archivio de los protestos globales

BUENOS AIRES - When Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history, he was prematurely announcing the triumph of capitalism. The message was that there was no longer any point in resisting and workers around the world should just grin and bear their lives of increasing exploitation.

In Latin America, however, the social movements are challenging capitalism: head on in Colombia through guerilla warfare; in Venezuela through the parliament and the presidency; in Brazil through the landless peasants movement; and in Argentina with a renewed wave of industrial action.

On November 23 (see: Argentine Unions Strike Against Govt Economic Policy), Argentina's trade union movement called a national strike in which more than 90% of workers took part. Every union in the country adhered to the strike, with only the emergency services on duty plus a few taxis and trains. The highways into the main cities were blocked and the country came to a standstill.

An activist staffing a road block just outside Buenos Aires was quoted as saying this was the way workers discuss the national budget. In the city centre, the only streets not deserted were those leading to the congress building where the main union bodies were demonstrating.

The driving force behind the strike was the leader of the Argentine Workers' Movement (MTA), truck driver Hugo Moyano, who made it clear that the 36-hour strike was not against the government but against the "real enemy" - the impositions of the IMF.

This was the third and most successful general strike that Moyano has led. The last one was marred by state violence, including the shooting of several unionists. Moyano was shot in the testicles. This only cemented his role as a workers' icon.

This time the government did not try to stop the strikers and treated the day as if it was a national holiday, or a World Cup final (if Argentina is playing no one works, travels or even steals!).

Social budget

However, the union movement has promised another day of industrial activity in December if the government does not start serious discussions about various social issues. The MTA has specifically pointed to the billion dollar debt that the government must immediately repay to public education, health and social security. It sees this as more important than repaying the IMF, especially considering that more than 60 children die each day in Argentina from hunger and curable diseases.

Although Hugo Moyano and the MTA are central to the latest industrial actions, the right-wing Peronist Party unions, the Centre of Argentine Workers and the General Confederation of Work (so named because it was formed to look after work and not workers), have opportunistically joined forces with the MTA. Because the Peronist Party is not in power, the Peronist unions are trying to destabilise the present government to get themselves into power.

The left is also behind Moyano while he continues to oppose neo-liberalism and the IMF. Communists and socialists staff the barricades and support the strikes, but in a country that is prone to inconsequential populism no one is rushing to make alliances.

Many on the left would have liked as one of the demands for the strike a retrial of the prisoners from the left-wing guerilla movement "All for the Fatherland" (Todos por la Patria - TP). Many members of the group were sentenced to life in prison for "acts against democracy" while members of the military junta who committed acts of mass murder during the dictatorship walk free.

Several of the TP political prisoners are approaching the third month of a hunger strike in protest at the conditions they are being held in, and for a fair trial.

In his bid to challenge neo-liberalism, Moyano has spoken about forming a coalition of groups that could replace the government. This is a crossroads where Moyano could choose populism or socialism.

Struggles in Argentina
States of Unrest
IMF/ WB Struggles
PGA