International Socialists

You may not have seen much about it in the mainstream media, but thousands upon thousands of ordinary Argentinians have been taking to the streets for days on end in a struggle against poverty and police repression.

 

The crisis in Argentina is the culmination of years of worsening conditions. The conservative government of Fernando de la Rúa, in cahoots with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had steadily cut welfare, particularly pensions. About a third of the population has been forced under the poverty line.

 

At the same time, massively high inflation rates and the opening of the economy to exploitation by stronger capitalists have led to the collapse of local manufacturing and thousands being thrown out of work.

 

In response, the trade union movement has held seven general strikes in the last year and a vibrant movement of the unemployed has sprung up. Unemployed workers have been taking a form of strike action by picketing major highways, stifling economic activity on the streets and bringing industry to a halt. They have fought a number of battles against the police.

 

So how did all this come about?

 

In the wake of the 1997 Asian economic crisis, US corporate giant AGS Financial hailed the "economic strengths" of the Latin American "tiger economies." Of these triumphs of neoliberalism, Argentina led the way with a whopping projected growth of 8%.

 

Now, after four years of recession and with an unpayable $150 billion debt, Argentina is an economic disaster - a disaster made by the very same neoliberal policies lauded by AGS, the IMF and the Argentinian government.

 

The crisis is social as well as economic. However the mainstream media has fixated itself on speculations about the Argentinian currency, underlining two bourgeois priorities.

 

Firstly, that the rich should not be disadvantaged. The Argentinian worker can go without food, but the banks want their loans (plus exorbitant interest) paid back on time and in full, thank you very much.

 

But the second, more important priority for the media is to ensure that we don't get wind of the fact that ordinary Argentinians may be able to determine the outcome of events. After all, if they didn't have to wait until the next election to get rid of the scum in parliament, why should we? The ruling class, whose interests the mainstream media propagates, certainly don't want us learning any such lesson.

 

Unemployed workers sparked the current uprising. In response to the lack of unemployment benefits, the unemployed organisations on December 18 gathered outside supermarkets, demanding food. Shopkeepers were reluctant to comply.

 

"We're coming back and we'll be bringing all our neighbours," screamed a 45 year old mother of six at a supermarket at Buenos Aires' most exclusive shopping centre. The next day workers decided to take the food for themselves. 600 stores were looted across the country, with the police killing a number of protesters. The government declared a state of emergency.

 

But it was too late. Hundreds of thousands poured on to the streets on the night of December 20, defying the 10pm curfew. All night long, the streets were choked with people banging pots and pans and chanting (of the President): "What an idiot, stick the state of emergency up your arse." The next day the protester ranks swelled with office workers who had decided to "take a detour" on their way to work.

 

The government tried outright repression - the police killed 31 and wounded 150. However protesters kept fighting all day. Participants spoke of the way such demonstrations bound people together: "Suddenly we started looking after each other, though we had never met before. When people on foot had to take a break, groups of motorcyclists charged in to take on the police."

 

In regional centres like Cordoba, workers effectively took control of sections of the city. The unions called a general strike for the next day.

 

Such fighting spirit was irresistible. By the evening de la Rúa was forced to resign and flee by helicopter. Congress had to appoint another President, choosing a left wing politician of the populist Peronist Party. However the Peronists (under a pervious President, Carlos Menem) had already proved themselves no friends of the workers.

 

"If the Peronists return, then we're back where we started," said one woman. "Menem, de la Rúa, they all drink from the same glass of wine," said a neighbour. "Nothing is going to change."

 

True to their word, continued protests since have thrown out the short-lived Peronist president, Rodriguez Saá, and in February mass protests were continuing against anther Peronist appointee, Duhalde.

 

Argentina's economic and social crisis is unlikely to end in the near future, and greater levels of organisation could turn protests and strikes into genuine revolution.

 

The Argentinian uprising shows us that revolution is possible in an advanced Western country. Moreover the crisis in Argentina, formerly the neoliberal darling of Latin America, shows that capitalism leads ultimately to impoverishment and social crisis.

 

There will be more battles like the one unfolding in Argentina. Consequently there has never been a better time to be a socialist in order to argue for and help turn protest into revolution.