continued its work well then several congresses, including the 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.839 fourth in nineteen fifty one and the fifth of nineteen 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:54.200 fifty five, just before Peroans overthrew In nineteen fifty five, 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:59.280 FACA rebranded as the Federacion Libertaria Argentina with the FLA, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.160 and the FLA held its sixth congress in nineteen sixty one, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.120 and its journal records career published regularly from nineteen fifty 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.880 nine until nineteen seventy six, coincided with the onset of 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:23.839 Argentina's most brutal ditatorship. But before we fast forward in 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.720 nineteen seventy six, we need to explore it took place 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.160 in the sixties. The sixties are own as the New 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.719 Left era in many parts of the world thanks to 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.640 the rise of student radicalism. The new Left is marked 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.360 by a notable libertarian and democratic impulse, an emphasis on 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.400 cultural as well as political transformation, an extension traditional lefts 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.720 focus in class struggle to achnowledge multiple forms and basis 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.320 of oppression, including race and gender, an emphasis and anti 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.480 imperialism and anti colonalism, and a rejection of bureaucracy and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.240 traditional forms of political organization in favor of direct action 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.959 and participatory democracy. Many youth were searching for a third 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:08.959 way outside of Soviet and Western models, so during the 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.800 nineteen sixties and seventies, a new generation of Argentine youth 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.520 turned to anarchism, so they struggled to collaborate with the 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:20.680 older anarchist movements. Cultural and political differences were the heart 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.240 of this divide, with younger militantsiligning themselves more to global 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.959 anti impurelest movements of the time than with the anarchist 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:31.720 legacy already within Argentina. In some ways, this generational riff 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.839 left a scar in the anarchist struggle. In other ways 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.960 helped younger anarchists to develop a clearer ideological stance compared 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.160 to their counterparts in countries where such internal conflicts were 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.880 less prevalent. One of the most significant anarchist groups to 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:50.960 emerge during this period was Resistancia Libertaria. Operating colandestantly and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:55.800 with a cellular structure, RL aimed to ignite mass resistance 0:13:56.200 --> 0:14:00.000 and ultimately spark a prolonged popular war. The group was 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.000 active in neighborhoods, labor movements, and student circles, and it 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.920 had a small armed wing for defense and expropriation. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:07.679 Purposes. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:12.760 Although it was formerly a national organization, ril's main operations 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:17.319 were in La Plata, Cordoba and Punas airis A. Argentina 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.360 grew increasingly polarized in the mid nineteen seventies. Rile activists 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.680 became targets. Many were disappeared even before the military coup 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.680 of nineteen seventy six. But then it hit Henry Kissinger 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.360 at the United States Machinations or Fruit. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.360 Yeah yeah, yeah, we go in there. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:43.000 A military coup overthrew President Isabel Peron, the third wife 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.400 of the original Perone, and installed a junta led by 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:51.840 Lieutenant General jorgueer Rafael Videla, Admiral Emilio Eduardo Masserra, and 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.040 Brigadier General Orlando Ramon Augusti. This coup was part of 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:00.600 Operation Condo, a coordinated effort between Latin American dict leatorships 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:03.400 back with the United States under its Cold War National 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:08.240 security doctrine. The aim was allegedly to maintain stability in 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.400 the region that America considers its backyard, and US officials, 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.920 including Kissinger, were short to meet with Argentine military leaders 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.120 after the coup, encouraged them to wipe out the opposition 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.800 quickly and brutally before any winy human rights concerned started 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.080 to be raised internationally. The junta remained in power until 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.880 December nineteen eighty three, during which time some thirty thousand 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:36.200 people were disappeared or executed. URL militants were particularly targeted 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:40.080 by the regime. One particularly horrible story I have to share. 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:45.520 The military men responsible for the killings often spared pregnant women, 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.360 kept them in custody until they gave birth, then killed 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:53.160 the mothers and gave their influence to childless military families. 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:54.280 Is christ. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.720 That's the kind of evil with dealing work. Yeah, And 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.800 despite the dangers, URL continued to activities until nineteen seventy eight, 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.200 when a series of coordinated police raids dismantled much of 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:09.120 the group. Around eighty percent of URAL members were detained 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.640 in concentration camps where they were tortured and most were 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:17.040 eventually executed. And that is how you kill a social movement. 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.680 In the final years of the tatorship and follow on 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.280 their re establishment of civil government in nineteen eighty three, 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.600 new and relatively anti authoritarian social movements emerged Argentina, among 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.640 the most prominent with the Madres Tela Plaza de Mayo 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.160 a group of mothers advocating for justice for those who 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.240 had been disappeared under the military regime. Alongside them, they 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.440 are psychologists, feminists, and other grassroots activists began to make 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.120 their voices heard. This shift marked a significant departure from 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:50.600 traditional state centric leftist politics, with a growing inclination towards 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.920 more decentralized approaches. While this climate sparked renewed interest in anarchism, 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.480 it didn't lead to a substantial increase in the membership 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:03.040 of older anarchist organizations. Instead, it highlighted the transformation and 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.240 how social movements approached to activism and sought to address 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.360 issues of justice and accountability. And then we come into 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.359 the twenty first century. In the early two thousands, Argentina, 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.119 which was once a poster child for neoliberalism thanks to 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.840 the actions of the didataship, found itself in the throes 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:26.280 of a devastating economic crisis. This s meltdown didn't just 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:30.080 affect the economy, ignited a wave of social movements that 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:35.320 were far more confrontational, radical, and anarchistic than before, which 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.080 was the rise of militant neighborhood assemblies, factory takeovers, and 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.359 intense street protests. What was happened in Argentina was a 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:46.040 direct result of more than two decades of so called 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:51.080 free market reforms and structural adjustment programs. These policies had 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.800 left the economy in ruins, with poverty and unemployment levels soaring. 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.239 By the time the crisis hit, poverty had shot up 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.400 from thirty one percent to fifty three percent, and unemployment 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.439 had jumped to twenty one point four percent, nearly a 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:18.640 quarter of the country's population. Out of this chaos came 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.080 the Pictaros, a new movement of unemployed workers who turned 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.280 their anger into direct action. They didn't just march in protest. 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:32.000 They blocked roads, demanded work and dignity. But what said 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:34.920 the Pictero is apart from traditional unions was they commit 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:39.200 months to horizontal organizing and direct action. They knew that 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.360 those unions didn't represent them, and they wanted something more 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.800 than just jobs. They wanted dignity, and they wanted us 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.320 say in how society was run. One of the voices 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.159 from this movement, a woman from the Solano neighborhood in 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.040 Buenos Aires, captured the spirit when she said, I dream 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.639 of my children finding a way of life here away 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.000 from the despair the system gives us. Were building something new. 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:08.679 Politics without political parties encode the Pictaro's in just demand employment. 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.720 They wanted meaningful work that gave them control over their lives. 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.400 They weren't looking to be folded back into the capitalist 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.920 system that had failed them. Instead, they called themselves autonomous 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.720 workers in envisionous society where people took charge their communities 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:24.000 and their futures. 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:26.120 And then came. 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.479 December two thousand and one. On the nineteenth, the crisis 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.400 hit a boiling point. All across the country. People took 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:37.200 to the streets, unemployed workers, middle class families, and whole neighborhoods. 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.000 They were united in their demands an end to the 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.640 government's economic policies and the resignation of the deeply unpopular 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:47.960 President Fernando de la Rua. After two days of street 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.639 battles with police, the government collapsed. In the wake of 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:56.000 this upheaval, neighborhood assemblies popped up everywhere, and the Pictaros 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:01.119 intensified their efforts. Millions of workers across Argentina joined a 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.240 general strike and put as Airis alone. Over a million 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.840 people defied a government imposed state of emergency. Flood in 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.960 the streets and protest. It wasn't just about events and 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:15.480 frustration with what reclaiming their power. In a way, the 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.400 ideas of anarchism, self management, the centralization, and direct action 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.199 were be input into practice on a truly massive scale, 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.800 even though anarchist groups themselves didn't necessarily lead the charge. 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:30.440 The fight wasn't just on the streets, though, It had 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.080 to happen in the factories, the fields, across all the 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.080 sectors of society. They couldn't just remove politicians. They had 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.320 to dismantle the entire system of exploitation and replace it 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.560 with something radically different. A key piece of this puzzle 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.840 was the rise of the fabricas, ricuperradas, or reclaim factories. 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.040 These takeovers didn't start with the two thousand one up prizing, though. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.720 The first occupation happened back in nineteen ninety six, when 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:57.280 workers in a cool storage plant to control after the 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:02.000 bosses abandoned it. More factory followed suit, with workers stepping 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.840 in with an owner's fled. But they weren't even trying 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.360 to launch an offensive against capitalism. They were simply trying 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.199 to survive, to hold on to their livelihoods and an 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.199 economy that had pushed them to the edge. By the 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.000 time of the Argentine uprising in December two thousand and one, 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.679 over one hundred and seventy factories had been reclaimed, with 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.920 some ten thousand workers taking part in this new form 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:29.560 of collective labor. The message was clear, when the bosses leave, 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:32.439 the workers are more than capable of keeping things running. 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:35.879 In these reclaimed factories, they got rid of the traditional 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:40.200 management hierarchies and made collective decisions and shared income equally. 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.800 It was a living example of one potential way society 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.760 could function without the capitalist class. In the midst of 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:52.600 the Argentine economic collapse, these workers didn't just resist, they 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:58.520 were also producing, hence their banner of occupy resistar prosir 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.800 occupy resids to produce the new was possible, to not 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:05.320 just fight, but to build something new from the ground up, 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.320 not just to survive, but to lay the foundations for 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.720 a new society. The cries of kissevayan totros or basically 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.480 out with all of them, echoed the widespread dissolution with 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:21.879 the entire political class, but the sentiment needed to be 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.520 transformed into something more substantial, a proper political framework to 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:31.080 drive the momentum forward. But it's also into this framework. 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:35.400 This potentially anarchist framework wasn't fully developed among the population 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.120 at the time. There were some comrades who were working 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:41.560 towards build in such a framework, but much of the movement, 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.679 particularly of the left, were focused on elections as a 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:46.280 way forward. 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:48.080 The logic was simple. 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.399 A left leading government could introduce policies to leave the 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:55.520 situation and prevent the open repression of popular movements. What 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.280 does this really achieve. It risked the transfer and of 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:00.399 the struggle from the streets, from the workplace, from the 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:02.879 hands of the people into the hands of a new 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.760 set of politicians, shifting the focus from the masses to 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:12.159 a few leaders operating within clearly capitalist institutions. The elections 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:15.639 were not important. The fight wasn't about winning seats in 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:19.320 the government, and that needed to be understood. The fight 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:22.720 was about building a true popular power. Kiss if Ian 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.120 Totos out with all of them rejected not just individuals, 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:30.600 but the entire political, social and economic power structures. Even 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.280 though the Argentine people will not identifying as anarchists, they 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:37.000 will apply on anarchist principles in many aspects of their struggles, 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:39.960 just like the Appatistas and Chiappas who ruse up in 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:43.640 nineteen twenty fourth Rally and cry yabasta or enough already. 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.280 The Argentine uprising was a clear rejection of state power 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:52.280 and capitalism. Votes can't last forever, but they could plant 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.040 the seats of a new society, one built from below. 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:58.639 But the movement was torn between the two approaches of 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.320 whether factory to be managed by workers under state ownership 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.480 or if they should be completely worker owned. Some argue 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:06.879 the demanding expropriation why the state wasn't a real solution 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:10.240 within a capitalist framework, because the state itself was responsible 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:13.320 for the conditions they found themselves in. But even though 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:16.040 they argue that true worker's power came from the workers 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:20.960 controlling their own production, are the flip side? Cooperatives don't 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:25.680 really address the deeper issues of capitalism. Cooperativism doesn't inherently 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:29.520 challenge capitalist relations of production, just tinkers with the service 0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:34.760 issues like monopolies, internal structures, and competition. Building a network 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:37.480 of cooperatives can be valuable, but it's not going to 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:42.080 create a subsystem capable of topling capitalism. Anarchism and specifically 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:47.560 anarchist communist ideas proposed something far more transformative abortion, all 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:51.639 forms of power exercised by minority, whether the bourgeoisie or 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:55.119 the state, assuming control of not just factories and fields, 0:24:55.359 --> 0:24:58.600 but all of society. It's not a choice between cooperatives 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:02.280 or state managed workplaces. It's about creating conditions for all 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:06.440 workers and all people to self organize. And such reforms, 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:08.800 such as reforms for workers to have control of their 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:13.320 workplaces a merely steps. It's what a much larger goal 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:18.560 should be kept in mind in that struggle. These experiences, 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:22.080 in this history in Argentina shows us that anarchist ideas 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:24.280 are not just lofty dreams. 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:26.639 They're grounded in real struggles of working people. 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:31.919 Consciously or unconsciously proven that a society without bosses, managers 0:25:31.960 --> 0:25:35.880 and expectation is possible. Every social struggle, every revolutionary action, 0:25:35.920 --> 0:25:40.840 is another step towards building that world. Through these movements, 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:43.639 through these actions, through these struggles, we can see the 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.720 foundation of a new society. And to the people of 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:50.720 Argentina who now face the rule of a new right 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:54.800 way menace, I employees to stand up and say, once again, 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.480 kissevan Toros out with all of them, all power to 0:25:59.520 --> 0:25:59.960 all the people. 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:07.400