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Reuters. 31 December 2001. Argentines Bang Pots to Protest, Spit on Politicians. BUENOS AIRES -- Argentine shoppers spot a former cabinet minister sipping coffee in a posh cafe with his family. They spit on him, shout "son of a bitch" and he escapes under guard as a crowd of 50 people hound him. A president speaks to the nation and an angry response rings out. Argentines on their balconies bang pots and pans in protest and take to the streets, blocking avenues and marching to the presidential palace to force their leader's resignation. An impoverished Argentina is blaming politicians of every color for corruption and incompetence, an anger symbolized by spontaneous protests with pots and pans known as "cacerolazos" that have toppled two presidents in a week. But in between marches there is a growing, in-your-face attitude among Argentines, from shoppers to radio-show hosts who have left civility behind and are littering everyday speech with angry, sometimes violent, disdain for politicians. It all highlights how Argentines have lost faith in their courts, Congress and government after a four-year recession, rising unemployment and crime, and daily news of politicians being probed for corruption only to be set free by judges. In protests, every politician is a target, from Supreme Court members to Rodriguez Saa's press officer, who reportedly had over 20 court cases over corruption against him. "It's shameful. Until all those above us stop stealing, Argentina has no way out," said one woman standing in rain since dawn at a long line outside a bank. Bank limits on cash withdrawals to $1,000 a month have further angered people. The banging of pots and pans in the capital's balconies has come to symbolize the frustration of the middle class who have enjoyed for decades a quality of life that has made Argentina one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America. "Argentina can no longer sustain its large middle class, and this is exploding in social unrest... Argentines will no longer tolerate a closed political system that is monopolized by a small group of corrupt and discredited party officials," said Walter Molano of U.S.-based brokerage BCP Securities. The protests take other, grittier forms too. Earlier in the month, protests against the four-year recession sparked the worst civil unrest in decades as looting of supermarkets in the deprived barrios that ring the capital left 27 people dead. It is rooted in the frustrated expectation of a young nation that a century ago was one of the richest countries in the world as ships of hard-working European immigrants arrived in what was called the Paris of Latin America. Trauma has gripped Argentina since. In the last two decades it has suffered military loss in the 1982 Falklands War against the British, has defaulted on foreign debt twice, suffered from hyperinflation and tried to come to terms with deaths of 30,000 people murdered by a military dictatorship. There appears to be no escape for politicians, many of whom are now insulted in the street. Argentines have thrown eggs at legislators, and groups with pots and pans appear outside nearly every political meeting. The owner of one elegant restaurant once popular with power brokers banned politicians from eating there. One respected radio host, throwing out any pretension to objectivity, told Jose Manuel de la Sota, a governor with presidential aspirations, simply "to rise to the occasion" by acting like a statesman than a petty, ambitious politician. Many ordinary Argentines can be heard talking about "stringing up politicians in the square to teach them a lesson." It may just be verbal fantasy but it is growing and can have fatal consequences. In a quiet middle-class neighborhood over the weekend, a retired policeman overheard three young men insulting police as television showed rioters attacking the presidential palace. The former officer allegedly drew a gun and shot the three men dead. Neighborhood residents rioted, battling with police who fired rubber bullets and tear gas along tree-lined, cobbled streets filled with hairdressers and candy shops. It maybe have been the act of a madman but in the Argentina at the end of 2001 it highlighted the growing divisions between the state and its inhabitants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
