Empowering the People

I recently spent a weekend helping out the people of Santa Fe, a city about a 7-hour bus ride to the northwest of Buenos Aires. Recent torrential rains have caused widespread flooding across much of the area and the city of Santa Fe was one of the hardest hit areas. When I saw the pictures of homes almost completely submerged in the newspapers I knew I had to do something to help. I asked my buddy Fede, a local student at the University of Buenos Aires and activist, if there was anything I could do. Two short days later I found myself on an overnight bus to Santa Fe with a group of UBA students.
The city of Santa Fe proper is pretty sizable with a population a little of 500,000. Although the whole city was affected by the flooding it was particularly bad on the outskirts of town in the barrios where most people live in an impoverished condition. It was to these barrios that we were heading. Our goal for the trip, or at least what I understood to be our goal, was to distribute clothing, food, medicine, shoes, mattresses and other sorely needed materials to the local impoverished peoples. Students or other residents of Bs As donated everything we brought. We ended up having so much that we couldn’t fit it all in the holds below the bus and were forced to fill up the vacant seats and isle.
As we pulled into Santa Fe in the early hours of Saturday morning I was excited to get to work distributing the aid goods. Little did I realize that our trip had a much larger purpose that simply handing out goods. We filed off the bus and into a small building that turned out to be the local MST (Socialist Workers Movement) party HQ. The MST had cosponsored the trip from Bs As and it was only now that the real meaning of the trip was becoming apparent.
We had an hour-long briefing before heading to the barrios. I listened patiently, not really understanding much of what was being said, but luckily I had Fede close by to translate for me (I was the only foreigner there, probably the only foreigner in all of Santa Fe at that point). Basically Fede broke it down like this: we are here to organize the people so that the can stand together with one voice and demand from the government what is owed to them. I also found out at this time that a similar but even worse flood had happened four years ago. All the promises by the provincial and federal government to provide measures to prevent another flood, like dikes, pumps, drainage systems, had all come to nothing. And now the people were being left to rot once again.
The rest of the day was spent in the barrios going door-to-door handing out flyers for a popular assembly meeting to be held later on that day. I say door to door, but the truth of the matter is that many of the places we went to had no doors, windows or much else. Forget about doorbells, without doors you can’t even knock. I quickly learned that clap of the hands was the accepted way to inquire if someone was inside. Most people took the flyers but were a bit puzzled about why we were there and what we were doing. Although we explained our intentions to give the people themselves a voice you could see that these people had been burned many times in the past and were skeptical about any improvements happening. It was a disheartening to see this, but it was very inspiring when we talked to someone and a passion was ignited within them.
At 5:30 the assembly met in front of the local grade school in the only place available in the barrio, the middle of a dirt street. About 40 people showed up, mostly women, but also some older men and youths. Clearly a chord had been struck as all these people came to see what was going to take place, but there was a deep sense of skepticism as well. The assembly opened with a MST leader explaining the situation about the flooding and the absolute lack of government action. He explained that the people deserved much better and it was indeed possible if they stared to act together on a community level so that their voice would be heard.
A fierce debate ensued between those who agreed that it was time to come together and those who felt that it was a waste of time because the government would never help them out. At first the latter of the two groups held the edge in the argument. On man in particular was really pessimistic about any influence the people could have on the government. By the end of the assembly the mood had drastically changed thanks to a few passionate voices, including a few from the UBA students. The man that was so pessimistic at the beginning offered to put his small kiosk at disposal of the community as information and distribution center. It was as stunning and inspiring turn around.
The assembly decided to meet the following week and the hope was that the number of people attending would increase. The issue we came to raise was that of flood protection, but with the people given a chance to talk of their problems other concerns arouse such of lack of any public transport in the barrios. Already the people were developing a common and popular consensus on social needs. It was a great sight to see these people who earlier in the day had seemed so down and condemned to poverty leave the assembly with a glimmer of hope for change in the future.
After distributing the clothing and other aid we all headed back to the MST HQ to talk about the positive and negative experiences of the day, ways we could improve in the future, and how we could apply the lessons of social organization back in Bs As and beyond. All the students got back on the bus for our ride back to Bs As a short 24 hours after originally departing. It was a productive day though, one that has given me a new outlook on the power of social and popular assemblies and the power that it gives to those who otherwise have very little. All of the intellectual and theoretical efforts that go into socialist thought are very important to the cause, but it is only through direct action that reality is shaped. That is perhaps the most important lesson I learned in Santa Fe.