In a Buenos Aires fully armed, with helicopters and military officers, the only voices heard above the siren alarms are those of the social organizations against the G20 Summit and the return of neoliberalism in the region.
This accelerated return has also meant the loss of rights acquired by the people in the past decade and a half. Their flag is the one of the International Monetary Fund and their adjustment and indebtedness policies. Their visible face is that of Mauricio Macri in Argentina, host of the Summit of the main economies of the planet, Jair Bolsonaro, who will take office as President of Brazil in January, and Donald Trump and his unilateral and warmongering policy.
With most public offices closed, the population escaping town at the request of the authorities themselves and the headquarters of the multinational corporations most emblematic of global capitalism “camouflaged” to avoid being the targets of protest actions, this Friday 30th a big march in rejection to the G20 agenda and its representatives is expected.
RWR joined the coverage of the actions to take place in advance at Plaza de los dos Congresos, at the heart of Buenos Aires and a few blocks away from the presidential building, which some of the Heads of State visited in the hours before the event.
On Thursday noon, the member of Madres de Plaza de Mayo Hebe de Bonafini was present together with her comrades at Plaza de Mayo. This organization has been carrying out for decades a weekly march, tirelessly demanding information about their relatives who were disappeared by the military dictatorship (1976-1983).
“We come here every Thursday to meet once again with our sons and daughters, we feel them in our bodies”, said Hebe. The “security” operation attempted to prevent the mothers´ ritual before the G20, but they were able to carry out.
Meanwhile, economist Beverly Keene, of Jubilee South, made reference to some concepts about the meaning of this G20 Summit in Argentina.
The activist believes that the “takeover” of the city by security forces has to do more with identifying protest with violence, and not so much with “protecting” the presidents.
And she said that choosing Argentina as the G20 host aims to set as an example that with Macri and neoliberalism “Argentina is back in the world: the world of transnational corporations and speculators”.