anarchy in Argentina

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. It's a story about anarchists, trade unions, rightwingers and a ruling center-left peronist authoritarian party, so really you have most of RevLeft's topical bases covered.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20821946


Two people have been killed in Argentina's third city, Rosario, as a wave of looting spreads.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to stop hundreds of people attacking a supermarket on the outskirts of the capital, Buenos Aires.
There have been other incidents in the central city of Rosario and in the northern province of Chaco. The looting began in the south on Thursday.
The government says trade unions linked to the opposition are to blame.
Argentine television showed images of people - many of them with their faces covered - throwing stones at the police and trying to break into shops and supermarkets.

The attacks stir memories of the violence witnessed during Argentina's economic crisis in 2001 when unemployed people stormed supermarkets.
But National Security Secretary, Sergio Berni, said the looters this time had been taking plasma televisions and stereos, not food and had not been driven by poverty.
"There is a part of Argentina that wants to drive the country into chaos and violence," Mr Berni said.
"But this Argentina is not the same of 2001,"
The government has deployed 400 military police to the Patagonian ski resort of Bariloche, which witnessed the first incident of looting.
At least three supermarkets were looted there on Thursday by more than 100 people, who left with electronics, toys, clothes and food.
'Orchestrated' Further attacks were reported in the industrial cities of Campana and Zarate, in Buenos Aires province, in Resistencia in the north and outside a Carrefour supermarket in San Fernando, on the outskirts of the capital.
Riot police managed to stop that attack but smaller stores and kiosks in the suburb were looted.
The mayor of San Fernando, Luis Andreotti, said: "This has been orchestrated. Someone has started all this to create an atmosphere of fear."
Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli also says the disruption is politically motivated.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64910000/jpg/_64910758_64910757.jpg The police could not stop a convenience store being ransacked in San Fernando
But union leader Hugo Moyano, who opposes the government's economic policies, dismissed the government's accusations.
"This is probably triggered by the difficult situation the people of Argentina are facing. I cannot imagine that this has been organised by someone," said Mr Moyano, head of the powerful CGT union.
Private banks say inflation is again rampant in the country, though government figures have it at just 9%.
The IMF has threatened the country with a "red card", meaning potential expulsion from the Fund and the G20, if it does not do more to produce reliable statistics on its inflation and GDP.
Economists say Argentina's state-centric policies are damaging its growth.
New import restrictions mean that companies are allowed to bring in only the same volume of goods as they export.
In many cases, this seems to have had a devastating impact on industrial production.
Some analysts believe Argentina could now be in technical recession.
Former Finance Minister Orlando Ferreres says the biggest concern is political.
The left-wing populism embraced by President Christina Fernandez seems, he says, to exclude considered debate and a necessary change of strategy.

[TheRedAnarchist23]

I saw that on TV, but I don't know what to think of it.

[GoddessCleoLover]

The facts in this case are so hotly disputed that it could be perilous to draw conclusions. Although Cristina Fernandez is no revolutionary her major opposition are right-wing assholes who would impose IMF neoliberal policies that would harm Argentina's workers and other poor people. OTOH it is also entirely plausible that the Justicialista government is lying when they accuse the right-wing opposition of fomenting these actions.

As a matter of general principle such actions, these so-called lootings, I prefer to refer to as people liberating goods from the bourgeoisie are classic examples of militant class consciousness. Back in 1974 there was a rock music festival in Sedalia, Missouri where a group of dozens of concertgoers liberated a grocery store of a large portion of its stock-in-trade. One would have to have been there to believe it.;)

[Tim Cornelis]

lootings, I prefer to refer to as people liberating goods from the bourgeoisie are classic examples of militant class consciousness. Back in 1974 there was a rock music festival in Sedalia, Missouri where a group of dozens of concertgoers liberated a grocery store of a large portion of its stock-in-trade. One would have to have been there to believe it.;)

In the Dutch language we use "proletarian shopping" as euphemism for looting or shop lifting.

[Let's Get Free]

I hope their having fun.


As a matter of general principle such actions, these so-called lootings, I prefer to refer to as people liberating goods from the bourgeoisie are classic examples of militant class consciousness.
Looting does adumbrate, however imperfectly, the communist principle of liberating use values and it is absurd to deny a few television sets, clothes, food, etc to people who probably own very little. On the other hand, looting can also uncomfortably mirror the bourgeois precept of ‘might is right’, as well as glorifying individualistic acquisitiveness and commodity fetishism. In this sense, looting hardly provides a model of resistance to the capitalist system.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I hope their having fun.


Looting does adumbrate, however imperfectly, the communist principle of liberating use values and it is absurd to deny a few television sets, clothes, food, etc to people who probably own very little. On the other hand, looting can also uncomfortably mirror the bourgeois precept of ‘might is right’, as well as glorifying individualistic acquisitiveness and commodity fetishism. In this sense, looting hardly provides a model of resistance to the capitalist system.

I feel ya, Gladiator. These actions are a mixed bag, and if you take the hint from my post I might not just be theorizing here. IMO even better than getting some free stuff is the feeling of militant mass action, which is as thrilling as sex. The down side is that it can be a blind alley, it is militant, it feels good, but doesn't lead to anything. It can be fun while it happens, though.:D

[Eleutheromaniac]

Private banks say inflation is again rampant in the country, though government figures have it at just 9%.Universidad Torcuato Di Tella estimated inflation expectations upwards of 30%.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The facts in this case are so hotly disputed that it could be perilous to draw conclusions. Although Cristina Fernandez is no revolutionary her major opposition are right-wing assholes who would impose IMF neoliberal policies that would harm Argentina's workers and other poor people. OTOH it is also entirely plausible that the Justicialista government is lying when they accuse the right-wing opposition of fomenting these actions.

Yeah, I think it's probably more likely that this is just the result of a deteriorating economic situation, rather than a conspiracy of some sort. A conspiracy like that doesn't even really make sense, because how do the rioters discredit the Argentinian government? If it's just the work of a "few bad apples" then the government should have no problem suppressing it w/ the benefit of popular support.

[Die Neue Zeit]

The facts in this case are so hotly disputed that it could be perilous to draw conclusions. Although Cristina Fernandez is no revolutionary her major opposition are right-wing assholes who would impose IMF neoliberal policies that would harm Argentina's workers and other poor people. OTOH it is also entirely plausible that the Justicialista government is lying when they accuse the right-wing opposition of fomenting these actions.

As a matter of general principle such actions, these so-called lootings, I prefer to refer to as people liberating goods from the bourgeoisie are classic examples of militant class consciousness. Back in 1974 there was a rock music festival in Sedalia, Missouri where a group of dozens of concertgoers liberated a grocery store of a large portion of its stock-in-trade. One would have to have been there to believe it.;)

Did their actions result in redistributions of goods by the organizers to the working poor and other working-class elements? :rolleyes:

I don't see any militant class consciousness if such redistributions weren't made, at least.

[cynicles]

Where are the anarchists in this story?