Translation Note: This interview to this Mexican clandestine organization Células Autónomas de la Revolución Inmediata (CARI)[1] that was published just now November 2011, was taken more than a year ago. It can be noticed by the facts that it relates to, as for example, the references to the Greek situation.
It’s an interview that was getting bored on my computer. First I proposed it to a magazine, soon the time was short for its delivery. Then I was working on other issues. Now, that the media start again to speak about anarchists in the Distrito Federal (Federal District – Mexico City), I think to be appropriate to take the dust out from the interview and to present it (without any edition), before it gets again buried in my working disorder.
I clarify that there were two questions that CARI choose not to answer. One about its positioning, closeness or distance towards groups with Marxist lines. The other will be kept as private information.
– According to what I have read in your communiques, you are the group that is closest to an anarchism that goes towards the social movements. You don’t necessarily claim the concept of eco-anarchism, which would be (apparently) the most popular one amongst the Mexican youth that chose to embrace that ideology.
Yes in that case we can say that we, the CARI-PGG, are an clandestine organization that is organized based on affinity, practicing and promoting a collectivist-individualist-individualist-collectivist anarchism; for, to us, there’s no difference between these two postures because we think that they feedback each other by themselves.
For us it’s important to exist a social organization that is founded in the libertarian principles of organization and to this organization not to get stuck in slogans and demanding protests; but to radicalize itself in a way to derive in an organization that doesn’t struggle for reforms; but, starting from the base and from the “now and here”, makes an effort to build an autonomous and free world. [Is to say, that implements the] autonomy at the individual and community level but also has the will to destroy the present state of things, that is nothing more nothing less than the capitalism’s dictatorship.
We should build that organization and that free world, not with empty speeches as if we were some kind of politician, but on the opposite should be constructed in practice itself, in the daily life, starting from the individual change; is to say, throwing away from our persons the vices of the society, like machismo, sexism, homophobia, authoritarianism, etc. not teaching but rather impulsing and contributing to a real change.
On the other hand, for us, is as well of main importance, the destruction of what oppresses us, of what exploits us and tries to transform us in its slaves of capital and its social vices, in slaves of work, of the bourgeois morality. It’s important for us to impulse the collective insurrection, as well as to practice our individual insurrection, because we are not willing to keep on bearing their humiliations, their tortures, their hits, their commodified world, because we know that each vengeful attack against the police and their institutions is a solidarity attack with the ones that are behind bars due to fight, independently the reason why they are imprisoned, each attack is a clear message to the powerful that each abuse, torture, imprisonment or destruction of nature will be given back with the same strength. Are over time giving the other cheek to receive the second slap.
That construction and that destruction depends of our effort.
About why we don’t call ourselves eco-anarchists. It’s because we decided to claim ourselves solely as anarchists as the group’s general identity, although we are also concerned about the destruction of nature, in these times the ecologist struggle also was converted into a motto or a social struggle, as an example the struggle against the metro’s line 12, the struggle against west highway or the actions done in Guerrero for the defence of the woods, the spreading and radicalization of this idea of social ecology as well as the methods of struggle depends from ourselves and from many other radical ecologists (public or clandestine).
About the social movement, we can say that we’ve learned from them as well as we had disappointments, but we are self-critics and in general we say that […] certain things don’t like us and are not close to us but we neither want to be judges and condemn something that doesn’t take time or energy from us to put in practice. We were in the social insurrections and we’ll keep on being in them, to the extent that our possibilities and knowledges allow, contributing to the expansion of the conflict and of strongest hits, of course always with the face covered, the symbol of the secrecy that threatens the state.
We want this to be clear, we don’t pretend to organize the “masses” neither to direct them, neither to defend them, but to contribute to the organization and to show an orientation and a totally libertarian proposal.
– What is your positioning towards the eco-anarchist groups?
In general we think that it’s needed for these groups to exist, that fight in an objective manner against the eco-systems’ destruction, because we as well think that a free world couldn’t exist if still is being practiced the exploitation and domination towards animals and nature.
So, it’s necessary for sabotage and direct action groups to work thoroughly this ecology’s issue, in an objective manner as it happened with Rod Coronado’s and the United States’ ALF’s Bite Back operation where, based in strategy, technique and objectivity, was possible to attack the industry of animal exploitation giving a series of accurate hits to investigation centres; and, with it, provoking an unrecoverable loss of information gathered over more than 30 years that had been obtained from the murder of thousands of animals, as well as the physical damage to the buildings hosting such institutions. Due to this operation, the fur industry was almost at the point of falling down.
Other examples could be the action against the OGM experiment field, bio and nano-technology, sabotages done all over the world as in Switzerland or Germany, or objective campaigns that have yielded lots of success like the SHAC campaign in England that combines a lot of different strategies in actions, public and clandestine ones. and that, on this way, the laboratory against which the campaign is being hold , that is Huntington Life Science was about to falter, this campaign is a mix of de-centralized and objective, as public as clandestine, actions.
The movement for Earth’s liberation in lots of countries outside Mexico has taught us that with strategy, objectivity, direction and mainly with a well directed and centred direct claim, lots of things can be achieved. We take from all of this what seems important to us.
– What is your position towards the solidarity actions between anarchists of several nations?
Of course that is very good. In the last years it has increased in a very strong level, as in quality as in quantity of the solidarity actions between anarchists in the world.
For some people this can seem something new or something that is turning to be a fashion, but lets remember that in the history of the anarchist movement, similar actions as the ones happening now were done in the solidarity campaign with the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti who were assassinated by the North American state and for whom, from Italy to Argentina, was yielded a strong campaign of solidarity, demonstrations, numerous meetings, but mainly explosions and attacks – as the ones done by Severino Di Giovanni in Argentina – formed part of the protests.
In Mexico in the final times of magonismo (just to identify in a way the anarchist struggle from 1906 to 1911) when lots of people in Mexico and in the world denied them support, simply because they remained strong in their convictions, also then the international solidarity was manifested in which lots of known anarchists released texts supporting the Mexican anarchists and their local struggle, as an example, Enrico Malatesta. All this, as historically as nowadays, show the internationalist nature of anarchism, making clear that we don’t recognize borders neither flags but the one that is expressed by freedom, because we think that in order to exist a free world, there must exist the right to self-determination, but also the borders must be abolished. In Mexico and in the world there has been shown that whenever someone is assassinated, imprisoned, tortured, in every place where exists free people the interests of the international governments will be attacked, including attacks against the political representatives of the countries will be seen coming. For us, as revolutionary anarchists that we are, solidarity is not manifested in acts to raise monetary funds for one or other cause, for us solidarity is manifested permanently, it is not an isolated struggle, but it is the struggle itself. We show solidarity with the Italian Informal Anarchist Federation, the Greek anarchist groups: Revolutionary Struggle, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire and sect of Revolutionaries, Giannis Dimitrakis and anarchist individuals imprisoned by individuals action and with our revolutionary comrades in Chile, Argentina, Barcelona, Spain and in the rest of the world.
– How do you describe your organization?
We are a revolutionary anarchist clandestine organization that organize ourselves under the anarchist values, we don’t maintain neither a hierarchical neither centralist and even less a vanguard method of organization, we prepare ourselves physically and psychologically for the on going war and to the more difficult one that is about to come, we don’t have military positions and we don’t need them because we are against any type of control and dominion, and because we trust in the responsibility that each one of us assumed individually as well as in our collective responsibility, with the aim to organize and to contribute to the development and maintenance of this insurgent anarchist organization.
– Why do you consider that after a sparkling year to anarchism – as it was 2009 – nowadays exists a kind of calmness?
About this we think that one of the reasons why the present year was “more drier” when speaking about the action of anarchist and eco-anarchist groups is because in 2009 the stronger actions of that year were centralized in the entire month of September and in December, in only one night, were activated 13 explosives being the strongest the ones of Toluca and Metepec, But if we make a count about this present year, there were more sabotages than last year. Other reason is that while the anarchist struggle grew, the State raised its control and seems that not everyone is willing to take the risk for little (but important) things, also the groups seem to have reached other stronger and more direct phase of struggle. The struggle needs more strategy and objectivity. From our part we could say that preparation is also a factor that takes time, but that brings benefits and gives space to make better things.
– Would you attribute it to the detentions, to the falling of several blogs that were informing about the movements or to other causes?
We think that in one hand the detentions are debilitate, because it is true that it hurts to think of a comrade who’s in jail, but for what has be shown the detentions weren’t a factor that [prevents] the struggle from continuing, rather it is something more that impels to continue this struggle for the freedom of our comrades as well. What the state seeks is, with the prisoners in its jails, to scare the anarchist fighters or the action to be centralized only with the freedom of prisoners, neglecting other fields of the struggle, but the things turned upside down to them. At least the anarchist side has shown that, instead of making a separated struggle it is better to include the prisoners in the struggle itself. In Greece, for example, during the months of November-December there were raids and detentions and even so in the 30th December there was a high potency explosion at plain centre of Athens. This is social war.
– Do you want to add anything else?
We would like to display in some way the degraded situation of sexual violence in which is to be found Mexico City and all the country, because that jazz thing of social democracy and of Marcelo Ebrad to which ironically they called the best mayor of the world due to his supposed support to the women is pure permissive hypocrisy, because while more laws and laws of protectionism or of supposedly more liberties are invented, on the other hand the sensationalist media keeps on inciting and contributing to the sexual violence against women and homosexuals. It’s degrading every day to be shown, in a morbid way, [images and bodies] without head, slaughtered, and raped or insulted women.
This, instead of creating conscientiousness only helps the misogynistic sentiments to grow more day after day. This, instead of showing the reality that is being lived in the country only creates a reality of sexual harassment, discrimination, patriarchy and misogyny, because when on one hand the GDF’s government invents laws and organisms that benefice the women, the patriarchal domination keeps maintaining itself thanks to this kind of newspapers, magazines, videos and so one, in this way the problem is not attacked in the roots that is the culture and in power or domination sentiments. On the other hand this caricature personage called Marcelo was given the letterhead of best mayor supposedly due to his support to the “defenceless classes”, when on the other hand, Marcelo Ebrad instead of protecting poor people, let them on the street, evict people from the houses, destroys lots of aces of beautiful woods with only goal of benefiting the business sector and the city of vanguard, which is to say, satisfying their speculative plans as are the west highway or the line 12 of the metro. We support the protest mobilizations against the west highway.
On other hand, we know that the corrupt attorney of “justice” from Distrito Federal, [Miguel] Mancera has putted the anarchist prisoners under check putting all the possible barriers in order the prisoners not to leave the jails, lengthening processes, interrogating them continuously , etc. We know that Mancera is against the anarchists and wants to smash them by any means, whether they are from the public or clandestine area. A clear example was the march of 2nd October, where the DF’s Granaderos squad (Grenade brigade) tried to kettle the libertarian demo and to stop them to carrying on. So, in the last October we laughed in his face and of his useless policemen with the attack on a truck of the repressive squad of Granaderos. We want to say to Mancera that HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE US, that he will not be able to stop the offensive and we are proud that he hates us so much. He can be sure that the hate is mutual
[1] Autonomous Cells of the Immediate Revolution.