Letter from anarchist Mario "Tripa" Lopez about recent incidents of social war (Mexico)

Mario “Tripa” Lopez is an injured anarchist imprisoned in Mexico after being accidentally harmed by an incendiary device he was carrying.

Watching the latest news on TV and in the printed media, I have been able to see a series of events which, if we see them as an isolated manner could seem insignificant, but when seen as a whole, from the view of a conflict – even given the political discrepancies- we are met with a wider panorama of a social war in course, of a conflict which advances and that each time control seems to slip through the state´s fingers just that little bit more.

Starting with a news item from last Thursday, if I’m not mistaken, when a group of encapuchadxs1 stormed the representation of the state of Michoacán in Mexico City and occupied their offices for an amount of time.2 Last week a group of approximately fifty hooded people with cohetones3 blockaded Insurgentes Avenue, around the La Bombilla park, a clash with the police ensued and it was transmitted live and direct. One week before of all this, the news talked of clashes between Federal and State police and the normalistas4 in various points in Michoacán, who from some time ago have carried out blockades and taken buses by force as a pressure strategy. The images that were transmitted showed the clashes, with tear gas being thrown from one side and molotovs from the other. There were many buses burnt in the process.5

Also there were two police cars burnt and more than 100 detained, of which only eight were imprisoned; before this there was a report of three police cars burnt throughout various points in Mexicali, Baja California, seemingly with Molotov cocktails.6 In September, the news spoke of the actions which happened during the week of solidarity with prisoners of the Social War. In their reports they noted some of the communiqués, explicitly speaking about the actions – police cars burnt, banks bombed, attacks with firearms against the police etc. – that were lead in “protest” against the imprisonment of anarchists in Mexico and other countries. It also mentioned that these actions represent a response to acts considered “repressive” against a supposed network of international anarchist terrorism.

This response, by what is understood, was at an international level, which represents an indisputable qualitative growth in the fight against Power. A necessary response to the government´s offenses against the anarchists, nihilists, libertarians, fighters and social rebels who represent in some form a danger for Power and for the societies based on their norms and values. An anti-authoritarian response which transmits much strength, energy and support.

Now, the governor of Michoacán is trying to make us believe that the so-called (by him) “ultra radicals” aren´t residents of the state, but instead people belonging to groups outside of Michoacán and the normalista schools. According to him they are militants of opposing political parties as part of social groups, or “ultra radical elements” from Mexico City or belonging to the group denominated “Tenochtitlan” (the same “ultra-radicals” from Mexico City belonging to this inexistent group that are said to have attacked the offices of the Federal Commission of Electricity with explosives? Actions which they are trying to accuse me of?) Or do they now want to pull the “radicals” of the Oaxacan conflict of 2006 out of their sleeves- supposedly having now moved to Michoacán to create a climate of “instability” in the state? At all costs the government is seeking to justify their reaction fronted by a conflict that has “escaped from their hands”.

Personally, from my reading of the events – from the bombs to the barricades – all of these forms of confrontation form part of necessary action which reflects the incrimination of an anti-authoritarian conscience and of the growing refractionary attitude, although Power would like to present it to us as “glitches in the system”. In the specific case of Mexico City, all of these attacks are against the supposed “social peace” that the social democratic PRD government wants to sell us. According to the logic of Power, the Marginal neighborhoods with the high rate of “crime” have to be razed, when – with all our decisive critique against voluntary servitude- we have to recognize that these people are defending their vital and sustaining space.

Casually, I find myself in the same court as the 20 guys detained following the riots in the Tepito7 neighborhood on the day following my accident, and on hearing their stories it is clear to me that what happened there was nothing more than an action in self-defense against the every day theft of their lives, a well deserved violent response to the violent acts committed day by day by the police. It’s for this reason that, the same as for me, they are faced with the accusations of “attacks against the public peace” as well as attempted murder of police. Accusations which mean they are faced with sentences of between 7 and 47 years in prison. What do they want to achieve with this? An example punishment? Without a doubt, and guarding our distances, this reminds me of the riots in the marginal neighborhoods of Paris in 2006, regularly criticized but little understood.

All of these moments of conflict, whether politicized actions or not, not only make it obvious the inexistence of the system of supposed social well being, but also they show us that if it really existed, we would still fight against it, because we recognize that Power is the real enemy of all of us who aspire for Total Freedom.

However, even given the imminent state of control, there are still those who aren’t frightened, those who by day or by night, alone or collectively, with fire, fire-works, blockades, explosives or firearms, show that this is not the life we want, that – at least from our perspective- this system must be totally destroyed. Their damned social peace is a myth that they attempt to impose on us. Only conflict exists. The peace imposed by the system is the peace of cemeteries that they use to try to extinguish the anti-authoritarian fight. The acts of insurrection make it clear that it is necessary to keep on doing “something more than words”, that the conflict must extend. We must take the step from the “unconscious” insurrection to a conscious and generalized insurrection, propagate attack, put up barricades, destroy the economy, attack trade, conform dozens, hundreds, thousands of affinity groups. It’s clear that we have to take control of our lives and our spaces; to be able to achieve it there is no other way out than Social War.

This permanent conflictivity which I emphasize, part of our individuality, is a “counter-value” that is sparked when fronted with the values of the system, and that constructs itself day by day to question ourselves as individuals and to confront this concrete reality. It is to maintain standing a devastating critique against the system, re-appropriating once and for all our own lives. To live, to be, to relate to ourselves in a different way, to maintain ourselves in conflict with the existent, is to revolutionize every moment. An ¡Ai Ferri Corti con la vita! But also we have to translate the permanent conflictivity into a constant and fierce attack against the system of domination. That tension and the daily confrontation against a system which tries to reduce us to mere merchandise, that consequent practice – at least for me- is much more integral than the simple occasional “rebellion”, than the temporary protest, than the revolutionary pose. It is the moments of conflict which give expression and sense to our lives.

This permanent conflicitivity can never be assimilated by the system of domination, and much less recuperated in the reconstructive cycle of Power, because it is the natural scaffolding of Anarchy. From the moment we are born the state expropriates our lives and with that it also expropriates our critical capacity and our natural resource of self-defense; turning violence into a monopoly for the unique and exclusive use of Power, so that when the excluded and the self-excluded use it they can call it “terrorism”. Anti-systematic action, anti-authoritarian attack and permanent conflict make it clear that violence is also revolutionary, and that it necessarily has to be used at the moment we face the violence of the State.

Compañer@s, sisters and brothers of affinity, here inside prison – somewhat limited – I have no other way to contribute to the anarchist struggle other than by inciting agitation. In this sense, many of my letters, notes and communications are directed.

For the moment, I have nothing more than to add other than an enormous greeting of strength and solidarity to all the anarchist compañer@s prisoners in Mexico and around the world. A strong embrace and a cordial invitation to keep moving forward, not one step back. Agitation!

For Anarchy!

For the extension of the every day conflict!

For individual insurrection!

For generalized insurrection!

Not one millimeter backwards… 9 millimeters in the heads of Power!

Social War on all fronts!

With love and Anarchy



Mario Antonio López Hernández

Anarchist Prisoner

Reclusorio Preventivo Sur, Classification and Observation Centre, Xochimilco, Mexico City

29 of October, 2012.



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Notes:

1. “Hooded ones”

2. Photos here: http://www.publimetro.com.mx/noticias/fotos-grupo-de-encapuchados-toma-representacion-de-michoacan-en-el-df/mljx!HFv6eEfm2nZ/

3. Firewords launched as missiles

4. Education students

5. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Hnik7pP-Y or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-p8ijMBfRU

6. http://www.noticiasdigital.net/index.php/noticias/parte-de-guerra/item/285-prenden-fuego-desconocidos-a-patrullas-en-mexicali.html

7. Tepito is known to be one of the most dangerous suburbs of Mexico City. See: http://www.razon.com.mx/spip.php?article128003 View video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMIUc3YVybA

Tags: Informal Anarchist Federation - Mexico (FAI-M), Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Letter, Mario 'Tripa' Lopez, Mario Antonio Lopez Hernandez, Mexico, Mexico City, Repression, Tepito

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2012 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Prison Struggle.