Anarchist Statement on Riots That Broke out On Ayotzinapa Anniversary

1968 presente

From It's Going Down, Mexico City

The following statement was written by some anarchists in Mexico City and addresses the riots that broke out on the anniversary of the disappearance of Normalista students in Ayotzinapa. Statement has been translated by Abolition Media Worldwide.

The Mexican State, in its dominant logic, continues to label us as “provocateurs” and attempts to pacify the “good people.” And now it is trying to go further …

From the morning pulpit, President AMLO tries to make us a target for extermination and to be disappeared, that is why it misrepresents the meaning of the anarchic struggle, our history and even the very meaning of the word ANARCHY. That is why he calls us “conservatives” while giving “lessons” to his happy pets, with the consent of the applauding seals who pretend to be journalists every morning in the national palace.

For AMLO, as for all previous Presidents (and for all the heads of State throughout history), the only good anarchist is the one who is dead, or the opportunist who their renounces ideal and licks boots, as is the case of the Stalinist convert Paco Ignacio Taibo. This is why AMLO lies and paints us as “conservative.” To him, all his enemies are “conservative,” including anarchists.

As noted by the companions of Females Brujas and Insurrecionalistas, in their statement of August 17th, 2019, due to the insurrection of the anarchic women of Vienna on August 16th against the police in Mexico City: “We recognize what others remain silent on, that the presence in the national palace of a misogynist and sexist, pro-life, ultra-conservative and evangelical fascist to whom the Left has allied with in its constant opportunism to seize power at all costs. ” Meanwhile, from the palace the adversary is accused of being “conservative,” changing the meaning of the words and hiding the true conservatism that rules from the heights of power.

In the same way every morning is about changing history. Thus the figure of Ricardo Flores Magón is usurped and is presented as the “ideologist” of the Fourth Transformation, while in parallel with the assumed “legacy” of Benito Juárez and Francisco I. Madero.

If we didn’t know the trick about the old PRI now recycled in MORENA, we would think that it was simply ignorance or that AMLO suffers from organic schizophrenia. But no, all this ideological jumble is intentional or, rather, very malicious.

For those of us who know the history of anarchism in the Mexican region, it is clear that during the long period of the Juarez government, when more anarchists were executed than during any time in the history of Mexico. During the government of Francisco I. Madero the story was no different, as the State engaged in deporting, imprisoning and killing anarchists who refused to recognize the power of government. Ricardo Flores Magón himself planned with Madero anarchists the execution of Madero.

It also misrepresents the meaning of Anarchy. A quick visit to Wikipedia indicates that:

The term anarchy derives from the Greek «ἀναρχία» («anarkhia»), and is formed by the prefix a –privative an– (in Greek αν, that is to say «without» or «deprived of») juxtaposed to the word arkhê (in Greek ἀρχή, that is, “power” or “command”). The etymology of the term thus designates, in a general way, what is devoid of the guiding principle and authority. This results in or implies “absence of norms,” “absence of leadership,” “absence of authority,” and “absence of government,” and serves to designate situations where there is (or is sought) the absence of state or public power. That is why our war cry is Neither God nor State nor Boss, our energetic opposition to all government, all authority and all power being explicit– making sense of the anarchic struggle.

Anarchy is not and cannot be “left” or “right” simply and frankly because both the so-called left and right aspire to power and to conserve the State, and we strive to destroy it. So it is impossible to excommunicate ourselves from the “left” because we have never shared its aspirations, and much less its objectives.

That now, from the heights of power, we are accused of being “provocateurs” and “conservatives” invites us to reflect on these terms. And yes, one could call us “provocateurs” because we seek to provoke chaos and anarchy, because we provoke spaces of total liberation, because we provoke the total destruction of everything that oppresses us.

We could also be called “conservative” because we strive to preserve at all costs our autonomy, our individuality, and our freedom– in front of any government, before all authority (earthly or divine), before all power. They can call us “conservatives” because we fight to conserve the Planet in the face of the developmentalist devastation of the capital-State; because we fight invariably to keep our anarchist essence, preventing the control of our bodies and our lives.

It is not the first time (nor will it be the last) that we confront the system of domination in the Mexican region, either in the open street confrontation or in the silence and darkness of the night.

The new generations of anarchists have sustained an uninterrupted war since the 1990s against the system of domination, and we will make no exception for the populist absolutism of the “Fourth Transformation.” Our war remains against the capital-state, against all domination.

The consequent action of the anarchic affinity groups in the afternoon yesterday during the political pantomime of the “Commemoration of the facts of Ayotzinapa” is neither an isolated event nor a response to hidden interests or “conservative” hands that move the threads to their cravings and manipulate us like puppets; nor is it a response to the strategies of the presidency against business sectors that do not add to their developmental interests. We are not the new hawks of the State, as the media proclaims. This act is fully attributed to our anarchic work.

We do not have or seek alliances with political parties, nor are we mercenaries at the service of anyone.

The attack yesterday afternoon– against the symbols of power, government buildings, police pigs, and private property– was one more on the long list of attacks against domination on the itinerary of anarchic warfare. We have broken thousands of crystals, attack against dozens of patrols, executed hundreds of explosive devices; and burned hundreds of ATMs, supermarkets, shops and shopping malls, incinerating the merchandise.

In that sense, the incendiary attack of Gandhi’s bookstore (which has so alarmed “civilians”- that is, domesticated ones) is nothing personal, nor is it inspired by fascist anti-intellectualism or the obscurantist vision against “the sinful readings.” It was not against a library; it was against the merchandise– and in this sense, it was inconsequential whether the store in question sold books, underwear, plasma screens, computers, or mattresses. We have no doubt that ideas are also merchandise in consumer windows. For example: the cups of coffee with the Circle A for sale in the branches of the Gandhi chain of stores.

Today, more than ever:

Neither God nor State nor Boss! For total liberation! We will destroy everything that dominates us! For the insurrectional anarchist tension! For Anarchy! Fire to all that exists!

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