Sub.Media Chile Interview Feb 2020

I'm Kalcu. I'll introduce myself as Kalcu.

I live in an anti-authoritarian library

somewhere in Valparaíso

the work

i do is

I specifically deal with

actions that

have to do with creating propaganda

from this space

for context,

the library space is over 15 years old

for 15 years, the people who live

in the library

have generated activities

and

a political meeting place for liberatory

collectives, individuals, and

organizations

here in the region of Valparaíso

. . .

I think the first thing is to find a

group of people, a community, or a

union, or

or beings that are in your environment

that have any conflicts in common

and based on that conflict

to agree to organize

among people to achieve an objective

I think that organizing

it has to do with the ability

of people. That ability that

everyone can contribute every

one with his or her own knowledge

add up

and different visions and

different postures, different tools that

each individual each

person has then I believe

that organizing is

is important in the sense that

organizing can add up

a multiplicity of ideas easily

a wealth of knowledge to

reach an objective.

When it is necessary

to run, to get water

to begin to bring rocks

from such support on the streets

it's been very evident lately

that they are all important ways to help

each part of the street culture's

social fabric in the chaos like this.

Without the person who has baking soda,

or a lemon, or an ammonia, sometimes

people who are out there facing repression

couldn't be there

or wouldn't even be able to move.

or be able to get through the day

with the same energy

people who bring food that also

so

and all those kinds of organizing

I find it interesting that

so much of this is spontaneous

I'd make a point

about a symbiosis and a cooperation

among the people who happen

to be there at that minute,

without any kind of organization
or planning beforehand.

For example, there are people who get fed

but without necessarily knowing

that other people are going to bring food.

I think one of the most interesting things

has been these new possibilities,

these new visions

of spontaneous organization

where each person present has the

opportunity to support what’s happening.

If someone is more afraid than the others

it doesn’t mean that their presence

in the crowd isn’t valid or useful,
even if they're standing further back.

For me, I see “success”

as the capacity for changing,

in one way or another, the paradigms

they’ve had during their life.

Generally speaking, when somebody

first gets to know anarchist spaces,

there is a lot of change, lots of conflict

lots of transformation.

No one who leaves an anarchist space

is the same person as when they entered.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to know

spaces like that in Peru, in Argentina,

in Uruguay, in Brazil,

each with their own particularities,

with their own story.

Every country has its own context too.

I believe that

one success that you can

[Music]

savor within the practices of anarchists

is the ability to arrive somewhere

and meet new people and,

without even knowing them,

already have a sense of affinity,

or a little empathy, since there's already

in one way or another

certain points in common.

Then you have the quantity of experiences,

of knowledge, of tools

that these spaces are consistently

sharing with the people who visit

and live in anarchist spaces.

I also think you can measure success

by how well a project is received by the

rest of the community, in its neighborhood

whether that's the ghetto, up in the hills

[Music]

or downtown—wherever a space may be.

Lots of times they’re downtown

in the middle of the chaos.

Other times they’re on the outskirts,

or they’re in monstrously huge houses

that used to belong to the bourgeoisie,

or here in Chile there are cases

of spaces that used to be torture centers,

but in the end they

become political spaces,

political meet up spots,

a place for political resistance.

I think how a space is perceived

by the rest of the community

is important. Generally speaking,

when a space is opened up,

when a space pops up,

there’s a change with the neighbors.

There’s more connection

between the people

who get involved.

Often, the barriers of difference

and prejudice are broken.

People end up finding,

generally speaking,

a group of young people,

usually kind of strange ones,

just totally escaping normality

and normativity,

but when they get to know us and start

talking about these beautiful ideals

like many comrades are vegetarians

and vegans with

anti-speciesist views,

or perspectives against patriarchy,

against every type of violence.

Whether people pass through,

whether they enter those spaces or not,

those ideas catch on,

or at least that energy.

You can feel how these ideas are passed on

and how, one way or another,

they reach people and get absorbed.

There are many spaces, organizations,

collectives, and affinity groups

that operate under

libertarian ideas broadly but

not explicitly as anarchists.

Nowadays, there are lots of ways to

identify yourself as anti-authoritarian,

anti-statist,

or anarchist.

So, I believe that libertarian ideas are

a little more open.

They tend to have more

diversity within the same group,

while I think anarchist organizations

are a little more concentrated,

rather than opening themselves up

to diversity, the way more libertarian

collectives and communities do.

It’s hard to define.

Hard to parse it out, but I think that

both the individual and collective

positions of each community is unique.

Bluntly speaking—the question of hierarchy

and the organizational form they use.

Any party-based organization,

from the most left-leaning

to the furthest right-wing

utilizes a hierarchical structure

in its form of organizing.

They also form part of the

political circus, the spectacle

that people are disenchanted with.

Whereas the kinds of

organization anarchists use

always take an anti-state position.

They call authority itself into question,

they criticize it. They won’t submit

to the will of others

nor will they impose their own decisions.

I think that, sometimes,

for people who don’t know

much about the difference

between anarchists, leftists,

and other tendencies, they just

But in reality, no, anarchism can’t be

boxed into those parameters.

Rather, it’s a political position,

a philosophy that involves

political beliefs but,

more than anything,

anarchism

doesn’t use hierarchy

in its organizational forms.

Since we’re all so different,

the positions we take depend on

each organization, or affinity group,

or union. Here we also have

neighborhood assemblies.

There’s also cordones,

which simply means a sector of the city,

but the word is also used in reference to

geographically-based councils

that involve local residents,

shanty-dwellers, and tenants.

So, mostly, decision-making

and the forms of organization

are decided on together, whether that be

by majority-rule or by consensus.

Not all of them are totally rejected, and

there isn’t only one way to organize.

And there’s always the option to

leave a group, to start your own,

if you’re not happy with the

methods of organizing

or decision-making.

It’s in the hands of the collective.

In my time, through all the different

collectives & groups I’ve participated in

but also in other groups I’ve witnessed

while just passing through places,

rarely have I ever heard questions like,

“How can we attract more participants,

or more comrades?”

I think there are different positions,

for example more anti-social ones,

whose propaganda is more informative than

trying to attract new participants or

comrades or convincing anyone of anything.

So from more anti-social tendencies,

more insurrectionary tendencies,

from the most radical tendencies there

isn’t really much of a call or

direct invitation for people to join up,

or to start believing in anarchist ideas.

But there are comrades whose

political work is more social,

more based in people-power,

who believe in organizing from below

and neighborhood organizing.

And I think that the work they do

is also a kind of propaganda, & what they

do also has to do with art, with

artistic expression, with all kinds of

things that have to do with culture.

And there’s always the theory side too.

Which isn’t to say that other kinds of

tendencies don’t have

that kind of diversity, just that

the ends they’re seeking aren’t identical.

Even despite infighting between

comrades from more anti-social tendencies

and tendencies that are

more about social unity, we've had

both the possibility and the ability

to not identify each other as enemies

despite the fact that

we find ourselves

in different trenches.

So, I believe that the comrades that

show up in those spaces, those circles,

those affinity groups and organizations,

are there not because someone

sought to convince them of something,

but rather because

they felt attracted towards an idea.

More than being convinced,

those groups have participants

because of their own ideas and feelings.

And other people come through because

they want to draw, to express themselves,

for reasons that have to do with art,

or they have an idea for a project, or

because they have friends there & they

find themselves in a political project

where there’s lots of work to be done

with the community. I think here in Chile

we’ve had the chance to experience a

broad range of anarchist and

anti-authoritarian practices and tactics.

For me, strategy is

deciding on an objective

and seeking ways

to achieve that objective,

thinking about

how to advance towards it,

whether that’s individually

or collectively.

And depending on

the ideas that arise,

we can start thinking of tactics,

of the ways

to achieve those goals.

That’s basically how I see it.

On the one hand, we visualize, theorize,

develop our politics, basically thinking

on what it is we want—what we're seeking.

On the other hand, we start taking action

and we see how specifically we can make

those ideas real. In Chile, we’re lucky—

well I don’t know if “lucky” is the word,

but our history is full of conflict, of

blatant political persecution,

and of riots.

So conflicts and objectives

have always been present.

The strategies and tactics

that have been used in general

have been pretty broad.

Nowadays we can, for example,

hold marches, with the goal

of making visible, like,

of demonstrating discontent,

and that we are many.

Accordingly, the tactics

in those marches show discontent,

which is made visible with rioting.

People raise their voices, shout,

they can say whatever they want.

Then there’s blocking the street,

barricades—different kinds too.

There’s barricades with fire,

or with stones,

there are comrades who help

and rescue those who are injured.

I believe all these little roles

that emerge in the circumstances

of street conflicts are the tactics

that are getting adopted.

It also has a lot to do with the abilities

that each person may have.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of talk

about the primera linea,

which refers to the comrades

on the frontline

taking the brunt of the repression,

of all the police violence,

and they try to drive the cops back

with stones, with molotovs and slingshots,

with whatever they can,

even by just shouting at them.

and at the same time there are people who are

helping with

baking soda,

with milk of magnesium

to take away the irritability

from the tear gas bombs

there are people who are there to

help by driving their cars

to mobilize people in groups

relief teams and rescue teams

the tactics that are winning these days

can be inspired by other struggles

so for example tactics here have

been inspired by the conflict in Hong Kong

the idea of using lasers

and of using water jugs

to put out tear gas bombs

all these kinds of tactics are

lifelong learning the

constant learning

to observe also the conflicts that exist

around the world that also serve

as inspiration so that we can have

new experiences new ways of

attacking, new forms of resistance

within the territories in conflict.

When I was about to faint on the verge

of collapse and someone showed up

with a little bit of ammonia or

sometimes it was only water the

preparation and how it has evolved

all these forms of resistance is very

evident

Throughout history,

all these groups that generate

organizational circles

often get in internal conflicts

because of the strategies or tactics

that they use

and that generally

in different types of organizations

they aren't shared by everyone.

Today, what's happening in Chile is that

all forms of organization are

helping out, as long as they don't have a

party structure, as long as they don't

have an authoritarian position.

Today, we are able

to organize ourselves to

to help ourselves to add up

energy between territorial assemblies,

between affinity groups

between liberated spaces and squats

between labor unions

independent workers

among professionals and among people

who live on the streets.

The experience that is being lived today

in Chile is very enriching

in demonstrating this. In

demonstrating that everyone adds up

Beyond the capabilities or the

tools that they may perceive,

everyone can add to our strength

to continue the struggle,

with a clear vision, with a goal,

with an idea, with a force,

in the face of capitalist catastrophe,

In the face of the capitalist devastation,

it is necessary to have this energy.

There are those of us,

There are many people

who can't stay calm and continue life

in this "normality,"

when it is evident that they are

exterminating our future.

I believe that the learning or the way

to continue

absorbing

all this knowledge has to do with

quite a bit of communication,

oral communication.

As I was saying, Chile has a

long history of resistance, of

political positions, of poor neighborhoods

in the struggle. So, obviously today for

new generations of radicals, anarchists,

or more subversive people,

it's inevitable that things are learned

from the past. For example, this it has to do with the

student protests, blocking traffic,

building barricades, sharing pamphlets.

These are internationally used

resistance and street fighting practices.

And here,

it is possible if you want

to go know to make barricades.

you can go

on certain dates to the universities

and you don't need to ask any questions,

just observe.

Many,

many anarchist comrades from these

territories

are close to

formerly politically persecuted people.

I've known my fellow men and women

who are family members, who are nephews,

who are grandchildren, who are children of

politically persecuted, tortured and

disappeared people,

who now identify as

anarchists.

These experiences and knowledge

that only these people have, have been

and are being transmitted through films,

through conversations,

through documentaries.

The ways to learn

about this

and

to express that knowledge

to expand that knowledge

are always

very diverse

Communication, I think, is

basically one of the main ways.

To have the confidence to find

groups of people to who

you can ask about

how they worked and also to identify

and learn from the mistakes made by

groups, subversive groups for example.

Also, in these

territories we are fortunate that

many, many of us have

Mapuche ancestry. Also, it

is history that is important to

rescue and that obviously none of

us forget. We always have that

present.

We also have that duality or that

ability to position ourselves politically

like this from the point of view of

anarchists-but at the same time not

forgetting that we have our own

history. That, we have our own

individuality. That, we are from this

territory. That, we come from a

colonized territory. That, our

history and our practices and our

visions of anarchism

aren't going to be it 100% the same as the

fellow anarchists who are from

Palestine, Rojava, or Europe, or

from other parts of

Latin America.

I also believe that

we have

the capacity to find fun ways

to be able to

travel to meet each other.

To find groups, in which one

can arrive and feel comfortable to

to be able to learn with.

Part of what is happening now

you can see in one of the new slogans

used since the start of this new conflict

that, "It's not 30 pesos, it's 30 years."

We've been in this fake democracy

for 30 years.

It's like other democracies

world-wide.

I was lucky enough

to be part of a committee

for the student "penguin revolution "

mobilizations of 2006, when I was

a senior in high school.

In what ways have I seen that

that movement helped in the long term?

It's evident to anyone who is

in the street protests here now that

consciously open their eyes a little

and who wants to sense what's

going on around them, that many

of the people in the street protests,

much of the age range

that you see on the street

are people in our thirties,

thirty-somethings who were

in school at that time and that were

part of the "penguin revolution."

Today, some are professionals who

are in debt, living with the

consequences of how this

neoliberal education system works.

And, many others are not professionals.

Many others weren't interested.

Or, they weren't able to go to university.

They weren't able to get onto

this production line-

this social production line.

At the same time, others who

also suffer from the

consequences of this capitalist system

and who have followed the students'

example today have knowledge

- know how the mobilizations of 2006

- know that promises were made that

were never fulfilled.

As a result, 2011 also saw

an explosion from the students.

Because nothing had changed.

Today, more than 10 years later,

the same claims continue to be made

and the same objectives

are still being sought.

And beyond having not learned,

I don't think knowledge is there.

For example, in the streets

you see all these people that at some

point were also facing

from their schools from the shots

the protests that have taken place in the

were doing on the street

yes at least I can also observe

that a great has been a great a great

age range so younger so more

adolescents do not have as much as the

experience or knowledge of what

are in manifestations of what there is

in which to confront the repression

from the police

there's quite a bit of innocence to be had as well.

medium

but today we're already

several months of conflict already then

many of the knowledge that is not

attended until the beginning of this

conflict and I think that in the latter

weeks now

it's much more common to meet people

who is already more or less clear about what

how to protect yourself how to take care of yourself

how to take care of colleagues

I believe that

I don't know if I could set such an example

so much of how the

experience of us who were in

the penguin revolution of the comrades

who were later in the

mobilizations of 2011 but I do think that

when you're on the street than when

you look around and you find

people who are just starting out that

don't know and they join people who already

have been a rhythm like that much longer

advanced

I think that's where

it's clear that maybe it goes beyond

of words but gives directly

embodied in the

I would invite the Gauls and the

fellow anarchists

that we have the possibility of

to be able to organize ourselves to be able to have

positioning and policies from a

skill intersection

we have the I can get lucky today in

day on the basis of the conflict that is being

living our territories in what

I've always watched and seen a lot here in the

anarchist circles that were closing in

a lot of affinity group theories

which more or less everyone was chasing

and they all had more or less goals

very similar ideas and practices

anarchism at every level to the most

social is actually under a ghetto

then I guess my advice is that

open up to the possibility of opening

to open up these ghettos to the

possibility of being able to organize with

people who may not

necessarily were artists

that those who embrace and ideas

anti-speciesist to embrace ideas

anti-patriarchal

[Music]

to embrace ideas and spirituals that

let's rescue a little bit of the ancestry

lost that these centuries of colonization

western european white hetero

patriarchal has imposed on us has

snatched

is that as opening up the possibilities

of believing in other hobbies than being

open up the spirit and

reconnecting with diversity

I think what's happening today

a lot of people joined in because of that for looking

to the side and see people so

different with such different ideas

with tools with knowledge so

different but at the same time looking for

the same dreaming the same fighting for

the same

finding themselves having the same

tactics the same practices

roughly that as

not to fall so much into grandchildren where

think is all the same if not all the

contrary to opening ourselves up to the possibility of

relate to multiple forms of

think