Claudia López Benaiges was murdered on September 11, 1998, after being shot in the back by cops on a barricade in the La Pincoya neighborhood of Santiago, in the context of mobilizations commemorating the Coup d’État in Chile. López was an active feminist, anarchist militant and poet, in addition to studying Spanish pedagogy and dance.
Poem by Claudia López
The celestial litanies that fill the nights of the worlds, they incessantly question the anxious daughters of uncertainty. They explode dazzlingly like bodies that stretch through the walls, that burst forth through the whispers of light, that confront the airy and torrid abysses. The dark bodies of insurrectionary anxiety, of the subversive desire of the lunar chains, that poured onto the earth, they seek their names, those they do not yet have, that lie buried in the roots of the jungles.
Yesterday (October 11), hooded individuals erected barricades and clashed with the police in the vicinity of the National Institute in commemoration of the death of Denisse Cortés, a comrade and human rights observer who actively participated in the protection and safeguarding of her people in the context of social struggle.
On the other hand, a banner was unfurled denouncing mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds regarding the management and payment of overtime for some officials of the institution, who look after their own interests instead of those of the educational community.
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.
Ciclo de Cine March 2024Ciclo de Cine November 2021
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. Continue reading “Chile: Interview with Espacio Fénix EN/ES”→
Today 8M millions of women fill the streets of large cities around the world, we gather here again in this space of commemoration and struggle. We wish to keep alive the flame that those rebellious women decided to ignite hundreds of years ago and that today comrades continue to embody day by day from different trenches.
Over the years the struggle against heteropatriarchy has sprouted, resisted and persisted in many territories. Heteropatriarchy is present in multiple areas of our lives, both in our interpersonal relationships and in ourselves, we are constantly learning and unlearning, inhabiting new experiences that make us question and reflect from different realities and environments.
The heteropatriarchy hits harder to those who resist the subjugation of their nature, that which the system defines as normal, it is not the same experience that we live indigenous, intersex, trans, gay, non-binary, pans, lesbians. Above all, it is not the same for those who decide to attack every bastion that seeks to dominate and destroy us. For the same reason we do not raise the banners of passive victimhood, on the contrary, we aim at constant confrontation against everything that seeks to subdue us.
Today we want to remember different comrades who with their struggle have nurtured the antagonistic path that we have decided to embrace. Herminia Concha, Luisa Toledo, Cláudia López, Aracely Romo, Jill Phipps, Guilly Peachy. We also wish to emphasize those comrades who have fallen in confrontations or have been assassinated for their fervent commitment to the defense of land, water and territories and animal liberation. Nicolasa Quintreman, Macarena Valdes, Emilia Baucis, the three Mapuche weychafe comrades. Nicolasa fought hard against the installation of ENDESA’s Ralco project in Pehuenche territory. At the age of 74, she was found dead in the artificial lagoon of the same project. Macarena Valdes, seed guardian, defender of water and forests in the Newen-Txagil community, was found dead in her own home at the hands of hired killers from the companies RP Global and SAESA at the age of 32. Emilia Baucis, defender of water and territories, anti-speciesist, part of Lof Llazkawe, was murdered at the age of 25 by hired killers from the Riñimapu condominium in the context of a territorial recovery in Riñiwe Lewfu.
We remember every compañera/e who has been killed for fighting against the killing of animals and the devastation of their habitat. Because we recognize speciesism and patriarchy as two oppressions that share the same system. One seeks the subjugation of other species, considering them inferior, despite their capacity to feel. And the other seeks the oppression and invisibilization of women and dissidences, considering them inferior beings that can be violated and commodified. Therefore, we believe that it is not possible to fight for the liberation of human women and dissidences and ignore the violated females of other species. Continue reading “Chile: Words from Monica, Mawvnhko and Itamar on the occasion of another March 8th”→
On September 12, in anticipation of the imminent national holidays, anonymous individuals decided to set fire to the Medialuna1 located at the foot of the Renca hill, causing considerable damage.
The director of the Confederation of Chilean Rodeo, Roberto Concha, said about the attack: “We express our absolute condemnation of the arson attack suffered by our members in the commune of Renca, which caused serious material damage to a place where for six years there have been no Rodeo competitions due to the refusal of the communal authorities (…) This is a place full of Chileanness”.
Soon after, the “Grupo Antispeciesist Emilia Bau – Nueva Subversión”, claimed responsibility for the attack through e-mails to various counter-information pages.
Claim of the incendiary attack
On the night of September 12, days before the beginning of the patriotic festivities, we attacked the galleries and quinchas2 of a medialuna located at the foot of the Renca hill, enclosures that, under “sporting” and “Creole” motives, do nothing more than perpetuate the bad treatment and torture against animal life, as well as the livestock and fishing industry, hunting and vivisection centers.
According to the FEROCHI (Federación Deportiva del Rodeo Chile, founded in 1961 and which, in 1962, by means of an official document from the National Sports Council and the Chilean Olympic Committee, recognizes rodeo as a “sporting discipline”), more than 1,900 rodeos are held each year, demonstrating the systematization of these abusive practices. FEROCHI, the Federation of Horse Breeders, Chilean Huaso Clubs and Gil Letelier, among others, are organizations that are complicit in maintaining these high numbers. Therefore, we must not forget the necessary projection of anti-speciesist actions that seek to put an end to this reality. Continue reading “Santiago, Chile: Incendiary Attack on the Medialuna + Grupo Antiespecista Emilia Bau – Nueva Subversión Claim”→
On July 24, 2020, comrades Monica and Francisco are arrested in two repressive operations. The authorities accuse Francisco of sending explosive packages against the former Minister of the Interior Rodrigo Hinzpeter and the 54th police station of Huechuraba (Action occurred on July 24, 2019, claimed by “Cómplices Sediciosos/Facción para la Venganza”), while both are accused of the double explosive attack against the Edificio Tánica in the commune of Vitacura (Action occurred in full revolt, on February 27, 2020, claimed by “Afinidades Armadas en Revuelta”).
During these more than two years of imprisonment, Monica has remained in the module of public connotation of the San Miguel prison while Francisco was initially imprisoned in the maximum security section of the CAS but then transferred, along with other comrades, in June 2021 to the La Gonzalina prison in Rancagua, where he is currently being held.
It is fundamental to emphasize that both of them in this time of confinement have been a permanent contribution to the anarchist and social war debates through their writings, communiqués and articles, realizing that prison is not the end of anything but another trench from where to give continuity to the insurrectional struggle and that its walls, bars and cages are not enough to break the solidarity and complicity among the anarchists. It is also from that place where we must situate that Francisco assumed the facts he is accused of, thus giving validity and validity to an anarchism of offensive action and the need for the continuity of his blows. Continue reading “Chile: In view of the sentences requested by the prosecutors, solidarity and complicity with Monica and Francisco!”→
During the night of Tuesday, July 5, around 23:00hrs an anonymous cyclist was riding through the wealthy streets of Las Condes to stop at the intersection of Ebro and Encomenderos.
In the place is located the corporate building of the construction company Belasco, the anonymous cyclist manages to enter a small package through the fence to give towards the interior of the building. After a few minutes, the device explodes, causing damage to the facade, mainly to the pillar, the entrance gate and glass of the building.
The unknown silhouette manages to continue its course without any problem or being detected. The typical police personnel for these events arrive at the place: GOPE, LABOCAR, OS-9 in charge of the already traditional Fiscalia Sur, self-styled expert for these cases.
From the progressive government, the Minister of the Interior Izkia Siches said: “the investigations are in progress, I am aware of it and we hope that they will be able to give a quick account. These are facts that we obviously reject as a government and we hope they will not be repeated in our country”.
(…) In November 2017, our idea was to move away from the big cities, mainly Santiago, because of its frenetic way of life, and to start a self-sustaining project. Although I opted for that way of life, I did not stop thinking that the most appropriate way to fight against an overpowering system based on authority and predation is through violent revolutionary action. Only from this is it possible to achieve moments of destabilization that, even if they are fleeting instants, reveal the vulnerability of power
In the middle of 2018 I decided to start pursuing that kind of action (…) Once I made that decision I started to think about some target, being clear that if I was going to take a great risk, the action had to be powerful. I thought of carrying out an action as a response, as revenge against people linked to repression and business power. Both criteria were fully met by Rodrigo Hinzpeter, who in 2019 was manager of the Quiñenco group, whose president is Andronico Luksc. Hinzpeter had also been Minister of the Interior under the first government of Piñera, leaving a trail of repression that will be difficult to forget. He harshly repressed social and student mobilizations, trying to pass a law marked by prohibitions of all kinds, known as the Hinzpeter Law. As Minister of the Interior he was politically responsible for the murder of young Manuel Gutiérrez, harshly repressed the social mobilizations in Aysén and Freirina, militarized the Mapuche territory, resulting in hundreds being wounded, many of them children, and countless prisoners.
During the early morning of Monday, December 27, 2021, a loud bang shakes the center of the capital. An explosive device detonates against a window of the National Directorate of Gendarmerie, located on Rosas Street at the height of Teatinos.
GOPE personnel quickly arrived at the scene, and the South Prosecutor’s Office, which handles this type of crime, was present, entrusting the OS-9 and Labocar personnel with the investigation. According to the press, it was the Prosecutor’s Office itself which indicated the prohibition to inform and give more information. No pamphlets were found at the site.
Via email, the action is claimed by “La Negra Venganza”, which according to the text would be the same group that acted against a police station in 2020. The text details the use of industrial explosives, as well as ammunition in the explosive device, making an open call to expand this type of practice, to show solidarity with the prisoners and to expand the use of their name, and finally to greet other action groups.
***
Campaign of attack and revenge against the executioners. Act II
Explosive attack to the National Directorate of Gendarmerie of Chile.
“In a highly self-critical manner, the solidarity actions that are undertaken are generally reactive. There are no actions that are rather offensive… We all know where the guys are, they are walking around in their uniforms, and they do it with total impunity. And we know that inside they are harassing the brothers and sisters, they are making them feel bad, they are humiliating them…”
Mauricio Morales
One year after our first action, as the group that we are, and after much study, tensions, proposals and reflections, we are back. We are back, we continue with the campaign we started some time ago.
