Luis and Ignacio Avaca Mansilla, are comrades arrested in May 2021 accused of sending a parcel bomb to the police station in Talca, an action claimed by “faceless entities, nothing and nobody that you know”.
Facing a new commemoration of September 11:
Let the best commemoration be actions!!!
(I): Memory and action.
This date is loaded with a historical meaning that many share, and, even if it is mainly the democratic left that seems to feel more appealed by this event, the anti-authoritarians and anti-capitalists who dissociate ourselves from that position have been able to commemorate it as well.
We ourselves remember it by ” mobilizing ourselves ” on the occasion. And it is undeniable that, for the current development of the confrontation, we have to take into account, critically, the previous experiences of struggle.
September 11 evokes this. Apart from what exactly happened on that day, it reminds us of the difficult times that were inaugurated, of the diverse expressions and experiences of resistance to the dictatorship, of those who came before us: guerrillas, prisoners, the fallen, the tortured ….. And of the irreducible struggle that continued during the democracy, of which we are participants together with all the prisoners at war.
Against the complicit oblivion and indifference with this social order, we exercise our memory, an offensive memory that does not drown in labels, but gathers all the historical tradition of conflict exercised in this territory, in dictatorship or in democracy.
We do not forget, much less forgive, and that is what is manifested in each attack against authority, its accomplices and its executioners.
(II): Continuities and Discontinuities.
We know the abysmal ideological, ethical and political differences that we, the anti-authoritarians, have with the actors who, at that time, gave face and resisted. However, we still consider the commemoration desirable, not because we need anniversaries to attack normality, but because any day is a good day to take action. This last one is, without a doubt, the best commemoration for all those who died and fell in dictatorship and democracy.
Memory is an excellent weapon, as long as it is accompanied by actions. We dissociate ourselves from all victimization, political opportunism, and idolization of the prisoners and/or the dead that are disguised as “commemoration”. The fallen and the prisoners are remembered with deeds. Not with slogans, not with flags, not with the crumbs that many demand from the enemy. Prison, persecution, and ultimately death, are always latent possibilities for those of us who declare ourselves at war with the established. And if we must weep for the dead and the caged, let that weeping become a war cry.
(III): Dictatorship and Democracy
Those we remember on this date are not so much the political left of that time, since they were, for other more like-minded comrades, the executioners in a democratic government like the one we have today. And we refer to the persecution of those who did not reduce themselves to institutional means and opted for confrontation, both during the democratic government of the Unity Popular and during the dictatorship, as well as during the subsequent “transition” and democracy.
In view of this, we are absolutely certain that any government is undesirable by the fact of its existence. A dictatorship is not necessary for the government of the day to rape, kill and exploit the heterogeneous oppressed masses.
Perhaps the pandemic context and the associated constant state of emergency has shown us that democracy has nothing to envy to a dictatorship. And we do not say this because this democracy is not authentic. In fact, we consider ourselves antidemocratic precisely because this ugly reality we live in is a completely healthy democracy: with wage-earning exploitation, with animal exploitation, with monopoly of violence, with prisoners, with deaths and even with militias in the street! But also, always, with confrontation and antagonism towards all authority, be it civil or military.
Democracy and dictatorship are not so different: both have earned our hatred. There is nothing that makes one or the other more desirable.
Those we truly remember are all those who gave their lives and their peace of mind to fight against democracy and dictatorship from anonymity, in silence and opting for the greatest possible harm.
(IV) To conclude…
We call for solidarity with the prisoners and to commemorate our dead with deeds rather than words. Always remembering that the fallen and the imprisoned are comrades, not idols or heroes. We also take this opportunity to express our most resentful repudiation of the patriotic paraphernalia that floods the month of September, with its pathetic nationalism and its speciesist traditions. We also deeply repudiate all political platforms and collectives that have taken advantage of the situation of the prisoners as a campaign image, trying to improve their popularity and thus secure seats in the new institutionality. Even if they shout our names we would not support their complicity with the established order.
A double hug for all those vandals who have sprayed our names on the streets. Also for all our brothers and sisters imprisoned in the $hilean territory and the world.
Greetings of encouragement to all those who discarded the recipes of utopia and embrace their present in the confrontation with the existing.
Death to dictatorships, death to democracies: against all authority!
No idols, no heroes: prisoners at war!
Less slogans, more action!
Imprisoned but never defeated!
Ignacio and Luis
Source: Publicacion Refractario