Horizontalism
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Praise for Horizontalism "To read this book is to join the crucial conversation taking place within its pages: the inspiring, maddening, joyful cacophony of debate among movements building a genuinely new politics. Through her deeply re spectful documentary editing, Marina Sitrin has produced a work that embodies the values and practices it portrays." -Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, co-creators of The Take "This book is really excellent. It goes straight to the important issues and gets people to talk about them in their own words. The result is a fascinating and important account of what is fresh and new about the Argentinian uprising."-John Holloway, author of Change the World Without Taking Power '' 'Another world is possible' was the catch-phrase of the World Social Forum, but it wasn't just possible; while the north was dreaming, that world was and is being built and lived in many parts of the global south. With the analytical insight of a political philosopher, the investigative zeal of a reporter, and the heart of a sister, Marina Sitrin has immersed herself in one of the most radical and important of these other worlds and brought us back stories, voices, and possibilities. This book on the many facets, phases and possibilities of the insurrections in Argentina since the economic implosion of December 2001 is riveting, moving, and profoundly important for those who want to know what revolution in our time might look like."-Rebecca Solnit, author of Savage Dreams and Hope in the Dark "This is the story of how people at the bottom turned Argentina upside down-told by those who did the overturning. Workers, community resi dents, and the unemployed drove out four national governments in two weeks; blocked highways and forced public officials to negotiate with them on the spot; formed hundreds of new participatory neighborhood assemblies; and occupied factories, hotels, and other enterprises and ran them under their workers' own control. Beyond that, this is the story of how they developed an emerging practice of 'horizontalidad' that is now transforming Argentine social relations day by day. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand what it's really like to change society from below."-Jeremy Brecher, author of Strike! and Globalization from Below "The movements in Argentina have been among the most creative and inspirational in recent years. Marina Sitrin's collection allows us to learn from the activists themselves and continue the experiments in autono my and democracy they have begun." -Michael Hardt, co-author of Empire "Marina Sitrin has provided an invaluable service to scholars and activ ists around the world by compiling the testimonies of the participants in some of the most prominent and original Argentine popular movements. These activists speak of political passion, determination, solidarity, and new forms of horizontal organization. They also speak of frustration, obstacles, and repression. Overall, their voices show in startling detail the stubborn hope of a new generation of sufferers and fighters. Sitrin should be commended for all the hard work that went into producing the book, a work of political love and companerismo."-Javier Auyero, author of Contentious Lives "This book is like a musical instrument, as we learn from the prologue, on which the reader chooses what music to play. This chorus of voices, recorded with such sensibility, echoes the diversity that gives life to the Argentine social movements. Taken each in their own right, they rep resent individual battles freed from the heat of a collective one. Ta k en together, they represent resistance on a human scale. The sound of this instrument is simple, but its echo profound."-Claudia Acuna, lavaca.org, editor of Sin Patron "This book contains much more than the voices and ideas of the on-the ground) architects of horizontalidad. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the ideological and material dynamics of the movement, presented by the participants themselves, as they respond to the insightful analytic probing of scholar/activist Marina Sitrin." -Michael Schwartz, author of Radical Protest and Social Structure "These are the voices of Argentina's grassroots activists, captured amidst the most important burst of democratic innovation the world has seen in the last decade. Listen, and learn how to make history from the bottom up!" -Marie Kennedy, co-editor of Radical Politics of Place in America, and Chris Tilly, co-author of Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits HDBJZIlNIAllSM EDITED BY MARIN A SITRIN PRESS, Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina © 2006 Marina Sitrin ISBN 1-904859-58-5 ISBN-13 978-1-904859-58-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2006920972 AK Press AK Press 674-A 23rd Street PO Box 12766 Oakland, CA 94612-1163 Edinburgh EH8 9YE USA Scotland [email protected] [email protected] www.akpress.org www.akuk.com The addresses above would be delighted to provide you with the lat est complete AK catalog, featuring several thousand books, pamphlets, zines, audio and video products, and stylish apparel published and dis tributed by AK Press. Alternately, please visit our websites for the com plete catalog, latest news and updates, events and secure ordering. Printed in Canada on acid-free, 100% recycled paper. Front cover photo by Nicolas Pousthomis/www.sub.coop Cover design by John Yates/www.stealworks.com Contents Translating we walk .................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................... ix introduction ..... .......................................................... 1 context and rupture ............................ .................... 21 horizontalidad .............. ................... ........................ 37 a utogesti6n .......... .................................................... 67 autonomy ..................................................... .......... 107 creation .................................................................. 131 power ..................................................................... 159 repression ............................................ .................. 177 women ....................... ........................................... 199 protagonism .......................................................... 215 dreams .................................................................... 239 index ................................................ ...................... 252 Photo Credits ......................................................... 256 Translating we walk Horizontalidad: Voces de Poder Popular, the original Spanish version of this book, was published in 2005 at Chilavert, a recuperated printing press in Argentina. The printing process was collaborative, filled with companerismo and love. As Candido (one of the compaiieros from Chi lavert you will meet in the book) often says: with solidarity and love all is possible. I am forever indebted to my friends at Chilavert for reminding me of all that is possible. This is not a conventionally translated or edited book. It has its own methodology, one from which I am never absent. I have attempted to work in the spirit of the new politics of affectivity. My aim as a transla tor and editor was, first and foremost, to facilitate the fullest meanings and sentiments of people in the social movements. Methodologically, I've done this through participation in those movements. The new politics taking shape in Argentina require new forms of translation, new ways of communicating political experiences. for a translator this poses a serious challenge. What I've chosen to do with this translation is to retain certain words that don't make immediate sense in English, leaving room for new meanings and significations. This process requires the patience of an un derstanding reader. As many of the people I interview remind us, old words cannot define new things-a new language is necessary. However, a dilemma arises when that new language is developing in Spanish and we, who speak English, generally do not yet share the experiences that are creating a new vocabulary. This is where the patience comes in. We must try to listen to the experience before attempting to translate it into the language of our own experience. In traditional debates about translation, there are two options: one can try to be faithful to the literal wording of the original or one can v vi Horizonta/ism create a new work entirely. The choice is between being loyal to the lan guage or to the experience. This new translation should be neither. It is first and foremost a participatory political process. New movements put new demands and expectations on translators and editors. They demand participation. Language is one of the most delicate, and tricky, political tools. Words and expressions are filled with previously held emotions and meanings. They have histories. Their meanings change over time. The tricky thing about this oral history is that, not only have new words been created in Spanish to describe new experiences, but the meanings of older, fairly common words have evolved. Patience and openness is required on both counts. One must simultaneously be open to a new, unfamiliar vocabulary and also understand that familiar words might signify in new ways. As Emilio, a seventeen-year-old activist in Argentina at the time of our conversations, puts it: So, today we're constructing something different. And, in the pro cess, a whole new language and new forms of expression come into