Cristina Kirchner, in one of her speeches by the end of the year, launched the idea of “uniting forces to defeat Macri in 2019”, thus opening the stage for an “anti-Macri” electoral front. The tragedy that Cambiemos meant for the working class has caused many comrades to believe this is the best option available. We believe this is a great mistake which can lead our class to more frustrations.
By Víctor Quiroga
On the same wavelength, the main leaders of the Partido Justicialista, with its president Ambrosio L. Gioja at the forefront, have called upon all inner tendencies to join the “Political Action Board” of the party, along with Moyano, Pignanelli, Yasky, Héctor Daer of the CGT, Scioli, Rodriguez Saá, plus every Kirchnerist, among others.
On his turn, Juan Grabois, the leader with links to Pope Francis, member of the CTEP Movement, was more emphatic about the social movements: “We want: Massa, Pichetto, Urtubey.” “If Vidal comes and says ‘I’m leaving Macrism and want to join you’, let him come! Larreta comes? Let Larreta come! The problem here is called Mauricio Macri”, thus showing his vision of the “unity” they are looking forward to in 2019.
They were joined by former President Duhalde, remembered for his political responsibility in the repression of Puente Pueyrredón and in the murder of Kosteki and Santillán. He readily “befriended” Cristina and “forgot” past disputes, as well as Massa and all the other Peronist leaders who “followed” Macri since the beginning voting for the attacks to health and education, for the horrible theft of the purses of pensioners, for the payment of the public debt to the “vulture” funds and the fare hike.
In that sense, Cristina and Unidad Ciudadana dropped their candidate in the Cordoba elections to help the “Peronist” governor, Schiaretti, one of Macri’s most important allies as of late.
Looking past who may end up being a part of this front, could this “unity” get our country out of the crisis? Can we, by hugging all or some of those vote for stealing from the pensioners, stop inflation, the lay-offs and the factory shut-downs? Could it be that if we “do not get nauseated by the Church”, as Cristina said, stop the deaths caused by illegal abortions and feminicide? Or maybe if we sit on the same table of the IMF to “renegotiate the government’s debt” like stated by Kicilof, former Minister of Economy of Cristina, there will be money for health, education, jobs and investments for industrial development?
We believe the answer to to all of that is no. This is a trap that has already led us to vote for Macri to kick Cristina out in the past. This unity is to defeat Macri in the elections, but not Macri’s politics.
And that is not strange. Or aren’t by chance the same Peronist deputies, senators and governors of all types who went along with Scioli and Cristina in 2015 the same who sold out and applied every attack? What can we expect from the same unpresentable leaders who, faced with the destruction of collective agreements that goes on right now, let all pass without lifting a finger?
Thus, more than a “unity” to advance, this is a pile-up which will lead us towards new defeats for the working class. Nothing good will come from those that have already promised the IMF that they will go on paying and “renegotiating” the external debt, endorsing a scam that pus a rope around our neck until after our grandchildren are dead.
There is another way
Nothing good will come from those leaders. The unity we need is built in struggle, fighting now and without quarter Macri and his attacks, to kick him out right now.
We must also learn from the past and not make the same old mistakes. We workers need to build our own way out, without bureaucrats, nor bosses, nor unpresentable corrupts. There will be no way out through a “lesser evil” which solves our problems.
We must trust our own forces, and organize the struggle in every popular and worker rebellion. For we need to break once and for all the chains which bind us to imperialism, for a second and final independence.
LAVAGNA: the “new” candidate of the bosses
In different news coverages, Robert Lavagna, former minister of Economy of Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner, shows himself as a candidate to “close the gaps” and “build a national unity government”. For that goal he distances himself from Cristina Kirchner and Mauricio Macri, whom he criticizes for “not wanting to have a dialogue”.
For a few weeks now that is an immense mediatic operation to place him on the presidential track. Hours in TV, radio, editorials, business meetings, the meeting with Tinelli, all are steps to mark him as “presidentiable”. Miguel Borda, the old financial operation of the Nineties, said: “Roberto Lavagna is the candidate of the businessmen”.
What is going is that the big owners and the USA are concerned with finding a “trusty” candidate to ensure the payment of the external debt, as well as the deals of multinationals and big companies. Faced with the evident collapse of Macri and Cambiemos, the former minister seems very acceptable.
Who is Lavagna?
Even though he is presented as “different”, Lavagna was worked in and been a minister of different Peronist and Radical governments since the 70’s. He was responsible for designing and negotiating the payment of nearly 10.000 million dollars to the IMF during Néstor Kirchners’s administration, one of the largest hand-overs in history. And until yesterday, he and his son were part of the Renewing Front of Sergio Massa, one of the blocks that helped him vote the main laws of adjustment of Cambiemos’s government.
What does he propose?
Today he proposes a “national unity” government, composed by “Peronists, Radicals, Socialists and the entire civilian society that reach a Social Pact” to impose his “Flexisafety”. That is, a labour reform to relax laws so that the bosses can fire without cost and thus guarantee their profits, which is all they care about. That Menem did the same and failed is, according to his fairy tale, because of “the stagnation of the economy.
A journalist of Ámbito Financiero blamed Macri for not trying to talk with Roberto Lavagna: “You must know that (…) as well as an opposer who can take your votes (…), he is one of the consultants most required by foreign companies when they decide to invest in the country. You must also know that the former minister was consulted in early 2018 by the IMF itself before it begun the negotiations with the country for a new standby”. (AF, 22/3/2019).
How can we explain the bosses’s enthusiasm? The workers must suspect talks on defending industry. What Lavagna defends is the greed of the owners.
Translated by Miki Sayoko
