Real-Time Argentine Protest Against Farm Policy
Well, as I was writing that last scholarly post about the twists and turns in ensaimada history, one huge row broke out around our apartment, horns honking, saucepans banging. Not what you expect in an up-market neighborhood.
When I looked out the window, everyone in sight was out on the balconies of their high rise apartments banging saucepans. On the street families with strollers were banging away. Wish I could show a photo but my little camera can’t do it in the dark.
So down I went in the elevator to ask Francisco, the door man. They’re protesting against the Presidenta, Cristina Kirchner.
In a nutshell, the Argentine government charges farmers a 40% export tax. Since the export of soy has driven much of the Argentine recovery and since, to put it mildly, this is a fairly high tax, the farmers have been blocking roads around the country for the past week in protest.
Now it’s the consumer’s turn. Blocked roads and agricultural goods don’t get in to Buenos Aires.
It’s now been going on for an hour.
9:30 pm. No sign of it letting up. My husband whose just returned from a suburb five miles north of here reports that it was everywhere in these upper middle class suburbs. His taxi driver said the poor didn’t have saucepans to bang but felt the same.
