Joe R. Golowka JoeG at ieee.org Anarchist FAQ - http://www.anarchistfaq.org
"Every advance in history, from ending slavery and establishing democracy to ending formal colonialism, has had to conquer the notion at some point that it was impossible to do because it had never been done before...If you act like there is no possibility of change for the better, you guarantee that there will be no change for the better." -- Noam Chomsky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robby Barnes" <robby_barnes at hotmail.com> To: "Post to A-Infos" <a-infos-en at ainfos.ca> Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 5:01 AM Subject: (en) Bolivia - Anarchists Occupy Government Buildings (ca)
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> (translation from the Spanish by Robby Barnes and Sylvie Kashdan)
>
> WITH DYNAMITE AND MOLOTOVS, ANARCHISTS OCCUPY GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS (July
2,
> 2001)
>
> Juventudes Libertarias (Anarchist Youth), Bolivia
>
> Small debtors have been calling for a solution to their credit problems
for
> 95 days. At ten o'clock this morning some of them took over government
> buildings. Among them were members of the anarchist-feminist group
Mujeres
> Creando (Women's Initiative), whom the government named as responsible for
> the action.
>
> About a hundred activists occupied the office of the Defensoria del Pueblo
> (People's Defense). several dozen also occupied the office of the Catholic
> archbishop. But the most striking event occurred at the banking
supervisory
> agency, where a thousand debtors occupied offices and detained 94 of the
> institution's functionaries.
>
> One group of activists passed unnoticed by security guards, went into the
> banking authority building and took some of its employees as hostages.
> Groups were also able to enter the bishop's office and the Defensoría
before
> they were noticed.
>
> Once inside the banking agency, activists sprayed the entrance hall with
> gasoline near the door of the superintendent's office. From the top floor
> of the building they threw sticks of dynamite into the Isabel la Católica
> plaza in order to prevent the police from entering. Groups of
plainclothes
> cops attempted to retake the building.
>
> Top-level functionaries of the banking authority were tied up in their
> offices and bundles of dynamite were tied to their bodies to prevent any
> kind of police intervention. The activists wore dozens of dynamite sticks
> around their bodies and some carried old military firearms.
>
> At least a dozen activists positioned themselves on the balconies of the
> fifth floor of the banking authority's building and gave speeches using
> bullhorns.
>
> "We are here because nobody is listening to us. These people are showing
the
> typical hard-heartedness of bankers. We are here because we cannot pay
our
> debts." Their words echoed loudly from their fifth floor position,
> accompanied by insults and songs directed against the bankers.
>
> Carrying a bullhorn, molotov cocktails and sticks of dynamite, the small
> debtors walked around the building's balconies, setting off more than an
> explosion in the plaza Isabel la Católica in order to make their demands
> heard.
>
> One woman protester used a bullhorn to communicate her complaint to the
> police surrounding the place: "For the poor there is no relief, no
justice.
> They have taken everything from us, leaving us sticks of dynamite to eat.
> Because only the deal-makers have rights, we have been here, living in the
> street, in the cold of night, with scarcely one meal a day, for more than
90
> days. And nobody will listen to us."
>
> Representing the debtors at a press conference, another woman declared,
"We
> cannot leave while there is no dialogue to solve our problem, and if no
> solution is found, we are determined to commit suicide right in front of
> them--because we cannot put up with this situation any longer."
>
> This protest movement includes 12,000 workers and unemployed people who
have
> borrowed small sums of money and have been abused by the private banks'
> usurious practices. Today they are demanding total cancellation of their
> debts, an end to the suits against them and an end to the impounding of
> their meager goods. For three months thousands of debtors have been
coming
> to La Paz from all parts of Bolivia to stage daily protests. These had
> pacifist beginnings but later became more radical, going as far as
> attempting to burn banks. During the conflict, because of the misery and
> desperation surrounding them, more than six debtors have committed
suicide.
> Many have been forced to give up all their belongings and live in the
> street. Meanwhile, the government favors the rich by pardoning their
debts
> and granting them immense sums of money.
>
> In the middle of the night, attempts were begun to free the 94
functionaries
> still held in the banking authority building. This involved a six-person
> committee for assuring their safety, including the anarchist Julieta P.,
as
> well as some low types such as the rightwing legislator F. Kieffer, a
former
> paramilitary operative. While the negotiations continued the building
> remained closed. Included in the talks were debtors (headed by the
> anarchist María Galindo Mujeres Creando group) and representatives of the
> private banks, senior Catholic clergymen, the Defensora del Pueblo
(People's
> Defense), and members of Derechos Humanos (human Rights).
>
> There has been a ban on cameras and bringing in food or drink. The
building
> is constantly surrounded by a cordon of police. According to unofficial
> reports, sharpshooters have been positioned in the area and specially
> trained commando units have been brought in.
>
> The Bolivian government is openly fascist. The genocidal
President-General
> Banzer has had many social fighters murdered during the four years of his
> regime. We denounce the human rights clowns, the reactionary Catholic
> Church and the Bank vultures as makers of a smoke screen to divert
attention
> to the negotiating table while the government prepares its dogs to execute
a
> bloodbath.
>
> The activity of the small debtors is by nature anticapitalist, because it
> delegitimizes private property and directly attacks profits. It utilizes
> direct action and self-organization.
>
> The Bolivian state has been called the most corrupt in the Americas.
> Inequality verges on the sordid. Hunger, massacres and unemployment rule.
> The intensity of the class struggle is making the exploited more radical
in
> their struggles. Twelve days ago Aymara farmers blocked highways in the
> Altiplano region to demand an end to neoliberalism. The state responded
by
> murdering two of them. The answer was dynamite attacks on powerline
towers.
>
> We call on the anarchist movement in particular and anticapitalists in
> general to protest at Bolivian embassies, to spread word of our struggles
in
> order to stop a genocide in the making.
>
> Violence is justifiable, insurrection is indispensable.
>
> ONWARD TO THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION...
>
> DIRECT ACTION AGAINST CAPITAL AND THE STATE!
>
> Juventudes Libertarias, Bolivia
> Email: jjll_bolivia at hotmail.com
> Web: www.come.to/jlb
>
>
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