BY ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ & ROQUE GRILLO
On October 14, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the country's history, Argentinians went to the polls to elect representatives to the Congress and Senate and gave the government of President Fernando de la Rua a hiding.
The two main traditional parties, de la Rua's Radical Party and the Peronist Justicialist Party, received a greatly reduced vote, but the Peronists were able to capture some seats from the Radicals and strengthen their position in both houses of parliament.
De la Rua's personal popularity has also taken a dive: from 63% at the time of his election in 1999, to 18% now.
The left ran in six different groupings, managing to win a combined 25% of the vote in Buenos Aires district and elect five representatives to Congress and two Senators a huge improvement on past results. Of the six groups, only the United Left clearly identified itself as socialist, and managed to win two seats in the lower house.
The far right also managed to pick up votes: the fascist parties managed to get four proven torturers from the days of the military dictatorship elected to Congress.
The clearest winner from the poll, however, was the voto bronca, the angry vote: ballots either left blank or carrying a message or a photo of Diego Maradona or Osama bin Laden. Some 21% of voters cast angry votes; in some areas, it is estimated that votes for bin Laden, Maradona or corrupt bastard would have been enough to get them elected.
Hatred of all politicians has never been so great or so widespread.
The combination of neo-liberal economic mismanagement, which has privatised everything, and a massive external debt requiring constant austerity measures to repay has left Argentina in the middle of a three year-long recession, with no end in sight.
The country's coffers have been emptied by debt repayment, capital flight and government corruption. Argentina's national debt stands at US$132 billion, an increase of 125% from when privatisation, which was supposed to pay off the debt, began under former President Carlos Menem.
The government officials, the company owners and the managers of the large corporations who produced this crisis will not be affected by it. They either take the millions they stole from International Monetary Fund loans or privatisation contracts and leave the country, or they stay in their mansions, protected by foreign bank accounts and the state security services.
The IMF's only worry is that there will be nothing left to pay the national debt, which might set a precedent of non-payment for other indebted poor countries.
The threat of collapse is not an idle one. Already several provinces are completely bankrupt and a parallel currency, which has no backing, has emerged. This new currency, called patacones, is what is being paid to government employees, even though hardly any retailers accept the invented currency.
Meanwhile the working people of Argentina are worrying about where their next meal is coming from. The official unemployment rate is 20-25% in the urban centers and 70-90% in many rural towns, as industries have taken all they can and left.
Those industries still standing are offering 50-70% salary reductions, or early retirement onto a state pension that has been cut by 13%. The numbers completely marginalised, forced to live in makeshift wooden and cardboard housing on the outskirts of towns, are growing rapidly.
While those who own the country are sending their money overseas quicker than the IMF can pump it in, the working poor have started organising themselves.
Many local organisations have sprung up among unemployed people, who get together to form parallel economies where people exchange services for produce: a doctor trades a consultation to someone who can fix her car, a farmer trades vegetables for material so he can build a shelter.
Local unemployed groups have also set the pace in the fight against the IMF. As the established left-wing groups spread the ideas of socialism, solidarity and the struggle against capitalism, the unemployed are putting up the barricades, which usually consist of no more than their own bodies.
The object of their protests is simple: work plans, a type of social security for the unemployed. The idea behind most protests is to block traffic on strategic highways until protesters are paid their US$160 a month.
Many unemployed groups have now started taking on political demands, including dropping the external debt, freeing the political prisoners and redistributing wealth and property. Many identify with the ideas of Che Guevara.
The government has responded to this movement with fierce repression, jailing over 2000 activists, some for as much as five years. Several activists have also been murdered by the police and many more have been tortured with batons and electric shock treatment.
Now groups have started to name themselves after slain activists, like Teresa Rodriguez, organise to an even greater degree and prepare to put up a much greater fight when next confronted by the police.