WEBVTT - Anarchism in Gran Columbia feat. Andrew 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:03.840 Colz Media. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.160 Hello, and welcome to ACRAP and here. I'm Andrew Sage. 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:12.320 I run Andrews on YouTube and I'm here with the voice. 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:14.080 Of Garrison Davis. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.480 Hello, Hello, Hello, and today we're going to continue our 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.400 journey through Latin American anarchisms and their histories with a 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:23.960 sort of a fourth for one. 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.800 Special exciting, exciting, very exciting. 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:33.040 We talked about Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Cuba 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.960 sofa as well as the Mapouch struggle in Chile and Argentina. 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.360 And now was the time to explore what's going. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.280 On at the top of the South American continent, the 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.400 territory of the former Grand Colombia, and that is the 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:51.120 territories of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:53.120 But if this is the first. 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.279 Time you're hearing about Grand Columbia, let me give a 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:01.680 quick and a brief historical context. Rundown Grand Columbia was 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.520 a short lived political entity that emerged in the early 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.120 nineteenth century during Latin America's struggle for independence from Spanish 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.720 colonial route. It was formed in eighteen nineteen and it 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.880 encompassed the territories, like I said, of present day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.840 and Panama, as well as some parts of northern Peru, 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:23.760 western Guyana, and northwestern Brazil. The republic was envisioned by 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.800 Simon Bolivar, who are dreamt of uniting the former Spanish 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:28.000 colonies into. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:29.200 A powerful federation. 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.200 They'll be able to resist foreign intervention and secure their independence. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.320 The Congress of Angostura declared the creation of Grand Columbia 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.360 with Bolivar as its first president. The public was a 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:47.840 centralized state with a strong executive branch, so unsurprisingly, tension 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.320 soon arose among the constituent regions due to their differences 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:57.000 in political vision, economic interests, and regional identities. Centralized governance 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:02.680 had alienated local elites and over federalism us centralism deepened 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:08.600 existing divisions. Plus Bolivar's increasingly autocratic rule I mean he 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.320 literally tried to push for a lifetime presidency obviously sparked 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.880 internal opposition, so Grand Columbia was facing external threats from 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:22.600 Spanish royalist forces and internal fractures. By eighteen thirty, Bolivard 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.920 had to resign from the presidency, disillusioned by the failure 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.079 of his vision, and the same year Grand Columbia dissolved 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.480 into three separate nations, Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Republic of 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.679 New Grenada, which later on split into Columbia and Panama. 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.040 Unlike the other countries of South America that we've covered, 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.720 these countries had far less large scale anarchist movements, but 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.960 will still take a look at what little impact anarchists 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.480 did make in the past two centuries in these places. 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:53.680 This whole series, by the wouldn't be possible of the 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.200 scholarship of Anhill Capelletti, whose research I drew upon heavily 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.760 for this historical review. I suggest reading his book Anarchism 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.280 in Latin America for further details. Let's first take a 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.000 look at the history in Ecuador at the turn of 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.160 the twentieth century. Ecuador was ruined from a liberal revolution 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.919 that had just taken place in the country. The country 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.800 was shifting as industrialization creeped in. The bourgeoisie were on 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.280 the rise, and feuderal landowners were losing their grip on power. 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.280 A new secular cultural. 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.639 Wave was also beginning to take shape as the clerical 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:31.240 authorities began to lose their power. The workers naturally needed 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.400 a voice in this process, and they found it first 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.160 with the rise of the Partiro Liberal Obrero was the 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:40.160 Liberal Workers Party in nineteen oh six. Around the same time, 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.320 on New Year's Eve of nineteen oh five, the Confederacire 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.040 Delacuador was founded in Guayaquil, a city there would become 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:51.240 a hub for worker activity. Both organizations shared a vision 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.119 rooted in social reform and work empowerment. It was also 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.360 around this time that the Cuban anarchist Miguel Albuquerque made 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.800 a name for himself in Ecquador. Originally, he had come 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.800 seeking assistance with Cuba's independent struggle, but eventually found himself 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:09.000 playing a key role in Ecuador's labor movement. He established 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.880 the side that the e host deale Trabajo or the 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.880 Society the Sons of Labor, and other anarchist groups would 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.320 also begin forming, contributing to the struggles taking place at 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.000 the time. The first recorded strikes with anarchist influence took 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.520 place in nineteen nineteen, where workers in the graphic arts 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.680 industry organized the demand back conditions. By nineteen twenty two, 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.120 Guyaquil was the epicenter of a massive general strike, shaped 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.039 in part by the anarchist Nicolists, who were obviously right 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.560 in the thick of it. The strike was driven by 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.920 dissatisfaction among the workers, particularly among the city's urban laborers 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:48.360 and dark workers, who were facing really poor wages, long hours, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:53.120 and deteriorating living conditions talors all this time. The strike 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.960 culminated in a violent crackdown by government forces, also a 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.960 tales all this time, with estimates suggesting that one hundred 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.200 words of workers we killed when the military surpressed the revolts. 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.640 Most workers returned to their jobs after that, but the 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.040 trolley workers continued their strike until the twenty first of November, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:11.839 when most of their demands were met. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.919 How much like crossover was there between like revolutionaries or 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.320 like you know, workers rights people or anarchists in Cuba 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:22.680 and places like this, because I assume there was like 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.800 a lot more like growing sentiment in Cuba based on 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.520 how that whole situation turned out in the next like 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.960 twenty thirty years, and I feel like there would be 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.279 a decent, like a decent number of cross or at 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.800 least like some travel between some of these other like 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.600 nearby places for. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.760 Sure, because Cuba has been gained independence much in theater 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.880 than the rest of its last America neighbors, places like 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.560 Mexico and Central America and Grantit, Columbia and the rest 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.800 of South America. They all gained the independence, and Cuba 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.480 was still under the Spanish Thumb and their remain under 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.440 the Spanish thtumb until they ended up having to struggle 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.600 with the Americans as well and eventually to gain their 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.520 win independence. I mean, it's all one one big pond. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.800 I like to see the Caribbean Sea. So there would 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.480 have been a lot of transfer and communication between these 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:16.760 independent Latin America and republics and Cuba, which was still 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:17.839 at the time of colony. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:19.600 That was really interesting to see. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.120 What when you know, these Cuban characters sort of show 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.279 up in other parts and then I've stirring up some trouble. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.680 Totally well, and it shows just how like popular the 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:33.200 nineteen twenties were kind of like everywhere, Like yeah, whether 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.680 looking at like labor movement in the United States or 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.000 like everything that you've been talking about these last few 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.159 episodes about Latin American anarchism. Like always in like the 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.760 nineteen twenties, there was always just like crazy shit going 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.440 down consistently for sure. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.240 Unfortunately, nineteen twenties is also the time of a lot 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.160 of decline for a lot of the anarchists movements because 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.480 nineteen twenties follows, you know, the rise of the USSR, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.640 and a lot of people ended up abandoned in anarchism 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:04.000 and following that sort of popularity at the time. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.400 Well, and similarly, once we start getting into like the 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.320 early thirties, I remember in the last few episodes that 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.120 you've done, you see the resurgence of like right wing populism, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:14.119 like really hard. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.800 Yes, we tend to see a lot of resurgences. 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.760 And like all this like revolutionary potential that's been growing 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.880 the past few decades all gets like co opted or 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.200 channeled into like right wing nationalism and right wing populism, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.440 and like that's a whole whole other pivot that happens, 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.120 not just the more like you know, communism's statust one. 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.600 In like the twenties, do see a resurgeons. We do 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.400 see a resurgions in the writing populism. Yes, we also 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.160 see a resurgions in the anarchist politics. Remember the thirties 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.080 was also the time of the Spanish Civil War, sure, 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.360 and so in that time you had the anarchists picking 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.000 up steam again and you also had fallen that Civil War, 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.480 a lot of the anarchists from Spain spread out into 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:58.520 a lot of the former colonies in lastin America. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.800 I think part of that rebirn is just because of 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.400 how tied anarchism and anti fascism is. 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:04.200 That's true. 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.600 I think inadvertently, the rise of fascism, they actually give 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.160 birth to the rise of more anarchists as people get 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.400 involved in anti fascism because of these things are so like, 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.080 you know, sister movements in many ways. I think that 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.760 may be a contributing factor. That's certainly how I kind 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.320 of got into this sort of stuff was through anti fascism, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.120 and and I suspect that that may have also been 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.280 the case even one hundred years ago. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:30.360 For sure. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:35.480 For sure, I think every story needs a good villain, unfortunately, 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.520 and this is the story of anarchism. I mean, the 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.240 fascists tend to make really, really impactful antagonists. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:43.680 I think. 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:57.079 Indeed, at the same time, we also had an ecuador 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.600 as to how these strikes going on oldiny anarchists doing 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.800 you know that thing that anarchists like to do, which 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.280 is a study group. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.240 Many such cases. 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.000 Many such cases, many such cases. But I mean it 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.199 is an important aspect of struggles. That's sort of consciousness raison. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:14.640 Yes. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.880 So these anarchists, in particular in Guyaquille, they founded these 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.439 Centro their Studio Socialists, which was a libertarian study. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.040 Group in Guayaquille, and then a. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.280 Decade later, in nineteen twenty the anarchists also established a 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:32.320 Centro Gremial Sindicalista or the Synicalist Guild Center, which had 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.920 a mission to an end liberate all the oppressed of 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.640 the earth by bringing them into a libertarian syndicate that 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.720 will replace the present system and opposing all political and 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.840 religious doctrines as destructive and prejudicial to the rights and 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.640 aspiration of workers endcode. As in the rest of the region, 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.599 their publications played a key role in spreading the ideas 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:59.040 again early twentieth century, late nineteenth century, the anarchists were 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:00.760 making papers. 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.160 Yeah, use people's newspapers. Newspapers. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.640 I mean it is a bit of a blueprint for 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.440 what anarchism continues to be in many ways, even with 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:13.240 like the rise of destroyism in the in the past 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.319 past decade or so, in like popular anarchism, less newspapers, 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:21.560 more more zines being held together by possibly one or 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:23.280 fewer stables. 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.840 And I like to think that I also continue that 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.320 tradition and you and I as well by creating this 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.920 kind of totally what do you and visual content. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.920 I am a zine enjoyer, I have I have many zines, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.160 but we also have to evolve with the times in 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.800 some ways. Not everyone's going to be reading newspapers, not 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.280 everyone's going to be reading booklets. Unfortunately, as much as 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.240 I encourage people to do so, I do think there 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:49.800 is value in attacking the information ecosystem that people more 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.960 more often use. That includes you know, podcasts, that includes 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:58.360 your fantastic videos on YouTube. Thank you, thank you, and yeah, 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.760 I agree for sure, for sure. 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.040 But they didn't have things like like YouTube or the 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.280 interidet at the time. Instead, they had, at least in Ecuador, 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:13.560 their newspapers like El Proletario and El Cacajuerro and Bandera Roja, 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.840 which were carrying these syndicalists anarchismiclist ideas to the workers 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.880 across Ecuador. They also the first truly anarchist papers that 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:27.200 hit the country were Rendencion and Lose the Axion in 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.800 nineteen twenty two, nineteen twenty nine, respectfully. But as we 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.920 were anticipating in the nineteen thirties brought some challenges. Marxist 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.640 Lennis Thought began to dominate leftist circles, and figures like 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:43.160 Jose Carlos mariette Gui and his General Amota ended up 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.520 wielding significant influence in the worker's struggles, and by the 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.400 end of the decade, anarchist groups found themselves vastly overshadowed 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:56.520 as Marcus Lenists consolidated power through unified political parties. But 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:01.160 despite these shifts, anarchism and Acuador was really never entirely extinguished. 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.480 It actually continues to influence workers organizations like the Ferracio 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:09.440 and La guayas well into modern times. But now let's 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.440 make our way north to Columbia as a similar story 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.280 and foolds of anarchism taken route in hearly twentieth century. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.120 And this is actually a fun factor because both Eli's 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:25.480 Recluse and Mikhail Bercunan visited Columbia recluses there for research purposes, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.600 and Bercunan wasn't an anarchist at the time, so they 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.600 didn't directly contribute to the anarchist movement as far as 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.920 we know, in the country. By the nineteen tents, anarchist 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:39.240 ideas were definitely spreading finding a home among students, artists, 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:44.679 writers and workers. And this wasn't just idle philosophizing. They 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.760 also got to work building workers societies and organizing mass 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.840 actions at the May fifteenth demonstration in nineteen sixteen, which 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.520 of course met with brutal police repression. From there, the 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.920 movement came momentum. In nineteen twenty, port workers in Katahina 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.240 went on strike and by the following decade and I 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.400 guess we're the forefront of workers militancy all across the 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.480 Caribbean coast, which was more connected to global struggles. In 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.920 the rest of Columbia, I was thus a hotbed of 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.040 organizing unrest. If you know the geography of Columbia, you'd 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.800 know that there's a lot of jungle and mountainous region 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.559 near the middle of the country. There's the coast where 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.640 you tend to have more of the activity and connection 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.280 with the neighboring countries and the Cribbean Sea. Fir the 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.080 fact there's actually a lot of people in the English 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.679 speaking Caribbean aren't aware of the fact that there are 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.960 people in the Spanish speaking Caribbean who consider, you know, 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:39.600 coastal Columbia and coastal Venezuela to be part of the Caribbean, 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.559 but as like the sort of niche discourse which you 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:47.199 get an r slash ass Caribbean. The few anarchists wu 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.000 present in Colombia were part of nearly every major uprising, 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.600 including the Baranquila Strike of nineteen ten, the labor wave 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.680 that swept Baranquila and Santimurar year nineteen eighteen, the first 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.240 strike against the notorious le bloody United Food Company in 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:05.359 nineteen eighteen, the hero Dot Railroad strike and the Artisans 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.040 and Labor strike in Bogota nineteen nineteen. The oil strikes 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:12.840 in Baron Kabirmeha during the nineteen twenties, including one against 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.640 the Tropical Oil Company nineteen twenty seven, which cost twelve 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.240 hundred workers their jobs and painted the targets on the 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.280 backs of the organizers because how dare you mess with oil? 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.680 And then finally there was the famous Santa Maria Banana 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.600 strike of nineteen twenty eight, where workers demanded fair wages 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.120 and better treatment, and the government responded at the behest 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.600 of the United Fruit Company by claiming hundreds of lives 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:43.480 after the massacre. The anarchist movement in Columbia was heavily repressed, 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.760 and because of how small it was, it didn't quite 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.640 pick back up. As historian Max that Lao noted, publications 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.119 like Organization in Santa Marta and Via Libre and Baranquilla 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:58.200 disappeared at late nineteen twenties. This crackdown on anarchists, coupled 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.760 with the rise and influence of Bolsheviki unions, shifted the landscape, 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.560 and by the nineteen thirties anarchist organizing was all but 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.320 silenced in Columbia. But it's a part of Columbia that 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.760 we're missing. She At one point Panama was considered part 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.520 of the country, So there must have been stuff happening 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.320 on that little sliver of land, right. It'd be surprised 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.320 if we rewind to the mid nineteenth century. Between eighteen 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.160 fifteen eighteen fifty five, Panama saw the construction of a 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.080 trans isthmus railroad, and this massive project was followed by 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.720 two phases of canal constructure, the first by the French 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.680 between eighteen eighteen and eighteen ninety five and the second 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.760 by the US from nineteen oh forty nineteen fourteen. These 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.240 projects brought tens of thousands of workers from Europe, Asia 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.920 and the Caribbean. Effe actually turned in Panama into her 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.000 melting part of laborers who brought their skills, their culture, 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.600 and their ideas. Bijian workers, for example, that is people 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.560 from Barberos. If I recall correctly, there was a time 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.200 in Barberos' history where it was some massive number. 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:00.680 I was sure if it was like a full quarter 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:01.760 of the. 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.480 Country's income was just coming from remittances from people who 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.840 had had family members sending their money from the canal 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.400 project back home. And it's not just the Cribbean that 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.200 was impacted obviously, as workers from Europe and Asia also 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.000 part of this project. And it's the workers from Europe 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.960 and particularly Spain that brought many of the ideas of 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.000 class consciousness and anarchist cynicalism that had been brewin in 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.320 that region of the world. And such ideas were of 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:32.160 course solely needed in the horrific working conditions of death 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.920 and disease that marked the Panama Canal construction project. Workers 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.280 organized some successful strikes in both the French phase and 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.400 the American phase of construction, both before and after Panama 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.000 gain its independence from Colombia nineteen oh three, but it 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.280 was just before the transition to American control of a 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:52.200 canal construction that Panama officially banned anarchists from entering the country. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.240 For the anarchists that were left well when the Americans 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.800 took over the canal, Governor of the Canal So in general, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.440 George W. Davis actively suppressed the anarchist workers that remained. 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.200 In nineteen oh seven or whatever, despite that repression, two 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.679 thousand Spanish workers went on strike for better wages. In 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.119 nineteen twenty four, a prodominently anarchist syndicalist group founded the 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:16.200 Sindicato Heneralist Rabbaha Daughters, which was Panama's first central workers union. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.840 It grew to thousands of members and brought together a 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.439 mix of ideologies anarchists and Marxists alike, even those who 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.080 would later found the Communist Party and the Socialist Party 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:30.159 of Panama in nineteen thirty. But on such a small 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.760 sliver of land were so many people mixed in there 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.119 there was bound to be a vibrant mix of ideas. 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.280 And not all of the anarchists in Panama were of 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.879 the syndicalist flair. Believe it or not, they were actually 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:45.760 workers within Panama who aligned themselves with Max Stunner's philosophy. 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:50.439 It had egoists and anarchist egoism. Interesting in Panama, Yeah, exactly. 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.360 This blew my mind as well. You know, they don't 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.240 expect to see them in such contexts. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.760 Were they reading Sterner in Panama? 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.679 I'm not sure if they were reading Sterner, I'm assuming so, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.679 because otherwise how would they have come to identify with 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.879 his philosophy. But they did launch a paper called Eluniko 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:07.840 in nineteen eleven. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.080 That's what I was wondering is if instead of like 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.000 widely Distributing's actual books, like, was there like some like 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.080 Sterner influence like newspaper that people were running. 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.520 Yeah, yeah, because like that makes sense exactly exactly. So 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:24.400 I assuming some of the people either would have read 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:28.239 Sterner abroad or they brought still the Inn, and they 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.520 were obviously inspired by it, and they were skeptical of 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.280 this sort of mass movement syncho those popular at the time. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:35.760 Sure many people are. 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.440 They were questioning its effectiveness as a strategy for anarchy. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:40.880 Yeah, and so. 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.160 If they were focused primarily on organizing sort of smaller 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.840 affiarency groups, yep. And one of those groups ended up 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.119 launching that paper e Lunico to spread the ideas and 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.119 obviously called itself an individualist publication. 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:58.200 That's so funny, that's so emblematic of where we still 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.080 are with an archism. Oh that's good, that's good. 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:05.080 Yeah. I to think that this kind of diversity of 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.320 thoughts and strategy is really really beautiful, and I'm glad 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.840 to see it in the most unconventional and surprise enough contexts. 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.840 It's why I consider myself an anarchist without adjectives, you. 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:17.560 Know, I really absolutely yeah. 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.920 I think we benefit greatly from conversation between these traditions 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.320 and between these strategies, and so seeing that there were 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:29.119 more than one form of anarchism in such a small context, 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:30.600 it's really quite inspiring. 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:32.160 Yeah, I am with you there. 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.240 By the way, for those listeners who may not be 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.000 familiar with the anarchist egoist tradition, I know that we're 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.480 ego and egoism. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:46.160 Might conjure up some psychoanalytical Freudian Yeah, it might bring 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.320 some some some sort of feelings about capitalistic individualism or 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.520 like extreme selfishness and that kind of thing, kind of 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:54.960 like screw everybody except me. 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.680 But it's actually a much deeper philosophical bent to anarchist 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:00.960 egoism than I think everyone or you should give a chance. 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.920 I actually recently read what is considered the first manifesto 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.320 of anarchism, and it was written by this French anarchist 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.920 named Anseel and Bella Garide, and he was actually an 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.919 individualist anarchist, and you're actually, in reading that end up 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.960 seeing a lot of the influences that would later sort 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:23.920 of develop further into anarchist individualism from the very beginning, 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.920 you know, I highly recommend reading it. It's called Anarchy 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.200 a Journal of Order. It's available on the Anarchist Library. 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.959 It's a surprisingly contemporary piece in my opinion. It was 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:39.360 translated by Sean Wilbows, another anarchist scholar who I'm really 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.840 inspired by lately, and it really gets into some of 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.760 the ideas that I think we've forgotten in terms of 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:51.159 what it takes to achieve the complete liberation of all people. 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.440 So that's Anarchy a Journal of Order. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:56.600 Yeah, Anarchy a Journal of Order. 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:01.080 He ended up not publishing more than two suits due 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.720 to low readership, but that's what happens, I think when 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.240 you have any such cases, many such cases, many such cases. 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:09.439 Yeah, I will pull that up on the Anarchist Library 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:10.680 and give that a raid myself. 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:14.359 Yeah, it happens when you're ahead of the times in 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.240 a sense, and he actually ends up becoming at least 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.280 partially relevant to the next episode I'm going to do 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.919 on the Latin American Anarchism series, because he ends up 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.240 making his way to Latin America at one point in 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.000 his life. In fact, he dies in Latin America, but 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:43.840 we'll get to that in time. Finally returned to Venezuela 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.880 as late nineteenth century refugees from the field of Paris 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.320 Commune arrived in Caracas, bringing with them the radical spirit 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:56.000 of the International working Men's Association. From a few of 0:21:56.040 --> 0:22:00.679 these immigrants, small anarchist cells emerged, but they were stifled 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:04.080 by the brutal dictatorship of Juan Vincente Gomez from eighteen 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:05.680 ninety nine to nineteen thirty five. 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:07.440 So few in number. 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:11.400 The anarchist immigrant efforts to form mutual societies, organized strikes, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.320 and spread propaganda gained them a notoriety that put a 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:19.000 massive bullseye on them. For Gomez's persecution, he had a 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.000 mister Oppression. A few sparks of anarchism did survive in 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:27.040 the cultural fabric. Writers like Migueli Guardo Parlo portrayed anarchists 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:32.400 as spiritual revolutionaries, lacking them to saints. Sounds familiar, does 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:37.720 sound very familiar, yes, if you know, back in the 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.199 days of Saint Andrew's There You Go. But his novel 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.640 Toto and Pueblo described anarchists as apostles of justice, which 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.679 is a really fire title, I must say, as they 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.719 carried the flame of liberty into the streets. 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:54.200 But it wasn't all pros. 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.879