Argentina: March against Hunger

Finally for today, Upside Down World has a piece on the recent social mobilisation against hunger in Argentina. Relatives of the disappeared were among those protesting increasing poverty in the country.

“What we have seen since ‘democracy’ in Argentina is a continuation of the pillaging of our wealth. The neoliberal economic policies imposed by the Military Generals have continued up until today. These policies introduced poverty, hunger and exclusion into Argentina,” says founder of the MCP Alberto Morlachetti, “Democracy works only when there is equality and inclusion - if there isn’t equality then what use is democracy? If there is hunger, then there isn’t freedom. If I’m hungry, then I can’t think - I am surviving but I am not thinking; I am not functioning. How can it be that in Argentina – a country which is rich and fertile – the majority of its young people go hungry?”

I'm not sure I agree completely with the point, which the article repeats, that the military junta started the policies which led to extreme poverty and social divisions in Argentina. They certainly didn't help much, but I think the roots of exclusion and need go further back than that. The main point stands however; people can't be expected to concentrate on 'niceties' like voting, organising and learning the lessons of the past if they are consumed with worry about what will fill their children's stomachs that night.

50,000 March against Hunger (Upside Down World)