Movimento de Campesinos de Santiago del Estero

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Movimento de Campesinos de Santiago del Estero ( MOCASE , German: Movement of the Peasants of Santiago del Estero ) is a peasant movement in Argentina .

history

The first unions of peasants in the province of Santiago del Estero occurred after the end of the military dictatorship in Argentina in 1982, and even then it was necessary for the rural population to defend themselves against attempts at displacement. While Buenos Aires was officially democratic, the situation in the countryside looked different after the overthrow of the dictatorship. The Carlos Juarez clan ruled Santiago del Estero with unbroken continuity, controlled the police, the judiciary and many private companies in the province, which meant the practical continuation of the dictatorship for the people living there. In 1986 the first association of campesinos was founded in juries, the "El Grito de los Juries", which can be seen as the opening act for the later Mocase. In 1989 the "Cooperativa Union Campesina" was founded, a cooperative that is supposed to offer smallholder families economic support and to strengthen their position in the fight against big landowners and corrupt governments. The Cooperativa grants loans, buys seeds and cows, it forms the economic pillar of the organized small farmers.

Finally, in 1990 the MOCASE (Movement of the Campesinos Santiago del Esteros) was founded, whose primary goal is the defense of the land and the way of life of the campesinos. With this organization, the campesinos have created a means to counteract isolation and displacement. In the following years, Mocase was able to prevent evictions several times, carried out de-fencing campaigns and engaged in political lobbying.The members of Mocase were exposed to strong state repression throughout the entire period, several members were arrested and parapolice attempts to intimidate families in the countryside .

After the death of Zenon Felipe Ledesma, co-founder and one of the heads of Mocase, in January 2001 the organization experienced a crisis, which culminated in the split over the question of the future decision-making of Mocase in November of the same year.

The division of MOCASE into two groups did not mean the end of the movement, but made organization and decision-making easier in many ways within the movement.

In the meantime, around 9,000 families are organized in MOCASE, with an average family size of seven people, i.e. around 63,000 people, with a total provincial population of 805,000 people (2001), an enormous number, especially in view of the organizational problems due to the lack of infrastructure in the rural areas and inadequate infrastructure financial resources.

Member organizations

Various cooperatives and action groups are coordinated at Mocase. It is like an umbrella cooperation that shares the only common lawyer and plans joint demonstrations, etc. The groups belonging to it are, however, autonomous and can make their own decisions. In contrast to the more bureaucratic cooperatives, action groups like the “Mesa de Tierra” specialize in land defense. They have made it their task to bring the various small groups that already exist in their area (Figeroa) into connection with each other, as well as to win new groups and thus to constantly expand the Mocase, as well as to provide support in conflict situations and directly on site to become active, e.g. B. by so-called “de-fences” and occupation of properties threatened by evacuation.

Both types of groups come together in Mocase and hold monthly meetings (two delegates from each region / group) in the capital, Santiago del Estero.

In 2001 there was a split into two parts due to internal disputes between groups that rallied around the financially strong local group of Quimili and the “founding group” and cooperative of juries. Today's larger group now comprises 13 regional groups, which represent a total of around 7,000 families. The "smaller Mocase" (and at the same time financially stronger) comprises 3 regions with another approx. 2000 families. Today, both groups work in parallel, although in Figeroa (the region near Quimili) it often takes a lot of diplomatic skill not to start the dispute again and to “lure people away” from the other group.

Networking

Due to its financial strength, the smaller part in particular is represented in international networks such as Via Campesina and the Latin American Association of Agricultural Workers (CLOC) and regularly attends international networking meetings such as the World Social Forum. He is also in contact with groups in Europe, which is where the financial strength of this group comes from. A large part of its income consists of donations from European solidarity groups. The other part would also like to be represented at the WSF and the like, but the financial means are usually not enough. Their networking consists mainly of discussions with the agricultural union Federacion Agraica, whose premises they are allowed to use, and with the independent news network Indymedia through their regional group. In addition, there is a loose cooperation with the local group of the international environmental protection organization Greenpeace. The cooperatives also take state aid and apply for funding from various institutions. Despite the division into two organizations, they often work together and participate e.g. B. in joint demonstrations.

aims

The fact that Mocase is not a homogeneous peasant movement can quickly be seen from its different objectives. There is agreement on the need to defend the land, pastureland and arable land from agricultural companies that dispute their land ownership both judicially and by force (paramilitary task forces and violent evictions by the police with the help of disputed eviction permits).

While private property (and the associated division of land into private parcels) has been largely accepted over the years in the area of ​​Juries and it is more about the defense of the plots that are still owned / inhabited, things look different in Figeroa . There, private ownership of land is questioned and attempts are made to prevent any division of land and to leave it in collective ownership - this is why actions such as “unfencing” (tearing down fences) are so important for the movement.

The development of their own infrastructure (water, roads, electricity, telephone, shared tractors, collection and processing plants) in the areas with cooperatives are more advanced - even young people have even been sent to Cuba to study law or medicine there and so on later to support Mocase and build up your own health care.

There is also agreement on the self-government and the attempt to train the members on their own initiative apart from the state. Combating “machismo” also plays a major role.

Identity and Opposition Principles

The self-identification of the “campesinos” takes place through their indigenous descent and the peasant way of life. In general, the process of colonizing Latin America is viewed critically. As part of MOCASE, attempts are made to positively reverse this negative “victim identity” by recognizing and consciously changing one's own situation. Mocase tries to transform this initially negative identity into a positive one, in that the organized campesino recognizes this oppression and defends itself against it.

For the "Mesa de Tierra", for example, this takes place in two stages:

The first step is to raise awareness of the right to own the inhabited land, which itself is anchored in the provincial constitution of Santiago del Estero. In the second stage, as described under goals, the direct defense of the ancestral land and the implementation of the theoretical right to property are aimed for. The clear enemies of the smallholders are primarily the multinational agricultural companies, since it is they who buy the land from the government, declare the evictions and clear the forest on the cleared land in order to then grow soy there. Mocase also sees the state as an enemy, as the corrupt continuation of the Argentine military dictatorship on a provincial level. This is based on the fact that until 2004 the Juarez clan ruled the police, courts and government with a clientelist network and was supported by Nestor Ick, owner of the only television channel, the majority of the radio and newspapers, the waterworks and the Bank of Santiago del Estero. Several police chiefs were taken over from the military dictatorship, who are responsible for a lot of torture.

Torture and police attacks are still reported today, for example in the Amnesty International Annual Report 2004. In addition, the small farmers have to assert themselves again and again against paramilitary commands that have already poisoned wells, set fire to houses, shot animals and beat and beat families have threatened.

Results

Mocase is a relatively young movement, but it has already achieved a lot. The advance of the soy industry and the associated expulsion of small farmers and the destruction of the forest of Santiago del Estero have been slowed down. The cooperatives also enabled a small but noticeable economic upswing and an increase in the social security of the members.

The training courses and the approaches to combating machismo also seem to show initial successes, through training courses specifically for women, the creation of small women's cooperatives and economic support for them, attempts are made to make women more economically and socially independent.

Through strong public relations work and demonstrations in the provincial capital, political prisoners were freed several times, for example the five activists from Pampa Pozo, who were arrested a few days earlier, in October 2004.

And despite the inferiority of one lawyer against thirteen lawyers, Mocase has already been able to achieve legal success and at least delay many evictions. If this did not help either, violent evacuation and deforestation of the forest by joint land occupations were often successfully averted, the latter also through attacks on machines.

In 2004, the provincial government was ousted, as were many of the judges, due to involvement in a double murder by President Kirchner. But the choice of his successor Zamora (UCR) in 2005 is not a good sign, as he is not exactly seen as an opponent of Juarez. The situation for Mocase has hardly changed as a result, since the President's measures affected the capital, but in the countryside it has remained the same. But the corridor of excitement created in this way could be used by Mocase to bring its problems closer into the public eye.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Article 181 of the Constitution of Santiago del Estero states that the land belongs to those who have lived there for more than 20 years. This generally applies to the Mocase members, but they usually have no title deeds and are therefore responsible for providing evidence in court.
  2. ↑ http://www.ila-web.de/expenses/289/unsere-waffe-ist-unsere-fahne

literature

  • Recordings of interviews with: Ramon (Coordinator Mesa de Tierra ), Carlos (Coordinator Mesa de Tierra ), Juan (President Mocase), Lucho (President Cooperative union campesina, former President Mocase), Manuel Ferrandis (Federacion Agraria Argentina), Quiniones family (Campesinos), family Silva (Campesinos), u. v. a. Recorded in summer 2004 while traveling through Santiago del Estero.
  • Juan Gehring and Angela Isphording: MOCASE a peasant movement in Argentina . Berlin 2005.
  • Britt Weyde: Our weapon is our flag. In: ila 289, Bonn 2005.