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Rudi dierckx > Op 9-jun.-2014 om 00:46 heeft Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> het > volgende geschreven: > > fyi > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Örsan Şenalp <[email protected]> > Date: fyiSun, Jun 1, 2014 at 10:29 AM > Subject: [Networkedlabour] Fwd: Valparaiso, Chile: Solidarity, Resistance, > Recovery > To: "[email protected]" > <[email protected]>, commoning > <[email protected]> > > > Commons Valpariso... > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: peter waterman <[email protected]> > Date: 1 June 2014 17:17 > Subject: Valparaiso, Chile: Solidarity, Resistance, Recovery > To: WSFDiscuss List <[email protected]>, Debate is > a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses of interest to > the independent left in South and Southern Africa <[email protected]>, > Örsan Şenalp <[email protected]>, [email protected], > gina vargas <[email protected]> > > > > > Emily Achtenberg: Solidarity, Resistance, and Recovery > > Z Communications Daily Commentary > On May 24, a coalition of neighborhood groups, students, labor unions, and > other civil society organizations convened a popular assembly in Valparaíso, > the major Chilean port city devastated by a raging fire last month. > Announcing their aim to develop a grassroots plan for the recovery and > reconstruction of Valparaíso, the Coordinadora for the Defense of Valparaíso > also demanded a temporary freeze on construction permits and the resignation > of right-wing mayor Jorge Castro. > > “The destruction and abandonment of Valparaíso, of which this conflagration > is an unfortunate result, has authors who must assume [responsibility for] > the consequences of their reproachable acts and omissions,” the > Coordinadora’s statement reads in part. The Coordinadora blames powerful > political and economic interests for the “twin tragedies” of abandonment and > real estate speculation that are destroying Valparaíso, and wants them to be > held accountable. > > The April 12 fire—the worst in Valparaíso’s history—raged for 5 days, > scorching more than four square miles of land on seven hillsides. The > conflagration destroyed 3,000 houses, killed 15 people, and left 12,000 > homeless. The city remained under military control for a month. > > Valparaíso, a UNESCO world heritage site, is famous for its unique topography > and architecture, characterized by brightly painted, improvised wooden houses > that climb the steep hillsides, forming a natural amphitheater that overlooks > the port. It is a city of political contrasts, the birthplace of both > Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet. Boasting a strong union base that > provided a bastion of popular support for Allende, it is also the home of the > Chilean navy, from which the 1973 military coup was launched. > > Today, Valparaíso is an increasingly popular elite tourist destination, as > well as a focal point for Chile’s combative student movement. Economically, > its population has one of the most unequal income distributions in Chile. > Twenty-two percent of the city’s residents live below the poverty line, > compared to a national average of 14%. > > Like most South American cities, Valparaíso’s development patterns reflect > its rigid class divisions, with the wealthy occupying the coastal flatlands > in the center and impoverished families spreading out over the heights on the > northern and southern periphery. The areas most affected by the fire were > poor hillside communities, settled by urban migrant families through a > continuing process of land takeovers that has occurred since the early 1970s. > Reportedly, Valparaíso—Chile’s third largest metropolitan region—has the > largest number of campamentos (informal settlements) in the country. > > According to a recent government survey of nine campamentos that were > completely destroyed by the fire, 83% of the affected resident households are > headed by women, most of whom work in the informal sector as street vendors > or carton recyclers. Sixty percent of the population is under the age of 30. > Many displaced families lack formal title to their land, potentially > compromising their eligibility for government rehousing and rebuilding > subsidies. As a result, they have chosen to remain camped out amidst the > charred remnants of their homes rather than relocate to temporary government > shelters and risk permanent eviction. > > To be sure, fires—fanned by strong coastal summer winds and spreading quickly > over difficult-to-access hillsides—have plagued Valparaíso throughout its > history. In recent years, prolonged drought and unseasonably high > temperatures associated with climate change have exacerbated the risks of > these natural conditions. But, as Sebastián Gray, president of Chile’s > College of Architects, notes, the recent fire also represents a colossal > political failure of the state in terms of urban planning, design, > infrastructure, public services, and regulation. “The fire is the result of a > complete lack of [governmental] responsibility that has accumulated over the > past 40 years, as the city has grown,” Gray charges. > > Apart from regularizing some land titles, according to Gray, the city has > done little to address the problems caused by unregulated peripheral growth. > It has not discouraged settlements in the most precarious zones, or > redesigned narrow, winding hillside streets to accommodate emergency > vehicles. It has abandoned the water supply system invented by Valaparaíso’s > firefighters and municipal workers 100 years ago, which utilized a large > hilltop reservoir for storage (the reservoir is finally now being renovated). > The lack of working fire hydrants and water supply sources on the hilltops > was a principal abetting cause of the fire. > > Mounting combustible garbage in the ravines, due to the city’s failure to > provide adequate hillside trash collection services, also fueled the fire’s > rapid spread. Valparaíso residents blame Mayor Castro for failing to protest > when ex-president Sebastián Piñera cancelled national funding for a ravine > cleanup program several years ago. According to Gray, over the years the > Chilean state has increasingly abandoned its municipalities to fend for > themselves, leading to extreme disparities in the level of services provided > by rich and poor cities. Historically, despite its strategic importance as a > port city, Valparaíso has been cash-strapped—in part because the port does > not pay for its use of city services and the costs it imposes on the > municipality. > > While ignoring the needs of Valparaíso’s poorest residents, the city’s > political and economic elites have encouraged downtown redevelopment projects > like the Barón Mall, a massive harbor-side shopping center with superstores > and hotels now under construction by a private company on land acquired > (cheaply) from the port. The national Housing Ministry is slated to provide > more than $21 million in subsidies to the project. Although UNESCO recently > warned that the development could jeopardize Valparaíso’s status as a world > heritage site, both municipal and national authorities have vowed to proceed > with it. > > Meanwhile, the government’s post-disaster response has been widely criticized > as inadequate, disorganized, and delayed. Mayor Castro provoked his own > political firestorm by responding to an irate fire victim, “Who invited you > to live here?” At least one group of displaced residents has threatened to go > on hunger strike in protest. > > In stark contrast to the failures of the state, Valparaíso’s fire victims > have experienced an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity and support from > civil society organizations. Thousands of volunteers have been mobilized by > labor unions, community organizations, local soccer clubs, and, especially, > student groups, to assist families with day-to-day survival, cleanup, and > rebuilding activities. > > Communal cooking facilities (reminiscent of “Las Ollas Comunas”—the “common > pot” soup kitchens from the dictatorship era) have been established in > affected neighborhoods by youth and worker organizations, spawned by a social > media campaign labeled “Una Cuadra, Una Cocina” (“one block, one kitchen”). > Local agricultural suppliers have donated truckloads of produce. Students at > three universities launched a “solidarity strike” to demand time away from > classes for volunteer work. These community-led and self-managed relief > efforts have proved to be much more successful than the state’s formal > disaster response. > > Similar to the links forged between Occupy activists and communities > decimated by Hurricane Sandy, these alliances have now given rise to a > nascent community-based reconstruction planning initiative. In both > situations, daunting challenges and questions remain. Should residents be > allowed (or entitled) to return and rebuild on precarious sites that pose a > continuing environmental risk? Can a disparate grassroots coalition born of > disaster maintain sufficient unity and political leverage to affect the > outcome of a protracted reconstruction planning process? From New York City > to Valparaíso, whether an urban catastrophe can become an opportunity for > progressive change remains to be seen. > > Emily Achtenberg is an urban planner and the author of NACLA’s Rebel Currents > blog, covering Latin American social movements and progressive governments > (MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "send.zcomm.org" > claiming to be nacla.org/blog/rebel-currents). > > -- > EBook, November 2012: Recovering Internationalism. [A compilation of papers > from the new millenium. Now free in two download formats] > EBook (co-editor), February 2013: World Social Forum: Critical Explorations > http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/ > Interface Journal Special (co-editor), November 2012: For the Global > Emancipation of Labour > Blog: http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman. > Interface Journal Special (Co-Editor) Social Movement Internationalisms. See > Call for Papers, (Deadline: May 1, 2014). > Needed: a Global Labour Charter Movement (2005-Now!) > MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "www.into-ebooks.com" > claiming to be Under, Against, Beyond: Labour and Social Movements Confront a > Globalised, Informatised Capitalism (2011) Almost 1,000 pages of Working > Papers, free, from the 1980's-90's. > Google Scholar Citation Index: > http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ > > > _______________________________________________ > NetworkedLabour mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour > > > > > -- > Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no record > of previous communication, proposals, etc .. > > P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net > > Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens > > #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/ > _______________________________________________ > P2P Foundation - Mailing list > http://www.p2pfoundation.net > https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation
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