How much does protest or riot in BA affect your daily life?

[ptrwong05]

Hello folks,Protest and riot seem to happen quite often in BA. For example, the subte strike and the riot due to a canceled train that delay some train commuters happened recently. I'm interested to know to what extent these 'oft-repeated' phenomena affect your daily life in BA?

 

[Granadaiscool]

It does not, but it does make my life more funny.
It´s brilliant to see it and seeing the police doing nothing

 

[sergio]

Yesterday's subway strike caused a tremendous increase in traffic on the roads, as a result I was delayed for a couple of appointments. The rioting in Constitucion, covered by the international pesss, would have affected me had I been in Constitucion station at the time! You are right that the police stand by and let these things happen. And what was Kirchner's reaction? He is going to punish the owners of the rail company - no mention of punishing those who committed acts of violence.

 

[ericdharma]

There are so many that after a while you don't even really notice them anymore. Most of the time I find myself cramped into the subte at rushour like a sardine or I go to the entrance only to find it closed and I find another way home. I don't realize that this was due to a protest or some demonstration until later in the evening when I am watching the news. The truth is that services (like the Subte) stop running here a lot. It can be due to a strike, power outage, accident, etc...Sometimes you never find out what caused it. You just do your best to deal with the situation like everyone else. I feel really sorry for people who live an hour or two outside of the city because if the train and the bus stops what are they going to do? WELL THEY WILL PROBABLY RIOT AND HAVE A DEMOSTRATION THE NEXT DAY!!!!lol!!!

 

[Stanexpat]

It seems like hardly a day goes by without some sort of strike or protest here. It reminds me of France, constant strikes, protests, etc., there the people got fed-up and just elected a president to reform the country. How far he gets we'll have to see. Here there isn't much organised opposition to the current regime and they should be easily re-elected. But they may be sowing the seeds of their own eventual down-fall. It appears to me that there is some unwinding of the social order going on. Some people here seem to think they can do whatever they want with inpunity. The riot at the train station is just the latest example. None of the people involved are going to be punished as the government sees these people as their supporters At some point even the Argentines have a limit of what they will put up with.

 

[sergio]

It's true that France has a lot of strikes and labor problems. And it's true that the French have elected a center right President who promises reform and good relations with the US - quite a change. Although there are a lot of poorly educated immigrants, France as a whole is a country of educated people. It's clear that their recent votes represent a desire for change. Could this happen in Argentina? It seems much less likely. First of all, outside of Capital the population is not so well educated. People in the provinces tend to be under the domination of the same political machine, sometimes families, that have ruled for decades. The people are dependent on these politicians for jobs and handouts. They vote the way they are told to vote. A few years ago during the peak of Argentina's economic/political crisis politicians were unpopular. There were incidents of violence against some politicians and there was a sense that finally the people would take matters into their own hands and force politican change. In the end that did not happen. The same political party remains in power, no meaningful change whatsoever has occurred. The current leaders blame Menem, the US, the World Bank, the IMF etc for all of Argentina's ills - and the people accept it. It's possible that some day enough people will come to their senses to see that perpetuating the same old system works only for the politicians themselves, but I have my doubts that that will be any too soon.

 

[Granadaiscool]

Not unless there will be atomic bomb dropped or a general like Pinochet will be in charge for like 15 years

 

[Gearjammer]

I think it (riot) was kind of blown out of proportion on the news here in the U.S. I called my sister in BA and she said it wasn't that bad. Of course, she doesn't like us worrying here.

 

[bigbadwolf]

It's possible that some day enough people will come to their senses to see that perpetuating the same old system works only for the politicians themselves, but I have my doubts that that will be any too soon.

It's interesting to speculate on this. Perhaps one can argue that a political system based on patrons and clients has existed for centuries in South America and is a legacy of the Spanish system of governance. North European nations -- and by implication the USA and Canada -- have been based more on articulated general principles; possibly their industrialising economies created mass societies that necessitated general and abstract political principles. It is highly unlikely that Argentina can swiftly change from a patron-client system of governance to one based on a North European model.

 

[Granadaiscool]

I would argue that Argentina was an Industralized nation 40 years ago. Blame 30(200 years actually) year of sucky government on it.
K. fits right in