[Paisleychick-lj] Protests

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Protester at Plaza España][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

In keeping with my previous blog post, I'm going to continue to talk about Argentine news. I haven't talked about the *very* active political strife here as I don't quite grok everything. I don't think that anyone else really does either, so I'm just going to add to the mess. The situation, as I understand it, is that the farmers and the government are REALLY pissed off at each other. The farmers are making bank because of the price of wheat and soybeans these days. Back in March (I think), the government saw this and said to themselves, I know, lets raise the taxes on their profits from 35% to 45%, that way we can get more money. The farmers not so politely told them to go to hell and SHUT down the main highways so that no produce could get to Buenos Aires. There was a period of time that our grocery stores were out of meat, eggs and milk. That "paro" lasted a couple of weeks and then they stopped blocking the roads but still were on strike. I dunno - metaphorically? This issue has been festering for a long time. There have been many protests around the country. I have photographed a bunch of them but am backlogged in getting them online. I'll get to them soon though. The protests are pissing people off, but they understand that the government is making a money grab and since everyone knows government isn't too be trusted, well, it's just a mess. Christina Kirchner, the new president and wife of the previous president, made some critical mistakes and her popularity is plummeting. I'm not sure if hiking the tax rate like she wanted is even legal, so now congress is voting on it. It went to the house and passed and on Wednesday the senate is going to vote on it. I don't know what is going to happen, or if Kirchner is going to stay in power, or what, but it will be interesting, no matter what.  
  
I learned about the protests via the [Argentine Post Blog][5], which posted the US Embassy warning that US citizens should stay away. So, of course I wanted to check it all out, and then [my friend Sam][6] called up and said he wanted to check it out. So we met up with [my friend Cate][7] and arrived on the scene all together. We promptly got split up - the crowd was huge. But amazingly enough, I bumped into Sam half way through and Cate at the very end. I bought my first Argentine flag and wore it on my back, like a bunch of other people do. It is now hanging from our balcony. I wasn't sure if it would help me "blend in" or what, but I think it helped. Today nobody asked me "¿De donde sos?" I did get asked what press agency I was working for though. I laughed to myself.   
  
The crowd's energy was palpable and real. People were very patriotic - flags were flying everywhere - and yet it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced in the states. There was no "anarchy" faction stirring up trouble. Almost everyone was solidly middle class (in all stripes). The national anthem was solemnly sung. People listened to the speakers and payed attention, yelling, cheering, and jumping when appropriate. There was even a couple of prayers said by the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance. Estimates are anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 million people.   
  
I took 466 shots and culled them down to 40, which are now up [on flickr][8]. I have a good movie of the national anthem, but it's 736 MB large and I'm seeing if I can convert it down so that I can upload it to youtube without it taking FOREVER. Any suggestions welcome. I've tried VLC and Quicktime and they both don't do the trick with the .avi file.  
  
As a complete aside, my friend Laura Salcido says hi!! We just had an *awesome* skype chat.  


   [1]: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/2672300541_2d52e3f39d_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2672300541/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2672300541/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.theargentinepost.com/2008/07/us-embassy-issues-wednesday-protest.html
   [6]: http://wynnswoods.com/about.aspx
   [7]: http://cmykphotography.com/
   [8]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157606191215098/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/340732.html