It Could Happen Here Weekly 146

stuffice happened since then. A lot of it is terrible, some of it is cool. Well, the stuff, the stuff you've been doing is cool. The stuff everyone else in the situation has been doing is terrible. Yeah, and with me to talk about this is Janice you who's an organizer from CCUD and on a e tenant organizer at Hillside Villa or via Jesus Christ. Why am I doing Villa? Oh, I know I know more Spanish than this. I know

it of Spanish. When people think that I'm Spanish to start talking to me on the street, I can kind of communicate with them. Abject failure. Yeah, welcome both to the show.

meant to be affordable housing. It had an affordable housing covenant for thirty years up until twenty eighteen, and as soon as that expired, as would be expected, the landlord, Tom Botts, immediately tried to raise rent to market rate, which for the low income, working class tenants that work at Hillside Villa, it was a two hundred percent increase, right yeah, which is a de facto eviction, Like folks who were paying eight hundred dollars in rent were now

being asked to pay twenty five hundred, which is literally impossible for some tenants who are on fixed incomes. And so it was a huge issue for one of the largest buildings in La Chinatown. It has one hundred and twenty four units, multi ethnic, multi generational, and so as soon as that happened, I think one of the tenants, DONIEA Luisa, who is no longer with us, called the news channels and organizers got involved, and yeah, this was

six years ago. At this point, and pretty early on in the fight, I think at the time, we were working with the District one council member at the time, Gil Cidillo, who's, you know, an establishment democrat, and he had tried to negotiate a deal with Tom Bops, the landlord, for a ten year extension that ended up falling through because Bots renegged on it, and that was I think one of the first moments where tenants realized, we cannot trust these politicians to liberate us right to actually solve

the root issues, and so that's when tenants started actually demanding to use eminent domain, which is the government's power to basically seize land for public use, to actually use that power for affordable housing, and to use it as a long term solution for all of these expiring covenants, which is a city wide issue. It's not just a Chinatown thing. There's actually like thousands of buildings where covenants

are set to expire in the next few years. So that was how this fight was going, and we had actually successfully pressured our city council in twenty twenty one in May, which was I think the first time we came on the show, to set aside the funding to actually do that and to actually, you know, take bold action or housing and yeah, I'll pass it over to ANII to just share from your own experience.

our more current meetings. Who is like bringing that to light that these were illegal rental increases that had happened and that he actually asked the city to pay right.

applying it to the tenants rent debt. So that's something that we're pretty pissed off about because basically they took money that was supposed to be for tenants and just gave it back to the city government, which also doesn't even make sense because it was federal funding. So that's kind of one of the issues.

hellsid Via, he's been there for over thirty years. For him, this was the first vote that he ever cast in this country. And I think that, you know, it's not a unique story. I think for a lot of our elders, it was only because of our efforts that they participated in this election. So I think a lot of the statistics show that the Asian base, the Chinatown base, was really essential to getting a Nieces elected. And in twenty

twenty two, she officially got an off. She was able to beat the incumbent Gil Cidio and was the first.

in the fight for six years. So as we were mentioning in twenty twenty one, there was a vote that happened at City Hall where there'd be an evaluation of the building in order for the city to purchase a hillside villa or last resort would be expropriate through eminent domain, although that was never something that the people in power at LAHD or that politicians really did behind and like always wanted to try something a little less radical, therefore

going into negotiations, working with the landlord and having these conversations with the landlord, with LAHD, with us somewhat in the picture but mostly not in the picture. And that was done on purpose on behalf of LAHD and Tombots and the politicians at CD one. So because we were waiting for this evaluation to happen at Hillside Villa, I

believe LAHD needed to do that evaluation. Well, the landlord Tombots didn't allow them to come into the building to do that evaluation because it was private property and they needed some kind of core order like permit or paperwork to allow the city LAHD to come into the building to evaluate. That actually halted the process of evaluating in order to purchase the building and actually had tenants waiting for this evaluation to happen for months, if not over

a year. And you can imagine how tenants felt like if they were like suffocating under these circumstances of waiting for the city to act, for Tom Botts to allow and there was always this resistance with the landlord and with getting LAHD to get up off their ass and actually do something. Unfortunately, the chair of LAHD, her name is Anne Seul. I'm sure a lot of people have heard her name by now. She is not our friend.

She's wicked in like in not a cool way. She's actually as like some conflict of interest in my opinion that shouldn't allow her to even be in that position that she's in and to have such power over a case like ours at Hillside Villa, where she was going into negotiations with tombots, and she's also a landlord and a white woman.

how that at least that one year was. And that's part of like, since the last time we were here on this podcast was three years ago, well a year or more of that was us just waiting around for the city to actually do their job. And we can't get them to do their job, but we can protest and we can do direct action. And so we did, and we pulled up to Ansel's house, not once, not twice.

We rallied the housing community to go protest at her home and to make her uncomfortable because at any moment, any of us can get kicked out of our home. You know, there's no sense of security here and we're never there to cause harm, you know, to anyone, no physical harm or anything. But we're there to also like kind of get her to understand how uncomfortable it is and how like safe she is in her own home. Right, so she called cops on us, She targeted organizers by name.

It was really sloppy on their end. And yeah, so I think i'll stop there in Janice. If you want to kind of add anything, I'm sure you have a lot to add.

still felt that insecurity of their housing. For me, as someone in their twenties and where we've been in this fight for over six years or about six years, I felt like we've gone through the eviction process and I don't fear tombots, and I don't fear his tactics or his eviction papers. So there's definitely a difference in the way that like a lot of our elders feel. But I do have a lot of trust in the organizing

that we're doing the solidarity. All though things haven't necessarily been all like happy and like we're still not really getting the things that we've been demanding for, I have a lot of trust that we're going to be able to win those evictions.

but in reality is not a lot at all. It just means that the children who are in middle school now will be in college and have to fight this fight another time. Right, And so that happened for Bots, great for him. Whereas tenants are being asked to pay back over one point five million dollars collectively of back rent with three percent annual interest added on, and yeah,

they're eviction cases were not being dropped. They were promised to get their eviction case dropped, but what happened was that this month one of our key tenant leaders, Adela, her case was moved forward in the courts by bots.

right is so cursed. But the stipulation say that if a tenant merely plays amplified sound in any of the public communal spaces of the building or records slash slanders slash harasses the landlord or management. They can be immediately evicted without a jury trial.

sign this new lease. They're merely being suspended. And the court actually retains jurisdiction for six years over the eviction cases, which is not something that any of the tenant lawyers we have worked with have ever seen before. And what this means is that if the tenants are late just one day on the rent plus the debt repayment that BOTS is asking for, they can also be immediately evicted

without a jury trial. And then, finally, this one is one of the kickers, is that in the lease, Bots also wrote language saying that the tenants are responsible for paying his lawyer fee, which are up to are up to thirty thousand dollars, and he is also demanding that the tenants pay his lawyer fees with three percent in Jesus Christ. So he's asking tenants to pay for their own evictions.

city bureaucracy. And this is this is the situation that I think is just absolutely unacceptable and that can be intervened in by people who are supposed to be doing this and haven't been.

And you know, all of these are tactics. With the LAHD making us wait for so long, with tom Bots working with them, I think that's a tactic, is making the people the community wait for so long that they get tired, They get tired of fighting, they get tired of waiting, And unfortunately that has been a tactic that I've seen, like has gotten to a lot of our elder folks or people that are just fed up having to deal with the bureaucracy of it all. That a

lot of them, kind of not everyone. For example me, I'm still believe eminent domain could have been like a more radical solution in a way for us to take that power back from the city and the way that they use these laws to benefit them that we could use like eminent domain to help us for once. But eminent domain was completely given up on on with like certain tenants that we're tired of fighting and wanted to

reach an agreement and wanted to reach a deal. So then we have this fifteen year deal that is then turned into ten years because those five years that we had been fighting is included into that fifteen years. Not only that, but yeah, he gets fifteen million dollars plus his debt to the city forget or extended. I forget

which one it is, but this full's a millionaire. Yeah, he has a bunch of houses in Malibu he doesn't need any more money, And it's just really disappointing that at a time like this where we know that things aren't working anymore and that things needs to change, that again, the city and the politicians are continuing to side with the landlords and continue the cyclical oppression of lack of housing and lack of accessibility to housing that affected me as a child, and that is going to affect the

children that are around me now and the teenagers and the single parents. So that's why we need these better solutions. And Yeah, like Jenna said, for the two or three years that Eunice's has been around in office, we've only seen her two or three times. She doesn't know what's going on half the time. And she is actively supporting shops here in Chinatown that are gentrifying the community. Not only herself, but her office is actively trying to divide our organization and our tenant association.

So it was just really ironic to see that play out in real time. She continued to say that she only wants to hear from tenants, even though tenants are saying the same exact things that the organizers are, but she's infantilizing them right by saying, like, oh, you wouldn't believe these things if these organizers weren't putting them into

your brains. No, these tenants very much have the ability to make their own decisions and their own critical thinking, and we're offering them information that they are then you know, taking in themselves. And then ultimately, with the most recent protests, she just completely gas lit us for demanding more than she's giving. The whole vibe was basically like, why aren't

you guys grateful for the ten year extension. Why aren't you grateful to me for finding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to help you repay your debt?

we behave in an educated manner. But look look at what we have now. We have a contract that is completely has sold all of us out and what for, you know, for these promises and fooling the people into believing her into trusting those promises or that she would actually have our best interest. So here we are and these are some of the things that we've also been dealing with in the association.

and you guys can trust me. Whereas with Sidillo, the previous council member, the contradictions were just obvious, like we knew this guy was bullshit, and you know, we would just be openly fighting him all the time. But in a lot of ways, us getting her elected I think made our organizing harder because of the way that she would, you know, call us her fam which should have been a red flag from the beginning, right, that's also another word. Yeah, yeah,

call your co worker, here's your family. But yeah, I think that's definitely been a huge lesson in the past few years.

for all. Right, this was this was the best they were ever going to have it. But the worker's oldest allies, these are the socialists and social democratic politicians in the Socialist Party opposed the occupations. And these these Socialist Party politicians, these are their friends, These are their comrades, these are

these are the people who lead their unions. I mean, these are people who you know, a lot of these people have spent thirty years organizing with these people just to carve the workers movement out of sort of the stone of history. These are the people, you know, who, in a lot of cases like they had gone to

war with. So when the social democrats told them to immobilize and told them to go home and told them to, you know, just give the fact the factories back to the capitalists and give up all of their leverage, the workers listened, and once they've been totally demobilized, there was no way for them to resist the fascists. Lussolini Marsha on Rome the next year, and in the wake of the socialists betrayal, the fascists would rule Italy for twenty

five years. You have to be incredibly weary of these people who who take power from you know, like the most personal example to be is we have this with Brandon Johnson, who was like a you know, the big here that he was the mayor of Chicago, where I I guess technically now I don't live there, but I live there for ages. Who was you know, quote our quote unquote movement mayor and then immediately started just fucking putting migrants that had been like bust up in just

like these fucking horrible conditions in camps. People were dying, people are getting fucking terrible diseases, like buildings with mold in them, like stuff that was condemned, and like all of this stuff happened, and you know, and it really kind of in a very similar way. Because this was you know, this was supposed to be one of us.

The resistance to it has been really inutered. And that's a dynamic that you know, we haven't had as much in the US because there hasn't been a left in this country until really the last maybe decade, and that's

stretching it. And now, you know, we need to actually get back to understanding how this kind of stuff works, because more and more the people who are going to be arresting you are people who you know, you used people used to be organizing with people, people who you used to know, and people who even when you put a mic in front of their face, will claim to be on your side.

before the protest. They were really really pressuring us to sign the lease, and even at the protest right a niece is recommending that a family member would sign it. So we're already seeing the results, and in our counterproposal, we plan to really highlight a few demands. First and foremost, that the rent debt is turned into consumer non evictible debt. No behavior stipulations, those are bullshit, the eviction cases actually get dismissed and not suspended in court for six years.

let's find out. All credit due to the work of Larry Cambone's anarchism in Chile and especially Jose Antonio Quterres Danton's eighteen seventy two to nineteen ninety five anarchism in Chile without further ado nos comensimos. During the French Revolution of eighteen forty eight that founded the French Second Republic, which was part of the so called Springtime of the

People's where revolutions swept through Europe. Two notable figures of Chilean and liberal revolutionary history happened to be at Paris at the time, Santiago Arcos and Francisco Bilbao. Santiago Arcos was a Chilean liberal who lived in exile in Paris

because of his father's involvement with the independence government. He rubbed shoulders with French socialists and liberals alike, and also met Francisco Bilbao upon his families whore two into Chile, they tried and failed to start a bank due to government pressure, so his father returned to Europe, but Arcos stayed in Chile, and after his father died he got a hefty inheritance and would go on to take part

in various struggles around Latin America. Arcos also famously wrote Frontiers and Indians, a Question of Indians, and which he advocated for killing off of the indigenous people because it was cheaper than maintain the garrison to protect the settlers from attacks. Bit of a record scratch movement, but unfortunately typical of the time. Francisco Bilbao was another Chilean liberal

who lived in Paris. Prior to his migration, he published a rather controversial article to Chilean sociability lass, Sociability Dad Chilena, which was condemned by Chilean authorities as blasphemous and immoral for its critique to the Church and state. After his condemnation, he moved to Peru, where he was condemned for criticizing

the Peruvian president. So he left for Paris, and in Paris he met Arcos, and upon their return to Chile, together Arcos and Bilbau founded lassosier Dad de la igual Dad, or the Equality Society, which was marginally influenced by mutualist thought. You see, anarchism fungus came to Chile by way of

the mutualist strain. Unfortunately, it was quickly suppressed by the conservative government, but not before the establishment of the country's first mutual aid society of as many of one hundred artisans. Those artisans would take part in the eighteen fifty one Chilean Revolution against the Conservative government, which unfortunately didn't succeed.

After the feeling of the revolution, the conservative government began a program of political persecution against the instigators of the uprisings, which included arrests and deportations. Bilbao and Arcos were among those exiled. Other mutual societies were forming the late eighteen fifth as mutualism was caden influence among artisans like printmakers, shoemakers,

and tailors. In eighteen sixty two, the mutual aid Society La Union was founded as a general mutual for all artists of all trades in Santiago and offered both workshops and medical services, and established a school for artisans and their children. By the early eighteen sixties, there were some seventy cooperatives, both consumer and producer. By eighteen seventy there were thirteen neutrals, which saved alleviate misery. In spite of

economic depression. La Union branched out over a dozen cities, and in addition to education, health and welfare, it formed a philharmonic society. So why do you think these orcs became influential. It's probably because they were practicing what they preached, showing the proof of concert to their ideas through practical application of the principles of libertymutuality, solidarity and self education.

In eighteen seventy two, the Chilean section the International Workingmen's Association was established in Valparaiso, which is a major coastal city in Chile. Eighteen seventy two was also the year the anarchists were kicked out of the International, so the Chilean section didn't last too long, but it did plant a seed. Libertarian ideas were spread in particularly among the nitrate miners. Keep that in mind for later. Then boom eighteen seventy nine, Chile goes to war with Bolivia and

Peru and actually wins, which makes Bolivia landlocked. And that's why it still land ocked to this day. The war profited the Chilean and English nitrate mine bosses and the Chilean state, but of course the workers themselves suffered. By eighteen eighty there were thirty nine mutual aid societies responding to those needs after the war. In eighteen eighty seven, the Union Republicana del Pueblo or People's Republican Union, was

formed with an anarchist platform. Not long after, with a series of strikes by rail workers, miners and others, the workers launched the first national general strike in eighteen ninety and it was brutally crushed and followed by further brutality as in eighteen ninety one, the president Bamasada tried to press through reforms against the wishes of both Congress and foreign capital interests, which led to a civil war. The workers suffered Semo Semo and Bamaceada was defeated and deposed

and then committed suicide. Truly revolutionary anarchism came to Chile in the eighteen nineties through an anarchist immigrant from Spain named Manuel Chinchilla. Chilean anarchist Carlos Rquera was influenced by Chinchilla, and together they formed the Centro des Studio Socialists Center for Social Studies in eighteen ninety two and published the

paper El O Primido The Oppressed. Another group of anarchists from IL Centro Sociality, the Tarbahadores or Workers Social Center, founded the journal L three to dil Pueblo the People's Scream. Among the other societies and papers forming during this period included societad the Protecti al Trabahador Imutuo Apoyo or Society for Workers Protection and Mutual Aid, and Il Proletario the Proletaria.

In eighteen ninety four, the Chilean mutualists formed the Federacion de Tabahadores Chile or Workers Confederation the FTCH, which was the first national federation of workers in Chile and history. It wasn't all that radical outside the context of conservative government, that is, as it fought for social reform as well as the usual activities of education and health insurance, but it was influential. By nineteen twenty five it had more

than one hundred thousand members. In eighteen ninety eight, there was a general strike in the coastal city of Ikike, and new societies were formed like Partido Obrero Francisco Bilbao, which became an anarchist group in eighteen ninety nine, and resistant societies were also formed for railway workers and carpenters, which should go on to play a major role in Santiago General Strike of nineteen oh seven. Magazines, as always were also founded, like La Tromba Irrebele and Latin Torture.

We also got to see the fust demonstrations against military service and the army in Chilean history, under the slogan the army is the academy of crime. From nineteen hundred to nineteen ten, anarchists were the best organized of all the radical groups, according to Larry Gombone, particularly in print making, bacon shoemaking, and the docks. In nineteen hundred, there were thirty resistant societies concentrated in central Chile among industrial workers.

The resistant societies were decentralized rotated positions, acted autonomously and were active in strikes. By nineteen ten, there were four hundred and thirty three resistant societies, the total membership of fifty five thousand. The year nineteen hundred also marked the establishment of man communales or brotherhoods within the mutualist movement,

which fused the mutual aid societies were trade unions. The first Man Cuminale organized in Nikike Balloon into a movement of six thousand members, which is the majority of the nitrate and maritime workers in northern Jule. The Man Communale movement favored direct action at a much greater level of organization and solidarity than the resistance societies. The resistant societies were local, Man communales spanned large territories, uniting different trades

on a city, then provincial, then national level. One of the accomplishments of these movements was the crowing presence of workers' strikes, empowered by solidarity. In nineteen oh two, harbor workers staged a sixty day strike, and in nineteen oh three there was a general strike in the port city of Alparaiso, resulting in the murder of more than one hundred workers by the state. That rebellion spread to the cities of Antofagasta,

Iota and Coronet and lasted for forty three days. When the Man Communales federated in nineteen oh four as the Grand man Coominal Dolberas, they brought together twenty one thousand members. A year after their federation was the Red Week of nineteen oh five. Tired of the inhuman conditions, the cost of living, the high taxes, a workers committee known as Centreo their Studios sociated dad at the Nao Obrero called all workers to join the strike and to support the cause.

By October twenty second of nineteen oh five, thirty eight thousand people had joined the uprising, including bushers, shoemakers, tanners, cigar makers, truckmen, tapestry makers, typographers, telegraphers, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, bakers, and railway workers. The mayor eighteen hundred police officers tried to kill the energy on the streets, as did the ruling class funded White Guard, but despite their massacre two

hundred and fifty workers, the movement continued to grow. By nineteen oh six, workers were active in the Ferracio the Tapadores de Chile or the FDCCH, and students had organized the Feracio and their Studiantest de Chile or FECCH. Unfortunately, the mancominale movement and almost died after the nineteen oh seven depression and severe military repression, the worst instance of

which was the Santa Maria massacre. Of Ikike, where over three thousand minitrate miners and their supporters were killed by machine gun file after going on strike for better living conditions than the company towns built around the mines. The company towns were run by the mine owners, who owned the workers' housing, owned the company's store, monopolized all commers, employed a private police force, and paid workers in tokens

instead of money. The strikers was joined by their wives, children and other workers in the city of Ahike and had set up strike headquarters at the Santa Maria School. They were given an hour to disband or be fired upon. When they stood firm, a certain General silver Renard, known as the Butcher of Ikike, gave US troops the order to fire upon the strikers, their wives, and their children.

One eyewitness said quote on the central balcony stood thirty or so men in the prime of their life, life quite calm, beneath a great Layan flag, and surrounded by the flags of other nations. They were the strike committee. All eyes were fixed on them, just as all the guns were directed at them. Standing they received the shots as though struck by lightning. They fell, and the great

flags fluttered down over their bodies. There was a moment of silence as the machine guns were lowered to aim the school yard and the hall occupied by a compact mass of people who spilled over into the main square. There was a sound like thunder as they fired. Then the gunfire ceased and the foot soldiers went into the school by the side doors, firing as men and women

fled in all directions. End quote estimates vary, with conservative estimates placing the death toll of over two thousand, while Jose Touterres Danton's account reckons as many as three thousand, six hundred. In any case, if all three thousand of those miners were members of the Grand Man Comunale Delbreras, that had mean roughly fifteen percent of the movement was

laughtered in one massacre, a significant tragedy for show. Following the massacre, the movement formed the Feracion Obrera de Chile or FOCCH, which aimed to pull together all the organizations involved in the struggle, whether anarchists, Marxists or liberals. It was co created by the Ones falter in Mancominalys and grew in militancy until I had fully adopted anarchistiniclist principles.

Even the trade unions outside of the FOCCH were anarchist cynicalist, but eventually the Synacalists and FOCICH would be overtaken by the Marxists following the rise of the Soviet Union and the deeper intentions between Anarchists and Marxists. Also in the nineteen tens, the famous Chilean poet Pablo and the Ruder was Robin Schoulers of the Anarchists, though he eventually became

a Communist of the Marxist fariety. Meanwhile, the student org FCCH established a popular university to link workers and students and develop popular education. In nineteen twelve, the Federacion Obrera Regionale de Chile FOOR or FOT was formed, while nineteen nineteen marked the launch of the Chilean IWW, which expanded to nineteen cities and a ten thousand strong membership. All the while the strikes continued. Nineteen nineteen marked yet another

general strike. The nitrate minds weren't as profitable as they once were, creating more attention as workers were laid off. The state was in debt and with domestic disarray, it needed a distraction, so it tried to spark yet another war with Peru. Thankfully, the war never happened when it looked like it would be. It was roundly condemned by the FECCH, as they should, but nineteen nineteen was also the year that reactionaries broken too the fcch's headquarters and

burned down the building. While archiss workers were being jailed, tortured and murdered all the way into the nineteen twenties. Still, by nineteen twenty five, there were two hundred and fourteen syndicates in Chile, posting the active participation of more than two hundred thousand people, and it was the first year where Chilean dedication of the IWW was able to participate in an IWA Congress. Santiago had a wrench strike, and yet still work of blood was being spilled and tortured,

and then a coup happened in nineteen twenty five. Carlos Ibaniez took power and by nineteen twenty seven sort of fully abolished the labor movement. Union offices were raided, anarchist groups disbanded, and journals shut down. The labor movement persisted, the ideas lived on, but the anarchists were hit particularly hard. Next we'll find out what happens in the rest of the twentieth century for the anarchist movement in Chile. We're

back talking about the history of anarchism in Chile. We almost gave Das Sayer and arrest of the Sierra Bene. Let's see what they get up to for the rest of the twentieth century. In nineteen thirty, the indush tree that Chile had been relying on for years, the one that had caused so much strife for workers across the country, had suffered a major blue. German scientists discovered a synthetic nitrate there was far cheaper than the natural one. Nitrate

has used in both foot liizer production ammunitions manufactory. So with the cheap alternative to the form found in the ground, the meager livelihoods of thousands of workers was now under threat. The mine owners may have had to reshuffle their finances a bit to recover from the loss of the booming industry, but it was the workers who dealt with the worst

of such a crisis. They faced famine, mass migration, and overcrowding, compounded by the existing economic pressures of the worldwide recession. The nineteen thirties. Crisis hit the population hard, but they kept strikeing regardless. The dictatorship of Colonel Carlos Ibanie's fell in nineteen thirty one due to all that popular unrest. Then things went from bad to worse. The center of

workers struggled. The city of Santiago, the headquarters of the Ferracion Obrera de Chile or FOCCH, where organizations of all flavors had worked together, came under attack in April nineteen thirty four. The police and the White Guards, which were a group of capitalists funded meadheads, opened fire on the compound, killing seven workers and a child, while badly injuring around

two hundred others. In June of that same year, nineteen thirty four, four hundred and seventy seven peasants were slain in Alto, Biobio, Rankiel and Lonqui May, all fairly small towns in the countryside of Chile. Two years later, in December nineteen thirty six, the Ferracion Obrera Regionale de Chile or FRCH or FORT and the Chilean IWW worked together to form the Conferracion General de Trabajadores or CGT. It was their anarchist alternatives, the communist and socialist founded Workers

Confederation of Chile or CTCH, which they saw as more reformists. Together, they fought to achieve the eight hour workday, Sundays off, indemnity for accidents at work, monetary recognition for years of service, the right to retirement, and the right to an old age pension. Meanwhile, the Chilean Anarchist Federation or FACCH got active and sent some brigades to support their comrades in

the Spanish Civil War. During the Civil war period, anarchism had another upswing of popularity in Chile, but since the reformist Union had legal and institutional back in, since the anarchists were being heavily repressed, and since there was some disorganization among them, the anarchists had started to lose their popularity. Anarchist cyndicalism had declined significantly going into the nineteen forties, while reformist cynicalism stayed strong under the control of the socialists,

Communists and Christian Democrats. In nineteen forty six, eight workers were murdered and many more were seriously injured by the police dogs at Bulmes Square in Santiago. The persecution of workers and particularly anarchist workers continued into nineteen forty seven as Pisagua, a notorious and Tuoman camp once used to detain key folks from the Carlossi when he has dictatorship, was transformed into a concentration camp for socialists, communists, anarchists

under President Gabrielle Gonzalez Fidela. The notorious Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet had a stint run in the camp in that time as well, so, of course, fearing for their lives, anarchist organizations had to go underground. Even underground, they were able to accomplish some radical work. For example, the Luisa Michelle Cultural Center, renamed in the nineteen fifty three to Luisa Michelle Libertarian School, which sought to educate female workers and

later children as well. It had at a time over seventy students. He was able to last for a decade up until nineteen fifty seven, despite authoritarian repression. In nineteen fifty the anarchist syneclist Ernesto mirandl brought together twelve federations and several syndicates into the Movimento Unitario Nacionaletraes or Month or Movement for Workers Unity. Prior to the Formation of the Month, Miranda got started in the workers movement at the age of twenty way back in nineteen thirty two.

While working in the shoe industry, he fought the local Nazis and the police were taking part in various unions and unitary committees for in the formation of Month. Nineteen fifty three saw the formation of the Central Unitaria the Trebadores or CUT, Chile's United Labor Center. The initial aims and principles of CUT were drawn up by members of the Confederacio and General de Tabahadores or CGT, and anarchist

syncalists filled the shoe worker, printer and maritime unions. In the CUTS Declaration, the workers proclaimed that the amountcipation of the workers is the work of the workers themselves and that quote the present capitalist system based on private ownership of land, instruments, and means of production, and exploitation of man by man, which divides society into antagonistic classes exploited and exploiters, must be replaced by a social economic system

that abolishes private property until a class less society is reached. In which man and humanity are assured of their full development. The Central Workers Union will carry out a revindicative action within the principles and methods of the class struggle, maintaining its full independence from all governments and partisan political sectarianism. However,

the Central Workers Union is not an apolitical union. On the contrary, representing the conjunctions of all sector of the work in masses, its humanimatory action will be derived above the political parties in order to maintain its organic cohesion. The trade union struggle is an interiral part of the general class movement, the proletaria and the exploited masses, and as such a connoty must not remain neutral in the

social struggle and must assume its proper leadership rule. Consequently, it declares that all trade unions organizations for the defense of the interests and goals the workers within the capitalist system, but at the same time the organizations of class struggle that points to the economic emouncipation of the workers as their goal, that is, the socialist transformation of society, the abolition of classes and the organization of human life to

the abolition of the oppressive state. Endcode. The cut tried and failed to call a general strike in nineteen fifty five, partially because, unbeknownst to them, the communist and socialist groups within the CUT had reached their own agreement with the government. By nineteen fifty seven, the CUT were severely split. The Anacho Synicalists abandoned it in protest of its involvement in an electoral pact with the FRAP the Friende Amplio Popular, a left wing party during the lead up to the

presidential election in nineteen fifty eight. The anarchist Synicalists rightfully believed that the CUT getting involved with the political party would compromise working class independence. However, that act of protest would also diminish the influence of the anarchists and the union movement. Nineteen fifty seven also marked the rise of Elmo Vimiento Libertario, Theie de de Julio or the Seventh

of July libertarian movement, the Bratiada. The anarchists, Centrade unionists from Osorno, Temuco, Concepcion, Dinares and Talca were dispersed after leaving the CUT. It unfortunately dissolved a decade later as his participants got involved in other organizations. Ernesto Miranda, one of the co creators of Month, went on to create Committee the Defenser the Revolution Cubana, although by nineteen sixty the Anarchist Federation FAH was already warning of the Cuban

Revolution's involvement with Russia. Miranda later went on to form the MIR the Movemento de Squierreta Revolutionaria the revolutionary left wing movement, in nineteen sixty five, alongside anarchist synclist Cultario Blest and Trotzkis Enriqueesepulveda. Cultario Blest had previously visited Cuba, which had impressed upon him the need for insurrectionary action. Upon his return to Chile, Blest formed the Third of November Movement M three END to promote revolution and unite

the revolutionary life left against electoralism. Before the MIR was founded, there was the MFR, the Movement of Revenue Starying Forces in nineteen sixty one, which brought together non line anarchists, trusteists, maoists, socialists and communists in the trade union work. With the growing involvement of communist parties that eventually took over the anarchists were eventually sideline in the MR, and it was quickly known as a fully mL org. The MIR persists

to this day. Another organization was also founded in this time, the VP of Van Guardia Organizata del Pueblo, which rejected the authoritarianism of the MIR with an ideological blend of anarchism and anti authoritarian Marxism. Both MIR and vop were doing their thing and would play struggles and getting their finance in through bank robberies, but this wouldn't last and both groups should also faced repression and reaction from the authorities.

Then came nineteen seventy with the election of Popular Unity candidate of Salvador Allende to the presidency. Allende was considered a democratic socialist, the first Marxist democratically elected in Latin America. Allenda declared an amnesty for all political prisoners and even to con members of VOPI as part of his personal

guard or Crupo de Amigo's personalities gap. By nineteen seventy one, they already warned the president that the right was plotting to overthrow the government, but the president didn't take them on, so they took matters into their own hands and executed one of the key plotters in the coup plans for that they were punished. In nineteen seventy two, workers began to take over their workplaces as the US had imposed a trade and credit embargo in retaliation for the nationalization

of US ow and copper minds. Neighborhood committees took goods from the work of control factories and distributed them amongst the communities. The FDR or friend Dated Trabahadori's revolution Scenarios or Revolutionary Workers Front, played a major role in this process. Proven that workers were quite capable of running a factory by themselves, and their government and bosses were no longer necessary.

But for all his alleged socialist credits, Allende couldn't believe this was possible, so he sent observers to give orders within the affected factories. Meanwhile, peasants were taken over land and organizing through the MCR or Moving Miento de Campesinos serv Scenarios or Revolutionary Peasants Movement. The government was feeling

the pressure applied from without and within. By nineteen seventy three, Henry Kissinger and the other demons of the US did a test run coup, but the people barricaded the neighborhoods and factories from the police and army. Being the first elected president of Latin Miracle, Allende was patient zero for a pattern of interventions that would plague the region for years to come. After the three years of presidency and a second coup attempt, a Costo Pinochet took power in

a US backed coup in nineteen seventy three. A few months after the first cop attempt, tanks rolled on the streets of Santiago. Thousands were tortured, raped and murdered. Anarchists were disappeared. Those that escaped death found themselves in concentration camps, many of which were ironically established on the remains of the old Nitride Mind villages. All political parties and trade unions were banned. Some courses at universities were closed down,

denounced as the home of revolutionary sentiment. The secret police direction intell Hinteria National called folks in Fair. The executive would be thrown into the sea and Pinochet would go on to rule for nearly seventeen years. In nineteen seventy five, anarchists Cultario Blessed and Ernesto Miranda would activate a Committee of Defense of Human Rights, the Code which would become

of vital importance for those persecuted by the dictatorship. They would record the rights violations and rescue and help escape those being persecuted. In nineteen seventy seven and seventy eight, the Kodas managed to organize the first event during the dictatorship to commemorate International Worker's Day, which helped to disrupt the fair people had of the dictatorship. Six years after the coups, heading into the eighties, despite the oppression, the

anarchists were starting to reorganize. Alongside libertarian leading members of the former Popular Unity Coalition. They created the Umbrella group Socialist Ideas and Action PAS and took part in the

struggles against the dictatorship in the eighties. In nineteen eighty, syndicates affiliated with Norway's IWA was able to secure the freedom of europe members who had been in prisoned for nearly a decade, exchanging the m prison one for exile, while the Marxist mir managed to assas Saint the chief of Army intelligence from her Reverergara Campos and a few other significant military figures, as well as bombing US affiliated corporations.

In nineteen eighty two, textile workers went on strike despite the risk of oppression, and they were joined by a solidarity strike by nineteen eighty three, when children and teachers wouldn't attend school, people wouldn't buy anything, and workers would stay home. The police tried to disrupt the marches of the people. Two were killed as a result and one

hundreds were arrested or wounded. But between nineteen eighty three and nineteen eighty four, mass protests became more frequent and the people defended themselves against the police with molotovs, stones and barricades. While anarchists were involved in these struggles, anarchists ideas went to focus. The focus was on top leand the dictator. However, by nineteen eighty four you had a libertarian magazine called Lavois, the latter he is most circulating.

In nineteen eighty seven, the anarchist black flags reappeared in Santiago. Concepcion and social centers were also established with an anarchist streak, such as a Center for Social Studies Elduende the ELF and Santiago and the Collectiva Anarquista Libracion cal Conceptcion, both under the umbrella of the Taira. The Analyst in NiCl Social the Studio for Social Studies and Analysis, which was created with the aim of Brighton and Space for the oppressed.

A newspaper called Akrata Anarchist was published by Collectivo Anarchista Conceptcion, and the Bulletin Liberacion by the cal Accion Director was published by Anarchist Comrades in Santiago. For nineteen eighty nine, Pinochet had to accept defeat and stepped down. By nineteen ninety, liberal democracy had returned somewhat to Chile. In the nineties, several anarchist groups formed, disappeared, and regrouped, and several anarchists

publications were printed and spread. The ID the Anarchist inter Cities, Federation Veracio and Alarquista Interciodana, the cham Or Jubetures and Time Militaristas the Mallow, the Movement Too Anarchistas, Luis Cole, the FAI Conceptcion, Collectivo Cultural Libertario, Bnartesta, Conceptsion, Read Anarchista, and various other groups in Viallemana, Osorno, Tinuco, Concepcion, Paparaiso Santiago,

et cetera. Jose Antoniogo terrest Anton, the author of one of the historical accounts I referenced took part in several of these orcs as well as their own collective Arboronegro returned to delegations the IWA Congress in Spain in December of nineteen ninety four and took over the work of the IWW in Chile. As of the twenty first century, several collectives and individuals are disseminated in anarchist ideas and practices.

Anarchist book fairs have been hosted in Santiago, and the Anarchist Federation Santiago has been working in organizing an anarchist platform.

Anarchists inspired or adjacent movements have lit the streets against the government, protest formations, review central authorities, and indigenous Mapuche activists carry on their deco nil struggle against the state by various means, sometimes bordering on an arcchic and the mapuch struggle in Chile, by the way, is a fascinating story that really deserves its own episodes, which I hope

to explore in the future. Anarchist activists have also continued to be killed by the police or other reactionaries following the return of democracy, such as Claudia Lopez ben Aches in nineteen ninety eight and Honey Carrikeo Yanez and Juan

Cruz Magna in two thousand and eight. Chilean anarchists have also allegedly been set in bombs around the country meant to cause damage to law enforcement, security forces, banks, and transnational corporations property, but also caused an occasional injury or death to people. Cambone also writes the mutual aid societies still function and in a society where the welfare state is practically non existent, mutual aid plays a much greater

role than elsewhere. Cooperatives both agricultural and consumer are found in Chile, although you don't have the same level of economic influence that similar movements have in Western Europe or Canada. And there are other libertarian oriented developments as well. Between Christians and ex Marxistanists who rejected the Van Guard Party formed local based committees working in progracis. They function as

mutual aid societies and centers to organize local issues. I hope that the people of Chile, like everywhere else, can find true freedom after overst century of anarchist struggle. I hope they can find revolutionary success. Until that day, this has been andrew sage of Andrewism. It could happen here given the historical context of anarchism in Chile. Where am I to go next? Hopefully far? All power to all the people of peace?

shooting tear gas at us. You're in the prey after the prayer, after the prayer, yeah, So the prayer went without an incident, and then afterwards was when they shot tear gas at us, multiple tear gas canisters, and then once they started firing live rounds. We hid behind a concrete wall. Tear gas still being shot at us, and then live rounds as well. You could see the dust

coming off of the concrete walls as they shot. And then once it seemed like they were coming down from the tower, I think Palestines were running because they thought they were coming, so we ran and we went over a concrete wall. We ran for I don't even know how long, but once we got to a clearing and they thought it was safe, we regrouped with everyone. So the road going up to where we were there were

Palestinians still running down. There's palestinian is running to the right, and we just waited maybe thirty seconds, and then someone told us to go, so we ran with them, and then we got to rest for like five minutes, had a quick smoke coffee, some people had teeth. But then some Palestines were moving towards the street to our right, so we followed them, a couple of us and some of them stayed. And as we were approaching there, this was the road that went straight up to the watchtower.

We saw them on before, so there was still some tear guys shot at us and some live rounds as well, but we saw them actually coming down from the tower this time, and before you know they even drove down, there was Palestines to our left that were running. So whenever we see them running, we know that it's a threat they think may be fatal, so we're running. We

actually could run to the Alli grows behind us. And as we were running, just making sure all my comrades were good, I hear a loud bang and then I feel a pain in my leg. I thought it was like a tear gas canister that hit my leg because it just felt like a blunt force, but I've never felt that pain before, and one of my comrades were helping me up while I was still running and limping.

And then finally once we got to a clearing, that's when all the palestins ran to me and carried me away to the pickup truck, which then went to the health clinic or the emergency clinic in Beta.

should care about you. And like, I think it really gets us to something else I wanted to talk about, which is that like the existence of Palestine, like as as it is today and as it wishes to be in the future, much like you know other places I've worked in Kurdistan, in the liberated parts of Myanmar, is a threat to the system of states and governments as

it exists today. And like, at some point you decided that the government and right into your senator or whatever tweeting people do wasn't enough or wasn't going to work, and you decided that, like you wanted to put your body in between the people trying to kill the people and then people trying to survive. So can you talk us through that journey? Like have you always been invested in in the Palestinian cause?

Democratic Movement and our work together and our studies. So because I also saw Palestinian standing for the liberation of the Philippines, we always had that connection or I had that connection with Palestinians, and it grew over time, and the escalation of October seventh really had me just disregulated because I'm a teacher in Jersey and for the first few months it was so hard for me to It was like I was just going on autopilot because how could we, you know, just go on with our daily

lives seeing this these atrocities happening every day.

to visit. So that was what prompted me to like research and ask other friends in the movement, and then they told me about FASA, and then I took the orientation and training and I went over during my summer break.

and like how did it feel. I guess like this is a cause you've been invested in for some time, right, and then you've seen these horrific things, and then suddenly you're on the ground, like was to be in solidarity with people like I know my experience at the border has been that, Like, I would much rather be like in it, even if it's terrible, than at home seeing pictures of it.

against police brutality. So it just felt like a duty as an organizer, as a revolutionary to you know, show the same solidarity back, as well as knowing that I'll be in a beautiful place with beautiful people under horrible circumstances.

And then I get shot the second day.

And then another day goes by, the next day after that, I'm back in town, and then there was reports of a seller that was killed, and then we heard that all the settlements there was a call to attack Cusra. So right when I get back, we're already on Hylert. We're watching making sure nothing was happening. Thankfully, nothing did to happen that day, but then, yeah, it happens like every other day where either the Israeli army comes in

or settler's attack in Kusra. We also try to open the gate between the town, because the Israeli Army put a gate between the town so people can't travel with you know, within the town, and we tried opening it, but they have the key, and a peaceful demonstration turned into the IDF or the IOF coming with like twelve soldiers intimidating folks, loading up some kind of automatic weapon pointing tear gas. At a few days after that, they

came into town at night shot up the town. A few days after that, Israeli army was guarding settlers really close to town, were actually in town.

which is Palestinian land. So what kind of authority do they have over that all the legal settlements, But they're trying to just take all the land that they can get, whether it's in Gaza, whether it's in West Bank. So

they're obviously connected because it is Palestine. But now they're just going into the West Bank because there's further resistance now as well, and there has always been just a lot more quiet than Gaza at the moment because I guess of the government that's over them in Palestinian authority.

But yeah, it's all connected and they want to just squash any kind of resistance there is, whether it's in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as just trying to take as much land as possible before international intervention happens, which we haven't seen because the US continues to supply weapons and arms to Israel.

you and that there is no outrage. But it's just really frustrating that it really doesn't matter, like it you could have, like you could have lost your life and no one would have bad an eye in government. Like it really really just makes my blood boil because it's I don't know, That's what I've been thinking about for a tiny bit. It just reminded me of that and how there's a protection being American where you're on the ground in Palestine at all.

my leg. But also someone was arrested and heard that they thought I was Palestinian, So it just shows even more so the complete disregard for Palestinian life, whether they thought I was or not, that they would just shoot me. And yes, there was two US citizens that were recently attacked by settlers and the IOF did not do anything, you know, only a little bit after they said, you know,

stop throwing rocks, but the damage is done. Yeah, our government has complete disregard for Palestinian lives because there was also a lot of Palestinian Americans that have been dead. Ye, and our lives are my life or others that are just American with another nationality have you know, I guess a little bit more value in their eyes. But because they don't want outrage, international outrage. But yeah, our government they haven't reached out to me, which showcases that they

don't care about US citizens that support Palestine. Even Biden said that, you know, if a US citizen got hurt, you would do something, and nothing has happened.

people do? Like how you've been there, you've seen it, Like, how do people most effectively be in solidarity?

But here, I think it's continuing to build up anti impeerless organizations like on By and like the many pro Palestinian organizations, like many revolutionary Black organizations, and then uniting and come in together to create a power that is beyond the two party system and uniting with everyone that is pro Palestinian that does want to see true democracy

in the United States and all across the globe. Because I was one person and people call me a hero, but for me, the Palestines face this every day, the heroes, and we should be uniting to support them in their liberation. And sometimes it looks like building those organizations. Sometimes it also looks like going to Palestine and joining things like FAZA, like International Solidarity Mission to you know, be a buffer as much as we can, even though it's showcased that

they don't care. And I think when we unify, we would be able to pressure, especially when we have good organizations, to pressure elected officials to really divest from the two party system and people that support genocide and have that pressure amount to more than the lobby for Israel or you know, people lobbying for arms for Israel, to have that outweigh the pressure financially that they have politicians.

the ground as well as I believe contacting them. There's a general fund for folks that want to travel to Palestine but are not able to, so there's a general fun for that in the future. My friend was going to make a T shirt to help fund the Palestinian Ambulance Center over there that I got a first aid training with Amado Sison on there. So I don't know if it'll work here, but over there desnin'tly. So there's a lot of different things. I know there's the different

camps that are being raided right now. I think there's some fundraisers for them as well. In Gaza there's plenty too. But in any way that people can contribute to any of those things, you know, it always goes a long way for them.