Visiting a Factory without Bosses -- FaSinPat.

Anyone arriving in Argentina with an interest in the workers movements here will be pointed in the direction of Zanon, if the story about Zanon wasn't already the reason they came to Argentina. The ceramics factory of nearly 500 workers in the western province of Neuquen is one of the shining stars of the factory expropriation movement that swept Argentina in recent years.

A couple friends and I arrived at the factory with barely any advance warning. But, the workers were incredibly open and eager for visitors. We were sent to the press office where we met some of the administrative people. They brought us to a room within the factory that had 4 beds and tile walls covered in posters of their rallies and events. The room was set aside for visitors, and rarely empty. We then spent the next three days at the factory talking to, and eating with, the workers there.

Being from Buffalo, NY I'm not unaccustomed to being around factories. It took me some time to think of what was so different about this factory than those I had wandered in Buffalo. Wait. This factory is moving! As the workers took us through the factory they explained the production process of the tiles. While we walked, I couldn't help but compare to the empty factories of Buffalo -- symbols of decline, joblessness, poverty, and defeat. This factory was moving. This factory was producing.

We were told though that tiles aren't the only think being produced in this factory. They are also maintaining the image and possibility of worker self-management. This is why they produce under the new name FaSinPat (Fabrica Sin Patron or Factory without a Boss). As we went, I became generally interested in the process of tile production and I felt proud to see the cases of tile stacked outside. For even an outsider, the work began to have that sense of pride that capitalist bosses so often demand. But this wasn't pride for making a profit for someone we didn't know. This was a pride of seeing obvious proof that the working class is perfectly capable of running it all ourselves. A pride of knowing that our freedom was possible and that our chains were unnecessary.

How Did They Get Here?

Less than 10 years ago, Zanon was like any other exploitative business. Wages were low, workers had no say in their work lives, production was pushed beyond its maximum -- causing frequent injuries. There was a business friendly union that would inform the company of worker complaints so that those workers could be fired.

There was also the beginning of a radical presence. Social insertion, primarily through the Socialist Workers Party (PTS) had brought socialist ideas to the factory. This early process of radicalizing a small pocket within the factory was essential, but took a long time. However, once there was a militant and class-conscious core, they immediately set to taking back the union from the bureaucrats.

With delegates from Zanon and 3 other ceramics factories in the same area, they voted in a new, combative union leadership. Everyone regarded this as an important first step in their self-organizing. The taking of the union saw a rapid growth in class-consciousness among the workers. They began inddependently organizing a number of internal commissions (solidarity, women's, press, etc.) and having worker assemblies. This experience of self-organization would be incredibly useful in their expropriating of the factory.

In the months before the Argentine economic crisis, a union conflict was intensifying and calling for renewed investment in the factory -- as the management hadn't fixed broken equipment in years, despite consistent state subsidies. They also demanded back wages (some had gone months without pay) and increased safety measures after the death of one worker.

La Toma

This labor conflict quickly turned into a lockout as the boss fought back against the union, hoping to hire a more complacent work force. With the economic collapse in December 2001, management saw their opportunity to announce the temporary closure of the factory. Unfortunately for them the workers also saw this as their opportunity to take the factory. An assembly was called and workers decided to sell the inventory. They then used half of the profits to pay themselves a portion of back wages owed and used the other half to buy raw materials. With the deceivingly simple decision worker self-management began.

Self-Management

Today the factory runs democratically. Once a month one shift is dedicated to an all-factory assembly where important decisions are made by a vote of all members. The factory is divided into 12 sections (production, planning, sales, press, etc.). that each elect a delegate. Each day these 12 delegates meet to decide how to proceed with the necessary tasks of the day. Delegates rotate frequently and every few years administrators are chosen again, with the old administrators returning to the production line.

Has this model of self-management been successful for them? When they took the factory, there were 266 workers involved. Today despite the fact that the government has given them zero subsidies, there are around 470 workers -- many hired from the area unemployed workers movement.

Not only has FaSinPat become a stable source of work during a chaotic economic period, they have used their position to organize in defense of worker self-management throughout the country and in solidarity with a number of other movements. They buy their raw materials from the indigenous Mapuche whose land the previous owners were trying to steal. When the provincial government ignored years of community demands for a hospital, FaSinPat helped to build it in three months. Their workers can be speaking at conferences, at rallies in support of other struggles, or at meetings helping organize further actions. With any luck, we will begin to see more successes in this style of workplace struggle and organization.

Reflection of the Anti-Electoral Campaign

When I originally heard of the Red Libertaria of Argentina's plans to run an Anti-Electoral Campaign, I simultaneously agreed with the idea and thought it useless. I generally agreed with the premise that electoral politics are so fully corrupt and so lacking authentic representation that they have become useless in the struggle for a just world. Direct organization of the rank and file of society into resistance movements seems the route to achieving any sustainable justice.

It was precisely this belief in organized resistance that made any focus on the elections seem reactionary. If elections are only the illusion of choice and power than why react to them at all? Instead why don't we propose and organize our alternatives while ignoring the charade?

I was also concerned with some strategic logistics of the campaign. What exactly defined victory? From experience in the US it's clear that low voter turn out doesn't dissuade politicians from acting as if they have some grand mandate.

After around 2 months of discussions, parties, postering, and literature distribution I came to realize that the campaign had more value than I had previously thought. A valuable critique was added to this electoral discourse that is so often missing in the US -- a systemic critique. The discussion made the left clearly distinct from liberals. It called into question all of those things that elections don't even claim to change. It provided arguments for why unions and community organizations shouldn't allow themselves to be swept into the electoral arena. More than anything it fought to dispel the illusion that elections can offer a road to serious change.

However, what truly helped me to see the value of the campaign was that it was consistently used as a call to action. In only dispelling the illusion of elections it would seem a campaign to remove what little sense of their own power the people currently have. But instead the campaign offered an alternative that social organizing will bring change. It provided an opportunity to call into question the system before us while offering a vision of direct democratic possibilities and of a society of greater equality. As elections approach in the US a dialogue of this nature should help to remind our movements of how to truly build power.

Educate, Agitate, Vote?

This Sunday, Oct. 28th, the Argentine General Elections will be held, electing a new president for the nation. With the number of social organizations participating in the electoral arena, it's hard to see that this is the same country that only six years ago saw a total collapse of confidence in the political and economic system.

"Que se vayan todos" -- They all must go. That was the chant heard in Buenos Aires during the December uprisings of 2001. Referring to the entire governing class and their ideologies, huge numbers chanted and sang outside of the Argentine Congress and the Casa Rosada. The political and economic crisis caused the country to go through 5 presidents in under one month as the people lost all faith in the institutions that governed their lives.

But today, after 4 years of the center-left Kirchner government, it seems that much of that lost faith has been restored. While the government has demonstrated some progressive attitudes, it has also shown itself to be just as willing to repress the people's will as past governments. Many today see through the "progressive" Kirchner image. They recognize it through the lens of Argentina history as a tool to divide and weaken social movements in an effort to save the same institutions and social structure that was so recently exposed for what it truly is. As the government appears to be friendly, many no longer see the need for an organized and militant people.

In recent months there has been an ongoing campaign by the Red Libertaria of Argentina (http://www.inventati.org/rlba/) to remind the people of Argentina that true change comes from below through organized people and communities not from the electoral battles of politicians. In fact, the current progressive attitude of some parts of government is a response to the level of social organization and mobilization in past years.

Through community discussions and forums, concerts, rallies, postering and literature distrubution the Anti-Electoral Campaign of the Red Libertaria has reminded sections of Buenos Aires that it is their organization in workplaces, communities, and schools that truly forces social change. The hope of these discussions was to dispel the myth that basic participation in elections gives the people any real and lasting power. If the elections aren't capable of changing any of the basic institutions that run our society, then they are only the illusion of power.

I can't help but put this in the context of the movements back in the United States. As the US prepares to enter an electoral year, I can only hope that movements there can learn the same lessons being taught by the Red Libertaria. After the 2006 elections and the supposed anti-war mandate sending the Democratic Parties victory, we have seen very little substantive change concerning the war in Iraq. I desperately hope that the memory of our movements in the United States is longer than 2 years and that they don't fall for the same traps again.

Repression Continues in Argentina

On the night of September 17, 1976 ten students were “disappeared” by the military dictatorship of Argentina in what became known as La Noche de los Lápices (The Night of the Pencils). The same day twenty years later, under the supposedly progressive Kirchner government, Jorge Julio López disappeared just before his final testimony against the senior police officer, Miguel Etchecolatz.

A Heroic Witness

Miguel Etchecolatz was the Director of Investigations for the Buenos Aires Provincial Police from early 1976 until late 1977. His tenure saw the greatest number of disappearances, as students, workers, and activists were kidnapped by the military government. Many of those disappeared were taken for incredibly minor displays of dissent. This was the case during The Night of the Pencils, when 10 high school students were kidnapped in the night for their activism in a campaign asking for free bus passes to school. Of the ten students, six were never seen again and the other 4 were held in illegal detention centers and tortured. These four were released between 1978 and 1980.

In the same city of La Plata, a brick layer, Jorge Julio López was disappeared on October 21, 1976. He was then held without charges until June 25, 1979. Both of these series of kidnappings were under the jurisdiction of Etchecolatz. When the military government was changed in 1983, there were promises that those responsible for the Dirty Wars would be punished. In 1986, Etchecolatz was sentenced to 23 years in prison, but didn’t serve any time due to laws enacted to protect former military and police – the Full Stop Law and the Law of Due Obedience.

In June of 2005, these two laws were voided by the Argentine Supreme Court, allowing for charges to be filed again. In the trial against Etchecolatz, Julio López was one of the key witnesses. Knowing the potential danger of being a witness at this trial he went on to name 62 police and military officers. The day before his final testimony, and the 20^th anniversary of the Night of the Pencils, was the last time Julio López was seen. Despite his disappearance, Etchecolatz was sentenced to life imprisonment, largely based on the testimony of López.

Since the disappearance of López, government officials have been quick to announce their optimism in the search and repeatedly mention their “successes”. But none of this progress has been demonstrated publicly. Kirchner’s faction within the legislature has even gone so far as to block projects aimed at finding López.

A Vigilant People

On another cheerless anniversary, 1 year since the disappearance of López, an estimated twenty thousand marched through Buenos Aires, with thousands more marching in La Plata, the hometown of López. We marched from the Congress building to the Plaza de Mayo with unionists, political parties, human rights organizations, and even three current presidential candidates.

We marched calling for the reappearance of López and the punishment of those involved with his disappearance. But the rally wasn’t only in remembrance of López, it was calling for an end to the state repression that has been common under the Kirchner government. There were a series of demands connecting the disappearance to other tactics currently used by the government reminiscent of the days of the dictatorship. Workers from the Hospital Frances demanded that the military and police occupation of their hospital end, we called for an end to the Anti-Terrorist law (similar to the PATRIOT Act in the US and pushed by the Bush Administration), and punishment to those involved – politically and materially – in the death of Carlos Fuenteabla.

It’s unclear the direction Argentina will take, both in the upcoming presidential elections and in the realm of actual democracy. Will the state continue to exercise power to repress the social movements of the nation or will Argentina begin to practice true democracy?

Defense of the Hotel BAUEN, Pt. 3

In the past week there have been two events to advance the campaign against the eviction of the Hotel BAUEN. Neither were marches. There was no long list of speakers or any political target. They were concerts and block parties – festivals. They could also have been called rallies, except that they were more fun. Organizations brought out their banners and signs, there were chants, and there was media coverage. But each also included live musical performances and barbeque.

On Sunday, we gathered outside of the expropriated factory Gráfrica Patricios, a printing factory in the neighborhood called Barracas. With no permission or permit, the workers and activists taped off a block, built a stage, and began cooking. A few hundred people would arrive to this first concert billed as a “festival in defense of the recuperated factories”. Mostly Argentine folk music was played, people danced, radical documentaries were distributed, photographers displayed their work, and flyers were handed out for the next festival two days later outside of the Hotel BAUEN.

That Tuesday we gathered on Avenida Callao, one of the busiest streets in Buenos Aires, at the doors to the Hotel. As the stage was built, street theatre performances were held and food was sold, with all funds going to the defense campaign. Thousands were in attendance with delegations from dozens of groups – workers from the Hospital Francés and the Subte, socialist and communist parties, anarchists, organizations of the unemployed, the University at Buenos Aires student government and many others.

The diversity of the performances was an incredible achievement to me. There were typical Argentina rock bands, a metal band, a hip hop act, and the closer was an inspirational folk singer. León Gieco has been a politically charged musician in Argentina since the early 70´s. He spent part of the dictatorship living in Los Angeles to escape the censorship of his music.

This blend of culture, music, and political action seems to me something incredibly important for the movements of the United States. We seem to have a simple and formulaic response to the problems within our country. While the importance of rallies and serious, direct discussions is obvious; these are only some of the tools available to our movements. I wish I could point to the place that this separation began in US organizing. Are political organizers not doing what they should to incorporate the activities of artists and musicians? Or, are politically oriented artists and musicians content to say what they feel through their art while not directly supporting specific fights? Whatever the answer, I hope that we can begin to over come this separation and build a closer relationship between organizers and artists. We need to build a culture of revolutionary organizing and activities like this can help to broaden our audiences, provide excellent fundraisers, build people’s inspiration, and are just plain fun.

The block party atmosphere of these events was so important, as they were clearly events for anyone to attend. But this doesn’t mean there was nothing militant about them. While there was no worry about police attacks, as their likely would be in the states, this seemed to come from a true sense of power that the people had. Rather than chanting it, these really were their streets. There was never a need to question it, they controlled their community and they would do with it what they liked. That true sense of autonomy and culture struck me as something more radical and powerful than most of the protests in which I’ve participated. When I asked someone at the first festival if they had obtained a permit for the event, I was laughed at. It did seem more likely however, that the BAUEN event had asked for a permit as they closed down one of the major city streets at rushhour. But it was this willingness and ability to assert control of the city that was so empowering to me.

In the end, these fun and popular events aren’t the end of the fight by any means. Throughout the concert two rallies were announced repeatedly. One rally and march next week in support of the Hotel BAUEN cooperative, and another calling for an end to the occupation of the Hospital Francés. The concert helped to expand the audience that was there to hear those announcements. Not only those in the crowd, but those on TV watching the León Gieco.

For more pictures of the events:

Festival at Gráfica Patricios: http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/541155.php

Festival at the BAUEN: http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/541688.php

Military and Police Occupy Hospital in Struggle

The Hospital Francés has been struggling for months with political attacks on the public health system of Argentina. Continual efforts have been made to weaken this system, beginning with a number of attacks on the workers of the hospital. In the hospital of 1,200 workers, most are owed some amount of back wages that have not been paid. While officials still receive the same inflated pay. Retirement packages are under attack and recently 8 workers were fired, including an assembly delegate. Workers have recently initiated a struggle demanding pay of their back wages, stabilization of work, greater job security, and the rehiring of past workers.

On Wednesday August 8th the management made a claim that workers had used property destruction as a tactic in their fight. With absolutely no proof of such a claim, the government occupied the hospital with over 100 military and police officers. It’s now almost a week later, and those forces remain.

Immediately after the invasion the workers called a general assembly in which they decided on an indefinite strike until the occupation was ended. At a later assembly and press conference, the workers that this was “a clear misuse of national security forces” and that the Kirchner government was trying to turn labor demands into a national security issue. The same was recently done in the occupation of schools in the province of Santa Cruz. This escalating move on the part of the government has forced the strike that they are now faced with. Workers are now holding regular assemblies to decide on the course of their struggle. The first step is a rally announced for tomorrow (Wednesday August 15th) demanding an immediate end to the occupation in addition to the past demands.

Defense of the Hotel BAUEN, Pt. 2

Today at 11am hundreds of people were gathered outside of the Hotel BAUEN at the first protest in response to the recently received eviction order. While the cooperative workers began the demonstration, delegations began to arrive from other groups throughout the city that have pledged some amount of solidarity with the threatened worker cooperative.

By noon a crowd had gathered and taken over Avenida Callao in front of the hotel. They were playing drums, had a marching band, and were chanting. "Bauen es de los trabajadores, y los que no le gusta, se jode, jode." Or, "Bauen belongs to the workers and those that don't like it can screw themselves."

There were support delegations from a number of political parties, social organizations, and unions. A federation of neighborhood assemblies was well represented along with a number of unemployed and piquetero organizations. There was even a small contingent of members of the Industrial Workers of the World from the US and Canada.

After the delegations had gathered, we marched up Avenida Callao to the judicial offices that had ordered the eviction. With a line of riot police blocking the entrance and wathcing the crowd we sang and danced, demonstrating that we weren't afraid of the police or the judges they protected.

During the march, I had the empowering realization that this great rally was only a building block to further resistance in the coming month.