Street war in Argentina
Things got so bad in Argentina a few years back that factory owners attempted to bail out with phony bankruptcies. Instead, workers took over the factories, and have made them more profitable than they were before. Now the courts have ruled the owners can take back the factories by force. The workers are fighting back.
“Just days before Argentina’s presidential election, Buenos Aires was rocked by violence Monday as heavily armed police attacked a demonstration led by women textile workers. The workers were attempting to reclaim their jobs at a factory they had occupied and run since December 2001. More than 125 people were arrested and scores more injured by police, who, in addition to tear gas and rubber bullets, fired live ammunition at the workers.
The cops were sent to enforce a court order issued following a ruling by two appeals judges, both judicial veterans of the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The ruling was issued to return the factory to the owners who had closed it and prevent the workers from trying to resume production. It included the chilling phrase: “There is no supremacy of life or physical integrity over economic interests.” For the police, this amounted to a license to kill.”
As Greg Palast says, “you did read about this in US newspapers, right?”