REPRESSION IN ARGENTINA - WE ARE REQUESTING SOLIDARITY
>The Struggle of teachers, parents and pupils in the Provine of Rio
>Negro, led by the UNTER trade union, has been going on for 70 days.
>It is one of the most important mobilisations in Argentina. Since
>the start of this year, the provincial government has not been
>regularly paying the wages of teachers. And the National government,
>which is also responsible, is also refusing to give any money. They
>now owe three months' worth of salaries. They are also not providing
>school meals for children, at a time when, for thousands of children
>with unemployed parents, this is often their only regular daily
>meal.
>Our struggle has been brutally repressed.
>On 25 April, thousands of teachers, state emloyees, parents and
>children marched from several towns to Viedma, the provincial
>capital, to put our demands to the State Legislature.
>The "anti-mutiny" police was ordered to repress us as violently as
>possible. Batons, rubber bullets, tear gas and the detention of
>several demonstrators, was their response to our demand for
>elementary justice: payment of teachers' salaries, and a stop to the
>destruction of state education.
>And this may be just the beginning. The government has announced
>that they will call in the Gendarmerie, to continue repressing us.
>They are a particularly brutal militarized police. Their method is
>to murder demonstrators. Every time they intervene, people are
>killed and wounded.
>They are now threatening to use the Gendarmerie to evict teachers
>who have set up a camp after the repression of Thursday 25 April.
>We are appealing for international solidarity!
>This would be very helpful to support our struggle, and to prevent
>further repression. We have already received support from
>personalities such as James Petras (University of Binghamton - New
>York), Henry Veltmeyer (Saint Mary's University - Halifax, Nova
>Scotia, Canada), John Saxe-Fernandez (UNAM, Mexico), Renan Vega
>Cantor (Bogota University), and others.
>We are therefore asking all democratic organisations and
>personalities, social movements and workers' movements, to send us
>their support.
>Messages of solidarity should be sent to the UNTER trade union:
>>
>> untercentral@arnet.com.ar
>with a copy to:
>> solidaridad_unter@yahoo.com.ar
>>
>We thank you for your solidarity.