BY MICHAEL KAUFMAN & HAROLDO DILLA ALFONSO COMMUNITY POWER AND GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY OTHER BOOKS BY MICHAEL KAUFMAN Jamaica Under Manleji: Dilemmas of Socialism and Democracjy Bejond Essqys Men on Pleasure, Power and Change (ed.) Cracking the Armour: Power, Pain and the Lives of Men Theorizing Masculinities (co-edited with Harry Brod) COMMUNITY POWER AND GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY The Transformation of Social Life Edited Michael Kaufman and Haroldo Dilla Alfonso ZED BOOKS London & New Jersej INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE Ottawa Cairo Dakar Johannesburg Montevideo Nairobi • New Delhi Singapore Community Power and Grassroots Democracj was first published in 1997 by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London NI 9JF, UK, and 165 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA, and the International Development Research Centre, P0 Box 8500, Ottawa, ON, Canada KIG 3H9. Editorial copyright © Michael Kaufman, 1997 Individual chapters copyright © individual contributors The moral rights of the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 Typeset in Monotype Garamond by Lucy Morton, London SEI2 Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn All rights reserved A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Contress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Community power and grassroots democracy the transformation of social life / edited by Michael Kaufman, and Haroldo Dilla Alfonso. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1—85649—487—X. ISBN 1-85649—488—8 (pbk.) 1. Community development—Latin America—Case studies. 2. Political participation—Latin America—Case studies. 3. Community development. 4. Political participation. 5. Social movements. I. Kaufman, Michael, 1951— . II. Dilia Alfonso, Haroldo. HNIIO.5.Z9C6259 1997 96—39524 307.1'4'098—dc2l CIP ISBN 1 85649 487 X (Hb) ISBN I 85649 488 8 (Pb) Canadian ISBN 0 88936 784 1 Contents Acknowledgements vii Foreword Rosnji Smarth ix I Community Power, Grassroots Democracy, and the Transformation of Social Life Michael Kaufman I Part One: Country Studies 2 Participation and Popular Democracy in the Committees for the Struggle for Housing in Costa Rica Silvia Lara and Eugenia Molina 27 3 Participation and Development in Cuban Municipalities Haroldo Dilla Alfonso with Gerardo 55 4 Popular Organizations in the Dominican Republic: The Search for Space and Identity César 84 5 Popular Organizations and the Transition to Democracy in Haiti Luc Smarth 102 6 The Hidden Politics of Neighborhood Organizations: Women and Local Participation in the Poblaciones of Chile Veronica Schild 126 Part Two: Theme Studies 7 Differential Participation: Men, Women and Popular Power Michael Kaufman 151 8 Political Decentralization and Popular Alternatives: A View from the South Haroldo Dil/aAlfonso 170 9 New Social Movement Theory and Resource Mobilization Theory: The Need for Integration Eduardo Canel 189 About the Contributors 222 Index 224 Acknowledgements Finishing work on this particular book is a bitter-sweet experience. Over the course of seven years a group of us worked together on an ambitious project that brought together colleagues from seven, eight, nine countries. Our aim was simultaneously to build a research network that spanned North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and, eventually, South America (and four different native tongues — Spanish, English, French, and Haitian Creole) and to conduct a novel bit of research on a co- operative and collaborative basis. Sometimes months would pass when we were unable to communicate among ourselves so bad were phone and mail connections in some cases. Seeing the project come to an end brings an immense sense of satisfaction, but also sadness, as a period of our lives comes to an end without a clear idea when we will see each other or have the pleasure of working together again. This work has benefitted from the contribution and dedication of so many individuals. In particular, I would like to thank Sheilagh Knight, who worked tirelessly at CERLAC as the project administrator during its most difficult two years. I would also like to thank Liddy Gomes, the tireless CERLAC administrator and a source of advice and help on matters large and small. I am indebted to Lizeth Alvarez and Sabrina Blackstad, the persons-of-all-trades at CERLAC during the project, and Barbara Anderson, our original part-time project administrator. Former CERLAC Director Alan Simmons played a key role in encouraging me through the difficult first stages of this project and generously giving both his time and invaluable advice. All my colleagues at CERLAC were a source of ongoing encouragement, but let me mention Liisa North, who for two years during the project was the Acting Director of CERLAC; Peter Landstreet, who was, for a period, Deputy Director; and Meyer Brownstone and Ricardo Grinspun, who were Directors during its completion. All were tremen- dous in their ongoing help. This project would have been impossible without the very generous support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa and the Ford Foundation in New York. At the IDRC, I would like to thank Andrés Perez, who helped in the original formulation of the viii Community Power and Grassroots Democracy project, Guillermo Thornberry, Esther Beaudry, and particularly Christopher Smart, who took over relations with our project during its most critical stages and provided not only support and encouragement, but many insights as well. At Ford, I would like to thank Michele Heisler, who participated in one of our initial workshops, Cynthia Sanborn for her ongoing backing, Rebecca Nichols, as well as Penny Alex and Peggy Greves. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council provided valuable assistance for one of our workshops and for the research of the project co-ordinator. Thanks also to Robert Molteno and the staff at Zed Books. In addition to the many colleagues who contributed to the specific research projects and whose names are mentioned elsewhere in this volume, I would like to thank various individuals who contributed to the development of the project through participation in workshops, prepara- tion of papers not included in this volume, and through early support for various projects: Barry Adam, Amparo Arango, Jonathan Barker, Deborah Barry, Julio Barrios, Meyer Brownstone, Almachiara D'Angelo, Hugh Dow, Norman Girvan, Andrew Goodman, Xavier Gorostiaga, Eddy Greene, Claremont Kirton, David Lewis, Laura MacDonald, Antonio Ruiz Meléndez, Brian Meeks, Malena De Montis, Steve Patten, Magaly Pineda, Luis Suárez, C.Y. Thomas, José Manuel Valverde, as well as the individu- als who provided fine translation at our three project workshops. Patricio Mason in Chile did the primary translation of the articles on Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. Lilly Nichols translated the Costa Rica article. Haroldo Dilla and I did additional translation; I was responsible for the editing. I would also like to thank my partner in those years, Maureen Simpkins, and our son, Liam, for their loving encouragement. My own research for most of those years was made possible by a Canada Research Fellowship, provided by the SSHRC. I would also like to thank my colleagues and their families in all the participating countries for their tremendous hospitality and warmth during numerous, but usually far too brief visits. Haroldo Dilla would like to express his great appreciation to his wife Teresa and daughter Charlene, who, along with his mother, form a tri- umvirate of strong women in his life. He would also like to thank his colleagues and staff at the Centro de Estudios Sobre America for their support and help, as well as the IDRC for its support for his project and for his own research while holding a year-long Pearson Fellowship in Ottawa in 1989—90. Haroldo and I would like to dedicate this book to community leaders and all those active in organizations of community power, not only in the countries studied in this project, but throughout the world. As researchers we may write about, reflect upon, and encourage their work, but it is they who are remaking their lives and remaking history for us all. Michael Kaufman Toronto, Canada Foreword Rosnji Smarth Prime Minister of Haiti It has given me immense pleasure to read Community Power and Grassroots Democracji, the result of a multi-country research project and the outcome of years of perseverance by researchers in eight countries and by the team at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) under the direction of Michael Kaufman. The welcome initiative by CERLAC to co-ordinate this research has resulted in a book of inestimable value about new forms of collective action that have blossomed throughout much of the Third World In Community Power and Grassroots Democracjy we are able to follow a range of popular organizations and initiatives in grassroots democracy in their formation and their evolution, with their diverse courses of action and modes of internal functioning, and in their ideological articulation and political action. Together, the chapters in this book give us the ideo- logical and methodological tools to understand that underneath their contradictions and ambiguities, their weaknesses and stumbling blocks, there lies an ensemble of organizations and practices with astonishing vitality and remarkable social and political productivity. In effect, these organizations and associative practices give all the signs of a new mode of political action that embodies profound socio- cultural transformation. They respond to the sometimes anxious search for a true citizenship that is rising in the hearts of the people in my region and elsewhere. And the search by so many directly challenges us all to work actively towards a new social and political order: an order that no longer centralizes decision-making, knowledge, and the fruits of pro- duction in the hands of a small minority. An order that, to the contrary, unites and harmonizes the work of all citizens and renders them able to act in a manner that is congruent with their rights and abilities.