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Authors: Naomi Klein
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sang Argentina’s praises in the past are now rushing to blame its economic collapse exclusively on national greed and corruption. “If a country thinks they’re going to get aid from the United States, and they’re stealing money, they’re just not going to get it,” George W. Bush said in Mexico last week. Argentina “is going to have to make some tough calls.”
Argentina’s population, which has been in open revolt against its political, financial and legal elite for months, hardly has to be lectured on the need for good governance. In the last federal election, more people spoiled their ballots than voted for any single politician. The most popular write-in candidate was a cartoon character named Clemente, chosen because he has no hands and therefore cannot steal.
But it’s hard to believe that the IMF is going to be the one to clean up Argentina’s culture of payola and impunity, especially since one of the conditions the lender has placed on new funds is that Argentina’s courts stop prosecuting bankers who illegally pulled their money out of the country, drastically deepening the crisis. And as long as the destruction of this country is presented as a uniquely national pathology, it will conveniently keep the spotlight off the IMF itself.
In the familiar narrative of an impoverished country begging the world for a “bailout,” a crucial development is being obscured: many people here have little interest in the IMF’s money, especially when it will clearly cost themso much. Instead, they are busily building new political counter-powers to both their own failed political structures and the IMF.
Tens of thousands of residents have organized themselves into neighbourhood assemblies, networked at the city and national levels. In town squares, parks and on street corners, neighbours discuss ways of making their democracies more accountable and filling in where government has failed. They are talking about creating a “citizens’ congress” to demand transparency and accountability from politicians. They are discussing participatory budgets and shorter political terms, while organizing communal kitchens for the unemployed. The president, who wasn’t even elected, is scared enough of this growing political force that he has begun calling the
“asambleas”
antidemocratic.
There is reason to pay attention. The
asambleas
are also talking about how to kick-start local industries and renationalize assets. And they could go even further. Argentina, as the obedient pupil for decades, miserably failed by its IMF professors, shouldn’t be begging for loans; it should be demanding reparations.
The IMF had its chance to run Argentina. Now it’s the people’s turn.
No Place for Local Democracy
When a town gets in the way of a lucrative trade deal, a corporation sues in international court
February 2001
Anyone still unclear about why the police are constructing a modern-day Bastille around Quebec City in preparation for the unveiling of the Free Trade Area of the Americas should take a look at a case being heard by the British Columbia Supreme Court. In 1991, Metalclad, a U.S. waste management company, bought a closed-down toxic treatment facility in Guadalcazar, Mexico. The company wanted to build a huge hazardous-waste dump and promised to clean up the mess left behind by the previous owners. But in the years that followed, they expanded operations without seeking local approval, earning little goodwill in Guadalcazar.
Residents lost trust that Metalclad was serious about cleaning up, feared continued groundwater contamination and eventually decided that the foreign company was not welcome. In 1995, when the landfill was ready to open, the town and state intervened with what legislative powers they had available: the city denied Metalclad a building permit, and the state declared that the area around the site was part of an ecological reserve.
By this point, the North American Free Trade
Argentina’s population, which has been in open revolt against its political, financial and legal elite for months, hardly has to be lectured on the need for good governance. In the last federal election, more people spoiled their ballots than voted for any single politician. The most popular write-in candidate was a cartoon character named Clemente, chosen because he has no hands and therefore cannot steal.
But it’s hard to believe that the IMF is going to be the one to clean up Argentina’s culture of payola and impunity, especially since one of the conditions the lender has placed on new funds is that Argentina’s courts stop prosecuting bankers who illegally pulled their money out of the country, drastically deepening the crisis. And as long as the destruction of this country is presented as a uniquely national pathology, it will conveniently keep the spotlight off the IMF itself.
In the familiar narrative of an impoverished country begging the world for a “bailout,” a crucial development is being obscured: many people here have little interest in the IMF’s money, especially when it will clearly cost themso much. Instead, they are busily building new political counter-powers to both their own failed political structures and the IMF.
Tens of thousands of residents have organized themselves into neighbourhood assemblies, networked at the city and national levels. In town squares, parks and on street corners, neighbours discuss ways of making their democracies more accountable and filling in where government has failed. They are talking about creating a “citizens’ congress” to demand transparency and accountability from politicians. They are discussing participatory budgets and shorter political terms, while organizing communal kitchens for the unemployed. The president, who wasn’t even elected, is scared enough of this growing political force that he has begun calling the
“asambleas”
antidemocratic.
There is reason to pay attention. The
asambleas
are also talking about how to kick-start local industries and renationalize assets. And they could go even further. Argentina, as the obedient pupil for decades, miserably failed by its IMF professors, shouldn’t be begging for loans; it should be demanding reparations.
The IMF had its chance to run Argentina. Now it’s the people’s turn.
No Place for Local Democracy
When a town gets in the way of a lucrative trade deal, a corporation sues in international court
February 2001
Anyone still unclear about why the police are constructing a modern-day Bastille around Quebec City in preparation for the unveiling of the Free Trade Area of the Americas should take a look at a case being heard by the British Columbia Supreme Court. In 1991, Metalclad, a U.S. waste management company, bought a closed-down toxic treatment facility in Guadalcazar, Mexico. The company wanted to build a huge hazardous-waste dump and promised to clean up the mess left behind by the previous owners. But in the years that followed, they expanded operations without seeking local approval, earning little goodwill in Guadalcazar.
Residents lost trust that Metalclad was serious about cleaning up, feared continued groundwater contamination and eventually decided that the foreign company was not welcome. In 1995, when the landfill was ready to open, the town and state intervened with what legislative powers they had available: the city denied Metalclad a building permit, and the state declared that the area around the site was part of an ecological reserve.
By this point, the North American Free Trade
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