PART 2: DEMOCRACY

Politics in Argentina is a very different game, in large part because the political system is not fascist like that of the U.S.

In the U.S, everywhere you look there are only two parties. Media outlets always present the race as being between two parties. Any other proposal is almost invisible: no TV commercials, no media coverage, no nothing. A fascist partyarchy.

Argentines will also tell you that they have “bipartidismo” (a word which conveniently does exist in English “bipartyism,” a system dominated by two parties). While it is certainly a problem, it is much less serious than in the U.S. In the most recent presidential elections, the top two parties received a combined 62% of the votes. Newspapers and TV stations cover all parties. For presidential elections, the government is required by law to buy TV commercials for everyone on the ballot. A lot of TV commercials.

However, Argentina has some serious faults in its democracy. While “bipartidismo” is a problem, clientelism is a far worse problem. The U.S. government has a clientele relationship with with Wall St. The obscenely wealthy give “campaign contributions” and in turn, both parties forever stand in the interests of those who underwrite their campaigns. You scratch my back, I ´ll scratch yours.

The clientelism of president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is something quite different. Cristina maintains numerous clientele relationships with social movements.

PART 3: CLIENTELISM

Cristina, along with her husband and former president Nestor Kirchner, have created what appears to be and unbreakable political machine at the national level. They have done this through:

1)           Economic recovery, by way of a heavily state-controlled economy; restrictions on investment, high taxes, protectionism

2)            The creation of a massive welfare-state

3)           Reducing the military, a once dominant institution, to a hollow shell of its former, powerful self. Unlike Peron, she does not face the threat of a coup.

4)           Clientelism and corruption

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the peasant rebellion in Jujuy. The peasants got into a violent clash with the provincial government after occupying land and demanding land redistribution. The Casa Rosada (offices of the president) rushed to the defense of the right to protest and condemned the provincial government for repressing the protest.

There was good reason for this response. Cristina has a very close relationship with Milagro Sala, the rebellion ´s leader, and head of the Tupac Amaru Association. They ´re pals. They have lots of photo-ops together. Sala is an outspoken supporter of Cristina, and part of the electoral machine. And, over the years, Cristina ´s government has given millions of pesos to the Association to build houses.

Groups without connections to those holding political office aren ´t so lucky. The Casa Rosada does not come rushing to their side. They protest with relative freedom, but they are marginalized and ignored.

This is clientelism: a system in which parties attempt to buy support through infrastructure projects that favor their supporters. The party gets an irreplaceable social movement ally, and the social movement advances swiftly when their allied party is in power. A win-win situation if you conform and have connections.

The obvious problem is that it is oh-so undemocratic. It would be an oversimplification to say that this system subjects social movements to parties. Clearly, when the Association decided to rebel, they did not feel strictly limited by what the national government was able to provide for them. But, it does limit their horizons. If the movement is to maintain its strategic alliance with the party, it cannot make demands outside of the party ´s ideological principles, principles determined by the party and not  the social movement. In the case of Cristina, modest land redistribution is well-within these limits.

Fortunately, there exist in Argentina movements that refuse to submit to any clientele relationship. Movements that have larger aspirations, that demand real democracy. Our fight is anything is anything but easy, since we are without friends in the Casa Rosada. I am just beginning to get involved, so as of yet my knowledge is quite cursory. But, I know that working together, we can create true democracy, here in Argentina and back home in the US. As the Madres de la  Plaza del    Mayo say, “The only lost struggle is that which is abandoned”

La unica lucha que se pierde es la que se abandona,

Enrique Gales