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