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Social movements occupy the agenda and the public scene after the great encampment in downtown Buenos Aires.
Like a coordinated advance that heads without haste or pause more and more to the right, the opposition perfects its attack against the new target: the criminalization of social protest. With the cuckoo of the pickets and the flag of the freedom to circulate as workhorses, on Tuesday the head of the Buenos Aires Government took the lead in this race, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, when he joined the “hardliners” of his alliance and went out to ask those who cut off the streets to “cut the plans”. Now, a group of Pro deputies presented in Congress a bill that proposes, precisely, to suspend social aid to those who “commit crimes or misdemeanors during protests or public demonstrations.” That is, to those who cut streets to protest or claim. “The right to demonstrate cannot collide with the right to move and work freely“, synthesized very much in line with the advance the deputy Waldo Wolffhead of an initiative that bears the signature of fifteen more legislators.
In line with what this opposition sector has been rehearsing, the announcement was made via social networks, with a circumspect video accompanying it: “The goal pursued through this project is to prevent the State from financing those who commit crimes and violate the constitutional rights of the rest of the citizens Argentines,” says Wolff.
“No matter how valid the claims of the protesters are and no matter how much right to march assists them, a serious society cannot continue allowing street protests go wild, and the right of the rest of Argentine society to work and exercise any lawful activity without impediments must be respected”, he interprets, establishing a particular hierarchy of rights.
Cristian Ritondo, Pablo Torello, Alejandro Finocchiaro, María Luján Rey, Fernando Iglesias, among others, are also signatories of this bill.
the law punishment
Very much in line with the high-sounding statements of the head of the Buenos Aires Government, who had spoken of “extortion”, the bill and its media presentation (which last night included as a corollary Wolff’s participation in the prime time of the channel The Nation +) identifies those who collect allowances and plans as alleged “victims” or “hostages” of social organizations. The complaint goes against “the standard of living and wages of those who regent these people, as merchants of poverty, because the poor people are hostages,” in Wolff’s words. Still, the punishment or penalty is aimed against those who are defined as “poor people.”
The project speaks of “suspension of the plan” “from the beginning of the proceedings, in the case of violations; or from the summons to the declaration provided for in article 294 of the National Criminal Procedure Code, in the case of crimes” . Namely, skipping even the presumption of innocence for the alleged crime. Finally, “in the event of a final misdemeanor or criminal conviction, the benefit will be abolished.”
In the same combo, it is also proposed to deny “requests for state economic benefits of any nature and the payment of those that have already been agreed upon.” The AUH, for example. And incidentally, it is planned to seize the profits “for the purposes of the corresponding compensation and/or reparation.”
The race to the right
The race to the right starts at a time when social movements occupy the agenda and the public scene, after the great two-day camp that left-wing organizations carried out in the center of Buenos Aires.
Attention now turns to what will happen today, in the meeting that representatives of the more than 30 organizations of Unidad Piquetera will hold with the Minister of Social Development, Juan Zabaleta. The main claim is to add more Power to Work and reinforce the supply of food to community kitchens in popular neighborhoods, at a time of serious inflationary escalation. If the conflict is not resolved, the organizations have already announced that they will deepen the plan of struggle with a massive mobilization in downtown Buenos Aires on April 13.
Legally untenable wherever you look at itjustified in just two pages, a bill such as the one presented seems to aim no more than to raise a noise whose effects on a part of the electorate seem to be well measured, since the race to the right towards 2023 has already started.