Today [Dec 14] workers’ made history again. We went to the streets, confronted the Gendarmerie and the Police, and we stopped (for now) the governments’ Social Security reform.
By PSTU-Argentina.
Among tear gas and rubber bullets, we went out to defend our elderly, and our future.
Metal workers, drivers, professors, state workers, left parties, and Peronist organizations gathered in action to stop Macri’s government.
Que se vayan todos y no quede ni uno solo[1] was the cry at the Congress Square during the clashes.
Today, it was clear that workers and the people are not willing to let them crush us. They will not mess with our elderly, with our future, or with our jobs. Our heads are high and we are on guard to confront the government’s attacks.
Marcos Peña justified the repression and said that they “are open to any type of initiative.” On the top, the word is that they want to impose the reform by decree. We need to make clear that we will not negotiate. Nothing good can come out of this anti-worker government that repressed workers and retirees in order to fill the pockets of the multinationals and the vultures of the financial system.
Macri will not change his policy. Thus, it is necessary to take Macri down, as we did with De La Rua in 2001. And we cannot wait until 2019 for that, as Cristina [Kirchner] and most Peronist leaders say. Neither can we trust the negotiations at the Congress. Today we won because we went to the streets, not only because the deputies argued in the Chamber or because Carrió raised a white flag.
Today we proved our strength, despite the CGT [General Workers’ Federation] not being present but only some sectors of the UOM [Metal Workers’ Union], which were at the front line together with sectors of the Corriente Federal.
Moyano was celebrating that Independiente [soccer team] won, but he did not come near the Square.
Today, it was evident that, if the Union leaders wanted to, we could defeat the reforms for good and put Macri between the rock and a hard place. This is why it is a shame that they canceled the general strike, as it is that they only called it in case the reform passed, not to avoid it.
Today we hit the government, and we needed to continue hitting until we knocked him down, but the CGT gave it a truce, once again, making evident that they are not up to the workers’ and people’s necessities.
They send us back home when Macri hunts us, beating up journalists, deputies, and sending the Gendarmerie and Federal Police to stop those around the Congress by force. We cannot allow this. We have to stay mobilized until we defeat the repression and free all prisoners.
Today, more than ever, we have to embrace the fight and trust our own strength. Workers have to call meetings in all places to organize ourselves. We have to build a new leadership from the rank and file, from every workplace, for the best comrades, willing to fight until the end, to lead us.
We have to demand from our delegates and union leaders to call immediately for a National Workers’ Meeting to discuss a plan of struggle to continue fighting.
We won a round today, but the fight is not over. We made the government take a step back, but he will try to pass the reforms again. We are in midst of a major fight, and we showed that we can win. Let’s stay mobilized, on the streets, together in this fight, “with the leaders ahead or with the leaders’ heads”.[2]
NO to Macri’s labor and Social Security reforms!
National Strike and Plan of Struggle now!
Assemblies everywhere to impose the strike!
Down with the CGT “triumvirate”!
End the repression! Out with Bullrich! Freedom to our prisoners!
For a new Argentinazo to take Macri and his accomplices down!
**
Notes:
[1] “Let’s take them all down, not one of them should stay” was the main slogan of the 2001 revolution.
[2] “Con los dirigentes a la cabeza o con la cabeza de los dirigentes”, which means that if the leadership is not at the front line of the fight, the fight will take them down, too.
