This is an appeal for support from our comrades in the Partido Obrero (Workers’ Party) of Argentina, a revolutionary socialist organization.
Help with your contribution to the defense fund and by spreading the word about the situation. You can donate through PayPal to schiaffinojavi@outlook.com.
We will be direct. In Argentina, we need your help to stop the offensive of Javier Milei’s government against the people. The other face of poverty and hunger is the criminalization of social protest. Every public action, big or small, is repressed and viciously prosecuted. The situation is escalating towards the persecution of opponents, in the first place towards popular activists, especially the piquetero movement – the organization of the unemployed and precarious workers in the poorest neighborhoods.
There are burdensome legal cases against dozens of them, impossible to face financially for those who live from their work. Javier Milei makes use of this vulnerability.
He uses the full force of the state and the media. He seeks to prevent any dissent through fear.
From minute one, government repression has been brutal. Among the most emblematic cases is the accusation of “sedition” and “terrorism” against those arrested for protesting against the so-called “Base Law,” the cornerstone of the surrender of the country to big finance capital. There are still two comrades detained out of the more than thirty who suffered police repression after the protests. The government issued a virtual state of siege in the vicinity of Congress during the demonstration, which lasted all night.
The magnitude of the repression has given rise to a report by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), which estimates that, in the last six months, 665 people were more or less severely injured in the city of Buenos Aires alone. 80 suffered arbitrary detentions in Buenos Aires, in Córdoba and in Rosario. 47 press workers were injured and more than 700 public transport vehicles were searched during the demonstration of December 20 last year alone. Because of that mobilization, criminal cases are still open against leaders of the Left.
For its part, Amnesty International has also published reports which highlight the deterioration of democratic frameworks and freedoms in the country. In March, Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International in Argentina, presented her report stating that it is a “model of non-dialogue and permanent violence.” In July, other presentations by the organization referred to attempts to make journalists “think twice before speaking and opt for self-censorship.” The raids on soup kitchens and popular centers by national forces continue to spread, now in the province of Buenos and in the province of Neuquén. Among those affected are the headquarters of the Polo Obrero, the MTR Histórico, Barrios de Pie, MTD Aníbal Verón, the CCC and Libres del Sur.
We are talking about dozens of comrades whose houses have been raided by the police, and who have been arrested, persecuted and prosecuted. The repression also reaches the workers’ movement. The general strikes were cordoned off with an unprecedented security scheme. The police entered establishments to interrupt workers’ assemblies among them state workers. Protests by unions such as the tire union (SUTNA) and the state union (ATE), among others, were also repressed. The democratic movement in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, attacked with violence, has had cases and imprisonment for comments on the social network “X/Twitter.” Among them, there is Vanina Biasi, one of its recognized spokespersons. In truth, this is an attack against those who uphold their commitment to the oppressed peoples of the world. At the center of the attack is the organization Polo Obrero (unemployed people’s organization). Those prosecuted face the risk of imprisonment for the mere fact of organizing in their neighborhoods.
The Judiciary, allied with Javier Milei, has subpoenaed a range of people from members of the soup kitchens to historical leaders such as Eduardo “Chiquito” Belliboni, Jeremías Cantero or Isolda “Tango” Dotti. To “Chiquito”, Milei and other representatives of the ultra-right, have directed repeated death threats. One of the most serious actions was the raid on the headquarters of the Partido Obrero (Workers’ Party – a member of the Frente de Izquierdo, a left-wing political coalition), which proposed a presentation, which has the support of all the blocks opposing Milei, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where it is made explicit that democratic freedoms are in danger.
Now, Milei is deepening the media hoaxes, cyber-attacks and judicial maneuvers. A copycat of the European and U.S. ultra-right, his discourse seeks to present the most impoverished workers, the unemployed and migrants as responsible for the crisis. The reality is the other way around. It is the effort from below, from the workers and their organizations, that allows subsistence in the face of a government that ignores the social consequences of its austerity policies. This disdain has recently erupted in government corruption scandals for resale of food destined for the needy, dirty handling of money and, perhaps worst of all, withholding tons of food when the Argentine people are going hungry.
If we do not stop this situation, preventing the imprisonment of opposition activists who organize with the poorest, Milei will get his way. He will have free ground for his austerity cuts and to further attack political freedoms and popular organizations. This is a dangerous path, which we have already seen too many times to allow it to be repeated. You can make a difference. Contribute in solidarity to the defense fund for the activists of the opposition activists who have been prosecuted.
Spread this information wherever you can.
You can donate through PayPal to schiaffinojavi@outlook.com.
