ES: (Chile) Entrevista a Espacio Fénix
Opening the tensions of dialogue, we present the following section of interviews with individuals, collectivities and related spaces that make up the anarchic body in different parts of the world.
The interviews are a valuable contribution to the observation in detail and depth; they come, in a certain way, to broaden the view to give us feedback among comrades and to debate with perspectives and projections, that although they may be different, they converge in the ideas and practices of freedom against all authority.
Without further ado, we have in this first venture of dialogues the comrades of Espacio Fénix.
1-How and when did Espacio Fénix arise, and what projects converge in the space?
Espacio Fénix was born in the middle of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2021, in the midst of a series of ridiculous mobility restrictions and increased police intervention under the excuse of controlling and preventing the spread of covid-19.
Thus, a group of compañerxs got together, seeking to open a crack, a fissure within the asphyxiating panorama that was regulating everything, imposing the rhythm of power and where many seemed to be accommodating or waiting for the authority to give us “permission” to resume our lives.
We embarked on the idea of opening a physical space where comrades could converge, where anarchic material could circulate and where new comradeships could be woven and articulated. Thus in May 2021 we opened the doors of the space, we began to set up its infrastructure and in July we held our first activity in memory of compañero Santiago Maldonado.
Claustrofobia Ediciones, the Biblioteca Antiautoritaria Sacco y Vanzetti and various anarchic individualities converge in the space.
2-The “Ciclos de Cine” (Film Cycles) is the tool you have used the most to carry out activities. What is the significance for you of the screening of films, documentaries, etc.?
We started with the film cycles in October 2021 and we have not stopped every Tuesday, month after month, grouping the films by specific themes, seeking to stress our ideas and nourish our arguments with content, it is the beauty of the feedback between colleagues with diverse experiences and views.
From the very beginning, we proposed the screening of films as an excuse to sit down and converse, because after each screening, the central part of the activity comes to life, which is the discussion about what has been screened. There the words run, without leaders, where everyone can expose their dislikes, their liking or the results and analysis that is made of what we have seen. With this gesture we also seek to break the logic of passive spectators, of consumers, very typical of socially imposed roles.
In this sense, we have screened diverse audiovisual material, industry films, documentaries made by compañerxs, films that we like or dislike, always aiming at the discussion and tension between compas.
We do not seek to fill the cultural gaps of authority, nor to be the free panorama for those who lack resources; we seek, by different means and tools to spread our anarchic and anti-authoritarian ideas/actions, therefore the film cycles are just one more tool we choose.
3-Regarding the written material, what is the importance and power that you perceive in it?
The written material certainly has another power, another depth and transcendence, of course the spoken thought is important, but writing allows the ordering of ideas, so as to be able to reflect more carefully on what is going to be exposed and to assimilate/discuss more deeply on what is read.
In a present where immediacy, image culture, the digestible and pyrotechnical, where almost the medium is the message, emptying of content many of our tools, writing/reading is a weapon, which can also serve as a refuge, where to continue polishing and sharpening our ideas.
The written material is an instrument that impels us to grow, to argue and continually revise our positions, widening our views, shining light where there was darkness.
On the other hand, it is necessary to say that written material has always accompanied anarchists, as propaganda for the dissemination of ideas, it is an effective tool to enter into dialogue with more comrades wherever they are: in the street, in prison, or other territories. It is important because it nurtures individual thinking, as well as possible collective discussions.
The written material as propaganda can bring together comrades and depending on the objectives and projections that we have, we can realize initiatives of various kinds. In the same way that we can find ourselves on the path of anarchic struggle, we can also distance ourselves from people who spread anarchist propaganda of other tendencies, for us those who are called to participate in the electoral circus, appeal to platform organization, dream of unity and large federations and those who reject legitimate political insurrectional violence – to give just a few examples – puts us in another place on the sidewalk and in several cases as enemies.
4-There are political-cultural spaces that coexist peacefully with power, while others attract police attention. Why do you think this happens? Are there more dangerous ideas-practices? If so, what would these be?
We don’t think this was the intention of the question, but it is worth clarifying to avoid pejorative atmospheres. For us, anti-power spaces/ideas/practices (truly anti-authoritarian and anarchic, leaving out and fighting the bullshit of “popular power”) by definition do not coexist peacefully neither with power, nor with authority, nor with the police and their investigators of all kinds.
Police eyes and ears are always there, to believe otherwise is naive and dangerous. They let themselves be seen or directly attack depending on conjunctures or panoramas that mark a change of rhythm.
In this sense, it is not the police harassment that defines our comrades’ ties -it is defined by our ideas, values and projections- because valuable initiatives that are undoubtedly a contribution to the anarchic tide, may not receive the police onslaught in an evident and grotesque way and not for that reason be considered “legal”, “innocent” or in any way aspire to coexist peacefully with the power. For example, at present there are activities that do not receive police interference, but that 3 or 4 years ago were seen as a danger and received harassment; we are talking about common pots or self-defense activities. It does not change the activity or the background, but it changes the perception of power or the effect it seeks to achieve as a chain reaction (fear, disarticulation, etc.).
Now, it is important to emphasize that these types of practices carried out by those in power are part of their work, and must be understood as such. They have always existed and will continue to exist, we do not say this in an alarmist way, much less to call for immobility or to “disappear” from certain spaces. Simply because it must be clear, those who consciously decide to undertake a confrontational path to power and propagate it in multiple ways, may encounter those enemy dynamics, therefore, the consequences must be assumed.
5-What could you comment on the anti-anarchist panorama in Chile and in other parts of the world?
Understanding that the foundations of this civilized world are founded on the corpses of all species and its existence subsists through the exploitation of all beings (from the enormous blue whales to the smallest grain of land), it is clear that there must be a clearly warlike position against those who seek the destruction of all exploitation and therefore the extinction of all authority.
Having said this, it is true that in the face of the instability of the world political scenario, which must deal with the rivalry of forces arising from drug trafficking on the one hand and managing the natural catastrophe on the other, the ideological polarity between those who seek to conquer power has become more acute. Faced with so much concern, citizens immediately appeal to a tighter control either from the State or from other institutions of power (depending on the ideological sector from which each one approaches it). A clear example is Bukele, whose (at least in appearance) fierce fight against “crime” is celebrated across the board, even if this means intensifying the police state and reinforcing the prison society.
To raise logics at the margin of the established, or that directly sustain a confrontation to the imposed are increasingly scarce, and therefore as anarchists we are totally surrounded by enemies of all political hues.
Following this line, it is necessary to mention the obvious blows of the enemy from the legal and penitentiary framework against subversive comrades and anarchists related to the insurrectional tendency who were imprisoned for different acts of political violence.
We have the aberrant example of the life imprisonment of compañero Marcelo Villarroel, who has already served more than a decade in prison for two bank robberies – sentence served – but currently he cannot access benefits to achieve his release because he is sentenced through the military justice system to several decades in prison for urban guerrilla actions in the 90s when he was part of the armed group Mapu-Lautaro.
We also have the recent events involving compañerxs Mónica Caballero and Francisco Solar, convicted for different attacks with explosive devices on the capital, specifically in Santiago. Sentences to decades of imprisonment, the highest related to this type of action. The clear signal from the power is to seek to inhibit political violence through the fear of a long stay in prison -even finding death there- for those who dare to carry out similar actions.
From the international level, mention must be made of the different operations against public anarchic environments and comrades in the Italian territory. For several years we have followed the various raids of the so-called political police against spaces, bugging and technological tracking through GPS on vehicles of comrades to give some examples. The objectives of power have already been mentioned, to disarticulate projects and environments, to generate fear and distance from spaces possibly under surveillance, etc. Several of these cases have ended with restrictive legal measures, house arrests and prison sentences.
Understanding that the enemy is perfecting itself and clearly the Chilean model always has an eye on how European intelligence works, the latter must always be taken into account.
But we refuse to victimize ourselves. In that sense, rather than speaking of an “anti-anarchist panorama”, we prefer to claim explicitly a mutual hostility because, as we said previously, by definition we do not have a peaceful coexistence with power. We gladly assume this permanent antagonism to a power that aspires to be perpetual. To position ourselves at war with this unfortunate reality is inherent to our essence, there is no other way if our horizon is the destruction of all cages and total liberation.
6-During the pandemic there was a dramatic increase in the use of social networks by anarchic environments. Does this currently demobilize or empower participation in anti-authoritarian instances? Do you think that Internet media, all those that come to mind, serve for the propagation of anarchy? Can particularities be highlighted for each one?
We do not think that networks per se have the power to enhance or demobilize participation, on the contrary, the attendance to an activity is more the result of the state of the current anarchic environments than a lack or overuse of social networks. Now, we do believe that there may exist from the social networks themselves, in the eyes of compañerxs, an overdimension of the activities, since you can see how on Instagram an activity can have many “likes”, but it is never reflected in the attendance to it.
Undoubtedly the activities will arrive in one way or another to these massive networks by the accounts themselves that seek to contribute to counter-information, although of course there is little questioning of the pace of sites like Instagram, which is today the most used social network by local anarchic environments, where an activity or relevant information can easily be forgotten in a sea of constant and rapidly consumed information.
We question whether virtuality could really propagate anarchy, the latter understood as a constant tension against power and its society, therefore, we could understand it more as a means where anarchist propaganda is spread than anarchy itself.
Although we must also recognize that there are currently several compañerxs who have approached contexts or thoughts through the networks, but it is the encounter outside of this virtual-spectatoriality that gives anarchy its movement and danger.
As for the particularities that could be highlighted for each social network, it is complicated for us to give an answer. Since we do not make much use of these platforms. But in the case of understanding the question beyond social networks to other virtual media, we could highlight the usefulness of tools such as RiseUp, Signal and counter-information blogs in that they escape from the imposed algorithms.
7-Counter-information projects have accompanied anarchist work for years in different languages and territories. Are they still a means for dialogue? Do you think they have lost space in the face of social networks and immediacy?
Counter-information projects -referring to blogs- have accompanied anarchic work for a couple of decades now, where we have been finding communiqués, articles, essays, reflections, activities, propaganda, etc. The dissemination of ideas and practices that come from a confrontational position to power achieve greater closeness and affinity.
Taking the time to “navigate” is totally opportune, getting to know the multiple initiatives that can be disseminated from different territories can feed convictions and individual anarchic positions and of course the collective tension when desired. Many of us comrades have been nourished through those initiatives, finding the necessary information for multiple purposes.
On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize the valuable daily work of those who raise those means of counter-information and translation, understanding the time dedicated to that tool. Moreover, from the territory where these media are being used, power is also aiming its sights. It is known of several police operations unleashed against anarchic projects, so this work and the enemy should never be underestimated.
Counter-information projects continue to be a means for dialogue, we believe it, we reaffirm it and we practice it. However, we cannot deny that over the years the immediacy of the social network has gained ground. Many comrades do not know the blogs directly, and this is a big problem. However, we refuse to be overwhelmed by social networks, so we will continue to disseminate and support those projects.
8-About the years since the death of Sebastián Oversluij (10), Mauricio Morales (15), Claudia López (25) and the recent death of Alfredo María Bonanno (December, 2023). Do you think it is important to bridge their memories with our present? Why? By what means?
Memory is an important pillar in the anarchic confrontation, through it we can learn and nourish ourselves from the part of the road that for different reasons we could not travel. To know and recognize our comrades who have physically departed, to know processes, successes, mistakes, to learn from them, not to repeat history in the same way (something impossible and meaningless) but to nourish and feed our own ideas and practices, strengthening our values and convictions.
Our dead are not a number or an abstraction, they are that energy, love, brotherhood, complicity that accompanies us, that whispers to us of their own steps, joys and sorrows, successes and failures, that which gives us strength just when the world insists on taking it away from us.
For this reason and much more that cannot be described in words, strengthening these bridges of memory is fundamental and this can be done in various ways (there are many more to be invented in fact): countercultural activities, propaganda, street agitation, books, songs, clandestine actions; in short, the imagination is the frontier, understanding that everything contributes to the expansion of memory and to enable a fraternal dialogue with our comrades who have physically departed.
In this way we fight with death, with resignation, oblivion and silence. Memory is always a dangerous element for power, which does not seek to accommodate or position our dead in the ordered rhythm of the city, the academy or melancholy, but rather to allow them to continue taking anarchic steps towards total liberation, dangerously free and alive… even when they are no longer physically alive.
9-Closing words, by way of a call, invitation, etc…
We appreciate this instance where we can expose our positions in writing and contribute to the content of Informativo Anarquista, a project that we value enormously because we know from our own experience how undervalued it is to sustain counter-information projects outside of the harmful social networks.
We also call on the compañerxs who read these words to nourish themselves from their own initiative from blogs and sites raised by compañerxs instead of remaining in the passive comfort of what corporate algorithms offer us on instagram, tik-tok, or any other platform that emerges as a “novelty” in the future.
But we encourage such initiative to transcend virtuality and materialize in physical spaces and face-to-face activities that are convened. Many times it has been pointed out the apparent lack of “anarchic spaces” and although we agree with this assessment, we believe that it is also essential to join the existing spaces. In this line we clarify that Espacio Fénix is available for initiatives related to our ideas and practices, be it workshops, conferences, solidarity activities, etc.
We are driven by the need to sharpen the different knives aimed at power and of course among them is solidarity with the comrades kidnapped by the State, which we maintain by maintaining a permanent collection point for prisoners. To this we add additional collection points as for example the reception of sewing and knitting supplies for compañera Monica Caballero, and in the face of the fires in the fifth region we also received supplies for affected animals.
All this information can be reviewed in more detail in our official channel which is our blog: espaciofenix.noblogs.org. The physical space is currently located at Juan Martínez de Rozas 3091 (Santiago de Chile), and can be visited from Monday to Thursday from 17:00 to 20:00 hrs. The Biblioteca Antiautoritaria Sacco y Vanzetti operates in the same space on Tuesdays and Thursdays (same hours) and you can become a member by donating a related book or a ream of paper.
Come and visit us on our shifts or activities and let’s keep spreading anarchy!!!