Visions of Spring

The time I spent in Mexico City with the Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente (FPFVI), though short (four weeks), was incredibly eye opening and inspiring. By the end of the first weekend- having spoken with members of the community and given a very brief understanding of how the community was established- I wanted this for the United States (and everywhere for that matter).

I’ll begin by talking a bit about the Pancho Villa community I lived in (there are multipled communities around Mexico City), how they came to be, how they organize and what their aspirations for the future are. Next I’ll discuss the merits of collective neighborhoods and why I feel they’re incredibly important for a successful movement in the state-capitalist abyss that is the United States. Finally I’ll talk generally about how I see such a community being formed and organized in the states given the different cultural context between Mexico and our country. We cannot simply adopt the model, wholesale, that the FPFVI has established and expect it to run smoothly.

FPFVI

The particular Pancho community I had the pleasure of staying in was established through a land grab. A local capitalist who owned the mines in an area known as La Polveria had a large plot of land that was unused. The FPFVI, then a Marxist-Leninist student organization, brought together hundreds of families to converge on the land, begin to build temporary housing and fend off police. The state eventually gave in and left the families alone to do with the land as they pleased. Through skill-sharing the families learned to write grant applications and when the money came they spent it collectively to begin building homes. Today the community is surrounded by a protective fence, has beautiful homes and apartment buildings that families stay in for no more than 50USD a month.

In exchange for the low-income housing each family must choose a delegate to participate in neighborhood decision making. Families are encouraged to get involved (and most do) with volunteer brigades and committees which handle everything from basic maintenance to safety and security. The homes cannot be sold by the owners and none of the property is on the speculative housing market.

In this particular Pancho community no drugs or alcohol are allowed. Each of the over twenty communities are different and make rules collectively based on what each community sees as prudent. One community that we visited charged absolutely nothing to the families that lived within its borders. In the community I resided in police officers were refused entrance. A vigilante brigade made up of members of the community took that role and every individual in the community is given a hefty baton that doubles as a FPFVI flag for rallies.

When I left the community this past winter they aspired to open a primary school and a health clinic. The money they collect monthly from the families goes toward basic repair and maintenance and also towards future building projects within the limits of the community which are decided upon democratically by family delegates.

Collectivism v. Capitalist Alienation

While artificial unemployment, rampant poverty, environmental degradation and the objectification/commodification of everything under the sun are obvious examples of the evils of capitalism, capitalist alienation is perhaps the most pervasive and devastating impact that this hegemonic economic system has.

Capitalist alienation denies us our very claim to fame as a species: socializing. It motivates us to “specialize” our roles in society by fitting into categories and placing others into them, to objectify and therefore commodify people and human interactions and to communicate with one another superficially. It asks us to express ourselves through consumer “choice” and to value the self above society. It then dictates to us what the self can and cannot be. Whether we realize it or not, capitalist alienation leaves us alone and scared at the very core regardless of our outward confidence and the illusion of strong social networks. This is not to say that we do not overcome them through our relations with one another, but that without being mindful of the lens through which we’ve been groomed to view inter-personal relationships and without reclaiming our own (and respecting others’) agency we cannot form truly fulfilling bonds with one another. Capitalist alienation crushes movements before they can even begin to form.

Needless to say, then, that the first step in movement building is to break this alienation and provide a safe space for new social norms to develop. Where the cookie cutter homes of suburbia encourage an isolated and anti-social environment, collective neighborhoods encourage community and solidarity. Being low-to-no rent, it’s obvious that collective neighborhoods are an easy sell for working class folk who haven’t yet broken through anti-social norms. It pulls them in based on an individualistic need but then provides them a space in which to work together, share with one another and realize that it is not through biology that humans are greedy but through capitalist culture. It enables them to see the full potential of their humanness.

Hope. Solidarity. Vision. These are core gifts that collective living can and will provide people. It will free them from inhibition and fear and open their eyes to the harsh society we live in and also the fact that such a society is not inevitable or natural. It is constructed.

Vision

I honestly know very little about grant writing in the United States. I do know, however, that land grabs will be met with violent state repression and even frowned upon by citizens. The culture here favors the interest of the owners. That being said: any attempts to create a collective neighborhood must be done “legitimately”. I put that word in quotations because I believe that land grabs are entirely legitimate. It’s not theft, it’s reclamation. There’s no need, though, to antagonize norms in such a way. Such a project needs to be seen as neutral to the masses if not favorably. Why alienate people unnecessarily?

My view is that a core group of individuals (the more the better, really) need to develop short, medium and long term goals. Short term goals would entail initial fundraising to purchase land. Leasing land limits the ability of the neighborhood to keep prices low and to remain autonomous. Medium term goals entail deciding how to go about building on the land and through what processes we can begin filling vacancies. Long term goals entail how the community will be organized, what we’d like to see in the community (medical center, school etc.) and all the technical details regarding community policing, basic services like garbage pick-up and how to keep the community sustainable.

I’m really interested to hear what all of you have to say (specifically regarding the vision).