In late 2001 the Argentine economy collapsed. People’s bank accounts were frozen and the state offered nothing by way of a solution; the people went out into the streets, banging pots and pans, singing ‘Que se vayan todos’ (‘They all must go’), and with popular power forced out five consecutive governments. While the governments were being forced out, and as a product of being in the streets together, they began to look to one another and organize in horizontal assemblies – on street corners, in workplaces and unemployed neighborhoods. Hundreds of thousands became engaged in autonomous self-organized projects (autogestión), finding ways to support one another and solve their problems, both together and horizontally. Land and workplaces were recuperated, a barter network of millions of people developed, and the movements linked with one another. The state and forms of representation were the problem; autogestión, autonomy, and horizontalism were the tools for creating new subjectivities and dignity.
I never would have imagined, strong as my imagination is, that ten years after the popular rebellion in Argentina, millions of people around the world would be organizing in such similar ways. Much in the same way as in Argentina, people around the globe are rejecting representational politics while simultaneously experimenting with forms of direct democracy, autonomy, and direct action, from Cairo and Athens to Madrid, New York, London, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Reykjavik, and so many other thousands of cities, towns, and villages around the world. In these thousands of locations people are using public space to assemble and create new relationships, to create alternative forms of power – not by looking to the state or institutional powers as their point of reference, but instead by looking to one another. Often these people are using the language of horizontalidad: horizontalism or horizontality. This myriad of occurrences makes reflections on the lessons and challenges of the autonomous movements in Argentina all the more important and urgent. For example, what happened to the massive neighborhood assemblies, recuperated workplaces, and unemployed movements there? Do they still practice horizontalidad? What sorts of structures have evolved? What about the question of autonomy and the relationship to the state? Have people begun to create a path that is ‘with, against, and beyond the state’, as many claim they desire? The goal of this book is to help answer these questions, and simultaneously open up more questions, based on current global practices, with the desire to go further and get closer toward freedom.
The global emergency break
‘Marx says that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise. Perhaps revolutions are an attempt by the passengers on the train – namely, the human race – to activate the emergency break.’ Walter Benjamin’s words, written decades ago, resonate perfectly with what has been going on across the globe, from the 2001 popular rebellion in Argentina to the 2010–2012 and ongoing uprisings and movements.
The Zapatistas emerged in Chiapas, Mexico in 1994, declaring a resounding ‘Ya Basta!’ (‘Enough!’); in Argentina in 2001 the popular rebellion sang ‘Que Se Vayan Todos!’; in Spain and Moscow the slogan was ‘You do not represent us!’; in Egypt they declared ‘Kefaya!’ (‘Enough!’). In that moment, the scream of ‘No!’, these people pulled the emergency brake. In the USA we are the 99 per cent, in Spain Democracia Real Ya! (Real Democracy!), and in Argentina it was or is horizontalidad and autogestión. It is not about asking for power, it is about creating a different power. It is not about asking liberal democracy to be democratic, but rather about creating real democracy.
The how and why of this book
The reasons for writing Everyday Revolutions have become increasingly apparent and important to me. The how is a longer story. I moved to Argentina soon after the popular rebellion, hoping to help facilitate the many voices of participants in the movements with others around the world. The result was first a Spanish compilation, Horizontalidad: Voces de Poder Popular en Argentina, and then its English translation, Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina. In the years since completing the books in 2005 and 2006, I have continued to spend time in Argentina and relate with the many movements. As things changed, challenges grew, and new paths to surpass them were experimented with, I continued to do interviews, again imagining another oral history. However, after many conversations with compañeros about what might be most useful, I made the difficult decision to write more of a reflective and analytical book instead, relying on what people had said and what I had observed, but using my voice as the motor and refractor. This book is a result of that process. It is also a product of what was my dissertation, although from the beginning my relationship to Argentina has been one of militancy and that of another movement actor from another place, not as an academic doing fieldwork or research on an ‘other’.
I have struggled a great deal in writing this book, and I can still honestly say that I am not totally comfortable with having written it. Not that I think the ideas are not important, or the lessons not central – I do, otherwise you would not be reading these words. My struggle is that of place and location, of being a movement participant based in the USA, or anywhere ‘outside’ a struggle to which one is not an active participant, which is a complicated position. I see this, acknowledge it, and struggle with it all the time. This position also means that I may have made many mistakes. If this has resulted in any misrepresentation of a person, action, or event, I apologize. Over the years in Argentina I became much closer to some movements and movement participants than others. This will be apparent in the reading of these pages. That I became closer to certain movements does not mean that those movements are responsible in any way for the conclusions I have reached: again, these words and conclusions are mine alone. I have been influenced and inspired by the many compañeros throughout Argentina, but I remain ultimately responsible for what is written here.
Photo 1 Workers in support of the recuperated Hotel Bauen