[Original version in Spanish: http://po.org.ar/po1262/2013/04/04/la-estacion-once-de-macri-scioli-kirchner-y-los-demas/ published in Prensa Obrera 1262]
Macri's, Scioli's, Kirchner's and the others' Train Station "Once" Marcelo Ramal | April 4, 2013 | The social and political responsibility for the floods The stream of mutual recrimination over the floods --between Kirchner, Macri (mayor of the City of Buenos Aires), Scioli (Governor of Buenos Aires Province) and others-- has only served to lay bare the responsibility all of them share in common for the disaster. The reasons for the flooding in La Plata are no different from those that sank entire neighborhoods in the national capital a few hours earlier. On the one hand, rampant land speculation, which has cornered urban real estate at the expense of green spaces essential for water drainage. In the province, that development is expressed in the rise of gated communities that meet their own urban development needs at the cost of causing explosive imbalances in the rest of the town, including the drains and sewage. On the other hand, that same speculation has caused land prices to skyrocket, which has forced the exploited population out to slums and settlements. Since 2001, the slum population has grown by 55% in the greater Buenos Aires area. For some, "despite the economic growth" (Clarín, 26/12). No, what this data shows is the capitalist nature of the economic recovery piloted by [the] K[irchner administrations], which has aggravated all social antagonisms. In this context, La Plata and its neighborhoods are no exception: without affordable housing in the La Plata city area, the working class population has spread out to the cheaper land areas more vulnerable to flooding. This social orientation places an equal sign between [Buenos Aires mayor] Macri, Kirchner and [Governor of Buenos Aires Province] Scioli. But what about the center-left Binner and FAP (Frente Amplio Progresista - Progressive Broad Front)? In Rosario and the big cities in the province of Santa Fe, luxury buildings have also forced workers out towards the periphery. Public works are for the benefit of speculation in real estate, while the municipalities and communes are made much more vulnerable. In 2012, massive flooding in the San Lorenzo belt found a response only in popular self-organization, with the active support of the Partido Obrero (Workers Party) group of councilmen in Capitán Bermúdez [see http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/11/01/extraordinaria-iniciativa-politica-del-po-y-su-banca-municipal/ ]. In short, the floods have placed an entire political and social system on trial. Water and the cuts This disaster has shown to what extent the State, at the national, provincial and municipal level, acts to worsen the anarchy reigning in land use and social polarization. It has been said time and time again that [City of Buenos Aires mayor] Macri's budget is underspent. But the part that is spent goes to accentuate the appetite of finance capital, such as the transfer of the Government Headquarters to the Barracas neighborhood (to "add value" to the south), the pedestrianization of the city center and, in addition, the layout of new, polluting highways. The urbanization of the slums is off the official agenda, as it was with [past mayor] Ibarra and all the rest. The same goes for the necessary development of public green spaces. In the province, the brutal and ongoing budget cuts stopped the execution of all public works involving infrastructure. The resources given directly to the mayors by [Argentina's Minister of Planning and Public Investment Julio] De Vido may serve to conspire against [Governor of Buenos Aires Province and the president of the Justicialist Party] Scioli, but do not solve any of the crucial problems in the neighborhoods. The Sitraic (Union of Workers in the Construction Industry) has characterized these works --funded by the national government-- as "cosmetic" because none of them have any connection to housing, flood control or sewers. The city of La Plata is a portrait of this social orientation: while neighborhoods are without public works, plans to expand the port, encroaching on green spaces, are in full swing. At the same time, suburban industries continue throwing their waste into drains, sewers and streams, without any control. Another 'elephant' of the 'model', the Matanza Riachuelo River Basin Authority, showed its utter failure in this crisis. Tombstone for the 'model' The tragedy of the floods has placed another tombstone on the official 'model', to the same degree and severity as what happened a year ago at the Once train station. [Background http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/03/01/de-tecnopolis-a-la-tragedia-de-once/ and http://po.org.ar/blog/2012/03/01/plaza-once-estacion-terminal/] Those defending the government argue that the lack of public investment is the result of having "privileged popular consumption." This is a sham, if you consider the salaries of the decade 'won' never exceeded, even at its best, the despicable years of the '90s. The truth is that national savings were squandered on sustaining the parasites, the private concessionaires of public services; in financing capital flight, which took 80 billion dollars out of the country in five years and, above all, in the payment of the foreign debt, which consumed the public budget and, when this was not enough, the coffers of the Central Bank and the Anses (Social Security National Administration). During the same hours that the population of the metropolitan area was torn between helplessness and death, the 'national and popular' economic administration was promising to saddle the country with the another 12 billion dollars of debt, in favor of the vulture funds. In contrast, the elemental basket of consumption that many families were able to form over the years --a refrigerator, a washing machine, a TV-- was devoured in minutes --not by the waters, but by a social orientation. In one stroke of a fountain pen, the 'modelo' returned thousands of workers to the bankruptcy of 2001 and 2002. Program The exploitative orientation of those who govern us can be seen even in the 'solutions' which are proposed to the flooded population: Macri offered low-interest loans only to those who are "up-to-date" with their payments of the abusive [Buenos Aires] City ABL [property tax]. The tragedy is the pretext for a fresh wave of tax looting. Scioli made the same offer, hours later, in the province [of Buenos Aires]. Right now, the militants of the Partido Obrero in the affected areas are working closely with the neighbors suffering from the floods, participating materially and physically in all organizational initiatives to cope with the disaster and organizing and guiding those affected to address the political powers with all urgent claims and with a program. We propose: immediate assistance from all levels of the State to the flooded neighborhoods, with the intervention and under the control of those affected themselves. Immediate compensation for damages, via simple proof of address. No deductions from wages to the workers affected. The state of emergency --to the extent that it really is the case-- must start with the immediate suspension of the usurious debt payments and the application of those resources to plan housing and public works as part of a comprehensive urban reorganization, which should include the nationalization of land. Cristina Kirchner, the Macris and the Sciolis dedicate themselves to throwing the blame on a "unique" and "exceptional." climatic phenomenon. Some of their defenders now remember climate change, as if that were a way to strip the disaster of its social and political content. They cannot, because even climate change is a consequence of capitalist irrationality and natural resource management for the benefit of private profit. In the hours of the storm, Cristina Kirchner contrasted, on national TV, her government with the England and Europe of "ruthless budget cuts". But capitalist bankruptcy was being expressed in full force in the country, in the form of a disaster as a result of the same orientation as that of the reviled European governments. All strength and solidarity to the flood victims and their struggle. Let us strengthen the struggle to counterpose to the governments and parties of disaster, a workers left-wing and socialist alternative. ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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