On Saturday, February 1, demonstrations, events, artistic activities and endless expressions of the people’s rejection of Milei and his policies took place in most cities and towns in Argentina. The epicentre was the Plaza Congreso in Buenos Aires.
By the United Socialist Workers’ Party (PSTU) – Argentina
Milei and his agenda
President Javier Milei gave a speech at the Davos Forum in which he not only railed against diversity, but also sought to align himself with the policies developed by U.S. President Donald Trump on various issues.
His remarks were in reference to his economic adjustment measures in the areas of mental health, and in state organisations that offer support in the area of gender equality and with respect to minorities.
He said things like: “In other words, we moved from the concept of freedom as the fundamental protection of the individual against the intervention of the tyrant to the concept of liberation through state intervention. On this foundation, wokeism was built – an ideology of monolithic thinking upheld by various institutions whose purpose is to penalize dissent, feminism, diversity, inclusion, equity, immigration, abortion, environmentalism, gender ideology, among others. These are all various heads of the same beast aimed at justifying the state’s expansion through the appropriation and distortion of noble causes.”
“We have even got to the point of normalizing the fact that in many supposedly civilized countries, if you kill a woman, it is called femicide. And this carries more serious punishment than if you kill a man simply based on the sex of the victim – legally making a woman’s life be worth more than that of a man.”
“And these forums promote the LGBT agenda, attempting to impose the idea that women are men and men are women simply based on self-perception. And they say nothing about when a man dresses as a woman and kills his opponent in a boxing ring, or when a male prison inmate claims to be a woman and ends up sexually assaulting women in prison.”
He also made other outrageous statements that were condemned by large sectors of society in Argentina and other countries. The statement that caused the most outrage was the identification of LGBT people as a whole with pedophiles.
The reaction
The call to action, which came out of the Parque Lezama gathering on the initiative of the different LGBT groups and sectors that have come together in an Anti-Fascist Coordination, gained momentum from the moment it was issued.
The massive participation in the event filled the people with enthusiasm and won the support of different sectors that joined the mobilization as the days went by.
An expression of resistance
On Saturday February 1 there were initiatives and united calls from a wide range of organizations. Significant sectors of workers, young people and other sectors turned out in large numbers.
In spite of the truce of the trade unions and the complicity of the political parties of the government, especially Peronism with Cristina at its head, the day was a day of struggle, marked by strong criticism of the national government, solidarity with the struggles of the workers, and also with the Palestinian people.
Many young people present
From before 4 p.m. on, groups of people began to arrive at the Plaza Congreso, many of them individually or in spontaneous groups, gradually filling the square and then moving on to the Plaza de Mayo.
There is no doubt that young people played an important role, not only in publicizing the demonstration, but also as a fundamental part of the march itself.
The leadership and its passive role
Sympathy and support for the march meant that the CGT, CTA and other organizations joined the march, with ups and downs, and did so formally, without any prospect of uniting around a common plan of struggle and breaking out of the complicity in which they had been locked for several months.
Mobilization in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires
After 5 p.m., a huge crowd of 100,000 people began to march from the Avenida de Mayo to the Plaza, many of them on parallel streets because there was a great desire to mobilize, to show their flags and banners and to sing their dissatisfaction with the government.
Something similar happened in other cities and even in small towns in the interior of the country, despite the heat and the holiday period.
A breath of fresh air to continue the struggle
February 1 breathed new life into the struggles that are developing in some parts of the country, and it has shown that the people have the will and energy to fight.
Undoubtedly, the existing leaderships do not have the slightest intention of letting this develop and will try to deflate what has happened. For this reason, we must continue to push from below to coordinate the struggles, and build active solidarity and unity.
International repercussions
On February 1, there were also expressions of solidarity with the call in several countries, including Germany, Belgium, England, Chile, Mexico, Honduras, Spain and other places, to support the mobilizations in Argentina, which served to strengthen the actions.
Peronism tries to take over the parade
The presence of important sectors of Peronism in the march aims to prevent actions that could achieve independence, both in the struggle and in the proposals to end the crisis.
With the aim of channeling the mass struggle into elections and with slogans such as “love conquers hate”[1], they are trying to divert any initiative of autonomous expression of resistance.
We can move forward in coordination
The Lezama Assembly and the organizations that have led it are able to call on all the sectors that feel affected by Milei’s policy. They are able to give continuity, to coordinate and to involve others in the struggle, in an action plan and a workers’ solution with a common petition, including 7 or 8 economic measures at the service of the workers and the people.
The PSTU in the mobilizations
We in the PSTU were present in Plaza Congreso, in Comodoro Rivadavia, in Neuquén, Saladillo, Pergamino. We participated in the demonstrations with the firm conviction that we must unite the class against all attempts to divide it along gender, diversity or racist lines.
We will continue to do so in a united way, without ceasing to state our positions: the need to prepare a continuous and progressive struggle until we defeat the government and its plan dictated by the IMF and supported by Peronism, through the independent organization of the workers and other oppressed sectors, and the vigorous defense of our struggles and mobilizations in the face of state repression and the provocations of the far right.
We will continue our struggle until we establish a workers’ government that puts an end to exploitation and oppression once and for all, through a workers’ and socialist revolution.
Note:
[1] A pacifist expression that tries to dilute any intention to fight and hate the current government, and to channel anger into electoral politics.
