Our Argentinian comrade Emilio Crisi toured Europe to talk to us about
the political situation in Argentina and the means of popular resistancebeing implemented. This meeting was part of a tour co-organized by
several groups in our anarkismo network: Embat (Spain), Midada
(Switzerland), UCL (France). While he confirmed Argentina's ultraliberal
and authoritarian turn, he assured us that there is still hope. ---- In
October, we welcomed Emilio Crisi, a member of the Rosario Anarchist
Federation (FAR), union leader and member of the executive committee of
the State Workers' Association (ATE). His tour began in Bern on October
17 and ended in Madrid on the 30th. In France, it began in Montreuil. We
welcomed Emilio to the AERI, a self-managed place in the city, where
about twenty people attended his presentation and were able to talk with
him. Then he left for Strasbourg where he participated in a
demonstration of solidarity with Palestine before about twenty people
came to talk with him at the La Tâche noire bookstore. Finally, after a
stop in Paris and before going to Spain, he stopped in Montpellier, at
the La Mauvaise Reputation bookstore, where more than fifty people came
to attend the discussions in order to better understand the balance of
power in Argentina.
Emilio Crisi (right) came to talk about the situation in Argentina, at
the AERI in Montreuil on October 18.
UCL MONTREUIL
A liberal and authoritarian shift
Javier Milei was inaugurated as President of Argentina on December 10,
2023. Milei's rise to power is far from being explained solely in
electoral terms. It is the corollary of 15 years of social crisis
imposed by decades of neoliberalism in Argentina, of a deep social
fragmentation, of a cultural and ideological change at the base, of an
outdated representative democratic system, and of an exhaustion of
self-proclaimed progressive projects. The candidate of the libertarian
extreme right had promised his voters to put an end to the corruption of
the "political castes", to put an end to inflation and to all forms of
"welfare policy". This obviously resulted in violent attacks against the
social movement. In a minority in Parliament, he is obliged to pass his
laws by Decrees of Necessity and Emergency (DNU).
He therefore does not have a free hand but can count on his accomplice,
the vice-president Victoria Villaruel, a notorious negationist. It was
she who decided the perfect equality in the vote of the deregulatory
reforms (Omnibus law) of Milei in the Senate, by granting the last vote
necessary to pass them.
He therefore multiplies the attempts to become autonomous from the
legislative power by presiding by DNU, which he promulgates and applies
even before they are voted by the Assembly and the Senate. He also
adopts very repressive measures against the social movement. He crossed
a significant threshold by accusing the demonstrators of being
"terrorists" preparing a "coup d'état". This vocabulary suggests the
implementation of anti-terrorist laws against the social movement. The
president is already openly attacking social organizations, in the media
and materially: home searches are commonplace and threats are permanent.
The use of repression is currently succeeding in enforcing this very
violent austerity plan.
Besides that, he has remained in a logic of rupture and provocation.
Milei wants to create an omnipresent and tumultuous image. His team
handles buzz with great efficiency, which allowed him to obtain a very
high score among 16-25 year-olds during the presidential election. The
man who spends two hours a day on X creates controversy after
controversy, one of which even led to a diplomatic conflict with Spain.
Milei also appears abroad: Israel, the USA, Italy, Salvador... meeting
Musk, Zuckerberg, Bukele, and Trump.
A "turbo-capitalist" government
Since 2001, the speed at which social conquests have been attacked has
been unprecedented. At the end of the second half of 2023, just before
the election, 41.7% of the population lived below the poverty line
according to the INDEC[1]. Today, the latest estimate climbs to 52%.
Javier Milei, the "man with the chainsaw", has not been idle: prices and
rents freed (+107% of accumulated inflation since December), end of
subsidies for transport (price increase of 252%), energy (gas +300%,
electricity +150%). He has also frozen public works, made budget cuts
across the board, eliminated funding for INCAA[2]and made 25,000 layoffs
in the public sector. If we add to this the relative drop in wages and
pensions of 35% on average, the purchasing power of the working classes
is in free fall and we can easily imagine the social catastrophe caused
by LLA[3]. These cuts allow him to maximize the profits of the
capitalists for whom he rolls out the red carpet. In particular, he
signed agreements with Elon Musk for the exploitation of lithium,
present in quantity on the territory. Milei also regularly attacks the
LGBTI community and has cut funding for the INADI[4]. Faced with these
attacks on the working classes, the Argentine CGT[5]is collapsing,
muzzled by a bureaucratic and Peronist leadership.
Our comrade Emilio Crisi (in the middle, on the left) came to talk about
the situation in Argentina, here at the Tâche noire in Strasbourg on
October 19. UCL ALSACE
Hope is allowed
While for the moment, the middle classes remain spectators, a large part
of the population can no longer hold on and the vase can only overflow.
Far from the restraint of the CGT, the CTA[6]remains more combative. The
mobilizations in memory of those who disappeared during the dictatorship
or for the rescue of the public university have been unifying (more than
800,000 people in the city of Buenos Aires alone). But we are still far
from a real united, popular and lasting resistance. Resistance at the
national level must aim to unite the dispersed forces, in particular
through general strikes and mobilizations against anti-popular laws. By
going beyond the divisions between parties and unions, it is a question
of building solidarity and independent alliances to defend the interests
of the majority of workers. At the local and regional level, anarchists
have the role of building an articulated resistance against the advances
of the private sector and the imposed budgetary adjustments. In a
context of privatizations and extractivist policies, it is crucial to
propose a direct and collective management of strategic resources,
inspired by self-management and direct democracy, to defend the common
goods and the rights of communities.
UCL International Relations Commission
Validate
[1]National Institute of Statistics and Censuses.
[2]National Institute of Art and Cinema.
[3]La Libertad Avanza, in French Liberty Advances, Milei's party.
[4]National Institute for the Fight against Racist Discrimination and
Xenophobia.
[5]It is the one that uses the term "turbo-capitalist".
[6]Argentine Workers' Central, born from a split with the Argentine CGT.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Argentine-Ou-en-est-on-un-an-apres-l-arrivee-de-Milei
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