Buenos Aires Herald editorial

In a country with a rich history of labor battles, the new government moved last week to slash hard-earned rights while keeping workers in a stranglehold by restricting their ability to strike. Argentines are loudly banging pots and pans around the country to tell the administration to put its draconian anti-protest protocol where the sun doesn’t shine, but President Javier Milei’s megadecree goes for the jugular regardless. 

The sheer number of officers dedicated to policing Wednesday afternoon’s march, together with the conspicuous photo op of Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich monitoring the protest from a police command post, was absurd compared with how many protesters were actually on the streets. But the images conveyed two messages. First: consolidating authority through displays of public order are a key feature of the government’s political program. Secondly: they are interested in showing it and building a communication strategy around it.  

The aim is to make would-be protesters think twice before hitting the streets. Not only through heavy-handed policing, but by threatening to cut welfare payments to recipients found protesting. The threats are explicit. Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello released a recorded message declaring: quien corta no cobra (that anyone who blocks roads will have their payments cut off). On Wednesday, similar messages were played through speakers in train stations around Greater Buenos Aires. The government is imposing its policies through discipline and punishment. 

As well as unconstitutional and unethical, the anti-protest protocol is eminently impractical. The point of protests is visibility. When protesters number tens or hundreds of thousands, they’re not going to stay on the pavement — traffic will be affected, even if only partially.

The Milei government’s strategy pits against each other the constitutional rights to protest and to move freely, prioritizing the latter with no regard for the right to protest or freedom of expression.

The policy is selective, too. To understand this, contrast the show of force for Wednesday’s day-time march with the glaring lack of police presence during the spontaneous cacerolazo protests that erupted when Milei announced his decree just hours later. 

The fight the government has picked is based on a legitimate demand from some sectors of society. Marches routinely disrupt traffic. This creates a problem for many, including those whose livelihoods depend on being able to move about the city. It’s an uncomfortable topic for progressives and leftists alike, who lose out to right-wing parties and politicians whose solutions revolve around policing. But the underlying issue is the difficulty to make ends meet due to a long economic crisis that has heightened social tensions. Much as Milei may try, neither ignoring legitimate demands nor using the police to suppress them will make the problem go away. 

Equally disturbing is the pattern of police and libertarian provocation. The state does not, it appears, have a monopoly on violence in this regard: members of far-right organizations and lone actors have increasingly attacked left-wing and opposition individuals and symbols. This can be read as a tactic to deter potential social resistance to Milei’s measures. Crisis Magazine’s RADAR initiative, which monitors attacks by the radical right, detected 127 such attacks in 2023, more than doubling from 52 in 2022. Some people told the Herald they were too scared to go to Plaza de Mayo.

It will be interesting to see how President Javier Milei handles reactions to his mega-decree politically. His initial responses have not been encouraging: he posted a cartoon to Instagram showing himself locking up a person banging a pot. Argentina has a volatile middle class and mocking its mood has not traditionally been in the best interests of any politician. 

A close reading of the decree’s 366 articles reveals further infringements on Argentines’ right to protest. It broadens the definition of “essential” workers and requires them to guarantee 75% of normal activity during strikes. It also creates a category of “transcendent workers” whose right to strike is limited; penalizes workers’ assemblies; and bans certain actions during protests. 

Marches against this scandalous attack on rights were not limited to Buenos Aires. In Córdoba, police cracked down on a peaceful demonstration with tear gas and rubber bullets, arresting several people including a journalist.

Milei and his allies in government must learn to read history: in Argentina, politics happens in the streets as much as in Congress. The impulse to impose ideas by force serves to do little other than threaten human rights and heighten tensions. The President would be ill advised to continue.