The Struggles in Argentina and the Prospects

Guillermo Kane, reporting from Buenos Aires

In Argentina, the struggles of working people have expanded in recent months leading to a deepening polarization in the country. Large mobilizations of unemployed and underemployed workers have staged mass occupations in Buenos Aires. Strikes have been more frequent. Argentina's Single Union of Argentine Tire Workers (SUTNA) struck for 5 months and recently forced the tire companies to increase wages with every increase in the country’s inflation.
According to the mainstream paper, La Gaceta, this year Argentina has experienced more than 7,168 pickets and strikes. La Nación, the country’s largest newspaper predicts more than 10,000 pickets and strikes in total for the year. These developments are rooted in a strong tradition from the ‘90s, which saw many working-class initiatives, such as occupying factories and mobilizing mass protests.

Please join with the Boston May Day Coalition to hear Guillermo Kane report from Buenos Aires on the battles unfolding in Argentina and the prospects for socialism.

Guillermo Kane is an elected socialist state representative from the Workers Party-Left Front Unity in the provincial Buenos Aires regional parliament in Argentina.

In his youth, he participated as an organizer of the unemployed, community mess halls, and organizer of the National Striker Assemblies of La Matanza district in 2001, as well as the National Assembly of Workers in the years 2002 and 2005 from the National Piquetero Bloc. He also was a militant of the Socialist Union Youth and the Organization of High School Students.
He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Buenos Aires.