"THE DIGNITY of the Nobodies" "to Fernando Birri and Valentino Orsini" "What I'm about to tell you, are the stories of "nobodies", of women and men, just like so many other Argentines, without money, without even a name." "The usual victims of plundering and adversity, the people who stick it out, who carry their courage and dignity like a flag." ""Argentina, December 2001:" "People demand political change"" "Olele, olala, if we're not the people, where are they?" "19 December" "Kick them all out!" "20 December" "President De la Rua falls from power" "He resigns as president, just as the law demands." "Thank you very much." ""22 December"" "Unanimous rejection of the ruling class" "No more economic adjustment plans!" "23 December" "Provisional President, Justicialist Adolfo Rodríguez Saá" "Argentina hereby suspends payment of the foreign debt." ""26 December"" ""Savers demand justice"" ""27 December"" ""Elections in 3 months"" "I'm not even a candidate." ""29 December"" "The president must be legitimately elected by the people." ""Conflicts worsen in the Justicialist Party"" "Though they're all forthe party, votes will be split." ""31 December"" "And so that I can call elections." ""Rodríguez Saá resigns"" "I have other candidates in mind." ""2 January, 2002"" "Eduardo Alberto Duhalde is thus proclaimed President of Argentina." "If I should fail in my duty, may God and the Nation be my judges." "Local political leaderfrom the province of Buenos Aires and Menem's vice-president at the time of the privatizations, he's now his opponent in the Justicialist Party and must tackle a very serious crisis." "Duhalde will have to solve three enormous problems:" "Who'll pay the price of devaluation and economic collapse?" "How can the demonstrators and their demands be contained?" "How to get to the elections and beat Menem and the opposition?" "Distant, fearful and hesitant, he devours political opinion polls, says one thing and does another, doesn't keep his promises, misleads." ""Olivos" " Presidential Residence"" "People have taken to the streets, in neighbourhood assemblies, their savings seized by the banks, the impoverished middle classes, the jobless from the trade unions, and millions of humiliated, dispossessed and destitute people." "Oh, what a pathetic cumbia, cumbia from the shanty towns... for those members of Parliament who rob us of our money..." "They demand work and an end to neo-liberal policies." "They demand the resignation of the Supreme Court of Justice for ignoring their rights and letting the Nation be plundered." "Fight to get them out, fight to get them out!" "Argentina's in a state of assembly, citizens and neighbours gather in the squares seeking to refound Argentina." "They question the representative democracy that's betrayed them." "They demand to participate, to have a voice" "...we need to discuss proposals, but they must be voted on, first of all in the neighbourhood assemblies." "...but the workers who are fighting, who are in conflict, must be included in the debate... so this assembly can begin to be much more dynamic, progressive." "We can't allowthem ever again to take what is rightly ours." "To stop the debt we've paid 20 times over." "Fuck off, Duhalde!" "Kick them out, then we can all join forces and forget our differences." "...Unity, unity..." "They know what they want, but not howto achieve it." "They've toppled a government, but are not ready to replace it, theirtotal distrust of the political party system delays the search for alternatives and newforms of representation." "In dreams and a thousand journeys across the city, we find Martin the motorcycle courier deciphering the messages of his strange identity." "His is a lucky life, avoiding death on the asphalt of life." "Among all his missions, he invents his path as he goes, building it on fiction." "At the time I was reading a novel by Umberto Eco, "Bardolino", which talks about a medieval man in search of the Holy Grail." "It's an allegory, isn't it?" "He goes for it in adolescence and towards the middle of his life, he realises that the Holy Grail doesn't exist." "No problem, he says, I'll invent one in my heart and look for it, what I'm looking for must exist somewhere." "Around that time I was quite into literature I enjoyed writing," "I was at a teacher training college." "And to pay for all that, I worked as a motorcycle courier." "I used to spend 10 hours on the motorbike, like a dog doing over 100km a day to maintain my reading vices, you know... and getting this magazine out." "It's called "The Birth of White"." "Why "The Birth of White"?" "The idea of "The Birth of White" is firstly related to giving birth to a clean white, you see..." "And to start from that clean white to start walking, to start doing things." "In this case it's a white sheet of paper, to be filled with words, feelings or ideas." "And your favourite story?" " Cortazar's "The Pursuer"." " Why?" "Well, it's as if he's being pursued, but actually he's the pursuer." "Look, I wasn't involved in politics," "I didn't belong to any party or movement, but I was part of a common feeling, a sort of effervescence in the blood." "A blood that had been asleep for ten years, I reckon, and that exploded at that time..." "I came home from work at midday and saw the pictures of the police hitting the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, at midday." "When I got in I said: "I need to be there"." "So I didn't go back to work," "I went straight there with some friends and well, we got to the centre of the city and it was chaos." "At that moment I felt my blood boil, it was the feeling that we were changing something." "Most of the people I saw were people very much like me, office workers, grannies, kids, dignity all round." "It was a battle against the police, the system, the president, the lot." "We backed off, because our lungs couldn't take any more, of the gas they use, but two blocks away there was hardly anybody, two blocks from the Obelisk I mean, at seven in the evening, three cars coming from Constitución stop," "some guys get out and start firing," "Well, people start to scatter and I fall down before I even take two steps, and I get a lead bullet in the head." "It goes in through the back of my head, through the back of the neck, on the left, and it's stuck here in the right frontal part of my head." "Well, I fall down dead but, just then, a man called Toba appears, he checks my pulse - no pulse, he gives me artificial respiration," "and stops me having a heart attack." "Martín was lying over there in a clear state of shock, he was having convulsions." "The first thing I thought was to protect him with my body" "So I'm lying on Martín and pull his tongue out, see?" "And I want to lift his head and then I realise that... he has a bullet in his head." "Then a police car appears just here, about four metres away from us, and they shoot two rubber bullets at me." "I had my rucksack with me and well, some hit me in my most precious parts, they hit me in the arse." "I ended up like a monkey." "I realised the idea was to pick Marquez and him up, and take them away, see?" " And throw us in the river." " Yeah, I guess so!" "Hey, those bastards are killing people." "Stop, stop!" "Bastard!" "About ten minutes later a taxi-driver appeared, a taxi, a really incredible guy, who's been in some dreadful places, we picked Martín up and left forthe hospital, and before we got there he had a heart attack." "I thought that was it, so I began hitting his heart to try and bring him back, and luckily, he must love life... because he pulled through." "And that was three blocks away from the hospital." "It was a real miracle." "Well, Toba's intervention was vital, wasn't it?" "Somebody I see as belonging to another generation, he was a militant in the 70's, and was on the run, and in the 90's he carried on." "And then in 2001 he found me lying in the middle of the street having a heart attack, and bleeding to death, and well, we still see each other, and he's like a brother to me." "Look, I don't believe in coincidences," "I was there for a reason, and so was Martin." "Just like so many of our generation, I'm a survivor of a dictatorship that was horrific." "And at that time one of the things I said to myself was:" ""I'm not going to allow the enemy to take another one of us", see?" "I lost many friends, people who meant a lot to me, people with such amazing humanity." "So, it was like saying to the enemy:" ""You're not having this one."" "And well, I think that was the energy I put into it and Martin's energy." "An exceptional guy, isn't he?" ""Ezeiza - 30 km from Buenos Aires"" "A neighbourhood with little history, born out of the wasteland." "On the edge of the country they settled, resisting evictions, their sorrows taken by the wind." "The Toba walks and flies through his neighbourhood to school, a teacher by vocation, caring and very patient, he was always passionate about sharing with his people." "Well, my name's Héctor García," "I'm a teacher, they call me "the Toba"." "I'm the son of..." "Juancho... an old anarchist from Galicia, my mother was of Toba origin," "and that's where I get the name." "I left home when I was 14, because of differences with my father." "My old man was a tough guy, but very fair." "He once said something to me, that's left a mark on me for the rest of my life:" ""No job is an insult to a man."" "My first job was as an assistant at a campsite in Bariloche, where they used me and I suffered real exploitation for 3 months." "I was paid with food and lodging." "As my old man would say: "all I have left to do is go up in a balloon."" "I became a scavenger, rather I worked as a scavenger." "At a time when I didn't have ajob." "How're you doing, Carlitos?" "This area is out of the way so I have to take the train." "I take four buses, and that means two and a half hours traveling." "How are you, mate?" "On rainy days, it's simple, we play the native, and... we come barefoot." "We take our socks and shoes off and walk here, and we get to Doña Yoly's kiosk." "That's where we wash our feet." "I'm working in a professional training school, in Liniers, just next to the Church of San Cayetano." "It's a school for adults." "I don't even make 270 u$ s a month." "My job here is to coordinate, I'm in charge of professional training." "And at weekends, we keep going and have 170 more kids, see?" " What, here?" " No, not here, at home." "And what do you do?" "Well, among otherthings, we give them a meal." "A photo!" "Don'tjust stand there!" "Come on, you lazy thing!" " We use the lounge as a storeroom." " A storeroom." "And here, we have the kitchen." "As I said, it's a private house and we use this as a kitchen..." "an industrial kitchen, actually, it's not that good, but well..." "We get in at 8 in the morning and then we discuss what we have to do, we see what we've got and we try to get a good substantial meal togetherfor us all." "We use a lot of vegetables, lots of carrots and pumpkin." "At first it was all donated, but now we have our own vegetable garden." "Chard, lettuce, parsley... spring onions." "When there aren't any, we make polenta or a lentil salad with rice, with boiled carrots." "The rice pudding they're eating now is made of soya milk." " What... this?" " Yes, what they're eating now." "Why did you decide to set up a soup kitchen?" "Well, with Mariela, who's also a teacher, we started seeing the needs of these kids, who didn't eat, because on weekdays, they ate in the school canteen." "And we decided to take the first step to opening a soup kitchen for them, and starting small." "What shall we cook tomorrow?" "Shall we use soya, or not?" "OK, let's talk about it." "It might be a pain in the arse but daily practice teaches you to go... step by step, and as you can see there's a great sense of solidarity." "People are very supportive, that's what we must value." " Anotherthing, the baby is still on the bottle." " All right, all right." " How many have you got?" " Me, eight, nine one doesn't live here, another one lives in Quilmes." "She's expecting again." "We're after making a complete football team." "Yes, but some women have even more." " There are many of them around here." " Yes, many." " But complain before, not after." "...It's too late now." "It's too late now, but it's OK." " I'll leave you then." " All right, send the..." "feeding bottle over as well." "This woman's husband... is in jail, you see." "She's got an older daughter and a relative tried to rape her and the husband killed him." "And she's got 8 kids." "So she leaves the babies here and we look after them." "All the women look afterthem." "We are what we are..." "Perhaps we know what we don't want, we're pretty sure of that, but what we do want, we'll build together, little by little." "We don't want magic recipes, we're tired of magic recipes." "I think these bonds are very important that's why rather than asking for material help, what we ask is that you stand by us and accompany us." "It's very tough... very tough," "I have two married daughters, and a son who's still young... and I don't want this for me..." "It hurts." "The kids, the impotence, the injustice - they all hurt, and I say we've got to do something we have to be committed, committed with a reality, that is very, very hard." "The quickest way out for the 14-,15-year-old kids here is drugs." "And nobody does a thing about it, nobody" "The State doesn't count here." "As you can see, there's no police, we don't have a doctor, or a phone even to call a doctor." "And schooling is really crap, it's authoritarian, degrading for the kids, you know." "I don't give in, I've often felt we've been beaten, but you know, thinking about it, I'm not beaten, nor are our people." "This is a process of resistance," "There are underground rivers which are giving birth to something new, something different." "Pickets and pans The Big March" "Afew weeks after Duhalde took over, a great march covered 40 km from La Matanza to the Plaza de Mayo." "Streams of workers and jobless are welcomed by sympathetic neighbours, people in the assemblies and shopkeepers." "The situation in Liniers is just like everywhere else, appalling, there's no hope, with shops closing down daily, and the banking restrictions were the final straw." "Us traders in Liniers used this T-shirt to kick off our movement to say enough of this sinister economic policy, and as you can see, we've got this sponsorto go out and play." "We realised that the fight was the same, we were all in the same boat, if some fell, the rest would follow." "That's when we decided to welcome the picketeers as they arrived in the Capital with mate cocido and bread." "These are the popular sectors and it's only natural we should be with the picketeers." "We also have unemployed people, we're all impoverished here." "...if I had a shop I'd be here with a stick." "And I'd leave it wide open, or are they afraid of these people?" "Do you know what McDonald's is doing?" "Preparing glasses ofjuice to give out to the picketeers." "Do you think that's right?" "I don't know what you think of it, but trays ofjuice for this scum..." "I came to see a march of dignity, considering all the corruption," "I just wanted to see some dignity." "If this country doesn't change after all this, there's no hope for us." "Picketeers and saucepans, united in the struggle" "Duhalde tries to reactivate the domestic market and national industry by promoting the MERCOSUR." "He launches welfare plans to tackle malnutrition, but continues to subsidise the public utility companies." "He plans to protect the poorest but devaluation punishes workers very hard." "This moves me, it really moves me..." "Did you ever imagine seeing people united like this?" "This is the nation, a hungry nation, a hungry nation, I can't stop crying." "He taxes petrol and grain exports and adopts an economic emergency law which freezes salaries, while allowing increases of 100º/o in petrol and foods produced at home." "But as in the dictatorship, the State takes on the huge debts of the corporations." "And the people will have to pay out over 17 billion dollars." "The poor canteen Antonia, Rufino y Chipi" "La Matanza - 30 km from Buenos Aires" "Months after the march I went out seeking the nobodies, in the streets of Matanza the picketeers were out in force never giving up their hope of daily making enough to eat." "There go Gabriel and Carranza," "Chipi, Rufino and Colinche." "In silence and covered in mud, for ever cheerful." "The youngsters saw them and ran for it." "He left me..." "Junior didn't run for it..." " Gabriel, whereabouts is your house?" " It's overthere." "Nobody ever cared about this place, always flooded, always full of mud, never any paved roads, some houses are falling down." "There are leaks." "Nobody ever cares but we got organised and go out together." "We got some bits of metal and a bit of food, once a month, which isn't enough, because... because people... are just hungry." "And that's why we tried to set up a poor canteen, yes it is poor..." "Well, here we have the canteen." "It's rough and works with firewood." " Which are the cookers?" " These are our cookers..." "The two washing machines?" "We have five washing machines where we put the pans." "We have a lot... where we prepare the food." "And here's the cook..." "Come here, Chipi." " And what does Chipi make?" " Well, we prepare ...a meal which is nothing special, but we do the best we can." "We make rice, pasta, polenta, polenta with sauce..." "But sometimes with only two onions we can't cook." " With two onions?" " Two onions for..." " For 70 people?" " No!" "210 or 220." "The most we ever cooked for was 289." " But how do you manage, Chipi?" " We do what we can." " But how exactly, how?" " We cook it all a bit longer," " a bit more water, and that's it." " But, that's amazing." "And people are really grateful for what we do." "I'm a mother of five, a grandmother and..." "What do the kids do, do they study?" "Most in La Morita are unemployed, most of the young are out of work, there's not a youngster you can say..." "he's a professional, or he's studying." "There's only poverty here." "Poverty here, there, everywhere." "When someone dies, we can't afford to bury him and sometimes he's left four, five days in bed and" "if we can't raise the money among ourselves we organise a game of football or cards to raise 200 pesos to bury him." "Otherwise he lies dead in bed because we can't bury him." "Margarita and Colinche Living with nothing" "Going round the neighbourhood with their cart and their kindness," "Margarita told me that there's so much poverty... that there's hardly any rubbish." "I don't complain about things, although I keep quiet." "I have kids, I have love," "I'm not afraid of death," "I learnt to live with nothing, and others are even worse off." "I get given bottles, cardboard, vegetables for my kids, the horse." " How much do you make?" " Twenty, twenty-five a week, depends." "Some people pay me monthly." "Eight pesos a month." "Colinche lives a life of injustice, blows, mistreatment, oblivion, always with his kids, inventing any sort ofjob to get by." "How long have you been out of work?" "It's been five or six years now." "I began working at 13." "We go out every day." "I used to work at the Central Market, from 4 am 'till 5 pm, for 5 pesos and a bag of vegetables." "...at times, I go to the Capital with her so I don't end up in jail..." "I worked on the cart and there was a couple of bastard cops." "They used to hit me on the hands and say, get out of here, or else I'll have you slung in jail." "I had seven kids then." "I almost ended up injail for going to find food in the Capital, cakes, sweets, things like that." "They said:" "We won't put you away because of your wife." "My wife was pregnant." "11 kilos." "How much have we made, Mica?" "Not even enough to eat." "Margarita's life was as hard as It was lonely, working in other people's houses she got pregnant as a child without father or mother the child was stolen" " Margarita, how many have you got?" " I gave him 5 girls, but 9 in all." "She's turning 15 now, in October... thirteen, eleven," "Camila's six, they're five and two." " And how long have you been here?" " 12 years." " 12 years?" " And you haven't been able to leave." "No, we can't find anywhere with all these kids." " And nobody's ever claimed it?" " No..." "This place is full of squatters, we're not the only ones." " They're almost all squatters." " As this place gets flooded..." " You've never had any bother?" " No, no, not at all." "The water gets up to here, this is all damp." "And the worst ones get up to here the water was up to here..." "That was the highest one we had..." "You can't pay 25 if we don't use electricity, we have 3 light bulbs." " But as we couldn't pay..." " They cut us off." "And on top of that, you get robbed." " Yes, clothes, pans..." "...I've got the boxes over there." "They robbed me." "Threw things all over, and made a real mess." "The gas cylinder." " Can you get used to the water?" " Yes, if you have nothing else..." "You've got to get used to it..." "And doesn't the water make the kids sick, Colinche?" "When it's hot, their heels crack, down here." "Cuts like this one." "Look... long cuts, these are even bigger..." " Let's see... his heel is cut." " Show him, Mica." "And she has cuts too." "What was the hardest part of yourfight?" "The hardest?" "When they took my kids away, that was the hardest." "The woman I worked for wanted to keep my son." "People want to take your kids..." "So one day I took my daughter and left," "I took her with me and came back here." "That was back then, I came down from Chaco, pregnant..." "Astupid kid." "So stupid." "I was a poor girl from the country." "I try to forget that..." "Who'd believe I've got a son?" "I've got no papers to prove it." "Margarita, what's the saddest thing in your life right noW?" "Not being able to send my kids to school." "I just can't." "Picketeer camp" "When they were workers they could go on strike, today they're all picketeers and have no form of protection." "They've knocked on the doors of all the ministries." "What else can they do if they get no answers?" "Block highways and camp out 'till victory." "The official response is to give subsidies to heads of families" "assistance for 2,000,000jobless" "5,000,000 are left with nothing" "They should come and see reality here." "Anyone can see it on TV, but let them come and suffer as we do." "To reach highway 3 today, we've walked 18 kilometres." "We've been on the road for over 70 nights." "And we spend days and days in here." "The longest time we spent here was 18 days." "We're here for assistance and we'll carry on fighting." "Give me a job." "When the fuck am I going to be able to work again?" "It's been some 4 years now since I last worked." "It's hard out here, your feet and arms freeze, it's very tough." "There are old people here, pregnant women, even." "I'm a sort of example here, I sleep here everyday from beginning to end." " How many kids have you got?" " I've got two here who come with me." "The pin-ups of the picket line!" "It's not for TV, it's for a documentary." "What's up?" "What's up?" "I've got nothing to tell..." "I heard you were on 60 pickets here." "Yes, that's right, but..." "She still hasn't been paid." "I've seen no money yet." "Unfortunately we're Argentines, that's what we have to say now." "Because Argentina isn't Argentina anymore." "Camping on the road like the armies of liberation of the 19th century, the picketeers settled with their families, dogs and horses." "Their camps recreate the experience of 20 years of occupying land." "There's first aid, security, food, courses, debates and assemblies." "Do your trousers up, granma." " Pastries or pancakes?" " Pancakes..." "I'll stay and eat in this tent." "I've got a nice shot of you grandma." "See grandma?" "You came out nice." "Yeah, so I see..." "Grandma, you're the youngest here." "And now you're doing your hair, you like to look your best, eh?" "So, how are you?" "I'm not old, rags are old." "That "little kiss" looked stolen." "The hope of the poor." " What was that you said?" " The hope of The poor." " What hope is that?" " That we get paid." "Getting money for nothing is not right." "I want to work," "I'm still strong enough to work." "I don't want charity, I want to get ajob and to work." "I don't want handouts." "Getting paid for not working is not right." "No, it isn't right." "I want a job, yes... ajob" "Here you can see what solidarity's about, the sacrifice of being here." "You have to know why you're here." "At least you're with neighbours and it's like a big family, we share our bread, and well... pass the time together." "People can eat on the picket line." "For many, when the picket's over so is the soup kitchen, and they go back home not knowing if they'll eat tomorrow." "Sometimes there's nothing, but if there's a little, we share it." "And that's how a camp gets started." "Why am I standing here freezing to death?" "What was the point of spending my whole life fighting?" "Homeless, jobless, penniless..." "No home, no job, ...nothing." "And the patience... it's serious when you don't eat, it really is, man." "Everybody says you've got to wait, but how long can you wait?" "How long can you fight... without the hope of getting a job anywhere, because... we're already out of the system." "Who's going to give me ajob at the age of 62?" "Do you think that's fair?" "It's very very sad..." "That's hunger... that's what hunger is and nobody can tell me I'm wrong," "nobody who's going hungry can say that I'm lying, because this is the truth." "It's the truth." "Whole families, barefoot, hungry," "I feel so sad, because in such a rich country, how can you buy a litre of milk if prices go up overnight?" "This is so dirty, it's so painful..." "We ask the comrades in the tents to come to the assembly." "It's vital that you take part and decide on things." "We'll keep on fighting till we get an answer, that's unanimous." "Picketeers, forfuck's sake!" "Picketeers, forfuck's sake!" "Carola and Silvia The public hospital" "The health system is covered by a series of free public hospitals." "Payments on the foreign debt and the loss of oil revenue meant a reduction in the budget." "Unemployment left half of all families without social security, and the hospitals couldn't cope." "The Alejandro Posadas Hospital is a model high complexity institute where they see 4000 patients a day." "My name is Carola Caligaris, I've been working here for 32 years," "I was in charge of social action." "I understand the patients' problems." "What are their problems?" "Patients come when their health has totally gone, after having lost ajob or their medical cover, they're depressed, with serious health problems." "They often miss their appointments because they can't afford the bus or they can't come on foot because they're too ill." " What about The ambulances?" " They don't fetch patients any more." "They transfer patients, but they don't go and get them." " And in emergencies?" " No, they don't go out." "Accidents only." "At times they arrive in Emergencies in a dreadful state." "How long do they have to wait to see a doctor?" "The patient asks for an appointment and can wait up to 6 months." "To see a dentist, you have to come at 5 pm and queue up 'till 7 am, only to get an appointment for 15 days later." "That's what I complain about," "The attention by the doctors is excellent, superb." "I was operated on this hand, but now I need an operation on the other, but there are no appointments so I don't know when it'll be." "You have to wait 6 months for an operation." " Six months?" " Yes, six months." "And what does a patient who needs an operation do?" "He's operated on in Emergencies if the budget allows." "Well, I'm Silvia, a social worker at this hospital for many years now." "Our main problem is lack of money." "Plus bad administration, it's been badly run for 20 years now, we haven't had a proper director, each new government puts in... a new man who earns millions with his own people, so cutting funds," "because bad administration in a hospital is plain corruption." "A private company has been hired to do the cleaning in the hospital, there's pathological waste lying around where there are people, dogs, the waste isn't properly treated." "It should be done by hospital people." "Instead it's done by a company that is only interested in profits." "The feeling is that everything's out of control." "We try to give answers to all the problems we encounter, ...that people bring." " Things such as?" "People who walk from La Matanza that's 15 km from here, because they've got no money for the bus, no money to get home." "They come on empty stomachs." "We interview them, and there's nobody who can work, so no money coming in, and they haven't eaten for days, they drink mate tea, and the kids eat at school." "There's a feeling of abandonment, depression in the whole family." "It can lead to violence in the family." "The man or woman who's out of work..." "It's a vicious circle that makes the state they arrive in worse." "The mistreatment of kids, women." "There are battered wives, kids who have been beaten up." "We have people living here because they haven't got a home to go to." "People living here in the hospital, they've lost theirjobs, their family, their house and live here." "People who turned to alcohol and and who come and live here, sleeping on the benches" " How long have you been here?" " Two years." "Two years." "I can't stand it any more." "I call City Hall but their homes are full up," "In Buenos Aires province nobody takes 50 year olds." "So, people end up living here and dying wherever they can." "And patients who can't afford to buy medicine?" "Very often we buy it ourselves, we try to solve the problem of each patient the best we can." "But those who go to Outpatients leave emptyhanded." "That means more illness." "They come here, and go from here to there and leave without medicine, meaning, they go home sick." "And the situation gets worse." ""Hospital in the Street"" "The absurdity of not being able to provide medicines forced health workers to take the hospital out into the street." "Tell me how it works." "What we are doing is this:" "People bring the medicines they've got, we discard the expired ones, and classify them by speciality, there are specialists who hand them out and explain... they hand out medicines, and some people donate them." "These are capsules, will they do?" "No, they won't" "Public hospitals and sanitary units should be providing medicines." "The hospital has been in the street for quite a while now." "Medicines should be provided by the state, like in other countries with more problems than us, like South Africa or even Brazil." "Argentina won't do it because it's not allowed here." "Amoxidal is a medicine which costs $2 each capsule in pharmacies." "It could be made in university or hospital laboratories at 2 cents." "From $2 to 2 cents." "This is market policy playing with people's health." "Access to medicines, to health is a right and shouldn't be traded." " What do you think of this?" " I think it's very, very good." "We had a big crisis last year." "With the workers, and the community we decided to take control of the hospital." "We were all in the hospital foyer, and the police marched in, to repress inside the hospital, they used tear gas, and beat colleagues, workers, patients." "Well, the support we received was enormous, absolutely enormous." "And the patients?" "And the patients were being seen because it was a busy day here." "When did all this happen?" "During De la Rua's government." ""March to the Ministry of Health"" "While Argentina halts payments of its foreign debt and 100 people die of malnutrition or curable ailments everyday, the IMF increases the pressure." "The government rejects any interference, but carries on paying as a privileged creditor." ""In 2002 Argentina will pay the IMF US$ 4 billion"" "Months go by and savers don't get their deposits back." "Thousands of complaints are filed against the bankers." "Duhalde said:" "You deposit dollars and get dollars, you deposit pesos, and get pesos." "But the foreign banks refuse to give back deposits in dollars." "That's the main problem forthe new Economy Minister, Roberto Lavagna." "The result of the conflict is a scandalous fraud." "Instead of nationalising the banks that are guilty of misconduct, the government ends up giving them billion dollars in subsidies." "Savers are to receive ten-year bonds." "Private pension funds continue to belong to the banks." ""Trade Unionist Eladio"Tate"Martinez"" ""...on the run, with demands for his capture"" "National Congress" "Government compliance with the demands of the IMF leads to changes in the laws of bankruptcy and economic subversion to avoid arresting and prosecuting bankers." "Lucy The summons" "The pillaging of the banks reaches deep into the Pampa, and a trap was set for the innocent farmer." "They mortgaged his fields and took him prisoner." "Awoman from Winifreda gave birth to hope putting her foot down and saying:" ""Enough"." "She called on the women farmers to go and stop the auctions." "This field is in two lots." "131 hectares in total, 100 on this side and 31 on the other, by the dunes." "Unfortunately, we've had to rent this land out, but you can't do much with it after all these years." "The soya's degraded the soil." "Now it needs alfalfa and cows on it." "The economic situation forced us to rent it out to pay off our debts." "This was where we kept the equipment, tractor, seed drills, rake." "We've nothing left, we had to sell it to pay the bank." "We had some 400 cows on both fields, and the worst pain is when you hand over the things you love, because it's ours, and they took the lot, leaving us emptyhanded." "At that time my husband had fallen into a deep depression, but he wouldn't admit it and the day the auction bill arrived," "14 days before... he had a brain haemorrhage which left him half paralysed." "He was only 61." "It all began with the debt forthe tractor we bought for $30,000." "Afew months laterthe debt had reached over 200,000 pesos, due to interest for late payment, I don't know, it's criminal." "This was a trap forthe naiive who had hope, who believed in progress." "From the Bank of La Pampa we got $15,000 for sowing, fuel oil, seeds..." "We couldn't pay." "With what we sowed itjust wasn't enough..." "Acow was worth $150." "The day the auctioneer came to the house..." "I put everything away, even the photos of my kids, just in case..." "When my husband came home that night I didn't say a word about it," "I put the legal document away but I couldn't sleep." "The following morning when I said to myself "you can do it", my God!" "I rushed to the radio station." "I told the whole town about it, that they were going to take everything." "I've come to this radio today... to call on each one of you ladies." " That is so low..." " That's the price to be paid, right?" "The following day some 200, 300 women turned up, all of them women farmers who were in debt, like Lucy, and those who hadn't received the summons yet had been notified." "There and then the women began to share their problems." "We also had a tremendous debt to pay but my brothers kept it from Mum and me till it got to this point." "They made us feel we had failed." "I could see that they were literally ruining us." "The fields had been bought by our grandparents from Italy." "After years of hard work, they were able to buy a little plot of land, and now, we, their grandchildren have lost it, the fields are auctioned, and we're broke." "It was then that many men felt ashamed of the situation, but they didn't dare go out and criticise the economic model." "All the men who committed suicide in the process, how many of them with their self-esteem destroyed, because farming was their life." "Then, we had to pay loans with 13 to 20º/o interest a year." "The interest rates were 4 times higher than what the banks paid for the same money, that's why they didn't lose out." "It's criminal!" "I think that when we women realised that, we put up a fight." "We didn't go out to rob the banks, or to rob anybody." "They came to steal from us." "We defended ourselves with the only arms we had, the NationalAnthem." "That was our only weapon." "By praying and singing the Anthem we stopped the auctions." "First mine because they had to stop me and I said no." "Lucy de Cornelis' property is up for auction today"" "So we continue with the auction decreed by judicial order." "And the free peoples of the world reply:" "We salute the great people of Argentina..." "I'm singing the National Anthem, you can't take me to jail." "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom..." "And the free peoples..." ""Lucy imprisoned for singing national anthem"" ""Producers mobilise and halt farm auction"" ""Farm auction in Castex suspended"" ""Women farmers form National Movement in Santa Rosa"" "The news spread like wildfire." "We realised that we were all in the same situation as Lucy, so we began contacting each other." "Then people all over began to form a network of solidarity." "If an auction was announced those of us who were closest to the auction went along and stopped them from taking place." "By decision of the Lady Judge..." "Mortals!" "Hearthe sacred cry;" "Freedom!" "Yes, the whole country was in the same situation." "In fact, there were 14 million mortgages in the Banco Nación." "So, if we hadn't been born, this nation would have been sold off to the foreigners." "I used to talk about sovereignty in my speeches, but nobody got it." "I don't know what came over me, why I mentioned sovereignty." "Being a woman, without an apron." "It was if somebody put the words in my mouth," "I couldn't believe it, I felt I was ahead of the times." "I shall now begin the auction of these two beautiful plots..." " Half is worthless." " No, it isn't..." "Yes, it is, I made it so, I'm the owner" "Well, look here... shut up." " It won't be auctioned!" " Shut up all of you!" "To defy the judge's orders that say that if you ask for 20,000 pesos you owe 100,000 with only 10 hectares to your name... to face up to that, I think it's... it might not seem so," "but for us it was superb because it meant that all together we were trying to do justice like that, fighting with the weapons we have." "Because I'm requesting order, and those who disturb proceedings will be arrested at once..." "Is that clear?" "Any questions?" "Mortals!" "Hearthe sacred cry:" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Hearthe noise of broken chains..." "The auctioneer was saying that a sinking ship should sink completely." "So I said:" "Obviously you're not on that ship." "Madam, whoever has money to buy has the right to come and make an offer." "I don't give a damn about money, what we have here is a sinister plot to take the land of ruined farmers." "That's what we're defending and you should be on our side helping us." "Imagine somebody standing in front of ajudge and an auctioneer and saying:" "There'll be no auction here." "But they sell you a story about order, justice, what have you..." "There'll be no auction here." " There'll be no auction here!" " There is going to be an auction." "...the United Provinces of the South Under these circumstances, the auction will be called off." "Most of those who dared fight, called on us to save their land, and we won." "Thank you, thank you..." "If things get out of hand, we have to invent something at once." "We pretend somebody's had a heart attack, so the ambulance has to come..." "Orthat somebody's touching you up so you start shouting:" "Perverts!" "Everyone runs for it, nobody's left." "All hell was let loose, the cops came and the auction was suspended." "People kept their farms." "Bastards, scum, criminals!" "The history of these years will show more than 30,000 missing people." "This is psychological torture, which kills too." "I want to put some sunflowers on my husband's grave" "I want to take these." "Remembering Darío" "Avellaneda" " Pueyrredón Bridge" "Picketeers, for fuck's sake!" "Picketeers, for fuck's sake!" "The picketeers block access roads to the Capital creating chaos." "The TV and radio are busy associating them with chaos." "Part of the government demands a crackdown, others want tolerance." "On 26 June, Pueyrredón Bridge was blocked, and there they unleash their repression." "The operation begins with a group of policemen disguised as picketeers, who smash shopwindows and cars." "Demonstrators are blamed and a ferocious persecution begins." "The police use lead bullets." "Young Maximiliano Kosteki falls badly hurt at the train station." "His mate Darío Santillán helps him and gets shot in the back." "They're both takento the Fiorito Hospital where they die." "Lanus" " La Fe Neighbourhood" "Yesterday's repression scared me more than a storm on the river," "I'm a fisherman on the sea and the River Plate..." "In a small vessel, we know what that's like." "We're all in God's hands..." "but I wasn't as afraid as yesterday..." "I went along with him as far as..." "Avellaneda Station..." "Go and keep running!" "You take care of the women scattered everywhere." "And from then on, nothing." "Funeral for Darío Santillán" "Of course I'm angry at the police, they've killed one of us, see?" "For being hungry, that's why they killed him." "Don't cover it up!" "The papers lie!" "Stop lying for the government!" "Stop supporting the government!" "Because they're lying... come on, they're all lies!" "Us, carry guns?" "We're going hungry and we're meant to be carrying guns?" "Scum..." "Come and see how hungry we are!" "That's what they need to see!" "They want us to end up killing each other, the hungry against the hungry, because we're the hungry..." "Those who have ajob don't go hungry." "They'll never understand the situation." "What's going on?" "Nowthis man... how many of us here have gone out in search of... medicines, have invented all sorts, whateverto get a glass of milk... something the government doesn't give us, nor anybody." "Today he's in a coffin as if he was..." "they just threw him off the truck... like a dog, dragging him along like a sack of spuds!" "That's what happened, be fair!" "In these neighbourhoods he gave all he ever had." "He made bricks and he opened people's minds." "Hejust stopped to help a fallen comrade, and he gave his life in the process..." "His name was Darío." "And now he was working with the unemployed." "He was one of the forces behind this small company." "They had a small brick factory, and this place, I understand, was a soup kitchen." " Is this where Darío worked?" " Yes." "He never got any rest... he was building his own house, first of sheets of metal, but he was planning to replace them with bricks." "Work" "Dignity" "Social Change"" "Soup Kitchen" "As from today the Committee of Unemployed Workers is offering more activities in aid of our demands for what's fair." "Work is dignity, and what they're doing here is destroying all dignity." "With our struggle, mobilising all the unemployed, organising..." "We have temporary jobs that aren't enough to cover our basic needs." "Had you been here long, Claudia?" "Dario had been here for a year, he came from Almirante Brown... and two months ago got this land," "two months or so, I think..." "This is where, when Dario arrived in Lanús, he taught us howto use the computer..." "Paulo Solanas introduced us." "I met him here." "He used to teach me computer skills..." "When..." "it was here that..." "Dario told me he loved me, and we kissed forthe first time." "Those are the two things I remember most, the most beautiful... are those two." "On 20 February they began to occupy the land." "It took two months, 'till they gave us the land, and he was living in a little tent, which wasn't really a tent at all, it was a piece of black plastic, and he had a bed, he slept there, he ate with me or his friends..." "On the 26th, the day of the bridge," " you were with him 'till..." "...I lost him..." "I was with him before marching to the bridge, at the station, he came over to say hello, I told him to be careful on the march... and he told me to be careful too... and... afterthat... with all... there were so many people I lost him," "I couldn't find him." "At the station" "I saw Maximiliano on the ground..." "I was helping him when Dario arrived and he told me to go," "because the police were coming after us, and he took my hand and kept telling me to leave..." "I saw it when he put his hand up and told them not to shoot," "I turned round and didn't see him anymore." "The result is clearly negative, we didn't expect this to happen at all..." " Obviously..." " He's one of Duhalde's men!" " How old were the dead men?" " They were young men, without documents... and well..." " What was the sequence of events?" "...I don't know... more than two thousand people were taking part in this... so I really don't know... what happened when... the police action was carried out within the law..." "We did not abuse our authority... we tried to dissuade them at all times, nobody was leading the group, dialogue was impossible." "Just look at the way we're talking now, really, it was impossible to talk to them..." "They didn't even block the bridge..." "Arsehole!" "Several policemen are hitting him." "Fiorito Hospital" "Avellaneda" "The murders enrage the country." "That same night, a mass of demonstrators occupy Plaza de Mayo demanding punishment forthe culprits." "Next day, the photos in the papers unmask the police lies." "The leader of the operation, Police Superintendent Franchiotti and his men are the murderers of Santillán and Kosteki." "Murderers!" "Dozens of officers are dismissed." "The murderers are charged and are to face Oral Trial." "The government was forced to bring forward the general elections" "Gustavo, Zulema and the mafias" "Seen in a general context, I think the police receive the same training as Police Superintendent Camps during the dictatorship." "But in the neighbourhoods, that means, on the one hand, a policeman who obeys the superintendent, collecting money for him, with the policeman continuing to be poor." "And the superintendent and those in higher ranks getting richer." "Cars from the Capital stop here and dump all sorts of things." " Stolen cars?" " Of course, they dump them, cut them up, take the engine, the parts they need and sell them." "They used to come when I was cutting grass for the horses here and I saw they were pulling them apart, there's a deep part there, there's a deep part and they brought them here to dismantle." "At times with a dead body too..." "But after a time, they float up to the surface." "The police mafia is closely related to the political mafia." "In the district the police are basically what the Mayor is." "Believe it or not, our Mayor was a mayor in the dictatorship Alberto Brope." "And in Ezeiza, a thug, a totally corrupt guy linked with many cases, a total Menemist, Alejandro Granado." "Drugs, politicians and the police go together." "It's all in their hands..." "I've seen places where they sell drugs, they've come and raided and half an hour later, the helicopters gone, they're out selling again." "A lot of drugs, a lot of... police pressure, no-go areas where the police do what they want and crime as a result of poverty and lack of safety measures, where crime is used by the police." "Where police and criminals work side by side and when the kids are of no use anymore, the police kill them." "And it's very common for kids to appear shot in the head, and we know the police did it." "Kids who worked for the police." "He was kidnapped on 11 November 2000" "And I said:" "It's my son, I have to report it." "She says:" "They'll kill you now, they'll do anything they can." "And I said, let them." "And I reported all of them." "When and how do they take him?" "He was going to a birthday party, but he didn't make it, because they handcuffed him, threw him to the ground and put him in a car." "Which judge dealt with the case?" "Thejudge in the case of my son, Ariel, was Maria Laura Alfaro, and before closing the case, she said to me:" "Look," "I'm up against the wall, we can't investigate." "15 days laterthey closed the case." "When I became a priest, my first posting was shanty town 21 and there I learnt what police abuse was all about." "It was a shanty town and I was living there, in a little house, with the people." "Father Gustavo knows what impunity can do, like Father Mujica, who stood by his people, protecting the weak in his search for the truth." "They come withjoy, oh Lord, singing with joy, oh Lord, those who pass through life, Lord, sowing your peace and love." "We thank you and bless you, Lord." "Why do you say mass here, in this house?" "We had a place before but due to my social commitments here, they decided not to let us use it anymore, so I use my house." "It's rough, but we organise other things, like a soup kitchen where many people come to eat, we help kids with their homework, getting them books to study." "This isn't my house anymore, it's everybody's house." "Haven't those denunciations upset you?" "A parapolice group formed and we reported them, they were called Excalibur, and gave out flyers accusing me and the picketeers of all sorts of things, and one Sunday they got into the church we were building and hit me over the head with an iron bar." "It was a miracle I survived." "The murder of Diego Peralta by the provincial police mafia, enraged the neighbours of El Jaguel, who set fire to the police station." "And the crimes and kidnappings organised by the police mobilised the whole community." "From the marches of silence in Catamarca and Santiago del Estero, to the marches in Greater Buenos Aires, over 600 superintendents and officers were brought to justice." "2002 comes to an end and despite predictions, hyperinflation is averted." "There is stability in the economy and a cycle of growth begins." "The country has sufficient resources to escape poverty, but the gap between those who have and those who have nothing grows deeper" "and the plundering of the country's wealth goes on..." "Oil companies keep their reserves and are shown great leniency." "We Argentines have another chance"" "The 2003 elections arrive, and the call to "kick them all out" is now only a memory, the politicians remain, the Supreme Court and Parliament, too." "The social movement hasn't built an alternative to the model." "The opposition is still divided, and the Justicialists have 3 candidates:" "Menem, Rodríguez Saá and Nestor Kirchner, with Duhalde's support." "Hang on, Carlitos!" "Hang on!" "Hang on, Carlitos!" "The worst criminal's a baby when compared to all them in power." "It's Rodríguez Saá for me!" "I hope Carrió wins." "López Murphy should win." "Kirchner has a chance... which is the model that follows this..." "They always set us the same trap, so you have to choose between two supposedly different candidates..." "When I voted, I voted for Menem, but they've all let me down, so I'm not voting any more." "Bye then." "Menem is two points ahead of Kirchner after the first round." "Faced with a crushing defeat in the second round," "Menem pulls out." "Nestor Kirchner and Daniel Scioli are proclaimed the winners." "Kirchner continues with the economic policies of ministro Lavagna and maintains the neoliberal model with some changes." "He promotes national production and achieves a fiscal surplus" "He strengthens MERCOSUR, and signs agreements with Venezuela." "The new government resolves to change the Supreme Court and annul the laws of impunity of state terrorism" "But it doesn't investigate the plundering of public assets." "He takes a firm stance with foreign creditors, renegotiates the private debt and takes the country out of default, but he fails to denounce the illicit origin and continues to pay the IMF" "New social aid plans are launched but the unfair distribution of wealth continues the subsidies to banks and corporations the concessions granted by Menem he reprivatises public services and extends radio and TV licences for a further 10 years." "Factories regained" "Factories regained" "Amongst the most innovative experiences of the social movement, is the retaking of factories abandoned by their ex workers." "With the support of the community, and organised into self-managing cooperatives, they produce and compete in the market again." "When did you take over the factory?" "It was March, 2002, when we started work here." " And why did you take it?" " Because we had just been sacked." "And the assembly decided to go back in because it was abandoned, the owners had left, closing it down, and we believed that such a source of work as this couldn't lie idle." "We had the factory, the furnaces, the machines, the workers, so we decided to put it to work." "What problems did you find?" "Many legal ones because Zanon denounced us as usurpers." "But we won several lawsuits here in Neuquén, where we won the legal right to be here..." "And little by little we got the factory moving again." "We're now up to 330,000 metres of production." " But how do you sell and invoice?" " With invoices we were given by... the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo." "Through "Rebeldía y Esperanza", a new association." "We invoice in their name..." "and so we can invoice..." "How do you manage the factory?" "Through coordinators in each sector, we have 30 coordinators elected by the workers in each sector." "Coordinators are just workers, like us, with the same salary as the rest of us, you know?" "How are decisions made?" "Problems are presented at coordinator's meetings and are then referred to the assemblies where they are solved." "...unemployment, national politics, it's fundamental that everything is discussed, not only the problem of Zanon, but everything else..." "My name is Reinaldo Jiménez, and I've been with the company for thirteen years... when this new process began, I'm a gas fitter and a coordinator." "And how's the company today?" "We've always had the support of the university, which has been vital in the technical aspects, because with some things, we needed the help of engineers." " Is this factory profitable?" " Totally, of course it is." "By supplying the domestic market alone we're producing 300,000 metres and with that we pay 380 salaries, electricity, gas, taxes" "and there' s still money left." "We want to keep ourjobs, not to keep the factory, we don't want to get rich with the factory" "Zanon grew a lot with the support of the people, the community, that's why the factory must work for the community." "We always said that we were going to defend this factory with our lives." "In the face of eviction, outside the gate it was one thing, but inside it was completely different..." "We were going to defend the factory with whatever it took..." "'Zanon balls' are well known..." "It's a kind of porcelain ball, harder than stone, it can pass through shields..." "When they began firing rubber bullets and tear gas, a workers front was formed with a sling the police came on strong it was the only way to stop them." "Thanks to the community's support we managed to stop five evictions." "The Union called a provincial strike in support of the Zanon workers, all the province and state workers came out on strike in support of the Zanon workers." "We had 6,500 people at the factory gates..." "Of the 2,000 factories that closed, the workers tried to recover 160 and keep theirjobs." "This happened in the context of the events of 19-20 December, the people's revolt..." "AND STILL..." "APRIL 2005" "We're seven families." "I'm in charge, and six other families, in danger of losing all we have." "It's awful, because if the auction goes ahead, we lose ourjobs and my family's livelihood..." "The bank didn't give me the money because I was in debt." "Banking laws say you cannot give money to someone who's in debt." "Small producers are going under and the large estates are expanding." "There's a shocking concentration of land ownership in this country." "Please come in, I'm the public prosecutor, Dr Graciano and the event is about to begin." "What event, sir?" "The auction, madam." "If you have anything to say we can go into the other office... we'll take your details and go to the prosecutor's office, shall we?" "Yes, of course." "Please come in." ""27/04/05 School of Auctioneers of Campana"" " Morning." "The civil and commercial..." " Mortals!" "Hearthe sacred cry;" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Hear the noise of broken chains see noble Equality enthroned," "their honorable throne displayed the United Provinces of the South" "Oh, swearto die gloriously." "Mortals!" "Hearthe sacred cry;" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Take them to the police station and charge them with resisting arrest" "Regarding the auction, ask that man over there..." "The people united will never be defeated!" "If you do not wish to be charged with another offence, please go..." " I shall charge you as well..." " As you wish..." "Please take the lady away so that I can talk to her in person." "No way!" "I'm not going anywhere." "The police will see to that." "Argentina, Argentina, Argentina!" "Clearthe room..." "Bring the governor, or thejudge..." "Bring thejudge to clear the chamber Please let the judge come..." "OK, so let the judge come." "How can we leave without knowing what happened at the auction?" "Does this jumped up prosecutor think we're all idiots?" " Why doesn't he say so!" " We've been fighting this foryears." "The decisions of the Public Ministry must be obeyed." "No high-handedness here, eh?" "This is 2005." "1976 was long ago." "First listen to what we have to say, Then do whateveryou like." "We'll listen to what you have to say in the proper place." " But answer me, tell me who..." " This chamber is closed forthe day." " And the auction?" " We'll see about that later..." "No, that's not the way justice acts." "You don't know what justice is." "The auction opened and now has to close." "There's all this violence, so the auctioneer has to close it" "If you knew aboutjustice, you'd know that." "Ask thejudge..." "We all went through the same thing so we know what we're talking about." "This never happened before, you know nothing aboutjustice." "You're committing another offence." "But anyway..." " Of course, this is a farce!" " Let's pile up the offences..." "To the prosecutor's chamber or to the police station..." "I have to report you because you are acting unfairly." "You're not fair, prosecutor." "You have to open and close." "Opinions here..." "The gentleman must accompany me to the prosecutor's office." "Two policemen will be along..." "Oh, no, you won't!" "He's not going!" "All of us or none of us." "Where's the man I asked to come with me to the prosecutor's office?" "No sir, we've got him here and he's not going anywhere, nobody's going!" "We won't leave until we know what happened with the auction." "Mortals!" "Hearthe sacred cry;" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Hear the noise of broken chains see noble Equality enthroned," "their honorable throne displayed the United Provinces of the South" "the free peoples of the world reply:" "We salute the Argentine people" "Not everything is lost if the will to fight for it exists." "When there's a call to fight for what's fair and when it's ours, what is most feared can be beaten and even the weak have a voice." "Lucy and friends managed to get the auctions annulled." "Toba keeps the soup kitchen and stands up to threats" "Martín's married with a son but his attackers haven't yet been charged." "Colinche, Margarita are still on the cart but the kids go to school now." "Gustavo left the priesthood to devote himself to social militancy." "At Zanon they still face eviction but support for them is growing." "The murderers of Maximiliano and Darío have been brought to trial." "Silvia and Carola face the same problems at the hospital... while groups of youths organise collections to help the sick."