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Argentina:
Poverty and the Militarization of Society (1990)
by Grupo
Impulso Autogestionario
Rosario,
Argentina (1990)
Argentina,
a country with an area of 1.2 million square miles (3 million square
kilometers), used to be known as the world's granary. Today, out of a
population of about 30 million people, nearly 15 million are recognized
as "lacking basic necessities." The state cynically uses this euphemism
as a cloak for what is commonly known as poverty, spiritual and
material misery, hunger and sickness. The capitalist economic model
that President Menem calls the "popular market economy" is condemning
the majority of the people, who are becoming poorer by the day, to be
sacrificed for the escalating profits of agricultural-export
oligopolies. Millions of women, children and old people are deprived of
proper health care, education and housing. Meanwhile, the system of
financial roulette is emptying the pockets of those who produce the
country's wealth.
Recently,
more than 200,000 Argentineans have emigrated. Some are convinced that
they will find a sunnier, warmer life in the North. Others are fleeing
in anticipation of a new genocidal thrust by the military.
In
fact, since April of 1987 the military, counting on the complicity of
the politicians, has been targeting the civilian population. We have
been experiencing an increasing militarization of society. Once again,
men in uniform are swarming out of the barracks. Cities such as Rosario
are daily overrun with federal police patrols on the ground and in
helicopters.
The
laws granting immunity from prosecution approved by Alfonsin (who was
suitably obedient in the end), the pardons granted by Menem, and the
decrees legalizing the intervention of the armed forces in internal
conflicts, together open a somber prospect. They facilitate the use of
state terrorism against popular protests and dissent by those opposing
domination, exploitation and, ultimately, capitalist barbarity.
The
ruling classes, and their political front men who control the
government, are using the foreign debt (which might as well be called
the eternal debt, since it is unpayable) as an excuse for continued
exploitation. They present as indisputable the false alternatives that
public services can only be "inefficiently run by the state" or
"efficiently run by oligarchies linked to multinational capital." We
libertarian socialists know that there are valid alternatives to both:
Public services can be operated and managed by their own workers. We
also assert that only through the socialization of health care services
can health be assured for everyone. The complex problem of housing can
be solved through the creation of cooperatives in which members work
together to build and maintain their own homes. But all this would be
admitedly quite difficult under the prevailing system of capitalist
exploitation and domination.
Still,
we don't think that it's necessary to wait for some distant future to
fight for dignity and against exploitation. That is why, as a
libertarian organization, we are participating right now, alongside
others, in the resistance to the state sponsored plundering. We are
completely opposed to the social model which aims to create first- and
second-class citizens within one country. We are struggling and will
continue to struggle against this attempt to impose de facto South
African apartheid in this part of the world.
In
our city, out of a population of nearly a million, more than 300,000
people are undernourished and living in miserable housing; more than
100,000 men, women and children are destitute. We know that the
abundance of the wheat fields is not reaching our children's' mouths
because of the manipulations by bureaucrats, clerics, politicians and
bankers, perpetuating social injustice.
Our
problem has a name: capitalism. And so does the solution: self-managed
socialism. Only popular self-organization, the direct democracy of
councils and assemblies, self-management and libertarian confederation
will contribute to the liberation of all of us who inhabit the
continent of "fire and fear."
While
continuing to resist the authoritarian advance, and working together in
solidarity, let's not forget that there are no quick revolutions; they
grow from the ground up.
NO
TO THE PARDON, NO TO THE AMNESTY FOR GENOCIDAL KILLERS, AND NO TO
MILITARIZATION! DEFEND COLLECTIVE LIBERTIES, ENSURE ALL LIBERTY!
SELF-MANAGE
WORK, CONSUMPTION, EDUCATION AND ALL CULTURE!
IN
THE FACE OF THE TERRORISM OF THOSE WHO DOMINATE US, WE AFFIRM LIFE
AGAINST DEATH AND INJUSTICE!
Grupo
Impulso Autogestionario
Casilla
de correo 984
2000
- Rosario
ARGENTINA
Received,
translated and distributed April, 1990 by Charlatan Stew, Seattle, WA,
USA
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