> SINTRAEMCALI OCCUPATION:  EYEWITNESS UPDATE NUMBER ONE
>
> From outside the CAM Tower, Cali, Colombia
> 14th January 2002
>
> Getting on a plane from Britain, and within hours finding
> myself face to
> face with heavily armed Colombian riot police, shoulder to
> shoulder with
> workers and students locked in a struggle to keep public
> services in the
> public domain is, to say the least, a little bit disorientating.
>
> Its hard to describe the feeling of being here with the people, in the
> middle of a heroic struggle, but I will do my best to paint a
> picture of
> the beauty of the merging of the individual into the
> collective mass of
> the class: flags waving, banners flying and hearts full of the
> conviction that to change our social reality we have to begin to think
> of others as ourselves, and to fight for common dreams.
>
> Eighteen days into the occupation of CAM, the central administration
> Tower of EMCALI , in Cali (Colombia's second city), and the
> surrounding
> areas have been transformed into a beehive of collective
> action aimed at
> feeding the body and the soul of the 800 workers inside, and
> presenting
> a message to the community at large that yes we have dignity,
> yes we can
> fight back, and yes we have an alternative that doesn't
> necessitate that
> for my plate to be full, yours has to be empty.
>
> Apart from the riot police surrounding the tower itself, the square
> surrounding CAM is in the hands of the people who patrol the perimeter
> 24 hours a day in workers teams, making sure that those who would seek
> to eliminate the dream of social justice, are at least for the moment,
> kept at a distance.  On the right-hand side of the building is a huge
> make-shift kitchen feeding the hundreds of occupying workers
> inside with
> breakfast, lunch and dinner.  A military style operation which moves
> from control, to production, to consumption, each with an importance
> that has been drastically changed due to the nature of the conflict.
>
> The perimeter of the kitchen is fenced off to prevent any unauthorized
> person from entering: Martha the cook has been renamed during the
> occupation and now is called Thatcher - for the steely nature in which
> she organizes the troops, and prepares the food. "If somebody
> slipped in
> and poisoned the food the occupation would be over, and then
> where would
> we be?" But more then the security, she works with a passionate belief
> in the struggle.  "I haven't been home for 18 days, I work, live and
> sleep in this place.  Last time when SINTRAEMCAL took the tower, the
> workers inside got fed up with beans and rice.  I change the
> menu every
> day, and make sure it is keeping them happy".  Today's  lunch was a
> mixed rice with beef, sausages and ham, a salad, and a milk pudding
> dessert.  " I do it all with lots of love, even if they think I am a
> dictator they know that this job is important."
>
> Once the food is prepared it has to pass through a committee comprised
> of police, government authorities, and union representatives.  The
> police check it all with a spoon making sure nothing but food enters,
> the union ensures that the police don't  poison it, and the government
> authorities attempt to make sure that neither side breaks the rules of
> the humanitarian agreement that was signed between the conflicting
> parties three days into the dispute and covers the entry of food and
> medicine into the building.
>
> As the food moves on in its journey into the tower, Martha
> and the rest
> of her team take a break, tell some jokes, and she starts
> thinking about
> the next meal.  After about an hour she calls the President of the
> Union, inside the occupation, to check that there was enough food, and
> that they enjoyed it.  He normally tells her that it was terrible, and
> she knows by these comments that it was good.  I feel proud to be with
> her.
>
> Across the road from Martha's  kitchen is a makeshift stage where
> community leaders, activists, and sympathizers with the struggle, make
> their speeches, trying to keep up the spirits of those outside and
> inside the occupation, and explain the changing situation.  On some
> days, there have been 20,000 supporters outside the tower,
> and every few
> days there is a big meeting with several thousand people.
> One was even
> beamed via video link to British trade unionists and
> Colombian exiles at
> the headquarters of the British TUC.  "Our struggle needs to be
> international, because these policies of privatization are not just
> destroying our lives" said Arial, the regional Human Rights
> representative of the Central Workers union, the Colombian
> equivalent of
> the TUC.
>
> Next to the stage, and all around the square, the walls are
> adorned with
> colorful union and social organization banners with slogans such as
> "SINTRAEMCALI is the union of the people, and the people will defend
> it",  " Better to die for something then live for nothing",
> and a whole
> range of other messages of support and solidarity."
>
> Directly in front of the building, lined up against the metal barriers
> put up by the police, families and friends gather and shout
> messages of
> support and news from home to those inside.  I do the same,
> and wave to
> my comrades inside.  The struggle is personal as well as
> political, and
> in a movement where fear of the death squads permeates everyday life,
> trust and friendship are everything.
>
> I look around and try to think of ways to describe all this.
> The whole
> square has such a feeling of creativity to it, and of hope: that this
> time the downtrodden can win.  As I link my arms up with
> others to block
> the roads, and shout messages of support to those inside, I too become
> locked again into the dream that we can do it, and resign
> myself to the
> fact that even if we can't, that dream is worth fighting for.
>
> Mario Novelli
>
>
> Mario Novelli will be speaking immediately on his return from Colombia
> at
>
> 4pm Saturday 2nd February, CORAS Centre, 161 Lambeth Walk,
> London SE11.
>
> (nearest tubes Vauxhall or North Lambeth), the monthly meeting of the
> Colombia Solidarity Campaign.
>
> --
> Andy Higginbottom
>