Many of you might evoke riots and clashes with the police if one were to utter the word Argentina: recuperated factories, run by workers, popular assemblies, demos, alternatives, against the banking system, against politicians. [...] you would be outraged to see how things are now. [...]
Many of you might evoke riots and clashes with the police if one were to utter the word Argentina: recuperated factories, run by workers, popular assemblies, demos, alternatives, against the banking system, against politicians.
That’s nice and well. But what many failed to see in those troubled times ten years ago is that there was an internal war in the political arena, where one the most corrupt local politicians would remain as the ‘saviour’, Eduardo Duhalde —currently disputing the presidency in the upcoming elections—, the last president out of a bunch that took power that year, who would give way to the restoration of new elections and some sense of ‘normality’.
Out of that was vomited the Kirchnerist model of country that we suffer today.
And you would be outraged to see how things are now.
And what’s worse, a whole generation of youths with a pro-government attitude. There is common talk here of militancy, of a political youth, active in political matters, supportive of this government. This is no joke —and no good, not at all. These young minds are being wasted in a political ideology of fetishistic dimensions, supporting a political ideology long abused by politicians to gain themselves the support of the people, the ‘peronismo’. The same ideology that created an incomprehensible ‘revolutionary’ thought based on the actions of a dictator and demagogue [urban guerrillas like ERP, Montoneros, and the like]; a general who, appealing to the most basic needs of the worker, gained their support, all along bringing down all those other workers who were not aligned to his thinking —killing and persecuting them. All unions not aligned to the peronismo were shut down; all those struggles, all those lives, all those people who fought for basic workers’ rights for many years, all those victories —gone. This was a man who wielded a rifle in that fatal crackdown of workers in 1919, called Semana Trágica. A man who sought refuge in Franco’s Spain.
His ideology created a monstrosity called ‘juventud peronista’ or ‘peronismo militante’ —a monster that roams the university classrooms and which is the thinking that permeates the ‘left’.
How can you fight against ignorance, against opportunism and corruption, against carelessness and utter blindness? How can you tell people to WAKE THE FUCK UP! when they seriously believe that we are ‘doing just fine’?
I’m 28 years old, university graduate, unemployed —and unable to find work. Our president, however, claims that unemployment is low and that there is ‘growth’. I’m sure the capitalist speculators and CEOs agree with her alright.
How can there be any alternative if there is no place for dissent? The current government appeals to the masses with populist policies, easily gaining their support. And people are content, they have some money to spare: brand-new cars, new tv sets, cellphones, etc… Consumerism at its highest.
And it’s seriously worrying to see how people play along with this dichotomy: either you are for or against this government. Those in the opposition are of the worst kind: right-wing fascists who supported the dictatorship and who apply repressive policies whenever they can, who control a big part of the media through conglomerates: television, newspapers, radio, magazines. The sort of entertainment that people feed off of —the sort on mindless, sex-driven and sensationalist entertainment that housewives, worn-out workers, and the vast majority of individuals consume at dinner time.
People are brainwashed day and night with a dual dialisis of ‘medicine’, all this to the tune of ignorance. And the government-sponsored material is no good either, with the usual tinge of propaganda. All this summed up to precarious jobs, meagre pay, over-work, preposterous shifts... and this is called progress, growth, development. Have they no shame?
Unfortunately, what’s left of available alternatives also fall into a sort fetishism: that of the past. I don’t mean to judge the few groups of fellow anarchists who try to do things and keep on the struggle, no matter how small and minuscule that may be. But it is not enough, and there seems to be no real alternative to live life but under this government regime of populist propaganda, or in between the line of fire of these two opposing, but no less repressive, political tendencies.
The coming elections will clearly show how the State machinery works to perfection: the people, once more, are played with and tricked with cheap thrills and ‘little coloured mirrors’ into the ballot-box.
I watch the peoples take to the streets in countless cities abroad, yet here we continue to play the capitalist scheme so very well —the burst of anger long vanquished with demagogy. There is no alternative, no autonomous grassroots movement, away from the clutches of this government.
This is not, however, merely a consequence of the times, nor of sheer political fluctuations: the idiosyncrasy of the people plays a huge part in the continuum of this ‘model’.
Argentinians are still worshipping leaders, seeking false ideas of progress and prosperity —the scars of neoliberalism not close yet, and individualism, and the culture of debauchery still reign untouched and unabated.
The truth is that there is no end in sight for corruption, ignorance, and the generalized disinterest in reclaiming one’s own life back. No one cares about anything.
I would like to highlight some words that I have read by some anarchists who participated in the latest Occupy Portland demos saying: “As anarchists, we seek to expose and destroy the roots of these problems — as long as capitalism and the state exist, there will be greedy corporations and corrupt politicians. Capitalism and the state cannot be reformed into something kinder, gentler, or more humane, it is exploitative by nature”.
I think we are too deep into this, too much outnumbered.
And I believe we are doomed; so much so, that I cannot see how there can be space for breathing when choked with a stalinist-like propaganda apparatus.
If the people protesting in Wall Street manage to put an end to the speculative system —and that is a huge gamble—, I think the shock waves will be felt around the world. And I can’t wait for them to reach these shores.
Indigo, Buenos Aires.-
That’s nice and well. But what many failed to see in those troubled times ten years ago is that there was an internal war in the political arena, where one the most corrupt local politicians would remain as the ‘saviour’, Eduardo Duhalde —currently disputing the presidency in the upcoming elections—, the last president out of a bunch that took power that year, who would give way to the restoration of new elections and some sense of ‘normality’.
Out of that was vomited the Kirchnerist model of country that we suffer today.
And you would be outraged to see how things are now.
And what’s worse, a whole generation of youths with a pro-government attitude. There is common talk here of militancy, of a political youth, active in political matters, supportive of this government. This is no joke —and no good, not at all. These young minds are being wasted in a political ideology of fetishistic dimensions, supporting a political ideology long abused by politicians to gain themselves the support of the people, the ‘peronismo’. The same ideology that created an incomprehensible ‘revolutionary’ thought based on the actions of a dictator and demagogue [urban guerrillas like ERP, Montoneros, and the like]; a general who, appealing to the most basic needs of the worker, gained their support, all along bringing down all those other workers who were not aligned to his thinking —killing and persecuting them. All unions not aligned to the peronismo were shut down; all those struggles, all those lives, all those people who fought for basic workers’ rights for many years, all those victories —gone. This was a man who wielded a rifle in that fatal crackdown of workers in 1919, called Semana Trágica. A man who sought refuge in Franco’s Spain.
His ideology created a monstrosity called ‘juventud peronista’ or ‘peronismo militante’ —a monster that roams the university classrooms and which is the thinking that permeates the ‘left’.
How can you fight against ignorance, against opportunism and corruption, against carelessness and utter blindness? How can you tell people to WAKE THE FUCK UP! when they seriously believe that we are ‘doing just fine’?
I’m 28 years old, university graduate, unemployed —and unable to find work. Our president, however, claims that unemployment is low and that there is ‘growth’. I’m sure the capitalist speculators and CEOs agree with her alright.
How can there be any alternative if there is no place for dissent? The current government appeals to the masses with populist policies, easily gaining their support. And people are content, they have some money to spare: brand-new cars, new tv sets, cellphones, etc… Consumerism at its highest.
And it’s seriously worrying to see how people play along with this dichotomy: either you are for or against this government. Those in the opposition are of the worst kind: right-wing fascists who supported the dictatorship and who apply repressive policies whenever they can, who control a big part of the media through conglomerates: television, newspapers, radio, magazines. The sort of entertainment that people feed off of —the sort on mindless, sex-driven and sensationalist entertainment that housewives, worn-out workers, and the vast majority of individuals consume at dinner time.
People are brainwashed day and night with a dual dialisis of ‘medicine’, all this to the tune of ignorance. And the government-sponsored material is no good either, with the usual tinge of propaganda. All this summed up to precarious jobs, meagre pay, over-work, preposterous shifts... and this is called progress, growth, development. Have they no shame?
Unfortunately, what’s left of available alternatives also fall into a sort fetishism: that of the past. I don’t mean to judge the few groups of fellow anarchists who try to do things and keep on the struggle, no matter how small and minuscule that may be. But it is not enough, and there seems to be no real alternative to live life but under this government regime of populist propaganda, or in between the line of fire of these two opposing, but no less repressive, political tendencies.
The coming elections will clearly show how the State machinery works to perfection: the people, once more, are played with and tricked with cheap thrills and ‘little coloured mirrors’ into the ballot-box.
I watch the peoples take to the streets in countless cities abroad, yet here we continue to play the capitalist scheme so very well —the burst of anger long vanquished with demagogy. There is no alternative, no autonomous grassroots movement, away from the clutches of this government.
This is not, however, merely a consequence of the times, nor of sheer political fluctuations: the idiosyncrasy of the people plays a huge part in the continuum of this ‘model’.
Argentinians are still worshipping leaders, seeking false ideas of progress and prosperity —the scars of neoliberalism not close yet, and individualism, and the culture of debauchery still reign untouched and unabated.
The truth is that there is no end in sight for corruption, ignorance, and the generalized disinterest in reclaiming one’s own life back. No one cares about anything.
I would like to highlight some words that I have read by some anarchists who participated in the latest Occupy Portland demos saying: “As anarchists, we seek to expose and destroy the roots of these problems — as long as capitalism and the state exist, there will be greedy corporations and corrupt politicians. Capitalism and the state cannot be reformed into something kinder, gentler, or more humane, it is exploitative by nature”.
I think we are too deep into this, too much outnumbered.
And I believe we are doomed; so much so, that I cannot see how there can be space for breathing when choked with a stalinist-like propaganda apparatus.
If the people protesting in Wall Street manage to put an end to the speculative system —and that is a huge gamble—, I think the shock waves will be felt around the world. And I can’t wait for them to reach these shores.
Indigo, Buenos Aires.-
