ESPECIFISTA
ESPECIFISTA
BUILDING COLLECTIVE FREEDOM
MAY 1ST, 2010
Especifista is a sporadic publi-
cation by Amanecer: For a Popular A-
narchism. Especifista aims to start a
conversation with those involved in diffe-
rent struggles, be in the community, in
labor or any other, about the roots of so-
ciety’s ills, the possibility of fundamental
change and how we can achieve it.
Especifista is a publication by
anarchists, that is to say, people who be-
lieve that society should be organized in a
manner that provides for all based on their
needs, and where the power and deci-
sions flow from the bottom up, in a real
democratic way.
We selected the name Especi-
fista because it best describes our political
perspective.
Especifismo is a practice of a-
narchism originated in South America,
and first theorized by the Federacción
Anarquista Uruguaya in the 1950’s.
With other parallels in the anar-
chist movement, it is based on the idea
the anarchists should primarily be in-
volved in the struggles of the people, not
to control them but to preserve their de-
mocratic and radical character. This is
called social insertion, and comes from
the belief that popular movements are not
only the hands of revolution, they are also
its brain.
Anarchists should organize into
their own, specifically anarchist organiza-
tion to theorize and strategize about their
involvement in the social movements and
to learn from them.
The organization of anarchists
should also be a voice for the principles
of solidarity, democracy and anti-capita-
lism in the popular movements.
With Especifista, we aim to add
to the voices that continue to promote
these principles inside social movements.
This publication aims to be the beginning of a
conversation. If you want to to continue talking,
please contact us:
Crunchy Life Bites
especifista@gmail.com
You an also contact one of Amanecer’s locals
directly
Los Angeles:
amanecerla@gmail.com
San José
amanecersj@gmail.com
Oakland/San Francisco
amanecerbay@gmail.com
Visit us online at:
especifista.wordpress.com
Page 2 * Issue 1
EDITORIAL
We would like to introduce our humble publi-
cation Especifista brought to you by members and
friends of Amanecer: For A Popular Anarchism.
First it would make sense to introduce our-
selves —we are a group of mostly workers and some
students spread throughout California. We are a ma-
jority people of color. And we share common dreams
and visions of a new world.
We hope you share these too: a world where
people control their workplaces communities and land
and where all basic needs are met; where power and
participation flow from the bottom upwards; where sys-
tems of profit, white supremacy, patriarchy and impe-
rialism are uprooted and one in which we live
sustainably with the planet.
Together and as individuals we’ve struggled
and organized - meeting with our co-workers to con-
front the bosses, knocking on doors to talk about hous-
ing issues, marching for the rights of immigrants and
our undocumented compañer@s; working with the
family members of those abused by the police; and ral-
lying up fellow students against the attacks on public
education.
We’ve had sweet victories and bitter defeats.
But this is not enough.
We believe that this vision can only be
brought about by the mass movements de los de
abajo, by those from below and the building of poder
popular, the popular power.
But as those who actively seeking to con-
struct this vision, we need a political home. We need a
space to carry each other through between the ebbs
and flows of the movement, to deepen our analysis of
the struggle and the systems of power we struggle
against, where we can build our politics and create
strategy and that can act to share our ideas with oth-
ers whom we are in struggle with.
With Especifista we hope to add our contri-
bution to these goals, however modest.
Passed by hand to those we work and or-
ganize with first and foremost, we hope this publica-
tion can be the beginning of a dialogue with those we
share these values with.
“We carry a new world, in our hearts. That
world is growing this minute.”
Text by Angelica Nieves Art by Pedro Ribeiro
Capitalism is the crap Obama is the air freshener Revolution is the shovel