Days of madness this week

There are 12 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 6,286 times. The latest Post (September 25, 2018 at 6:50 PM) was by Rice.

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    With a general strike looming for tomorrow 25th Sept, today sees the 'previa' (preview) with roads blocked in the city center and the unions flexing their muscles against Macri's government.

    Expect to see hordes of noisy, marching protesters in a sight that I for one see as an Argentine illness and which damage this country at every turn. This has nothing to do with the right to demonstrate democratically as it costs the country millions.

    Macri of course is in New York for a UN meeting, whilst trying dampen down the financial fire that he created and frankly, this all leaves me very tired and nauseated with this country which tears itself apart at every turn.

    For me, the use of protest here is another example of how Argentina uses a distorted in unaccurate model from European nations and the United States. In other words, the country has seen how others do things, tried to do the same, but just isn't doing it correctly. It's the blight the whole of Argentina's political system is mired in.

    That's not to say those other nations always get things right, in fact to the contrary. The difference is the mechanisms of social order have been in place for a long time. Argentina's structure is new and the country's problems are expanded by the fact no-one seems to have a clue what they're doing. The situation around protests is a good example of this.

    History has shown that protests can and do work, I don't think any of us could doubt that. The problem with Argentina is that protest is not a tool to further the discourse, as a means to an end, or even as a forecful act to push the will of the people on a government. It is an overused political tool that has almost failed as a model in Argentine because it is overused.

    Sure, the country is broken so people have myriad reasons to protest. Well, yeah, that's an argument but it feels here that protest has simply become part of cultural fabric more than one of the key weapons that people have to target the political class.

    I suppose the best question would be, when have protests in Argentina worked? Considering how many protests there are (this strike and accompanying protest is a shut everything down play, but there is one protest or another almost daily in the center), how many of them have served a function?

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    Quote from Semigoodlooking

    I suppose the best question would be, when have protests in Argentina worked? Considering how many protests there are (this strike and accompanying protest is a shut everything down play, but there is one protest or another almost daily in the center), how many of them have served a function?

    Probably in 2001, which is the best example of all. De la Rua fleeing in a helicopter?

    Quote from Splinter

    Probably in 2001, which is the best example of all. De la Rua fleeing in a helicopter?

    Yes, that's the obvious one and I purposely avoided it, but when does a protest become a revolt and/or a riot (throw a bit of government opression into the mix too)? I would put 2001 under those categories. Even if we agree that was a protest, then we can say one protest in 17 years has worked, 1 in 1,000, 1 in 2,000? Of course, there are likely other protests that have resulted in lasting change, whether in thinking or policy, but my point stands and in fact your reply enforces it.

    Too many protests, not enough change.

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    Do you think the strike is happening tomorrow because Cristina and the Peronists wants Macri to look bad while he is in NY? I have read this theory on another forum and I am curious to know if there is some truth to it. I don't think that the Peronists are that much thoughtful when they organize popular tantrums like these. But, who knows!

    Quote from serafina

    Do you think the strike is happening tomorrow because Cristina and the Peronists wants Macri to look bad while he is in NY? I have read this theory on another forum and I am curious to know if there is some truth to it. I don't think that the Peronists are that much thoughtful when they organize popular tantrums like these. But, who knows!

    I do think they are that "clever" but am unsure this time. Not least because there are people outside of the K/Peronist reach who are pissed off with Macri's economic management. I guess we will see how the protest plays out. If it turns violent and aggressive through pushing police force, I would then become suspicious of a political play where K supporters want to weaken Macri.

    I’ve always been curious about just who, what group, union, etc. calls the general strikes? Sometimes it is clear, but not always. When protesters show up, do they care who is pulling their strings, or does it even matter?

    • Official Post
    Quote from Rice

    I’ve always been curious about just who, what group, union, etc. calls the general strikes? Sometimes it is clear, but not always. When protesters show up, do they care who is pulling their strings, or does it even matter?

    The unions that are joining the strike are:

    Camiones;

    Transporte (colectivos de la UTA y trenes de La Fraternidad);

    Subte;

    Smata;

    micros de larga distancia;

    Bancarios,

    UOM;

    Gastronómicos;

    Pasteleros;

    Comercio;

    Recolección de basura;

    Puertos; Aviones;

    Salud;

    Prensa;

    Industria textil;

    Calzado y dependencias estatales que dependen de UPCN,

    ATE y CTA.

    So that's pretty much everyone and the argument from the thug Moyano is that Macri is destroying the country, he's taking rights away from the workers, the economy is going down the pan and the country is at a standstill. Same old bullshit in other words.

    You can follow all the action on TN if you're so inclined.

    There probably isn’t a dirty trick in the book that Hugo Moyano doesn’t know and hasn’t tried. But I was wondering if he called this strike or if the movement might have come up from a different K faction, although with the same agenda?

    Can anyone venture a guess as to the average number of general strikes here each year?

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    This is the fourth since Macri came to power and don't forget that there were an equal amount of general strikes when the bitch was president.

    Here are some interesting statistics about strikes in the UK. In 1926 there was a general strike that lasted 9 days, but don't tell Moyano.

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandl…heuk/2015-09-21

    I was living in Oxford during the strike in the winter of 1972. We had electricity on for 3 hours, off for 3, etc. It impressed me immensely that the public stood behind the miners instead of whining about their own inconvenience. But everyone knew that the miners were only asking the govt to do the right thing.

    In this case, the general strike is just muscle flexing by troublemakers looking to gain political advantage and stir up unrest.