The Rising

Generally I try to provide inside to various aspects of my life down here, but this entry will be dedicated solo to one issue: the rising crisis between the government and the farm workers. The situation itself has been developing for quite some time, though it's really come to a head as of recent.

The Basic Discourse: Argentina's economy has actually been quick to recover since its plummet at the turn of the millennium. Although there are still many areas in need of improvement (inflation, health care, etc.) the country has shown its resilience in maintaining a valued economy. A large reason for such a quick comeback has been the value of agriculture. Not only is Argentina famous for it's beef, but soybean and other products have a great value in both national and international levels. After a few successful years the government has decided to re-arrange the export taxes on said products, essentially raising taxes for "the campo" by 10%. The reasoning for this is sound: The Campo is Argentina's cash cow and the government hopes to raise additional revenues from their success so that they can improve other lagging areas like health care and education. The Campo, however, does not take too kindly to this logic. They see the government as essentially punishing them for their success and don't think they should solely carry the fiscal burden for failing Argentine industries.

The History: About 20 days ago the "farm workers" began a strike. I use the term farm workers, though it actually goes much deeper than that and includes meat and dairy producers too. The strike carried on for 16 days and was located in the "interior,” which is essentially every region outside Buenos Aires, though most events occurred in the northern parts. Not only did production halt, but also workers organized demonstrations, protests, and Cortes (cuts). These Cortes were essentially roadblocks that kept good from reaching their destination (image an 18 wheeler stretched perpendicularly along 95 or the 405, surrounded by 40 plus farm workers not letting any produce pass). By the last week the city was really starting to feel the crunch, shortages began to appear in produces markets and elsewhere.

The Protests: After such a strong showing by the Campo, President Kirschner made her way to the interior to try to resolve the situation peacefully; she failed. I'm not sure of the exact details of what transpired but she essentially told the Campo that she would not give in to threats and would not talk to them again until they stopped the Cortes. It was up until this point (about last Tuesday) when I had only been loosely following the story line. At around 9 PM that evening I hear a few people starting to bang pots and pans. At first I try to figure out where it's coming from and also why they are doing it. I initially think its a celebration of a marriage proposal, or their signal of approval for the new national holiday that was celebrated the preceding Monday. As the noise grew, however, I knew it was something more. The clanking grew and ascended on us from all angles, making their way throughout the city towards various congregations. As we made our way to dinner we saw two of these protests on prominent corners, so large that Police shut down roads within a few blocks of each. The protests were peaceful yet inspiring and pretty much consisted of songs of nationalism and shouts of support for the campo. Although I was still somewhat uniformed as to how or why these were taking place, I felt a bit inspired. Not only were thousands of people out in the streets, but also just about every car was honking their horn in unison to the beat created by pots and pans.

The Bad, The Good, and the Ugly:
BAD: The situation, although it is yet to be diffused, got pretty hairy by the end of last week. Shortages were seen in markets and prices were increasing for most goods, especially produce. Private economists are estimating that inflation for the month will be around 3% (what it is for the US in one year). The strike has also left many indirectly affected without work: mainly industries that support agriculture (transportation, etc.) Also, apparently these protests are not nearly as common as I originally thought. The last time these occurred in such a manner was 2001/2002, right after the currency devaluation when the government was taking extreme measures to control prices and inflation. It's a pretty large signal of mistrust of the government by the people. By the end of last week, most of the Argentine's that I know here were starting to have legitimate fears over the whole situation.

GOOD: The Campo has actually shown a sign of good faith in lifting the Cortes this weekend in order to resume talks on Monday. Supplies have made it into the city and though there has not been a full restock, shelves aren't barren. I'm hoping all goes well with the talks on Monday because this country can't afford the fallout from such a prominent strike.

UGLY: Some of the pro-government supporters actually paid bums 50 pesos (less than 20 US) to go into the protests and try to turn them violent by being vocally disagreeable and even physical with some protesters. Simply sad.

I've got a few quick links you can check out below to read a bit more and actually see one of the many protests. You'll need to copy the link and paste it into a new web page. I am hoping for a good report next week:

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0b5N5RJR7k&feature=related

BBC Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7319903.stm