The communal organization. An alternative for political participation from the base? (YO)

Approximate reading time: 4 minutes, 41 seconds

On the brink of a new municipal election, citizens will once again go to the polls without having their own alternative. Even though corruption in municipalities is constant news, the waste of resources is the norm, nothing interrupts the functioning of the political elites to impose their candidates. Even when everything calls for change, when the discredit of the parties cannot fall any lower, we will arrive at the next election to vote, but not to choose. Those who have already elected or are choosing are the party elites, leaving us only the responsibility of making a mark on a piece of paper.

We began to see in the news media, entertainment personalities being courted or proposing themselves as candidates, with no other resume than being known.

It is said that to change this reality and break the isolation of citizens in political decisions regarding the state and its management, a national political organization is needed as a structure and political alternative. But what happens when that does not exist nor is it perceived that it could exist? What happens when all the alternatives in which citizens placed their hopes failed? What is done then? We wait for something to emerge or we do something ourselves together with the most conscious sectors of society or the 38% according to the last plebiscite.

The exclusion

Since the transition to civilian rule in 1990, the situation has not changed significantly; Rather, the dictatorial tendency to exclude citizens from political decisions has been maintained and even deepened. Despite the passage of more than three decades, this pattern of exclusion persists and, in fact, has worsened. Citizens have not yet managed to break this sequence of isolation.

Throughout this entire period, from time to time, political alternatives have been introduced promising citizens the possibility of getting involved and being heard, such as “Together we can do more” or the TALM (All A La Moneda) at the time. . However, these proposals did not prosper in a manner favorable to the majority. The adverse outcome of these experiences discouraged numerous social activists who saw in these movements a way to overcome exclusion. The aspiration of different groups to impose uniformity and the constant pulling of these organizations towards various sectarian factions culminated in the dismantling of these opportunities for participation.

Recently, with the beginning of the new government, the hopes placed in the Frente Amplio and in a renewed enthusiasm of “now yes” were disappointed by President Boric’s repeated acts of repentance about his past political opinions. This makes it difficult to believe or trust anything you say in the future. Likewise, efforts to renew politics were hindered by acts of corruption by young people who came to transform everything, but ended up transforming only themselves.

For more than three decades, this has been the citizen experience, the indifference and exclusion of parties towards citizens, which has led social activists to distance themselves from the political-social sphere. This situation has aggravated the helplessness of the population, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. These sectors were not only left aside, but also unfairly blamed for the organizational and electoral defeat suffered in the last plebiscite, labeling them as responsible for the defeat and the immutability of the political situation. They have been denigrated with terms such as “poor fachos” and “borregos”, among other unjustified adjectives, generating divisions and greater social isolation. It is important to distinguish between analyzing the role of the most disadvantaged groups in society, who lack close references, and another is to hold them responsible for our inability to establish an authentic connection with them.

It’s not the first time

By the way, it is not the first time that citizens find themselves alone and without guides. Immediately after the coup d’état, when the political organizations of that time had to seek refuge and their militancy try to survive the onslaught of repression, citizens were left alone with their social and popular organizations with which they survived the economic burdens that the dictatorship placed on them. the shoulders of society seeking to introduce the neoliberal system. Despite the repressive limitations, neighborhood organizations were able to build their economic defense organizations. They created committees buying together by neighborhoods, common pots and defense committees against crime and if this were not enough, it was these communal neighborhood organizations that began the first protests against the dictatorship in the year 81-82, teaching that it is possible to break isolation.

Why are communes a good place to start organizational work?

Because communes are real as a concept, they are unique and connected to each other. We open the door and we are in the commune, we do not have to think about it as happens with the concept of country, which is something more abstract. It is the only place within the concept of country, where there are no hierarchies or titles, other than being a “neighbor”. It is the place where the worker, the student and every worker in their different areas can rest from the hierarchical structures of the companies and stop being a worker or student, to become a neighbor on equal terms with everyone else. The commune is revealing and does not lie about our equal social condition, where careerism and social classism dissolve into meaninglessness. The commune is the place where our feelings of solidarity and cooperation emerge in a concrete way in the face of personal and collective tragedies. We feel them as ours. The commune is the place where we cannot hide and we must be ourselves without masks, where our names and surnames mean something to the rest of the neighbors and community, where we are people and not just consumers, where we are someone. The commune is the smallest unit of the country-state. In reality, it is a small state made up of neighbors seeking socioeconomic development and working on solutions to their problems. The commune, with its particular characteristics within the country state, is presented as the most appropriate place to begin the reorganizing and transforming work of the individual and society that allows citizens to actively participate in the political decisions that concern them. It is here where it is possible to unite all the visions of social organizations, all the existing lenses into one and thus be able to look further than what we now do. The problem we face is how to convert this knowledge into collective action.

We could

Recover the experiences of the coordinators of social organizations active during the dictatorial era, who managed vast areas in the southern and northern areas of Santiago to coordinate demonstrations against the dictatorship. Currently, these strategies could be replicated at the local level. Various social organizations and neighborhood associations could be unified into a coordinator to defend common interests. However, in order to be heard or produce changes in the commune, this union must transcend the merely social and enter the political sphere. Taking a leap that does not imply giving up their social function in the various causes they support, but rather giving the coordinator a political role that allows them to present their own candidates for municipal positions, aspiring to obtain local administrative control. The premise is “Our communes, our representatives.” Our needs are best understood by ourselves, the residents, denying the need for external leadership, which is not only dishonorable by suggesting a lack of local capabilities, but also undemocratic by marginalizing us from the electoral process of our own representatives. To ensure the success of such an organization, it is crucial to maintain complete political independence from any existing political parties. The mission must focus on safeguarding all communal interests, ensuring the integrity and effective management of resources. This approach will initiate a process of learning and empowerment on power management and experience to face great challenges, serving as an incubator for the development of more mature and complex political positions. By the way, presenting an idea like this will be reviled as dividing people without experience to serve in positions of local responsibility, something that the parties do have. That can only be answered with Cathy Barriga.

Rafael Alfredo Cerpa