<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal;tab-stops:464.25pt"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#36670D;text-transform:uppercase">FINDING
COMMON GROUND IN CRISIS: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA AND THE US<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;display:none;mso-hide:
all"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3.75pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333">Written by Benjamin
Dangl </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:3.75pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:#454545">Thursday, 18 December 2008 @ </span><a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1636/1/">http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1636/1/</a><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:#454545"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;
mso-no-proof:yes"><img border="0" width="344" height="258" src="file:///C:/Users/SAHBIT~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg" alt="Photo from Libcom.org"></span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:3.75pt;text-align:center;
line-height:normal;background:#F1F1F1"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#36670D">Argentine
Neighborhood Assembly in 2001</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">People in the US seeking ways to confront the
economic crisis could follow the lead of South American social movements. From
Argentina to Venezuela, many movements have won victories against the same
systems of corporate greed and political corruption that produce economic
strife across the hemisphere. These movements also have experience holding
politicians' feet to the flames once they are elected, a tactic that will
be essential once Barack Obama takes office.</span><span style="font-size:
8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">A recent connection
between activist strategies in the north and south emerged earlier this month
when over 200 laid-off workers from Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors
factory </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"><a href="http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1477/1/"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">occupied their plant</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">, demanding the severance and vacation pay owed
to them.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">The occupation in
Chicago echoed the worker occupations of factories and businesses in Argentina
during that country's 2001 economic crisis, and is now looking even more like
the movement in Argentina: the Republic workers are currently seeking ways to
re-open their factory and potentially operate it as a worker-run cooperative.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">"This is a place
that should've stayed open," Republic union organizer Leah Fried told
reporter </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"><a href="http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/556"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">Meg White</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">. The factory could be very successful in
the long run as it produces heating-efficient windows and doors. "The goal
is to reopen the plant and create employment," Fried said.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">In Argentina, hundreds
of worker coops were formed after the occupations under the slogan,
"Occupy, Resist, Produce." During the occupation of the factory in
Chicago, workers and supporters chanted, "You got bailed out, we got sold
out," referring to the fact that Bank of America – a lender to Republic –
received $25 billion of the $700 billion government bailout, only to cut off
credit to Republic, leading to the closure of the factory. But after six days
of the occupation, Bank of America and other lenders relented, agreeing to pay
the workers approximately $2 million in severance and vacation pay plus health
insurance.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">A foundation created by
the Republic workers called the "</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"><a href="http://www.ueunion.org/index.html"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">Window of Opportunity Fund</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">," made up in part from the donations
received from around the US and the world to support the workers during the
occupation, will be utilized to seek ways to restart the factory.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">The similarities between
the workers' actions in Chicago and Argentina show that labor strategies
to fight economic crises can be applied as internationally as the free
market policies that contributed to these problems in the first place.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">One international
gathering that embodies the philosophy of cross-border organizing and
solidarity is the annual World Social Forum which began in Brazil in 2001 to
encourage collaboration and education between social movements from across the
world. In 2004 I interviewed </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"><a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/Hardt.htm"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">Michael Hardt</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">, the co-author, with Antonio Negri, of <i>Multitude:
War and Democracy in the Age of Empire</i>, about the role the World Social
Forums and similar encounters can have in globalizing social justice.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">"I was at two of
the World Social Forums in Porto Alegre, Brazil," Hardt explained.
"At one of them, there was this sort of counter forum going on at the
youth camp where there were groups from various places. I was at one meeting
where we had Italians, piqueteros from Argentina and a group from a movement in
South Africa that is against these electricity and water cut offs in Durban and
Johannesburg. It was great having three of them talk to each other, because
even in a straight forward, tactical way they are experiencing the same thing,
the same kinds of police repression and the same kinds of struggles. And it was
not really learning from each other, but recognizing a kind of commonality that
then creates new relationships… <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">It is that kind of thing that has to happen on
a much larger scale.</span>"</span></span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">As the economic crisis
in the US worsens, and the need to pressure the Obama administration looms,
movements in the US could seek such commonality with movements in South
America. Of the countless examples of recent social movement victories in South
America, here are a few that could suggest potential blueprints for social
change in the US.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">In the early 1990s,
participatory budgeting was implemented by the Workers' Party in Porto Alegre,
Brazil. This process, still in operation, involves thousands of residents
gathering to decide how government funding should be used for city projects and
development. Popular participation in this process prevents corruption, and
expands the conception of democracy beyond simply voting every few years for a
different political representative.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">During the Cochabamba
Water War in Bolivia in 2000, residents of that city expanded the meaning of
democracy even further when they united against the Bechtel Corporation's
privatization of their water. The privatization put everything from
communally-built wells and rain cisterns under the corporation's
thumb, and led to exorbitant rates few could afford. In response,
people from across economic lines joined together in protests and road
blockades and were successful in kicking the company out of town and
putting the water back into public hands.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">In 2003, when former
president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada tried to export Bolivian gas to the US for
a low price, working class residents of the city of El Alto rose up against the
president and his plan. Citizens took shifts at street barricades, distributing
food, spreading messages via bicycle and working together with meager resources
to fight the police and military, eventually toppling the repressive Sanchez de
Lozada government. That revolt paved the way to the election of indigenous
president Evo Morales, and the partial nationalization of the gas industry. In
his office in El Alto, Bolivian sociologist Pablo Mamani spoke of this
rebellion, "During the uprising, the state was broken, it stopped
existing, it died in El Alto."</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">Other Bolivian social
movements point to potential strategies for social change as well. Much of
South America's fertile land is in the hands of a few rich land owners.
Landless Farmer Movements (MSTs) across region regularly occupy unused land to
work it for their survival. The </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"><a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/538/31/"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">Bolivian Landless Movement</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"> has been instrumental in pressuring the
Morales government to implement much-needed land reform. Silvestre Saisari, a
bearded leader in Bolivia's MST, explained his organization's relationship to
the government in this way: "Our democracy depends on us as social
movements."</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">One story from the
neighborhood of El 23 de Enero in Caracas, Venezuela is emblematic of the
progressive changes taking place in that country. Juan Contreras, a radio
producer and resident of the neighborhood, talked about how he and his <i>compañeros</i> </span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"><a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/449/35/"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">took over</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"> the local police station – for decades an
outpost for crackdowns on leftist organizing – and transformed it into a
community radio station and cultural center.</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">"This place was a
symbol of repression," Contreras explained to me in the studio, which
still smelled like fresh paint from the recent conversion. "So we took
that symbol and made it into a new one." In words that reflect the
spirit of the worker occupations in Chicago and Argentina, and the need for a
broad grassroots response to the US crisis, he continued, "It is evidence
of the revolution made by us, the citizens. We can't hang around waiting for
the revolution to be made for us; we have to make the changes."</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:
auto;text-align:center;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black">***</span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">Benjamin Dangl has
worked as a journalist throughout Latin America and is the author of "</span></i><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"><a href="http://www.akpress.org/2007/items/priceoffireakpress"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements
in Bolivia</span></i></b></a></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black">" (AK Press). He is also the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a
progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, an online
publication on activism and politics in Latin America. Email
BenDangl(at)gmail(dot)com</span></i><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">Photo from</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:black"><a href="http://libcom.org/book/export/html/11090"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;color:#454545;text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none">Libcom.org</span></b></a></span><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>