La Matanza: sidra y pan dulce!

December is always one of my favorite months in Buenos Aires and the last couple of days in La Matanza reminded me why -- hours of fairly repetitive (yet fun) work of painting boxes or pasting stickers on boxes or equally exciting tasks are always interrupted by parties and sidra!!

Tuesday was the birthday of 3 compañero/as -- Walter, Sara and Mariel so logically we all stopped working around 6 to eat cake and toast to the cumpleañeros. The break from painting boxes for pan dulces was definitely appreciated.

Wednesday was the graduation ceremony for the kindergarten where we handed out diplomas to all the graduating students and gifts to everyone (all the kids, their parents, the teachers, all the folks who help in the cooperative) and toasted to a successful year with (guess what!) more sidra!

And now it's back to pan dulces a ful. The project is a continuation of a project that started last year with the chef Maru Botanu (she's famous -- has her own TV show!) who gave the MTD her pan dulce recipe and some extra publicity. The pan dulces are made in the panadería there in La Juanita, under the watchful eye of the head chef Abel, by young men (most are about 18-19 years old) many of whom have been in trouble with drugs and alcohol in the past. So besides making delicious pan dulces, the project helps get these kids involved in something positive and hopefully teaches them useful skills. Folks at the cooperative are really strict about keeping an eye on these kids and making sure they don't abuse drugs/alcohol while they're working there and so far it seems to be having an effect... (and did I mention the pan dulces are delicious!)

La Asunción

From the inauguration of la presidenta Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Monday.
As far as anyone can tell, Cristina's elections means much of the same, for example the Economic Emergency law was repassed giving the President more power to handle economic decisions and continuing the jefes y jefas program. We're still friendly with Chavéz, not so friendly with the IMF and getting into petty squabbles with Uruguay. In fact, the biggest difference the news media has seemed to pick up on so far is how different Kristina's every day schedule will be from that of her husband -- she starts work early, eats little and doesn't take a siesta -- woah, maybe a woman president will get more things done?!

Some of the larger labor unions were present at the Inauguration (but notably not the CGT), some piqueteros and a few other social movements/organizations. A group of piqueteros actually organized a march for today to ensure that the Kirchner administration continues to listen to their demands and not to take their support for granted -- so maybe these movements haven't completely lost everything yet! The music was of course largely cumbia with a some rock and folklore, because Cristina is, of course, de la gente and re cumbiera.

un poco de justicia

The big news from yesterday: Catholic priest Christian von Wernich was sentenced to life in prison for his role in assasinations and tortures during the dictatorship. He was found guilty of involvement ("co-authorship") of 7 murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings. It was the first conviction of someone from the Catholic Church in relationship to crimes committed during the military dictatorship and is important demonstration of the Church's complicity in the torture and murder of 30,000 people. (Hugo tells me as I write this that in some masses, priests even blessed the instruments of torture). Von Wernich served as the police chaplain of the Buenos Aires police during the dictatorship and was often present at torture sessions using his role as priest to try to extract "confessions" from torture victims. The Church still denies any official involvment in the acts of state terrorism carried out by the dictatorship, maintaining that some individuals were involved of their own personal accord (umm yeah right).

I watched the sentencing hearing on TV which was intense -- von Wernich's lawyers asked for his absolution and von Wernich himself spoke, quoting the Bible and speaking of "false witnesses". The courtroom was full of family members of victims, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and other human rights activists. At one point the hearing was interupted for a bomb threat. The judge announced the sentence around 7:30 to a display of fireworks (I really good fireworks display which I wonder who organized/paid for?) and the cheers of hundreds of protesters outside. Although in many ways it is too little, too late, it is still good to see that some justice is being carried out. But as one of the prosecution lawyers said -- there are still a lot more trials that need to happen and we are still missing Jorge Julio Lopez.


the story from pagina 12 explains everything better than I could

el precio de los tomates

the price of tomatoes -- it's the talk all over the city -- at every single party, dinner, event i went to last week people were talking about tomatoes. i overheard people on the colectivo talking about the price of tomatoes. so what's the deal? the price of tomatoes has reached a ridiculous high -- as much as 20 pesos per kilo in some parts of the city. this is, of course, while the government continues to claim that inflation is at 0%. prices are so high that there's now a boycott of tomatoes (the prices have got to drop if nobody buys the tomatoes and they start to rot, right?) and a friend working at a pizzeria tells me that they've stopped making all the pizzas that have tomato slices (i.e. my favorite la napolitana). so here's to a tomato-less spring...

a week of rock

i got back from chile on monday and had a busy busy week in buenos aires:
tuesday propagandhi played in the teatrito -- not a bad show but a bit weird because of the lack of band-audience interaction/communication (mostly a language thing?) we definitely stalked the band after the show and guessing that they would show up in the Bauen, hung out in the bar there until they showed up and managed to meet the band and hang out with the drummer.
friday attaque played in escobar -- really far away (to the north of the city so passing san isidro and passing tigre) so i got there late but still in time to catch a good part of the show. they played a really good set with lots of my favorite songs, including the best of the new disk (cartonero, buenos aires en llamas, ejercito de salvacion) and great old songs (chicos y perros, espadas y serpientes, donde las aguilas se atreven, etc). only complaint was that it was a little short and very far away, but still worth the 2+ hour bus ride.
saturday a peña for the red libertaria's anti-electoral campaign. really nice to see some folks that aren't completely caught up in election bullshit (as i speak toty's campaign is still going a ful)
sunday there was an event in plaza de mayo commemorating che guevara (40 years after his death) with bands and exhibits all day. i just went in the evening to see karamelo santo -- incredible. manos de filipi and 2 minutos also played of course. and i'll just finish by saying that fans of la 25 are really obnoxious. but still, free rock in the plaza de mayo is something that should happen more often.

la calle es de tod@s/plaza de los prostituyentes

yesterday walking through plaza once (or la "Plaza de los Prostituyentes")i came upon a feria organized by folks from La Vaca, the Asamblea Popular de San Telmo, Las Locas ("espacio creativo para mujeres desobedientes"/a creative space for disobedient women), and Unión 16 de julio (cooperativa de trabajadores de la Vía Pública). the theme of the fair was "la calle es de tod@s" (the street belongs to everyone) and was a space for organizations that use the street as a means of communication or subsistence. there were a variety of groups their (less than maybe would have otherwise participated because of the continuing shitty weather) -- probably most interesting was the group of women who work as prostitutes (plaza once being known for prostitution) part of the project "Ninguna mujer nace para puta" (no woman is born to be a prostitute). they have links with similar projects in bolivia (i.e. mujeres creando) and have done really important work in talking about sex work and the larger social context and consequences, especially with really creative public actions. when i was here last year i saw an exhibit they put on in the cultural center borges with mujeres creando which was just spectacular so it's cool to see that they are still going and have come out with a book.

announcement of the event

also more

more about the original exhibit

a la facu

i had my first experience with the facultad de ciencias sociales (social sciences faculty of the UBA) last week. i went to a seminar organized by the red de estudiantes de sociales -- a group of social science students that formed a couple of years ago in response to the crisis and upheaval in argentina in general and specifically problems within the UBA (University of Buenos Aires). in general it seems to be a group more interested in horizontal/autonomist politics than many of the groups that come out of the university (who from what i've seen so far tend to be largely socialist or communist). the workshop is about "experiences in horizontal organizing" and includes discussions about student movements, recovered factories, and alternative media among other things, and a fun looking reading list. the first gathering started on (a much needed) less serious note with a viewing of monty python's life of brian. i had never watched the movie in terms of horizontalism but it definitely has a lot to say and, of course, is always fun to watch.

the website for the taller
(includes the reading list)

the faculty in itself is quite interesting, especially coming from a supposedly public university in the united states. all the walls are covered with political posters and grafitti, student groups are always tabling or protesting something and it just feels much more political than most spaces i have ever been in.

after the class, we stuck around for a party in the faculty (also crazy for me coming from somewhere where you're not allowed to sell or give away alcohol on campus). i have to say the party was pretty disappointing (a bit too cheto for me) except for when they played rock songs. but still a lot more fun than any campus party i'd ever been to.

Marcha por BAUEN

March in support of the workers of the Hotel BAUEN who are still facing an eviction order. They've recently entered into negoticians with the government tho, which is nothing else gives them more time (the 30 eviction order just ran out). So since things are looking good for the BAUEN the call was changed to include a call for a national law of expropriation, hard to see that going far in this political climate. The march was good though, lots of support, but mostly the usual suspects (i.e. Polo Obrero, MST, etc). A nice addition was the Asamblea of San Telmo with their band which included a horn section! (and mostly played Los caminos de la vida).

recital en apoyo de BAUEN

A concert organized to support the hotel BAUEN after a judge signed it's eviction order (it appears the owner suddently wants the hotel back after the workers have proven they can capably run it as a cooperative). The concert took place right at Callao and Corrientes at the middle of rush hour, i'm sure causing a headache for the people who were lame enough to want to go somewhere else. Dozens of groups showed up to offer their support (Madres de Plaza de Mayo, lots of communist and socialist parties, other cooperatives, etc) and thousands of people attended the free concert (estimating around 4000). A number of bands played, from rock to folklore to blues. Attaque 77 took the stage, gave some words of support but didn't play :( Leon Gieco closed out the 5 hour show with a very good performance.

For more information about BAUEN's struggle

Story about the concert from Página 12

recital en graficas patricios

concert in support of recovered factories at Gráfica Patricios, a recovered factory in Barracas. Gráfica Patricios is part of the Red Gráfica, a network of recovered printing presses and other graphic companies, along with Chilavert. The concert was fun -- good music, lots of dancing, choripan and wine. The highlight was definitely when a rainbow came out right was Raly Barrionuevo started playing Hasta Siempre.

website for raly barrionuevo

temaiken

friday, about 300 folks from the MTD La Matanza, the cooperative, and the neighborhood of La Juanita went to Temaiken (a large zoo located in Escobar, the north of the province of Bs. As.) it was a political event, paid for by the Coalición Cívica, for Toty to announce his candidacy for diputado nacional in the elections coming up in october. despite it's being a campaign stop, it was a unique opportunity for people, especially the children, of La Juanita to get to go to Temaiken, a spot normally reserved for the upper eschelons of Buenos Aires society (as given away by it's location in Escobar and expensive entrance fees). most of the day was filled with leading the children around to see the different animals (there were about 150 kids under the age of 12 -- a bit of craziness!). favorites included the white tiger, the huge shark and a kangaroo with a baby in its pouch. at the end of the day we all crossed the street to a large comedor where Toty and the other politicians gave their speeches and we all ate free pastries and coffees (we'd all already been given free lunch and free gifts -- yay peronism!)

it is interesting (and disturbing) to see the MTD go from being an autonomous organization, not accepting government plans or working with the government in any way, to having one of their key members running for nacional office with one of the larger (and not exactly leftist) political parties. there are many possible explanations for this turn of events -- specifically, the closure of the panadería by local government officials (claiming it did not meet the health code standards) made the MTD realize the importance of having people in or having contacts with the local government (i don't understand how this is translated into having someone run for nacional office tho). more generally,a friend explained to me, it has to do with the worsening political/economic climate (i.e. Macri winning, high inflation, etc) and people losing hope in some of the more autonomous and horizontal forms of organizing and going back to the traditional political methods. in his speech annoucing his candidacy, toty claimed he wants to open up a space that he and others from la juanita have normally been excluded from (formal politics) and show that working class people can run for office and serve in government. he defended the strategy of bringing children to a political event like this (some might just see it as an opportunistic photo-op) by saying that the MTD always does everything with and for the children (which is a fair thing to say -- look at the kindergarten). another weird aspect of toty's candidacy is the alliance with elisa carrió and the Coalición Civíca. Carrió is running for president and is one of the leading anti-K(irchner) figures, and while her party (the Coalición Cívica) includes some socialist movements, social movements and NGOs, her speech made her come across as anything but a leftist. (My favorite line was along the lines of -- "we are all poor, if we are not poor materially, we are poor spiritually". Also a lot of talk about how equality of opportunity is more important than equality of resources. i.e. bullshit.)