Last thursday I went to this huge manifestacion. We picked it up in Recoleta and walked with everyone down past the Obelisco to the Plaza de Mayo. The protest was against the current government of Cristina Kirchner. Thousands of porteños came out to show their dissatisfaction with judicial reforms and against the “re-re” – meaning the re-re election of Kirchner. Many Argentines fear that Cristina will rewrite the constitution in order to “legally” run for another term. Many signs addressed this issue of constitutional edits, reading “no se toca”. I was impressed by the hugely diverse crowd at this event – students, senior citizens, families, babies, girls in school uniforms, dancers, musicians, people chanting, people selling flags – the whole city came out, chanting "se acaba" (it's enough) and "ladrones" (thieves). Clearly, many people agreed with the aims of protest, but of course there are some who did not agree with it’s message – or with the manner of delivering the message. For example, Gonzalo would not attend on principle - he says this kind of protest offers no alternative and is strangely militaristic. I don't know how I feel about this, but respect his opinion, ovbio. It's interesting to see how people choose to participate, or not, in their government. When I commented to him how amazing it is that people are so participatory here, he said "estamos involucrados porque cuidamos la democracia".
Regardless, it is incredible to me to see so many people participating in their democracy – this age of argentine democracy is young and people do not take it for granted. Read this for some more basic information.
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