Alternautas

Solidarity, Worldmaking and Inter-Connected Geographies of Authoritarianism: Trade Unions and the Multiple Trajectories of Chile Solidarity

David Featherstone, Ben Gowland, Lazaras Karaliotas — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This paper intervenes in debates around the relationship between solidarity and worldmaking in the context of decolonisation and the Cold War. While work on worldmaking has drawn attention to key aspects of solidarity formation in this context (e.g. Getachew, 2019; Kelley, 2019), to date it has offered a limited engagement with the role of labour in the articulation of such solidarities. Here, we demonstrate how such a focus on worldmaking can help to highlight the multiple political trajectories that have been shaped through articulations between Chile solidarity and labour internationalism. Drawing on recent work on the Chilean Left, which stresses such multiple trajectories (eg Schlotterbeck, 2017), we provide three engagements with the opposition to authoritarian politics in different geographical contexts, foregrounding the role of exiled trade unionists involved in the Committee of the Exterior of the Central Única de Trabajadores de Chile (CEXCUT). These cases are the contestation of links between the Pinochet regime and Eric Gairy’s dictatorship in Grenada by Caribbean left activists in the Oilfield Workers Trade Union in Trinidad and Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS) in Britain; the role of Luis Figueroa of the CEXCUT and other Chilean exiles in shaping links between opposition to Pinochet and struggles for democratisation in the immediate post-junta period in Greece; and the role of maritime workers in British port cities such as Liverpool in contesting trade with Chile. We argue that through examining the relations between different trajectories of solidarity and interconnected geographies of authoritarianism, an engagement with worldmaking practices can help move beyond narrowly statist and methodologically nationalist frameworks.

On Weathering: Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Struggles Around the Nicaragua Mural in Berlin After 2018

Samira Marty — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This article looks at the process of historical reinterpretation and anti-imperialist struggle around the Nicaragua mural in (former East) Berlin to demonstrate how internationalist solidarity does not unfold singularly but in a multi-layered, often contradictory manner. Since 2018, this mural has turned from an inconspicuous site into a place of contestation. On the one hand, for residents, the mural has transformed into a projection of rescuing and reinstating memory of the former GDR’s efforts of internationalist friendship and solidarity. On the other hand, it has become a site for political struggle for Nicaraguan exiles living in the area. Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in Nicaragua and Germany in 2018–2019 and 2023, this article complicates how memory practices shape everyday lives in Berlin for German and Nicaraguan residents alike. Their divergent interpretations of the mural’s meaning sheds light on the tensions of memory politics vis à vis political and historical reinterpretation and demonstrate the potential for the Nicaragua mural to place a magnifying glass over the anti-imperial politics of Berlin.

Changing the Picture and Music for Hope: Cultural Expressions of Solidarity in the UK with El Salvador at the End of the Cold War

Pablo Bradbury, Andrew Redden, Emily McIndoe — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This paper focuses on UK-based cultural expressions of international solidarity with El Salvador either side of the end of the Cold War and El Salvador’s civil war. The article centres on a mural titled Changing the Picture, painted in Greenwich from 1985, which depicts a message of hope for overcoming state repression sponsored by multinational capital and Western powers; and Music for Hope, an ongoing musical education programme beginning in 1996-7 based in the Bajo Lempa, a coastal region of El Salvador, but set up and supported by a British solidarity network. After exploring the political meanings and initiatives of solidarity in the UK during the Salvadoran civil war, we analyse Changing the Picture’s central message of anti-imperialism, the depiction of collective popular struggle and the artwork’s place within the cultural politics of London in the mid-1980s. The paper then examines how the communitarian message of popular democracy present in the mural has been articulated in new cultural forms by Music for Hope, particularly through the latter’s pedagogical, horizontal and prefigurative practice of teaching music to children and adolescents and encouraging the formation of musical groups. As such, this paper foregrounds cultural and artistic practice as a central but underexplored dimension of international solidarity. Highlighting the literature on the shift in political culture, produced by the culmination of the Cold War, from a frame foregrounding revolutionary or political struggle to one centred on trauma, we explore how Changing the Picture and Music for Hope reflect different historical conditions. If the solidarity depicted in Changing the Picture reflected the final years of a period in which the revolutionary horizon was considered possible, Music for Hope emerged at a time that forced the initiative to confront the traumatic legacies of the civil war years. Despite these differences, the article argues that there is far more that connects the two examples, especially their emphasis on community agency. In doing so, we show that artistic expression can not only represent a powerful medium through which solidarity politics are communicated, condensing both local and international contexts in a radical vision of hope, but that cultural action can also structure the participatory practice frequently at the heart of international solidarity politics.

Chilean Muralism in Exile: On Solidarity and Transnational Memory

Sandra Rudman, Cristobal Barria — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Fifty years after the coup d`état in Chile, cities such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Leeds, Milan, Belgrade, Los Angeles, and Chicago, still display traces of Chilean exile on the walls of cultural centres, universities, theatres and other buildings. These are the remains of hundreds of murals, painted by brigades created by Chileans in exile to encourage their host countries to show solidarity with their resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship. The complex experience of Chilean exile and its long-lasting and intergenerational repercussions have only slowly been integrated into research and memory practices. This article examines three case studies of Chilean murals in exile as atypical forms of testimonial sources, with the aim of gaining insights into the multi-layered network of actors behind them, in particular into the testimonies of Chilean exiles and actors of international solidarity. It also explores the memorial dimensions of postephemeral murals and how these can function as carriers of a collective, transnational memory of Chilean exile.

Decolonising Solidarity?

Sebastian Garbe — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0100

While the 50^th anniversary of the coup d’état against the government of Salvador Allende in Chile invites to reflect on past and current experiences of solidarity between Latin America and Europe, the present contribution seeks to foreground the rather overlooked international solidarity efforts of and with the indigenous Mapuche. As a result of their forced exile to Europe after 1973, Mapuche activists began to organise themselves as a diasporic community in Europe and to form a transnational advocacy network in support of their people. This contribution aims to showcase how international solidarity of and with the Mapuche in Europe evolved over time, how they relate to non-indigenous, Chilean solidarity networks, and which underlying Mapuche notions of solidarity they reactivate in order to weave their transnational advocacy network.

The Semiotics of Solidarity: Reinterpreting Artefacts of Latin American Resistance in Contemporary Leeds

Anna Grimaldi, Richard Smith — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This paper examines reinterpretations of solidarity with Latin America through a student-led project at the University of Leeds. The project, ‘Thinking Inside the Box: 1973’ (hereafter, TITB), was a collaboration between the University of London – specifically, King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, and the London School of Economics – and the Universities of Leeds and Liverpool in 2023. The broader framework of TITB seeks to generate liberatory and transformative learning by approaching the educative process with students as co-creators and co-curators of knowledge. The approach draws from decolonial theory by seeking to challenge the hierarchical practices of mainstream education in which the teacher imposes knowledge on the student. In dialogue with Freirian concepts of collective interpretation and ‘conscientisation’ (Freire, 1968), scholars and students involved in the project used archives to run a series of events and public engagements. It connects students to each other and to a range of archival materials, broadly themed around 20^th century Latin America, to inspire them in designing, developing and delivering an output of significant impact by engaging with local communities; in this case, the Chilean diaspora of the dictatorship. The project promotes the co-curation of knowledge, teaching and learning, and supports students to practice autonomy in their journeys of content and skills acquisition (Grimaldi, Carvalho and Natale, 2022; Grimaldi and Rofe, 2023).

The growth paradigm and the failures of the alternatives within the system: notes towards a dystopian Marxism

Rodrigo Rafael Gómez Garza — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0100

We start with two main hypotheses: a) the tendency to overproduction and expanded reproduction is inevitable in a context of production based on competition and the search for profit; b) conflicts for resources and the tendential degradation of the quality of life are also inevitable and are only going to worsen as the expanded reproduction takes its toll on the environment and on the material conditions for the reproduction of capital. This paper explores some underlying phenomena to support these claims, such as the Jevons Paradox, the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall, and the Energy Return on Investment. Finally, it discusses the failure of some of the alternatives to the Growth Paradigm: Sustainable Development, Green Growth, Circular Economy and Degrowth.

After the Collapse

Rafael Shimabukuro — Thu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This essay is a review of and retrospective on 'Metal and Melancholy', a 1994 documentary on taxi drivers in Lima, Peru, which effectively captures the aftermath of social, political and economic collapse. I argue the film is a window into and a warning against a possible planetary future where human beings endure through ingenuity and entrepeneurship but without the transformative tools of collective action. It also speaks to the current political crisis in Peru, which can be directly traced to the 1990s.

Understanding how ontological conflicts materialize through dialogue between political ontology and Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theories

Louise Lamers — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

This article explores how Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theories can inform post-development research, particularly into socio-environmental conflicts. Post-development’s politico-ontological branch understands these conflicts as ontological clashes, stemming from the imposition of particular understandings of concepts like 'development' and 'nature'. The article argues that Lefebvre’s spatial theories constitute a language for grasping the spatial dynamics of these ontological conflicts. The article offers guidance on applying this language by navigating through four key areas: (1) the ontological domain, by first overcoming some problems in Lefebvre’s work through a politico-ontological reading, (2) the methodological domain, by demonstrating how his work provides an analytical framework to dissect the spatial manifestations of conflicts between diverse worlds, (3) the epistemological domain, by highlighting how Lefebvre’s theories give insights into strategies of dominant ontologies to remain in power, (4) the domain of theories of change, by emphasizing Lefebvre’s advocacy for the empowerment of marginalized communities to reclaim agency in shaping their spatial environment. This theoretical effort is then briefly illustrated with tensions that can arise from fortress conservation policies. Given their clear material concerns regarding land use and distribution, it is demonstrated how a PD’s politico-ontological examination of such socio-environmental conflicts can benefit from Lefebvre’s spatial theories.

Higher education and indigenous and afro-descendant peoples as a field of study and intervention in Latin America

Gloria Mancinelli — Mon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Since 2008, there has been a notable increase in studies on processes of inclusion, retention and graduation of indigenous students in higher education in Latin America; a growing interest in research and university extension activities in collaboration with indigenous and Afro-descendant communities; and the establishment of intercultural academic spaces in the region. This article offers a literature review analysis of this field of study and intervention, elaborated in Spanish and Portuguese in the framework of Latin American institutions. This analysis identifies the various voices, analytical perspectives, lines of research, conceptual debates and contributions that enrich the understanding of some types of experiences in this field, often described as 'intercultural', and others usually considered as educational inclusion of indigenous and Afro-descendant populations in the field of Higher Education in Latin America. The literature review reveals that much of this research is the result of collaborative work between diverse actors committed to promoting intercultural perspectives at the higher education level, and reflects the historical struggles sustained by these peoples as the fundamental structuring component of these experiences. It is concluded that the increase in research and interventions makes it plausible to postulate and describe the consolidation of a specific field of study and intervention for Latin America, which can be defined as 'Higher Education, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples' and that the experiences analysed reflect a particular and historical link between university systems and Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America.

Uses and Abuses of the Conquista

Ulises Mejias — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Spanish people can detect my Mexican accent as soon as I open my mouth, and it’s interesting to see their reactions during my travels through that country. Most Spaniards are kind and curious. But I do remember a taxi driver who convivially told me that, to be sure, Spain had done horrible things to Mexico, but that I should still think of Spain like a father — a drunk and abusive father, in his words, but a father nonetheless.

One can take such remarks about colonialism in stride and with good humor when they come from a taxi driver. But it is difficult to swallow similar arguments when they come from historians like Fernando Cervantes, author of Conquistadores: A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest.

Introduction to Solidarity Politics: the (Re)activation of European-Latin American Solidarities

Anna Grimaldi, Samira Marty — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Our proposal for this special issue was inspired by the breadth of commemorations we were witnessing in the lead-up to September 11th, 2023, the 50th anniversary of the military coup that has cast a shadow over Chileans until today. Seeking to avoid repeating the question of where, how, and between whom European-Latin American solidarity takes and has taken place from its inception, we intended this special issue to go beyond the question of chronological memory and historiography to rethink the cyclical and reiterative nature of these solidarities rooted in the Cold War. From the unique vantage point of living with the third generation of Chile’s exile diaspora, we wanted to revisit the current-day vernaculars and practices of European-Latin American relations through concepts of translocal and transgenerational solidarity. Similarly, at a time when older categories of internationalism and anti-imperialism have taken on entirely new meanings for protest movements and social justice activism, adapted definitions of the vocabulary surrounding human rights, solidarity, and democracy play an increasingly central role in activism narratives and need to be more thoroughly scrutinised.

Political Caricature to Mobilize Solidarity Through Humor

Pedro X. Molina — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

As part of our special issue, we invited artist Pedro X. Molina to choose a selection of his works to dialogue with our central themes of past and present European-Latin American solidarities, and the role of artifacts therein. Molina has chosen three caricatures for our special issue, which we include over the coming pages. Reflecting on current socio-political affairs such as Nicaraguan authoritarianism, migration to the US, and memories of violence, his work manages to address these issues with sharpness and rigour.

From La Boca to La Stocka

Neil West — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

In this short reflection piece, we hear from Neil West, who recently co-organised a project between artists in La Boca in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Stockport, near Manchester in the UK. The piece brings together anecdotes and personal photographs as documentation of collective, cultural political practice.

“Equality, freedom, solidarity – the issues on which I was raised”

Bethold Molden, Rayen Cornejo Torres, Marcela Torres-Heredia — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

As part of this special issue, we received this reflective piece from Viena Chilena 73 | 23, a project initiated to record and articulate the history and memory of Chilean exile in Austria and Austrian-Chilean solidarity during the 50 years since the 1973 military coup in Chile. This contribution pieces together elements of the project website, extracts of their archival work and reflections from the project collective.

¿Why Leeds?

Elisa Martinez Relano — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

The following piece was written by Elisa Martinez Relano in 2023. Inspired by a student-led project exploring past and present solidarities with Latin America, Elisa, now completing an MA in the History of Art and Social History at the University of Leeds, wrote the following text. Her reflection on archival research around Chilean exile in the 1970s takes place in 2023, fifty years after the infamous coup, and is guided by a simple question: how and why would Leeds engage in solidarity activism with a place as seemingly distant as Chile?