New book from Colectivo Situaciones… interesting parallels between the 
occupations and assemblies they discuss and the present. cheers, stevphen


19 & 20: Notes for a New Social Protagonism
Colectivo Situaciones
Translated by Nate Holdren & Sebastián Touza
Introductions by Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri

An 18th Brumaire for the 21st Century: militant research on the December 
19th and 20th, 2001 uprisings in Argentina

In the heat of an economic and political crisis, people in Argentina 
took to the streets on December 19th, 2001, shouting “¡Qué se vayan 
todos!” These words – “All of them out!” – hurled by thousands banging 
pots and pans, struck at every politician, economist, and journalist. 
These events opened a period of intense social unrest and political 
creativity that led to the collapse of government after government. 
Neighborhoods organized themselves into hundreds of popular assemblies 
across the country, the unemployed workers movement acquired a new 
visibility, workers took over factories and businesses. These events 
marked a sea change, a before and an after for Argentina that resonated 
around the world.

Colectivo Situaciones wrote this book in the heat of that December’s 
aftermath. As radicals immersed within the long process of reflection 
and experimentation with forms of counterpower that Argentines practiced 
in shadow of neoliberal rule, Colectivo Situaciones knew that the 
novelty of the events of December 19th and 20th demanded new forms of 
thinking and research. This book attempts to read those struggles from 
within. Ten years have passed, yet the book remains as relevant and as 
fresh as the day it came out. Multitudes of citizens from different 
countries have learned their own ways to chant ¡Qué se vayan todos!, 
from Iceland to Tunisia, from Spain to Greece, from Tahrir Square to 
Zuccotti Park. Colectivo Situactiones’ practice of engaging with 
movements’ own thought processes resonates with everyone seeking to 
think current events and movements, and through that to build a new 
world in the shell of the old.

“If the insurrection in Argentina that began in December 2001 was our 
Paris Commune, then Colectivo Situaciones fits well in the position of 
Karl Marx. As Friedrich Engels was fond of saying, one of Marx’s many 
talents was to analyze the historical importance of political events as 
they took place. This book by Colectivo Situaciones, written in the heat 
of action, certainly demonstrates that same talent in full, delving into 
the complexity of concrete events while simultaneously stepping back to 
recognize how our political reality has changed.” – Michael Hardt, from 
the Introduction

Bio: Colectivo Situaciones is a collective of militant researchers based 
in Buenos Aires. They have participated in numerous grassroots 
co-research activities with unemployed workers, peasant movements, 
neighborhood assemblies, and alternative education experiments.

PDF freely available online: http://www.minorcompositions.info/?p=331
ISBN 978-1-57027-216-5
Release date January 15th, 2012.

Released by Minor Composition, Wivenhoe / New York / Port Watson
Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing 
from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of 
everyday life.

Minor Compositions is an imprint of Autonomedia
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Co-published with Common Notions, Brooklyn, NY
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