**FEJUVE (Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto)** or '''Federation
of Neighborhood Councils-El Alto '''is a
[federation](Confederation "wikilink") of [popular
assemblies](Democratic_Assembly "wikilink") in the city of El Alto,
[Bolivia](Plurinational_State_of_Bolivia "wikilink") in a [dual
power](Dual_Power "wikilink") situation with the
[state](State_\(Polity\) "wikilink").

## History

The first assembly was created in 1957 and was based off the traditional
[democratic](Democracy "wikilink") practices of the [Aymara
people](Aymaran_People "wikilink") and the need to respond to widespread
poverty, corruption and [violence](violence "wikilink") throughout
Bolivia and El Alto. FEJUVE itself was created in 1979 after a mass
meeting of neighborhood councils decided to create a federation. Since
then, FEJUVE has grown to be on par with the city government.\[1\]

## Decision-Making

Assemblies have around 200 members that meet once a month and make
decisions through discussion and [consensus](consensus "wikilink").
Political party leaders, merchants, real estate speculators, and those
who collaborated with past dictatorships are not allowed to be delegates
between councils. The councils have been successful in blocking the
Bolivian government's plan to [privatize](Privatization "wikilink")
natural [gas](Gas_War_\(Bolivia\) "wikilink") and [water
reserves](Water_War_\(Bolivia\) "wikilink"), introduce new
[taxes](Taxation "wikilink") and have been successful in creating the
cities first public [university](university "wikilink").\[2\]

## Economy

The economy of Fejuve strongly resembles
[mutualism](mutualism "wikilink") in that there is a high degree of
[workers' control](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink") and [common
ownership](Commons "wikilink") while operating in a [market
economy](Market_Economy "wikilink"). Councils are also able to pull
together resources to build parks, [schools](Education "wikilink"),
[clinics](Healthcare "wikilink"), [housing](housing "wikilink"),
[cooperatives](cooperatives "wikilink") and install
[water](water "wikilink") connections, sewerage outlets,
[electrical](Electricity "wikilink") cables and [garbage collection
services](Waste "wikilink") to fill the hole that the state and [private
sector](Capitalism "wikilink") have left.\[3\]

## Crime

In response to the violence and corruption of the police, Fejuve has
created a system of [restorative
justice](Restorative_Justice "wikilink") rooted in traditional Aymaran
customs. Assemblies act as mediators between minor disputes with
neighbours and communities form collective self-defense groups which are
known to execute thieves, rapists and murders whilst hanging dolls
outside of the houses of victims as a warning to any future
attackers.\[4\]

## See Also

  - SEMAPA
  - Coordinora

## References

<references />

1.  [Raúl Zibechi](Raúl_Zibechi "wikilink")(2009) [Dispersing Power:
    Social Movements as Anti-State Forces. AK
    Press](Dispersing_Power:_Social_Movements_as_Anti-State_Forces._AK_Press "wikilink")
2.  [Peter Gelderloos](Peter_Gelderloos "wikilink") (2010) [Anarchy
    Works](Anarchy_Works "wikilink")
3.  Emily Achtenberg (2004) "Community Organizing and Rebellion:
    Neighborhood Councils in El Alto, Bolivia"
4.