Venezuela From Below by 立方計劃空間 TheCube Project Space

VENEZUELA FROM BELOW

委內瑞拉的底層革命

奧立佛 · 雷斯樂＋達利歐 · 艾塞里尼

Oliver Ressler & Dario Azzellini 2 0 1 2 . 0 3 . 3 1 -0 4 . 2 9

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立方計劃空間重見 / 建社會 Re-envisioning Society 委內瑞拉的底層革命 VENEZUELA FROM BELOW

藝術家 Artists | 奧立佛 · 雷斯樂（Oliver Ressler) + 達利歐 · 艾塞里尼（Dario Azzellini）特別感謝 Special Thanks | Colin Perry 策展 Curator | 鄭慧華 Amy CHENG

專案管理 Project Manager | 羅悅全 Jeph LO

行政助理 Exhibition Assistant | 董淑婷 Dale DONG

展場技術 Technical Support | 藝術戰爭公司 Art War Company 平面美術 Graphic Designer | 陳萱白 CHEN Hsuan-Pai

翻譯 Translators | 陳靜文 Christine CHAN，羅悅全 Jeph LO，蔡家榛 JiaZhen TSAI 發行 Publisher | 立方計劃空間 TheCUBE Project Space 100 台北市羅斯福路四段 136 巷 1 弄 13 號 2 樓

2F, No. 13, Aly. 1, Ln. 136, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 100, Taiwan +886 2 2368 9418

www.thecubespace.com info@thecube.tw

出版 Published 2012. 05

Installation view @TheCUBE

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委內瑞拉的底層革命 1998 年，烏戈 · 查維斯（Hugo Chávez Frías）當選委內瑞拉總統，上台後開始積極與人民互動交流，推展一連串民主社會主義的

政策，稱之為「玻利瓦爾進程」(Bolivarian Process)，其中心思想包括反帝國主義、參與式民主、經濟自足、消除貪污。查維斯反新自由主義和基進的左翼政策廣受委內瑞拉底層民眾的支持，但也遭到企業主的強烈抵制。經過反對派於 2002 年發動的政變、

2002 至 2003 年間發生的「企業主罷工」事件，以及 2004 年的罷免投票，查維斯在底層人民的擁護下安然渡過，政治地位也更

為穩固，並且成為拉丁美洲的英雄。另方面，查維斯對美國挑囂的態度，以及透過修憲延長總統任期，也使他成為國際媒體中評價兩極的政治人物。

有別於一般媒體偏向負面的報導，本展覽「委內瑞拉的底層革命」深入該國，透過委內瑞拉底層人民的心聲，直接呈現「玻利瓦

爾進程」。奧立佛 · 雷斯樂與達利歐 · 艾塞里尼於「委內瑞拉的底層革命」展中的三部紀錄片：〈委內瑞拉的底層革命〉（Venezuela

from Below ，2004）、〈五座工廠－委內瑞拉的工人自治〉（5 Factories - Worker Control in Venezuela ，2006）及〈建設中的

自治區〉（Comuna Under Construction ，2010）裡，訪問和紀錄了因「玻利瓦爾革命」而尋得希望的民眾，由他們口述自身經歷，詳細描繪出這十年來的民主社會主義、參與式民主的發展，以及工人自治如何改變了委內瑞拉人民對政治與社會形態的想像與建構。

展覽期間，立方計劃空間特與台南藝術大學音像紀錄研究所、藝術創作理論研究所博士班；高雄師範大學跨領域藝術研究所；台北牯嶺街小劇場藝文空間，聯合邀請曾深入報導拉丁美洲社會主義革命狀況的香港資深記者與國際問題評論家張翠容來台開設講座。

VENEZUELA FROM BELOW After Hugo Chávez Frías was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, in a process of continuous interaction with the population he implemented a series of democratic socialist policies known as Bolivarian Process. Its central ideas include anti-imperialism, participatory democracy, economic self-sufficiency and eradication of corruption. While Chávez’s anti-neoliberal and radical

leftist polices are popular among grass-roots Venezuelans, they face a strong rejection by the owners of enterprises. In 2002 the opposition staged a coup, and a recall referendum in 2004. With the support of the grass roots population, Chávez weathered both crises, solidifying his political position and becoming a hero of Latin America. On the other hand, his provocative stance towards the US and his move to increase the presidential term by changing the constitution have made him a controversial political figure in the international media discourse.

Contrary to the biased reporting of the media in general, this exhibition VENEZUELA FROM BELOW directly presents the

Bolivarian Process through the views of grass-roots Venezuelans. The three documentaries by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini shown in the exhibition, Venezuela from Below (2004), 5 Factories - Worker Control in Venezuela (2006) and Comuna Under

Construction (2010), interviewed and recorded those who found hope thanks to the “Bolivarian Revolution”. Through their own oral testimony, the films meticulously portray how the development of a democratic socialism, participatory democracy and

autonomy of workers that emerged over the past decade have changed the Venezuelans’ envisioning of politics and the social structure.

During the exhibition period, TheCube Project Space, the Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary & Film Archiving and

the Doctoral Program of the Graduate Institute of Art Creation and Theory at the Tainan National University of the Arts, Graduate Institute of Interdisciplinary Art at the National Kaohsiung Normal University, and Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre, jointly

invited senior journalist and political critic Chui-yung Cheung, who has done in-depth reporting on the state of the socialist revolution in Latin America, to hold talks.

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Venezuela from Below 委內瑞拉的底層革命 Film, 67min., 2004

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影片說明自從查維斯政府於 1998 上台，委內瑞拉開始發生一場徹底的社會改革，稱為「玻利瓦爾進程」。這場革命關心的是各個面向的自我組織過程，從中發展出前進的憲法、勞動法、新式教育的可能性，並在這個理應富裕但多數人民卻十分貧困的國家進行一系列更進一步的改革。委內瑞拉私人大企業與美國強烈抵制查維斯政府公然挑戰新自由主義的政策，發動了數次政變與杯葛。儘管如

此，查維斯與其政府卻受到多數人民的擁戴。委內瑞拉的社會發生高度的政治化，許多本來從未想過改變的人民，如今都開始投入這場國家革命。

在影片〈委內瑞拉的底層革命〉中，發言的角色都是這場社會進程的真實人物：底層草根人民。首先是哲學家卡洛斯 · 拉佐（Carlos Lazo）開場，接著由拉克魯斯港（Puerto La Cruz）的石油公司 PDVSA 的工人報告 2002/2003 年發生石油業主罷工的破壞行動，工人們如何保衛煉油場使其不致崩解，以及他們如何恢復石油的生產。於阿拉瓜州（Aragua）成立合作社的農民報告他們自我組織的過程、掃盲運動的成果，以及這些事情應如何進行下去。梅里達州（Miranda）的婦女銀行計劃，以及卡拉卡斯（Caracas）貧窮地區「一二三區」（23 de Enero）的貸款婦女描述了她們的計劃。波利瓦爾州（Bolívar）奧里諾科河（Orinoco river）附近的原住民社區成員談到憲法如何反映他們的需求與抗爭，憲法又是如何為他們而改變。佔領洛斯特克斯（Los Teques）國家閥門公司（National Valve Company），以及卡拉沃沃州（Carabobo）委內帕紙業（Venepal）的工人－－後者在業主故意破產後被

350 位工人佔領，後來得到局部合同，得以讓公司繼續運作－－談到腐敗的工會、工人接管，以及他們的抗爭。「一二三區」的

杜巴馬羅（Tupamaro）革命運動、西蒙 · 玻利瓦爾文化基金會、左翼網站 www.23.net，以及玻利瓦爾圈亞北北加分部（Bolivarian Circle Abrebrecha）的主要人物報告他們的工作，以及他們透過社會革命而得到的改變。

他們是底層草根人物，談到他們過去與現在的所作所為，對玻利瓦爾革命的感受，以及他們的期待與看法。他們將自己視為這個進程的一份子，但也提出許多問題意識。這項對於超越新自由主義的社會與經濟模型的研究並非容易的課題，目前尚無實驗成功的另途。儘管如此，玻利瓦爾進程的主人翁已開闢了一條無法回頭的道路。譯自藝術家網站 www.ressler.at/venezuela_from_below

Film Description In Venezuela, a profound social transformation identified as the Bolivarian process has been underway since Hugo Chávez’s governmental takeover in 1998. It concerns a broad process of self organization, from which has developed a progressive

constitution, a labor law, new educational possibilities, and a number of further reforms for the impoverished majority of the

population of what is potentially a wealthy state. The government’s politics, which take an open stance against neo-liberalism,

have experienced vehement rejection from Venezuela’s major private industries and from the U.S., expressed in two attempted coups and boycotts. Nonetheless, Chávez and his government enjoy the trust of the majority of the population. The society is heavily politicized; many people who had never before thought of what they wanted to change are now a part of a profound transformation taking place in the country.

In the film Venezuela from Below , the true actors in the social process are able to speak: the grassroots. After an introduction by philosopher Carlos Lazo, workers from the oil company PDVSA in Puerto La Cruz report how in 2002/2003 they protected the refinery from breaking down during the oil sabotage, which was pawned off as a strike, and how they were able to reinstate oil production. Several farmers from a newly founded cooperative in Aragua report on their process of self organization, on

the literacy campaign, and how things should continue. A women’s bank project in Miranda and several loan recipients from Caracas’ disadvantaged district, 23 de Enero, present their projects. Indígena community members near the Orinoco river in

Bolívar speak about how their demands and struggles are reflected in the constitution and what has changed for them. Workers from the occupied National Valve Company in Los Teques and the paper production company Venepal in Carabobo – which was occupied by 350 workers after the owners drove it to bankruptcy, and which now, after a partial agreement, is running

production again – speak about corrupt unions, labor control, and their struggles. Protagonists in the revolutionary movement

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Tupamaro, the cultural foundation Sim贸n Bol铆var, the leftist website www.23.net, and the Bolivarian Circle Abrebrecha from 23 de Enero report on their work and what has changed for them through the social revolutions.

They are the people of the grassroots and they speak about what they did and what they are doing, how they feel about the Bolivarian process, about their expectations and ideas. They see themselves as part of the process that is underway, but also problematize numerous points. The search for a social and economic model beyond neo-liberalism is no easy terrain; there

are currently no successful, tested alternatives. The protagonists in the Bolivarian process have, however, set upon a path from which there is no return.

www.ressler.at/venezuela_from_below

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5 Factories Worker Control in Venezuela 五座工廠 - 委內瑞拉的工人自治 Film, 81min., 2006

影片說明在〈委內瑞拉的底層革命〉之後，艾塞里尼與雷斯樂合作了第二部關於委內瑞拉政治與社會變革的影片，〈五座工廠－委內瑞拉的工人自治〉聚焦於當地的產業。在這部影片中，以五座不同領域的大型公司來展現委內瑞拉產業圈的改變：紡織、鋁、蕃茄、

可可、造紙。在各工廠中，工人在政府的信賴與協助下，為不同形式的合作社或自我管理而奮鬥。塔奇拉紡織廠工人里戈韋托 · 洛佩斯（Rigoberto López）站在蒸氣桶前說：「公司基本上是由工人集會來治理」。紡錐操作員卡門 · 奧爾蒂斯（Carmen Ortiz）接著總結她的經驗：「為合作社工作，好過為別人工作，為別人工作就像作別人的奴隸。」

五座工廠裡所描繪的人物，呈現出另類組織與工人自治模式的深入見解。他們解釋了自我組織的機制、困難，以及產品製造過程。機器生產過程的描繪可以視為「波利瓦爾進程」夢想機器的一種隱喻，以及它鼓舞工人所產生的希望與欲望。五座工廠的 TheCUBE

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狀況各有不同，但他們都在尋找更好的生產與生活模式。對工人來說，其意義不僅止於具體的改善。瓜里科蕃茄工廠（Tomates

Guárico）的實驗室分析師歐力 · 阿羅查（Aury Arocha）強調了「社會生產公司」（EPS）與資本主義公司的差別在於，社會生產

公司是「為社群與社會工作」。委內瑞拉第二大製鋁廠阿爾卡薩（Alcasa）的總裁卡洛斯 · 蘭茲（Carlos Lanz）提出了關鍵問題：「公司如何在資本主義架構內推向社會主義？」

影片的結尾是連續鏡頭，阿爾卡薩－－有兩千七百名員工的公司－－管理會議裡，他們討論著關於共同管理與他們追求的生產關係變革。

譯自藝術家網站 www.ressler.at/5_factories

Film Description In their second film regarding political and social change in Venezuela, after Venezueal from Below (67 min., 2004), Azzellini

and Ressler focus on the industrial sector in 5 Factories–Worker Control in Venezuela. The changes in Venezuela’s productive

sphere are demonstrated with five large companies in various regions: a textile company, aluminum works, a tomato factory, a

cocoa factory, and a paper factory. In all, the workers are struggling for different forms of co- or self-management supported by credits from the government. “The assembly is basically governing the company”, says Rigoberto López from the textile factory “Textileros del Táchira” in front of steaming tubs. And coning machine operator Carmen Ortiz summarizes the experience as

follows: “Working collectively is much better than working for another–working for another is like being a slave to that other”. The protagonists portrayed at the five production locations present insights into ways of alternative organizing and models of workers’ control. Mechanisms and difficulties of self-organization are explained as well as the production processes. The

portrayal of machine processes could be seen as a metaphor for the dream machine of the “Bolivarian process”, and the hopes and desires it inspires among the workers. The situation in the five factories varies, but they share the common search for

better models of production and life. This not only means concrete improvements for the workers. Aury Arocha, laboratory

analyst at the ketchup factory “Tomates Guárico”, emphasizes that the difference between “social production companies” (EPS) and capitalist corporations is that the EPS “work for the community and society”. Carlos Lanz, president of the second largest

aluminum factory in Venezuela, Alcasa, coins the key question: “How does a company push toward socialism within a capitalist framework?”

The film ends with an extended sequence from a management meeting at Alcasa, a company with 2.700 workers, with discussions about co-management and the changes of production relations they aspire towards. www.ressler.at/5_factories

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Comuna Under Construction 建設中的自治區 Film, 94min., 2010

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影片說明「我們要作自己的主人，我們才知道自己要什麼、我們的社區發生什麼事」，歐梅拉 · 佩雷思（Omayra Peréz）充滿自信地說。

她希望說服自己所在的社區－－位於卡拉卡斯（Caracas）山坡上的貧民區－－成立「社區委員會」（Consejo Comunal）。委內

瑞拉有三萬多個社區委員會，居民透過集會集體決定地方事務。支援歐梅拉的是鄰近貧民區「埃米利亞諾埃爾南德斯」（Emiliano Hernández）的行動者，其社區委員會已成立了三年。那裡的居民打算透過政府的「巴里歐阿登托任務」（Barrio Adentro）請來一位醫生，提供免費醫療。他們還得到補助金可以翻修房屋，並將十多棟鐵皮屋改建為全新的房舍。這些行動者與種種事務，透過社區委員會組織起來。藉由地方自我組織，居民自行選擇成立主題工作團隊，並在集會中決定事務。

多個社區委員會可以集結形成自治區（Comuna），最後可再形成自治市鎮。本片〈建設中的自治區〉走遍卡拉卡斯山坡，位於鄉間的巴里納斯（Brinas）濕地平原的貧民區，追縱這過程的進展。這些議會是從底層建立起來，加上公機關的協助，透過自我管理去改善現況。在一場預備成立「安東尼奧何賽德蘇克雷」（Antonio José de Sucre）自治市鎮的集會裡，來自「埃塞基耶爾薩

莫拉農民陣線」（Frente Nacional Campesino Ezequiel Zamora）的拉蒙 · 維里戈（Ramon Virigay）提醒各社區委員會的列席代表：「即使我們今天需要靠政府機關，也是為了讓我們明天能夠獨立發展。我們不能永遠只依賴國家」。因此，這場會議是要建立自己的生產與配銷架構，以達到自治的目的。

人民集會是本片〈建設中的自治區〉的中心元素。開頭是位於卡拉卡斯貧民區，組織建全的「埃米利亞諾埃爾南德斯」社區委員會，然後介紹到鄉間的巴里納斯地區人民有意成立自治區與自治市鎮，最後結束在佩塔雷（Petare），卡拉卡斯的龐大貧民區，有 29

個社區委員會有意集結建立「馬卡自治區」（Comuna of Maca）。它是否有可能整合在一起，完全自治？所有社區委員會的發言

人，對此提出了正面與負面的經驗。在佩塔雷的集會裡，草根行動者尤絲梅莉 · 帕蒂諾（Yusmeli Patiño）指責政府高層代表：「因為國家機關的無能，我們越來越不相信你們」。但仍有公機關的人員盡全力與基層人民一同作決策。底層與公機關之間的關係，有合作也有衝突。但是社區委員會也有內部難題，他們得學習如何參與。人民要真正地成為自己生活與環境的主人，這條艱難的道路上有進展也有障礙。

譯自藝術家網站 www.ressler.at/comuna_under_construction

Film Description “We have to decide for ourselves what we want. We are the ones who know about our needs and what is happening in our community”, Omayra Peréz explains confidently. She wants to convince her community, located on the hillside of the poor

districts of Caracas, to found a Consejo Comunal (community council). In more than 30.000 Consejos Comunales the Venezuelan inhabitants decide on their concerns collectively via assemblies. Omayra is supported by the activists of the nearby shantytown

“Emiliano Hernández”, which has had a Consejo Comunal for three years already. The inhabitants there managed to get a doctor from the governmental program “Barrio Adentro”, who treats everyone free of charge. They also got money to renovate their houses and replaced over a dozen of corrugated-iron huts by new houses. All of these activities and a lot more have been

organized via the Consejo Comunal. By local self-organization several working groups have been established on self-selected topics and decisions are made in assemblies. Several Consejos Comunales can form a Comuna and finally a communal town.

The film “Comuna Under Construction” follows these developments throughout the hillside of the shantytowns of Caracas and the vast and wet plains of Barinas in the countryside. The councils are built from below and alongside the existing institutions and are supposed to overcome the existing state through self- government. In a constituent assembly for the construction

of the communal town “Antonio José de Sucre” Ramon Virigay from the independent peasant’s organization Frente Nacional Campesino Ezequiel Zamora (FNCEZ) reminds the delegates of the participating Consejos Comunales: “Even if we definitely

need the government agencies at the moment, we have to be independent tomorrow due to our development. We cannot

depend solely on the state forever.” For this reason the councils are to establish own structures of production and distribution in order to achieve autonomy.

The assemblies are a central element of the film Comuna Under Construction . The film starts off in the well organized Consejo

Comunal Emiliano Hernández located in one of the shantytowns of Caracas. It then shows the intentions of forming Comunas

and a communal town in rural Barinas and ends in Petare, a gigantic shantytown of the agglomeration of Caracas where there TheCUBE

are 29 Consejos Comunales intending to build the Comuna of Maca. Is it even possible to bring together state and autonomy

at all? Every one of the Consejos Comunales spokes-persons has positive as well as negative experiences with the institutions in store to talk about. In an assembly in Petare the grassroots activist Yusmeli PatiĂąo blames a high government representative: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are losing our credibility because of the incompetence of the state institutionsâ&#x20AC;?. But there are also members of the

institutions who make a big effort to accompany the basis in making its own decisions. Relations between the grass roots

and the institutions are marked by cooperation as well as conflict. But the Consejos Comunales also have internal difficulties; participation has to be learned. Both progress and setback mark the difficult process of people actually taking the power of deciding on their own lives and environment by themselves. www.ressler.at/comuna_under_construction

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短評：雷斯樂與艾塞里尼的〈建設中的自治區〉文 / 柯林 · 培利（Colin Perry ) 拉丁美洲對你有何意義？據傳，美國前總統尼克森曾說：人們「根本不鳥那塊地方」。相反的，對大部份左翼來說，拉美是社會主義的明燈。從 1990 年代中期到 2000 年初，觀察者關注的是墨西哥本地的薩帕塔（Zapatista）運動，許多人認為其局部的成

功，為霍洛維（John Holloway）、哈德（Michael Hardt）與內格里（Antonio Negri）自治論之潛力的明證。之後，火把傳給了

另一位相當不同的人物，具魅力又重實務的查維斯－－委內瑞拉總統與波利瓦爾運動的首領。相關的一系列紀錄片有巴特萊（Kim Bartley）與歐布里恩（Donnacha O'Briain）充滿活力與驚奇的〈不會播出的革命〉（The Revolution Will not be Televised ，

2002），皮爾格（John Pilger）傳教式的〈民主之戰〉（The War on Democracy ，2007）以及奧立佛史東（Oliver Stone）主流

的〈國境之南〉（South of the Border ，2009）。而雷斯樂與艾塞里尼的三部片則少為人知：〈建設中的自治區〉、〈五座工廠－委內瑞拉的工人自治〉與〈委內瑞拉的底層革命〉，三片都近距離地觀察到委內瑞拉平民的日常生活。

在〈建設中的自治區〉中，里斯樂與艾塞里尼避開查維斯的狂熱，觀察這場運動中草根的一面。在整個委內瑞拉，行動者已建立

了數千個社區委員會，公民在其中討論地方事務，並尋求日常問題的解決之道，這些社區委員會更可集結為片名所說的「自治區」。賈奎琳 · 艾薇拉（Jaquelin Ávila）就是這樣的行動者。在片中，我們跟著她的腳步，看著她如何為成立新的社區委員會而於卡拉

卡斯（Caracas）郊區奔走。地方居民希望有能運作的污水系統、地產證明文件以及網路，要達成這些目標顯然需要鼓吹行動和專門的實驗：艾薇拉告訴一名當地男子：「如果你有意願做，我就會支持你」，並向人們保證，他們會得到鄰里的社區委員會「埃米利亞諾埃爾南德斯」（Emiliano Hernández）的協助，這個委員會已成立了三年。艾薇拉充滿自信地談到那裡已裝有排水道、防塌牆，還把泥屋改建為磚造屋。

大多數行動都是完全自動自發。而且，雷斯樂編輯過的影片只是這些行動的小小部份－－它是從數百小時的紀錄影像剪輯出來，以手持攝影機長鏡頭拍攝。不過，有幾個片段可能會讓觀者懷疑我們得到的並非真實、未經安排過的中立印象。例如，當雷斯樂

與艾塞里尼的攝影師進入「埃米利亞諾埃爾南德斯」社區剛完成的屋子，情況看起來有如宣傳片：屋主米儀感謝上帝賜予查維斯，並談到她有多麼開心。紀錄過程的破壞性邏輯在影片的另一部份更加明顯：拍攝者決定到鄉下拜訪農業社區，「埃米利亞諾埃爾南德斯」社區得到消息，派了一位代表跟著拍攝者同行，要去與「農夫」社群建立貿易關係。儘管如此，雷斯樂與艾塞里尼並不停留這些點上，他們在意的是，要讓拍攝對象直接對鏡頭發聲－－例如，不加任何後製的旁白－－而且拍攝者退到畫外並不是要作幕後控制者，而僅是單純地要讓委內瑞拉人為自己發聲。

〈建設中的自治區〉包含三個部份：兩段在城市裡，一段在鄉村。後者中，我們看到一群人討論「革命的」社會主義的變革將如

何改變佃農的苦難，讓他們擁有抵抗跨國公司和中間商的力量。與國家的關係是一個重點：一位發言者說，「縱然我們支持這個

進程和總統，但我們是自主自治的」，另一位提到「總統說我們這些種田的不只是農民，也是公民」。查維斯在 2007 年講過類似的話：「社會，也就是人民，要從國家手上奪回權力。權力應該在人民手上 ... 人民的時代已經到來」。但現實是，國家賦與人民權力，而且，這個過程完全不是古典布爾什維克式的流血革命。伊恩 · 布魯斯（Iain Bruce）的書〈真實的委內瑞拉〉（The Real

Venezuela ，2008）對這種較開明的司法架構有深入的看法：

「土地所有權的集中於少數人是委內瑞拉歷史的詛咒。大地主必須要消除。但查維斯總統堅持，不需要征收他們的地，更

不會没收充公。2001 年制定的土地法中，對閒置土地提出一種懲罰稅，以此鼓勵大地主把多餘的土地交給農民合作社。」在卡拉卡斯都會區西北邊的佩塔雷（Petare）中一個較具戰鬥力的自治區裡，一場辯論圍繞著人們對該國官僚與大企業特權所產

生的失望。第一位發言者談到「因為國家機關的無能，我們越來越不相信你們」。她告訴聽者，負責自治區的公機關經過數次重

組，成為行政的夢魘，草根運動工作遭嚴重拖延（發生危機的不止是自治區人民的信任，還包括這個區域貧困者的福利與改善）。她大罵負責官員，威脅要召開記者會，訴諸委內瑞拉人民，當然，還有查維斯。這些畫面揭露了自治運動和雷斯樂與艾塞里尼的中心議題：憲法與行憲機關、靈活的小團體與臃腫的國家機制之間的緊張關係。這裡的問題是：中心化的官僚機制與去中心自治區的諸眾如何共存？他們是否能夠協同工作？答案已昭然若揭。

柯林 · 培利是倫敦的作家與評論者

本文原載於英國《Art Monthly》2010.12-2011.1

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Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini: Comuna Under Construction By COLIN PERRY, writer and critic What does Latin America mean to you? Richard Nixon reportedly said that people ‘don’t give one shit about the place’. For many on the left, by contrast, it is a beacon of socialism. From the mid 1990s to the early 2000s, onlookers followed Mexico’s indigenous Zapatista movement; many saw its partial successes as proof of the potency of the autonomist ideas of John Holloway, and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. Since then, the torch has been passed to the rather different figure of Hugo Chávez, the charismatic, realpolitiking president of Venezuela and the head of the Bolivarian movement. An outpouring of documentaries has ensued: Kim Bartley and Donnacha Ó Briain’s vital and astonishing The Revolution Will not be Televised , 2002, John Pilger’s proselytising The War on Democracy , 2007, and Oliver Stone’s mainstream South of the Border , 2009. Lesser known are the three films made by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini (Comuna Under Construction , 2010, 5 Factories – Worker Control in Venezuela , 2006, and Venezuela from Below , 2004) all of which take a close look at the everyday experiences of ordinary Venezuelans. In Comuna Under Construction , Ressler and Azzellini have bypassed the cult of Chávez in order to look at the grassroots facets of the movement. Across Venezuela, activists have established thousands of Consejos Comunales (community councils) where citizens discuss local concerns and seek solutions to common problems; these councils in turn can combine to form the ‘Comunas’ of the film’s title. Jaquelin Ávila is one such activist. In the film, we follow her as she sets about establishing a new commune in a barrio on the outskirts of Caracas. The locals want a sewerage system that works, legal recognition of their property and connection to the internet. The process of achieving these targets is evidently a mix of advocacy and ad-hoc experimentation: Ávila tells one local man, ‘if you are willing to work then I will support you’, and reassures an assembled group that they also have the support of a neighbouring Consejo Comunal called Emiliano Hernández, which has been established for three years. Ávila proudly talks about the drains they have already installed there, the walls to prevent landslides and the replacement of mud huts with well-built brick houses. Most of the action feels entirely spontaneous. Indeed, Ressler has edited his film with only the lightest of touches – primarily selecting material from hundreds of hours of footage. Shots are long, and filmed using a roaming camera. There are moments, however, when the viewer might suspect that we’re not getting a neutral impression of real, unmediated life. For example, when Ressler and Azzellini’s cameraman enters the recently completed home of one of the residents of Emiliano Hernández, the situation smacks of propaganda: owner Miriam Colmenares praises God for Chávez and talks about how happy she is with her lot. The disruptive logic of the documentary process is even more obvious in another section of the film: the filmmakers decide to travel into the countryside to visit a rural commune; the Emiliano Hernández commune gets wind of this and sends a delegate to travel with the filmmakers to establish trading and bartering ties with the ‘peasant’ group. Nevertheless, Ressler and Azzellini do not tarry on such points. Their concern is rather with enabling subjects to vocalise directly to the camera – there are no postproduction voice-overs, for example – and the filmmakers shrink from view not as an unseen controlling presence but simply in order to allow the Venezuelans to speak for themselves.

Comuna Under Construction is composed of three sections: two in the city and one in the countryside. In the latter, we see a group discuss how the ‘revolutionary’ socialist changes will allow them to escape the yoke of peasantry, resist the power of international corporations and bypass middlemen. One concern is the relationship to the state: one speaker says, ‘we are autonomous although we support the process and the president’; another states that ‘the president says that we farmers are no longer peasants but also citizens’. Chávez said much the same thing in 2007: ‘This is society, the people, taking power over the state. Power for the people ... The people’s time has come.’ But the reality is that the state had authorized this power; indeed the process is far from a bloody revolution in the classic Bolshevik sense. An insight into this wider judicial framework appears in Iain Bruce’s book The Real Venezuela , 2008: ‘The concentration of land ownership was a curse from Venezuela’s history. The big landholdings, or latifundios, had to be done away with. But there was no need for any expropriation, President Chávez insisted, much less confiscation. The Land Law introduced in 2001 provided for a punitive tax on idle property, which would encourage big owners to hand over their surplus land to peasant cooperatives.’ In the more militant commune in Petare, a city in the northwest of the sprawling Caracas urban area, the debate revolves around a general sense of disillusion with the bureaucracy of the state and with the abovementioned concessions to big business. The first speaker talks about how ‘we are losing our credibility because of the incompetence of state institutions’. She tells listeners how the government body in charge of the communes has been restructured several times, creating an administrative nightmare and severe delays for grassroots workers (it is not simply the commune’s ‘credibility’ that is at stake, but also the welfare and improvement of the barrios’ most impoverished homes). She rails against the minister in charge, and threatens to call a press conference in order to appeal to the Venezuelan people and, of course, to Chávez himself. These moments reveal the core concern of both the commune movement and Ressler and Azzellini’s film: the tension between constituent power and the state authority that authorises it, between the mobility of small groups and the lumbering apparatus of the state. The question here is: how can a centralised bureaucracy and multitude of decentralised communes flourish together? The question of whether they can co-operate at all has already been answered in the affirmative. From: Art Monthly , Dec-Jan 10-11

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達利歐 ‧ 艾塞里尼達利歐 · 艾塞里尼（Dario Azzellini，1967 年生於德國）是約翰開普勒大學社會學研究所（奧地利，林茲）講師、作家、紀錄片導演。其研究與寫作聚焦於社會轉型、遷徙和種族主義、自我管理、工人自治，以及其他拉丁美洲相關議題。他曾擔任《國際革命與

抗爭百科全書：1500 年至今》（The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present ，Wiley-Blackwell，

2009）副主編，以及該書拉丁美洲、西班牙語加勒比海區與義大利新左派等部份的主編。他目前是《WorkingUSA》、《Cuadernos de Marte》（University of Buenos Aires）。

他有許多著作如書籍、論文與紀錄片，主題包括社會運動、軍隊私有化、遷徙和種族主義，地區包括義大利、墨西哥、尼加拉瓜、哥倫比亞與委內瑞拉。其中〈戰爭事業〉（Das Unternehmen Krieg ，Assoziation, A 2002）是關於軍隊私有化的書，已於德國、

阿根廷、玻利維亞、法國、印尼、義大利、西班牙與委內瑞拉出版。他最近發表的著作〈參與、工人自治與公社〉（Partizipation,

Arbeiterkontrolle und die Commune ，VSA，2010），並與伊曼紐爾 · 內斯（Immanuel Ness）合著〈我們是主人－從公社到現今的工人自治〉（Ours to Master and to Own. Workers' Control from the Commune to the Present ，Haymarket，2011）。個人網站：www.azzellini.net

奧立佛 ‧ 雷斯樂奧立佛 · 雷斯樂（Oliver Ressler，1970 年生於奧地利）為藝術家及影片導演，目前工作與生活於維也納。他在作品中分析並批判

了當今社會的權力關係，但也試著超越單純的分析與批判。他策畫特定主題的展覽、公共空間的計劃，以及特定議題的錄像作品，包括全球資本主義、反抗的形式、社會替代方案、種族主義與全球暖化。他的作品一直試圖模糊藝術與行動主義之間的界線。言說者在他的作品中佔有相當重的份量，其身份多半是草根行動者或工人，平常少有被聆聽的機會。

他的個展曾於美國的柏克萊美術館（Berkeley Art Museum）、伊斯坦堡的平台當代藝術中心（Platform Garanti Contemporary

Art Center）、貝爾格勒的當代美術館、奧森堡大學藝術空間（Kunstraum at the University of Lüneburg）、馬德里的孔德社克文化中心（Centro Cultural Conde Duque）、埃及的亞歷山大當代藝術論壇（Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum）、波蘭

克拉科夫的當代藝術美術館（Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery）等地展出。雷斯樂參加的聯展超 200 檔，包括美國的

MMASSMoCA、聖保羅的伊圖文化研究所（Itaú Cultural Institute）、典雅的國家當代美術館、荷蘭恩和芬的范阿貝博物館（Van Abbe Museum），參加過的雙年展包括葡萄牙、塞維爾、莫斯科、台北與里昂。

雷斯樂的影片曾於杜伊斯堡電影週（Duisburger Filmwoche）、波蘭弗洛拉夫的國際媒體藝術雙年展（International Media Art Biennale WRO）、東京的影像論壇節（Image Forum Festival）、葡萄牙奧波多的舍豪弗斯當代美術館（Serralves Museum of

Contemporary Art）、委內瑞拉卡拉卡斯美術館（Museo de Bellas Artes）、斯德哥爾摩現代美術館（Moderna Museet）、義大利波隆那的曼波現代美術館（MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna），以及全世界數百個地方播放。2002 年，雷斯樂的影片〈這就是民主的樣子！〉（This Is What Democracy Looks Like! ）獲得 ZKM 的國際媒體藝術獎的首獎。雷斯樂於 2008 台北雙年展中所策劃的關於反全球化運動的展覽《世界大一同》（A World Where Many Worlds Fit ），2010 年也在加拿大希爾布魯

克的主教大學領班藝廊（Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop University）展出。與格雷戈里 · 修雷（Gregory Sholette）共同策劃的展

覽《笨蛋，問題出在政治經濟》（It’s the Political Economy, Stupid ）於 2012 年 3 月在紐約的奧地利文化論壇（Austrian Cultural Forum）展出。

個人網站：www.ressler.at

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Dario Azzellini Dario Azzellini, lecturer at the Institute for Sociology at the Johannes Kepler University (Linz, Austria), writer and documentary

director. He holds a PhD in political sciences and a PhD in sociology. His research and writing focuses on social transformation, migration and racism, self administration, workers control and extensive case studies in Latin America. He served as Associate

Editor for the The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) and was primary editor for Latin America, the Spanish Caribbean, and the new left in Italy. He serves as Associate Editor for WorkingUSA and for

Cuadernos de Marte (University of Buenos Aires).

He published several books, essays and documentaries about social movements, privatization of military services, migration and racism, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela. Among them Das Unternehmen Krieg (Assoziation, A 2002), a book about privatization of military services, translated and published in Germany, Argentina, Bolivia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Spain

and Venezuela. He recently published Partizipation, Arbeiterkontrolle und die Commune (VSA, 2010, the documentary Comuna

Under Construction (2010) about local self government in Venezuela, and together with Immanuel Ness Ours to Master and to Own. Workers' Control from the Commune to the Present (Haymarket, 2011). www.azzellini.net

Oliver Ressler Oliver Ressler, born 1970 in Austria, lives and works as an artist and filmmaker in Vienna. He produces theme-specific installations, projects in the public space, and films on issues such as economics, democracy, forms of resistance, social alternatives, racism, and global warming, which often blur the boundaries between art and activism.

His projects have been in solo exhibitions at the Berkeley Art Museum, USA; Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Kunstraum at the University of Lüneburg; Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid;

Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum, Egypt and Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery, Krakow. Ressler has participated in more than 200 group exhibitions, including the MASSMoCA, USA; Itaú Cultural Institute, Sao Paulo; National Museum of

Contemporary Art, Athens; Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven and at the biennials in Prague, Seville, Moscow, Taipei and Lyon. Ressler's Films have been screened at Duisburger Filmwoche; International Media Art Biennale WRO, Wroclaw; Image Forum

Festival, Tokyo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; ICA, London; New Museum, New York; Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas Moderna Museet;, Stockholm, MAMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna and in hundreds of

screenings organized by activists all over the world. In 2002, Ressler’s film This Is What Democracy Looks Like! won first prize at the International Media Art Award of the ZKM.

For the Taipei Biennale 2008, Ressler curated an exhibition on the anti-globalization movement, A World Where Many Worlds Fit ,

which was also presented in 2010 in the Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop University, Sherbrooke, Canada. The show It’s the Political

Economy, Stupid , curated in collaboration with Gregory Sholette, is currently on display at ACF in New York City. www.ressler.at

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