Keep the presses rolling...

[Napoleon]

Anyone else see the President giving a presentation of the new Evita bills?

Yes.

http://baexpats.org/newcomers-forum/23331-something-new-out-roca-eva.html

 

[camberiu]

Do we really need Evita on a bank note? Seriously, replacing Julio Argentino Roca, a two-term President who vastly expanded Argentina's national borders and solidified its dominion over all of the Patagonian region with Evita, who did what exactly? What a waste...

Look, I do not like Evita either (or any Peron for that matter), but I think it is beyond any shadow of a doubt that Eva is probably the greatest popular icon in this country, eclipsing even her husband. Therefore I am a bit surprised about you asking this question. Politically speaking, specially when referring to this administration, putting Evita's face on a bill makes perfect sense.

This is a populist government, therefore populist symbolism is all the rage. For populist purposes, it is much better to have the face of the "mother of the poor" on a note than that of the "Indian slaughterer".

 

[camberiu]

Julio A. Roca fought an expansionist desert campaign and won territory for Argentina in patagonia. Yes, surely some people were displaced or killed, but that's the price of expansionism. Sorry, but no nation was ever built with pacifism.

It is not a binary option between pacifism and expansionism. Also note that libertarianism, which I think you say you subscribe to, completely rejects any and all wars of aggression. The only just and acceptable war in the libertarian point of view is a war for self-defense. It completely rejects all notions of preemptive strikes or the concept of wars of choice.

Also, please note that Roca did just displace or kill some people. He practiced systematic ethnic cleansing. This is a complete and total anathema to anything and everything libertarianism stands for.

 

[ghost]

Ask an Argentine woman or a poor person what exactly Eva Peron did for Argentina. Regarding Roca, there's no way to justify what he did, or others who have used similar methods. You might as well be advocating for Hitler to be put on a bill. Roca didn't build a nation; he stole one. Being such a staunch capitalist and free market kind-of-guy, I wouldn't expect you to be too sensitive to poverty or women's rights, but I'd think that property rights--of all things--would mean a thing or two to you. Are property rights only important for those who have the money to defend them? Why aren't indigenous peoples entitled to them?

You know, we learn about these moments in history so that we don't repeat them. Nation-building through theft and murder? Classy. I hear it's working great for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please tell us specifically which moment in History "we learned" anything and didn't repeat it. And don't say Hiroshima because it's simply a matter of when.

 

[AngelinBA]

I asked my Argentine husband last night why on earth Eva deserved to be on a bill. He said that while he didn't agree with a lot that she did, if it hadn't been for her he would never have been able to study and become a professional - his lower class roots wouldn't have been accepted. And because I love my husband very much, I now say 'Bring on the Eva bills!'

 

[solerboy]

Ah Evita !

One of Great Britains great Musicals !

 

[Iznogud]

Trading one controversial figure for another.

For some people, it gives new meaning to the expression "spitting image".

 

[Canick]

wait...I thought THIS was the new 100 peso note!

 

[jp]

Sorry, but no nation was ever built with pacifism.

Sure, but that doesn't mean you have to celebrate genocide, or honour its architects.

Roca's face on the 100 always struck me as a little strange in a country where over half the population have amerindian ancestry.

 

[PhilipDT]

Sure, but that doesn't mean you have to celebrate genocide, or honour its architects.

Roca's face on the 100 always struck me as a little strange in a country where over half the population have amerindian ancestry.

This is America. Every country here was built over the subjugation of the natives. If Roca hadn't done what he did the natives still would have ended up the same but we'd be paying taxes to santiago.