From the website of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French
On January 23, Argentina’s far-right president, Javier Milei, once again gave an ultra-reactionary speech at the Davos forum, associating homosexuality with pedophilia, and comparing transgender people with murderers. An umpteenth abject provocation which rightfully shocked and provoked a mass reaction through a gigantic “anti-racist and anti-fascist pride march”, with a million demonstrators marching in Buenos Aires on February 1. Cele Fierro, deputy of the Left Workers’ Front-Unity (FIT-U) (Socialist Workers’ Movement), explains to us what politics the far left is trying to pursue in this context.
Can you describe how this anti-racist pride march was organized?
Javier Milei’s speech at the Davos Forum caused a stir among the general public, who are determined to combat the patriarchal system and homophobia. Two days after his speech, a first assembly was held in the province of Buenos Aires, bringing together a wide variety of sectors, more or less political, led by LGBT groups. The president did try to backtrack on his remarks three days before the march, hoping to deflate the mobilization, swearing that his words had been distorted. In vain, as the mobilization gathered a million demonstrators in the capital and was held in many of the country’s provinces. Many organized sectors joined in this multi-sectoral demonstration: pensioners, some unions and health workers, the entire social movement, environmental groups and some political parties. Everyone who is fighting was there.
How do you explain the public’s reaction, which was far greater than that of the traditional November Pride march?
Argentina has chained together several massive mobilizations since Milei’s election: a general strike last year; our biggest March 8 (International Day of Struggle for Women’s Rights) mobilization since the green wave (the mass movement that won abortion rights) in 2018; the biggest March 24 (date commemorating the military dictatorship’s 1976 coup) in decades; the defense of the public university in April… We mustn’t forget that all democratic struggles – from the fall of the dictatorship to the legalization of abortion – have involved large sectors of the population.
But for the past six months, the slowdown in inflation – while workers’ living conditions have continued to worsen – and the new regulations that repress any mobilization had slowed this momentum. Especially since Milei’s election, it’s worth pointing out the total passivity of the trade unions, which are completely bureaucratized and directly linked to Peronism. The Peronist parties may play the role of opposition in Congress, but in reality they support Milei’s policies by voting in favor of his anti-worker laws when he is short of votes.
What have been the reactions to this demonstration?
As usual, Milei attacked those who mobilized, explaining that they understood nothing about politics… As if their motivation wasn’t political! He couldn’t hide the massiveness of the mobilization, which clearly shows an overlapping refusal. Mobilization is bound to get people talking in the workplace. But the Justicialist Party (the main Peronist party), through LGBT organizations linked to Cristina Kirchner and the unions in which they have a majority, is trying to impose a dangerous identity-based and separatist debate: women on one side, gender minorities on the other… We’re all concerned by these issues, whatever our gender, skin color or sexuality: we’re all workers, and that’s the only identity we need to remember.
How do you see the next stage?
Our policy aims to coordinate all struggles in order to converge towards the unity needed to confront this government. Mobilization actions take place every day of the week. On Thursday February 13, a meeting was held with the health unions in which we have union mandates, to set a date for other sectors to join in. On Friday 14th, another union sector called for a “resistance march.” The following day, a mobilization on the fires that have been ravaging Patagonia for weeks. We’re also organizing a meeting against the extreme right-wing government and all its local offshoots. We’d like all those involved in the struggle to join in. And we’re already looking ahead to March 8 and March 24.
You mentioned the fires in Patagonia. Can you tell us what’s going on there?
More than 35,000 hectares in three provinces have already gone up in smoke in the fires ravaging Patagonia. This is nothing new in the region, but it is taking on catastrophic proportions due to the government’s extractivist policy on raw materials and the climate denial that accompanies it. In El Bolsón, rivalries have broken out between large landowners and the population, who are trying to organize themselves, despite the passivity of the state. Some lake owners refuse to share the water, while others continue to plant pine trees (for intensive timber cultivation), making the fires more violent. Instead of declaring a state of emergency and deploying the necessary resources, the government is charging volunteers and accusing Mapuche villages of being terrorists. We’re trying to organize the forest rangers, who have precarious three-month contracts, and the firefighters, who are essentially volunteers. Neighbors are also getting organized to help out, with food aid to help the victims and donation drives, supported by artists from all over the country.
(Note: Peronism is a broad-based political movement (from the center-left to the right) in Argentina, inspired by General Juan Perón, who was President from 1946 to 1955 and again in 1973 and 1974.)
