This article appears in the February 2, 2024 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
More Than a Million Argentines Strike Against Fascist Austerity
[Print version of this article]
Jan. 27—In the midst of the extraordinary ferment taking place internationally against the Wall Street and London authored neoliberal policies that seek to shut down all productive economic activity, an estimated 1.5 million Argentines took to the streets to march and protest on Jan. 24 in the 12-hour strike called by the CGT (General Confederation of Labor) trade union federation and the allied CTA (Argentine Workers Confederation) against the fascist economic policies of radical Libertarian President Javier Milei. An on-the-ground participant told EIR that under the banner of “The country is not for sale,” at least 600,000 of the 1.5 million marched to the large Plaza de los Dos Congresos in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires while lively and well-attended marches and protests took place in all provincial capitals as well.
That this was not just an Argentine event was reflected in the enormous international support shown for the strike by trade union federations, political organizations, and groups of Argentines living abroad. Solidarity demonstrations were held in at least 17 world capitals in front of the Argentine embassies. Heartfelt messages of support came into the CGT/CTA from trade unions around the world—France, Italy, the UK, Brazil, Uruguay, and the U.S., to name a few—accompanied by videos of foreign rallies with Argentine flags flying alongside national ones and banners reading, as in Buenos Aires, “The country is not for sale.”
The strike’s target was Milei’s “urgency and necessity” decree (DNU) and Omnibus bill, whose goals are to dismantle the state, tear up constitutionally guaranteed rights, and impose IMF-endorsed economic “shock” policy. Workers, members of the middle class, many retirees, and “many, many young people” were present. The side streets around the Plaza de los Dos Congresos in central Buenos Aires were jam-packed with people, on the sidewalks and the streets, so much so that the police didn’t even try to deploy there, because there was no room for them. Ten blocks in either direction from the Congress were filled with people.
No Time for Vacation
It was “massive” and “historic,” EIR’s eyewitness source emphasized. It was the first time in Argentine history that anyone can remember a strike of this magnitude being held against a President who had only been in office for 45 days. “This is unprecedented,” he said. The march was peaceful and disciplined, characterized by an air of fierce political determination to protect the nation and the population from the genocide that will result if Milei’s policies are allowed to stand. Pablo Moyano, one of the three secretaries general of the CGT and a leader of the 40,000-strong truckers union, warned legislators that “we, the 44% who didn’t vote [for Milei], we are also the people. We are 11.5 million Argentines who are being harmed by [Milei’s] proposed measures. You must listen to us.”
It is unusual for a demonstration to be held at the Two Congresses Plaza, because its large size makes it difficult to fill up. Normally political demonstrations occur at the much smaller Plaza de Mayo in front of the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. But this time, the Plaza was overflowing. Some political leaders had warned against holding a strike in the second half of January, as this is when trade unionists—workers, teachers, members of the judiciary, state workers—go on summer vacation. Not this time.
Milei’s sadistic Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, had threatened fierce repression, but for the most part couldn’t follow through, due to the peaceful nature of the march. She declared the strike a “total failure” with a “very low turnout” of 40,000 and “very little support.” During the march, she prowled around the capital looking for people who hadn’t joined the strike to congratulate them for their “courage.” Milei, meanwhile, reportedly went into an uncontrolled rage over the strike’s success.
