ARGENTINA: 'All of them must go!'

BY FEDERICO FUENTES

BUENOS AIRES — The anniversary of the Argentinazo, the popular uprising which resulted in the fall of five successive presidents in two weeks in December 2001, was marked by a massive demonstration here on December 20. The Plaza de Mayo was filled with 100,000 people.

The demonstration was held under the banner of “[President Eduardo] Duhalde must go! All of them must go! For another December 19 and 20! For a government of the workers and people!”. It also marked the worst year in the continuing economic and politcial crisis that is affecting almost every member of Argentine society.

For the people of Argentina, just surviving is becoming harder every day. In what was once one of the wealthiest countries in the region, work and food are fast becoming luxuries. In the capital, Buenos Aires, according to National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), almost six out of every 10 people live in poverty; half of those live in absolute poverty.

In the northern province of Tucuman, according to the health department, 18,000 children under the age of six are malnourished. In the poverty-stricken north, 30 children die each day of malnutrition.

According to Indec, unemployment has fallen from 21.5% in May, the highest in Argentina' history, to 17.8% in December. However, Indec head Juan Carlos Del Bello admitted that only 15% of the 700,000 new jobs could be classed as genuine work. Unemployment would be over 23% if it was not for the government's “employment” scheme, in which workers receive less than a third of the income needed for a family to survive. Of those who have some sort of work, 40% are in the informal sector.

There is hardly a person in the country that has not been hit hard by the economic crisis. Crime, in particular robberies, kidnappings and murders, have risen dramatically as people try to find ways to feed themselves. People cannot understand how their country, which is rich in natural resources and used to be cited as an example of what was possible for a Third World country, is now being compared to some of the poorest nations in the world.

Discredited

As the crisis escalates, the ruling elites are becoming more discredited every day. Among the latest examples was the December 17 arrest of Ernestina Herrera de Noble, publisher of Clarin, one of the biggest newspapers in the country, in connection with alleged irregularities in the adoption of her two children in 1976, during the country’s military dictatorship (1976 1983).

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have been investigating Herrera’s case since 1984 at the request of families who believe the military stole the two children after killing their biological parents for political reasons. It is believed that many children of murdered activists were stolen and given up for adoption, mainly to members of the ruling elite.

It is little wonder that the demand “Que se vayan todos!” (All of them must go!”) has gained such support.

The ruling elite is riddled with internal squabbles, which is feeding the disillusionment. With elections due in March, the internal power struggles within the two main traditional parties is daily news here.

The misnamed Radical Civic Union (UCR) has had to suspend counting in its internal election due to massive irregularities. The UCR's vice-president Juan Manuel Casell has resigned, while its president Angel Rozas has threatened to. One of the UCR's factions, that of Rodolfo Terragno, has challenged the election in the courts and is contemplating running outside the UCR.

Within the Peronists, the power bloc of Duhalde, in order to avoid what is happening within the UCR, is demanding that there be no internal elections. However, this is being opposed by the bloc around former Argentinian president Carlos Menem. Each side claims it is the other that is dividing the Peronists.

It is this infighting within the ruling elite that has led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to doubt that the Argentinian government will be able to implement any demands which the fund might make as a condition for further loans.

Along with this crisis, both the IMF and Argentina's ruling class also fear the growing movement against the political system. This movement showed its power on December 19-20. On the December 19, workers, piqueteros (unemployed people whose main tactic is to blockade main roads to demand work and food) and members of various neighbourhood assemblies held marches and road blockades to mark the first anniversary of the Argentinazo.

Massive solidarity

The two days of protests culminated in a massive show of solidarity with the 33 victims of the brutal repression by the police against demonstrators a year before. The protest, in and around the Plaza de Mayo, began early in the afternoon and went well into the night, uniting most of the piquetero organisations, neighbourhood assemblies and leftist parties. It is estimated that well over 150,000 people mobilised around the country for similar protests.

Smaller demonstrations also took place on December 20 in other Argentine cities. Some 7000 marched in San Salvador de Jujuy, capital of the northwestern province of Jujuy. In Cordoba, capital of Cordoba province, some 1500 marched. In Santa Fe province, thousands marched in the provincial capital, where nine people were killed in the uprising a year earlier, and 1000 marched in the city of Rosario. In Neuquen, capital of southwestern Neuquen province, unionists rallied in the city centre, while piqueteros joined with workers who have been occupying the Zanon factory to block a bridge linking Neuquen to the city of Cipolletti in neighbouring Rio Negro province. In Rio Negro, protesters rallied in the cities of General Roca and Allen.

Some of the notable contingents in the main demonstration were those of the “Federal March” — initiated by the National Piqueteros Bloc (Bloque Piquetero), Neighbourhoods Standing Firm (Barrios de Pie), Independent Movement of Pensioners and Unemployed and the Coordination of Unemployed Workers — which began on December 16 and travelled from the north, south, east and west of Argentina to converge on Buenos Aires.

The neighbourhood assemblies from around the country showed their capacity to mobilise large numbers of people, while leftist parties such as the Worker s Party (PO), the Socialist Workers Movement (MST) and the Socialist Workers Party (PST) had significant contingents. Many protesters brandished signs and banners alluding to Venezuela and expressing support for Venezuela's radical president Hugo Chavez.

The Federation of Argentine Workers (CTA) had a contingent which marched to the plaza, but the CTA stated before hand that it did not support the protest. The CTA contingent left the plaza when one of the speakers likened CTA head Victor De Gennaro to the leader of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) Rodolfo Daer. De Gennaro broke with the CGT more than 10 years ago after it supported privatisation under the Menem government. The CTA issued a statement later that said: “We left [the plaza] because the Bloque Piquetero broke the agreement to respect all the organisations which participated in the action.”

The two days of protest were a qualitative step forward for the movement. The 2002 protests were much more organised. Unlike the year before, when a series of events led to the spontaneous social uprising, this year each sector organised to bring the biggest show of force possible to the plaza.

Despite an intense media campaign warning that the protests would be violent, with footage of last year's riots being played continually, the piqueteros and neighbourhood assemblies produced a massive demonstration that for the first time filled the Plaza de Mayo to demand that the people should govern. Despite their differences, the popular organisations were able to work together and demonstrate just how far they have been able to implant themselves amongst the workers, unemployed and the poor since December 2001.

The size of the demonstration showed the growth of the movement explicitly opposed to the current system in Argentina. This movement continues to grow. There were further demonstrations on December 26 to mark six months since the killing of two piqueteros by the police. Workers are continuing to take over and run their factories.

Around the country a significant and growing minority of workers and poor are not only rejecting the current corrupt system but beginning to organise and mobilise to take power into their own hands.

From Green Left Weekly, January 15, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.