Argentina

Rural Women In Latin America Define Their Own Kind Of Feminism

April 17, 2015 Fabiana Frayssinet, www.ipsnews.net Create! Argentina, Feminism, Latin America, Rural

Rural organisations in Latin America are working on defining their own concept of feminism, one that takes into account alternative economic models as well as their own concerns and viewpoints, which are not always in line with those of women in urban areas. Gregoria Chávez, an older farmer from the northwest Argentine province of Santiago del Estero, said feminism must include “the struggles and support of our fellow farmers in defending the land.” Until recently, feminism was an alien concept for her. But like so many other women farmers around Latin America, she is now a leader in the battles in her province against the spread of monoculture soy production and the displacement of small farmers. “I think women are important in the countryside because they are braver than men,” she told IPS. “I’m not afraid of anything. I always tell my compañeras that without courage we won’t gain a thing.”

3 Surprising Ways Argentina’s Umbrella March Dared To Be Different

February 21, 2015 Global Post, www.voxxi.com Resist! Argentina, Corruption, Protest

As far as Latin American protests go, Wednesday’s big march in Argentina was … different. As many as 400,000 people packed into downtown Buenos Aires and marched silently in the pouring rain. They were paying homage to prosecutor Alberto Nisman, one month after he was found dead. He was due to present findings that he said implicated the Argentine government in a cover-up of the country’s worst terrorist attack. Initially billed as a testament to Nisman, the march morphed into a much broader vent about Argentina’s insecurity and perceived lack of a transparent and fair judicial system. Last Friday, a prosecutor filed charges against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her foreign minister, formally accusing them of plotting with Iran to cover up the investigation of the 1994 Jewish center bombing.

Argentina: Shale Oil Fuels Conflict

November 19, 2014 Fabiana Frayssinet, www.iede.co.uk Resist! Argentina, Energy, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Oil & Gas

CAMPO MARIPE, Argentina, Nov 18 (IPS) - The boom in unconventional fossil fuels has revived indigenous conflicts in southwest Argentina. Twenty-two Mapuche communities who live on top of Vaca Muerta, the geological formation where the reserves are located, complain that they were not consulted about the use of their ancestral lands, both above and below ground. Albino Campo, logko or chief of the Campo Maripe Mapuche community, is critical of the term superficiary - one to whom a right of surface occupation is granted “ which was used in the oil contracts to describe the people living on the land, with whom the oil companies are negotiating. We are the owners of the surface, and of what is above and below as well. That is the ˜mapu’ (earth). It’s not hollow below ground; there is another people below, he told IPS.

38th Anniversary Of Night Of The Pencils

September 17, 2014 Revolution News, www.revolution-news.com Educate! Argentina, History, police brutality

38 years ago today on September 16, 1976 in La Plata, Argentina, 10 high school students ages 16 – 18 were kidnapped by the military junta. Four of them survived and lived to testify regarding the kidnappings and subsequent rape and torture that followed their forced disappearances. 6 of the young students are still among the missing. The night became known as La Noche de los Lapices or The Night of the Pencils. The students were activists who had been campaigning for the boleto estudiantil (student ticket). Students involved in this movement fought for bus passes that would provide free transportation to and from school instead of students having to pay for public transportation. The Boleto Educativo Gratuito (free educational pass) was implemented in recent years in Cordoba and similar programs are in place around the country now that provide either free or discounted bus fare for students and teachers.

Exalted War Criminal Makes The Mass Media Rounds

September 14, 2014 Peter Hart , www.fair.org Educate! Argentina, Cambodia, Chile, Media, Vietnam, War crimes, War Criminal

The former national security adviser seems to be everywhere lately. He made an appearance at an event with other former secretaries of state, leading Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank (9/3/14) to call him "the most celebrated foreign-policy strategist of our time," and to note that of those gathered, "the wisest, as usual, was Kissinger." Of course, a clear vision of Kissinger would help too. The record is well-documented, from backing a coup in Chile ("We will not let Chile go down the drain") to supporting the dirty war in Argentina to Indonesia's bloody campaign in East Timor. Kissinger is most closely associated with the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia. Of the latter, he famously delivered this order: "A massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. Anything that flies on anything that moves." Credible estimates of the number of people killed as a result of this order range as high as 800,000.

Millions Of Workers Strike In Argentina

August 30, 2014 Trotskyist Fraction, www.ft-ci.org Resist! Argentina, Strike, Unions

Member of the Argentine National Congress Nicolás del Caño and the member of the Buenos Aires Province Congress Christian Castillo of the PTS in the Left and the Workers’ Front (FIT), took part in the road blockades during the national strike. “Millions of workers went on strike around the country. Most of them don’t belong to the unions that called the strike but want to send a strong message to the government and the bosses” Christian Castillo took part in the rally along the Pan American Highway with other PTS leaders and workers from Kraft foods, Lear, RR Donnelley, Pepsico, FATE and other Left groups and community organizations. Castillo said “Although Moyano [the head of the CGT union] called for this national strike without organizing workers or demonstrations, it became massive” And he continued “A big number of factories struck, even Lear and Volkswagen, where the bosses had to designate this day as a day of rest because workers didn’t show up, whether or not union bureaucrats [referring to Pigannelli] like it. The few subways and buses that are running are almost empty. The workers and the people were able to express their dissatisfaction with inflation, layoffs and the high income taxes”.

Argentina Sues US For Violation Of Sovereignty

August 9, 2014 Jubilee USA, www.jubileeusa.org Resist! Argentina, Debt, International Law, Vulture Funds

Argentina filed suit against the United States at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The lawsuit argues that the US 2nd Circuit Court decision between Argentina and predatory hold-out funds violates Argentina's sovereignty. The court is a United Nations body and can only hear the case if the United States government agrees to accept the ICJ's jurisdiction. Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious anti-poverty coalition, Jubilee USA Network, releases the following statement: "This case illustrates that we need basic rules of responsible lending and borrowing in place in order to stop predators. "If we had an international bankruptcy process, countries from Argentina to Grenada never would default and predatory actors are forced to sit at the table."

Argentina Is Right To Defy The Taliban Of Global Finance

August 4, 2014 Jerome Roos, www.roarmag.org Resist! Argentina, Capitalism, Finance, Vulture Funds

On Wednesday, Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt for the second time in 13 years, defying a US court ruling and a small cabal of financial fundamentalists led by the right-wing multi-billionnaire hedge fund mogul Paul Singer. Needless to say, most mainstream analysts are already bandying the usual platitudes, having us believe that Argentina’s populist government and its economic mismanagement are to blame for this outcome. While there is little point in defending Argentina’s corrupt political elite here, it is important to provide a much-needed corrective to this tired mainstream narrative. The first thing to note is that, despite repeated accusations by the vultures that Argentina is in contempt of US court rulings, Argentina’s willingness to pay its debts is not in question. The country has credibly committed itself to repaying its foreign creditors ever since it restructured its unsustainable debt load in the wake of its historic 2001 default, with over 93% of bondholders accepting crisp new bonds in 2005 and 2010. In fact, the government last month deposited $539 million with the Bank of New York Mellon to honor its commitments — in full and on time. Willingness to pay is simply not an issue.

Clintonians Join Vulture Flock Over Argentina

July 28, 2014 Conn Hallinan, www.truthdig.com Educate! Argentina, Debt, Hillary Clinton, Wall Street

It is no surprise that right-wing Republican and hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer should be trying to wring hundreds of millions of dollars out of Argentina for a debt that Buenos Aires doesn’t really owe him. He screwed tens of millions of dollars out of poverty-stricken Peru and the Republic of Congo using the same financial sleight of hand. What may surprise people, however, is that key leaders in the administration of former President Bill Clinton are helping him do it. Singer, who owns Elliot Management, a $17 billion hedge fund, is the leading “vulture investor”—a financial speculator who buys up the bonds of debt strapped nations for pennies on the dollar and then demands payment in full. When Argentina defaulted on its foreign debt in 2001, Singer moved in and bought up $48 million in bonds. He is now demanding that those bonds be paid at full-face value—$1.5 billion—plus interest and fees. It is a move that could derail Argentina’s long climb back into solvency, as well as undermine debt settlements worldwide. A recent decision by federal District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan may not only force Argentina to pay the vultures, it could unravel a 2006 debt deal between Buenos Aires and other creditors. Under the highly controversial principle of “pari passu” (“equal ranking among creditors”), if the vultures are compensated, so must all the other creditors, even those who settled back in 2006. That bill could reach $15 billion. Given that Argentina has only about $28 billion in foreign reserves, the tab could send Buenos Aires into a recession or force the country into bankruptcy.

Argentina President Blasts US Bank ‘Extortion’

June 19, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Educate! Argentina, Banks, Debt, Finance, Supreme Court

Argentina will not submit to Wall Street's "extortion" of their debt, said President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a national address Tuesday night. De Kirchner's comments came after it was announced that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the South American country despite their argument that obliging predator banks would "encourage creditor free-for-alls" and "intensify and prolong the suffering of the poor in countries undergoing sovereign debt crisis." On Wednesday, following news that the Supreme Court would uphold two lower court rulings which demanded that Argentina pay $1.3 billion in debt holdouts to "vulture" funds before repaying their other restructured debts, Standard & Poor lowered the country’s rating to CCC-. According to the credit rating bureau and reported by Bloomberg News, this is the lowest rating for any nation that’s currently assessed by the company and is nine levels below "investment grade."

The Take: Documentary On Factories Occuped By Workers

June 17, 2014 Top Documentary Films, www.topdocumentaryfilms.com Educate! Argentina, Cooperatives, Democracy, Elections, Resistance

We heard rumors of a new kind of economy emerging in Argentina. With hundreds of factories closing, waves of workers were locking themselves inside and running the workplaces on their own, with no bosses. Where we come from, a closed factory is just an inevitable effect of a model, the end of a story. In Argentina today, it's just the beginning. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. In the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They're part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system. But Freddy, the president of the new worker's co-operative, and Lalo, the political powerhouse from the Movement of Recovered Companies, know that their success is far from secure. Like every workplace occupation, they have to run the gauntlet of courts, cops and politicians who can either give their project legal protection or violently evict them from the factory.

General Strike Grips Argentina

April 18, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Argentina, Strike

Over one million turn out for action to denounce government policies A 24-hour general strike gripped Argentina on Thursday, bringing many public services to a halt. Unions say over one million workers took part in this second strike the administration of Cristina Fernández has faced. The strike's focus was to denounce the country's low wage increases in the face of high inflation, as well as other policies, like cuts in utility subsidies and salary caps, critics say are unfair to workers and are fomenting social unrest. The strike stopped public transportation, forced the cancellation of flights, blockaded roads, and resulted in some clashes between police and protesters. From Spanish news agency EFE: "The strike has been a success from the outset," labor leader and congressman Nestor Pitrola said, adding that "a new stage has been launched" in the unions' struggle, "which began with the teachers strike and continues with this strike that seeks to define where the country is heading." Spearheading the strike was Hugo Moyano, head of the General Confederation of Labor, and former Fernández ally. Moyano said the strike was a sign of people's "anger and disenchantment," and that the president must respond to this message from the people.

Latin America Condemns US Espionage at United Nations Security Council

August 18, 2013 Carla Stea, www.globalresearch.ca Educate! Argentina, Bolivia, NSA, Venezuela

The foreign ministers of Brazil , Venezuela , Uruguay , Bolivia and Ecuador fiercely condemned the United States plan for worldwide espionage, which posed a lethal threat to the democratically elected governments of these Latin American nations and jeopardized their survival. It is not surprising that this expression of alarm was voiced by Latin America, from Argentina through Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela – in other words from the Southernmost tip of the huge southern continent to the Caribbean, for this continent, viewed imperialistically as the “backyard” of the United States, was for many tragic decades, crushed by military dictatorships inflicting state terror with impunity, following the blueprint of destabilization and overthrow, by the CIA and multinational corporate controlled entities, of their own democratically elected leaders.

S. American States Recall Ambassadors Over Bolivian Plane Incident

July 13, 2013 Staff, www.rt.com Educate! Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Edward Snowden, Solidarity, Uruguay, Venezuela

“What the United States government is seeking is to obstruct Edward Snowden’s bid to seek asylum. Not to get asylum, but to seek asylum,” Tatchell said. “It has bullied and threatened and menaced other countries around the world to not grant him asylum and to not grant airspace so that a flight can take him to another country. That is a direct attack upon the United Nations’ refugee conventions, and it is shocking and appalling that a supposedly democratic government, in collusion with European governments - including the government in Britain - has been conspiring to not allow Mr. Snowden to make a valid asylum application.”

‘Not Your Colony’: Bolivia Threatens Shutdown of US Embassy

July 5, 2013 Staff, www.afp.com Organize! Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Edward Snowden, Venezuela

In a show of support, Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Cristina Kirchner of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Jose Mujica of Uruguay and Desi Bouterse of Suriname met with Morales in the central city of Cochabamba. Bolivia’s president threatened to close the US embassy as leftist Latin American leaders joined him in blasting Europe and the United States after his plane was rerouted amid suspicions US fugitive Edward Snowden was aboard. At a rally before the meeting, Maduro claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had ordered France, Portugal, Italy and Spain to deny access to Morales’s plane on Tuesday. After the meeting, the leaders issued a statement calling on the European governments to publicly apologize “in relation to the serious incidents that occurred,” but Morales said earlier that apologies were not enough. Correa said the leaders would “take decisions and show that we won’t accept this sort of humiliation against any country of (Latin) America.”

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