Argentina: Milei’s Chainsaw Economics Faces Working Class Unity

Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets of the country’s capital, Buenos Aires, June 4 to demand an immediate change in the ultra-neoliberal policies of President Javier Milei. The mobilization took place outside the National Congress, which was discussing a potential increase in pensions for retirees. Last year, Milei vetoed a pension increase that was approved by the Congress.

This time, the legislature approved an increase of nearly 7% in pensions, which now must be approved by the Senate.

However, Milei has already warned that the “demagogic and populist” decision, will be vetoed once again because it threatens the government’s much-touted goal of “fiscal balance”, pursued even at the cost of rising poverty, denying people with disabilities access to medicines, and defunding pediatric hospitals.

“Let’s hope the senators don’t support this populist demagogy, but in any case, our commitment is to veto anything that undermines the ZERO DEFICIT. The end,” the president posted on X.

As a result, any potential favorable decision for retirees is expected to be blocked.

Unity in the streets

Nevertheless, the mobilisation succeeded in uniting different sectors of society. Pensioners, scientists and researchers, feminist movements, trade unions, doctors, political parties, families with disabled children, artists, journalists, etc., converged outside National Congress to oppose the radical economic adjustment in state spending.

Feminist collectives and organizations, also marking the 10 year anniversary of the “Ni Una Menos” movement, took to the streets under the slogan “Against cruelty, hunger, and looting, not one less retired woman”, along with the Popular Economy Workers Union, the State Workers Association, La Cámpora, the Socialist Workers Movement, the Workers’ Pole, and two trade union centers.

All the different sectors have agreed that their demands have something in common: their opposition to the neoliberal project of the Argentine right wing. More importantly, they not only believe their various struggles can unite but that they have a historic duty to do so if they wish to confront their common enemy.

Defunding children’s health

An example of this growing unity is the participation of the workers of Dr. Garrahan Pediatric Hospital, after its budget was reduced by the central government as it carried out its fiscal adjustment plan. In response to the anger and criticism that the decision provoked, Milei proceeded to try to discredit the pediatric center. “This is the trap that the Kirchnerite psychopaths have created: they invent schemes around sensitive topics, and when you go and deactivate them, they treat you as insensitive,” said Milei after defunding the children’s hospital.

This drew more doctors, from various hospitals and institutions, into the streets June 4 in solidarity with their colleagues and pediatric patients. Garrahan Hospital workers have already declared a partial strike in response to the government’s failure to respond to their demands.

In addition, Milei also cut disability benefits, a decision that has been maintained by the neoliberal president despite growing backlash.

Attacks on a child with autism

Several families of people with disabilities came out to protest on June 4 in solidarity with Ian Moche, a 12-year-old autistic child influencer who uses his platform to raise awareness about autism. Moreover, Moche, who is a disability rights activist, and his mother denounced that Diego Spagnuolo, head of the National Disability Agency and Milei’s former lawyer, questioned state aid to people with disabilities.

The mother said that Spagnuolo told her: “If you had a child with a disability, that is the family’s problem, not the State’s.”

The official denied that he said that, but the issue wasn’t limited to that one comment. Milei republished a post on X suggesting that Moche’s activism is the result of political manipulation: “It turns out that [Moche] comes from an ultra-Kirchnerist family, [i.e., sympathetic to the governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández], and they had already used him with Massa and Cristina Fernández.”

After this, Moche and his mother were the target of numerous social media attacks by Milei’s followers, sparking further outrage across Argentine society.

Even politicians close to Milei, such as María Eugenia Vidal, rejected the president’s stance: “He is 12 years old. He does not shout, does not insult, does not point. He only speaks with respect and knowledge, and campaigns for inclusion. Some adults could learn a lot from Ian.”

Against Kirchnerism or the state?

Thus, Milei appears to be justifying his aggressive program of budget cuts by labeling any institution or social benefit he wants to defund as Kirchnerist, an approach that, in turn, is raising doubts about the democratic character of the government.

But the truth is that behind each of Milei’s economic actions, there is a pattern that he has been fully consistent with: “I love being the mole that destroys the state. I am the one who destroys the state from the inside. It is like infiltrating enemy ranks.”

Milei’s agenda has provoked widespread opposition, which is rapidly multiplying across sectors that are increasingly determined to struggle against the neoliberal government. In this regard, Nicolás del Caño, an Argentine legislator, said: “If we are debating this today, it is thanks to the tenacity and struggle of the retirees who this Wednesday are accompanied by multiple sectors such as the group of people with disabilities, along with doctors, workers from the Garrahan Hospital, the women’s movement, among many others.”

Whether long-term unity across the sectors hit by Milei’s neoliberal adjustment can be achieved remains to be seen. What is certain is that the libertarian project – though it may at times seem to advance with absolute determination – is mistaken if it thinks it won’t be met with resistance from the very sectors that it targets at every step.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch