Dozens of protesters have been hurt, and dozens were detained in mass protests which shook Argentina last week. The demonstrations were organized in an attempt by citizens, the opposition and trade unions to prevent the passing of the omnibus reform laws behind the “chainsaw madman”, neoliberal and extreme right politician Javier Milei.
As we wrote earlier, Milei holds a minority in both houses of the Argentine Congress, but has the support of big financial capital. He has been trying to introduce a reform of over 600 laws since he came to power in December.
We talked about current events in Argentina with Sara Cufré, feminist and labor rights activist, member of IRGAC – International Research Group on Authoritarian and Counter-Strategies. Cufré was in Belgrade during the international conference CHANGE, organized by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory.
How are you feeling about what’s going on in Argentina right now?
I feel anguish, sadness, mainly because this new law reform passed in the Congress despite opposition from unions, the labour movement, the feminist movement, but also because it had to be passed with levels of repression that we have not witnessed in the past 40 years of democracy.
We can see that the shift to the right is not only about the legal reform, that it also has to do with the police forces in the streets repressing protest.
So we are in a moment of an escalation of this far right that has really become a threat to life and basic human rights such as the right to protest.
The protest was on Wednesday; today it’s Saturday and still some people are in jail. Human rights organisations notified the public about the imprisonment of protesters. The police showed no respect for their basic human rights. I read that some of those who have been released didn’t receive water.
How many people have been arrested?
About 30 people have been detained after the protest. It is important to say that some of them were belong to organisations, but in other cases they were citizens who were just walking down the street when the police went after them.
So far we know that 16 of them have been released. But there is this legal catch that if they are not released within 24 hours, then they can be sent to prisons while they wait for trial.
And they will be charged for attempts of coup d’etat. They will really be charged for crimes of sedition and an atempt to overthrow the government. So, the official narrative of the government is that the police acted correctly because they detained people who wanted to commit a coup d’etat.
That’s why we see that this doesn’t have to do only with the law, but with a, let’s say, more profound attempt to repress social movements, to repress the right to protest.
And that’s why I told you that the primary feeling is the anguish, the sadness. But also it’s important to say that the people who were released,they were released because all political, opposition political parties, unions, feminist movements, journalists, they all went to the judiciary; they stayed there and made a press conference and they really pressed for their release. And I think, yeah, there was a great response in unity, you know, from different sectors saying: now we need to protect the right to protest.
This is an escalation of violence and of repression in comparison to the government‘s reaction to the protests in mid-January, right?
Exactly. I participated in the first protest in January 14th. I was also there for the 8th of March. We can see the escalation.
Of course, there were also detentions, and the government was trying to prove that they can use this new protocol for safety and security in the streets.
How new is this protocol?
It’s a protocol adopted by this government that actually changes the way in which police can act using this kind of violence. This is something that, again, we have not seen, not even, as you said, in January.
When did they manage to adopt this protocol? The government was formed in december 2023, and they hadn‘t managed to adopt one single law yet.
Immediately after they came to power. They are charging people of being responsible of a coup d’etat just for protesting.
You end up in jail for years for that, I guess?
Exactly. Yeah, this is really bad.
The set of reforms which Milei is pushing for initially had more than 600 particular laws and in the meantime it’s been cut down to some 200 and something. And also not all of them have been voted favorably by the Lower House in early February. The Upper House of the Congress voted for this mega-bill last Wednesday, and now it needs to go through another voting in the Lower House?
It has to go to the Lower House to see if some of those changes are approved or they are rejected. But the reform, in general, it’s approved.
There are three different scenarios. It can go back like it is and be approved this way. It is also possible that the lower chamber introduces some changes. And I think that there’s also a third possibility that the Lower House does not accept the changes and goes with the original.
But in any sense, this passed.
Of course, there were changes, there were negotiations. But the labour reform passed. The new foreign investment program passed. And most importantly, the delegation of special faculties or special powers for the president.
Even more power?
Even more power.
Which is like, wow!, because he already has so much power, being president and prime minister at the same time! And how about the changes of the pensions?
That was one of the things that was not introduced. Okay. But the labour reform passed, and many of the flexibilization articles, they all passed.
And how about the part with the privatization of national enterprises? Some 37 national enterprises were on the list?
That was reduced. And also that will open a process, I think, of going case by case. So it will eventually lead to a scenario where the government will push us to have little struggles: against one privatization, against this project here, against that project there… We will have to divide our strenght between particular struggles.
I.K.