National day of protest for Mariano Ferreyra, victim of corrupt union organizing

Photos and text by Marie Trigona

A labor activist was shot dead on October 20 in Argentina in a union dispute along Buenos Aires train lines. Outraged residents protested the violence with marches throughout the nation.

The victim was Mariano Ferreyra, a 23-year old activist from Argentina’s Workers Party. He was marching in solidarity with subcontracted employees fired for attempting to blockade the train line.

A witness said that after Mariano was shot he heard a person cheer: “one less lefty.” No one has been arrested in connection with the killing. Mariano Ferreyra began his activist activity at the age of 14 in a neighborhood branch of the Trotskyist organization. The corrupt union involved in the death of Mariano is aligned with the current Peronist government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

“Burocracia sindical” is a common expression used to describe Argentina’s formal union structure. Corrupt union leaders have used violence to pressure workers not to vote for opposition slates.
International Labor Rights Forum listed the Kraft Corporation in Argentina as one of the worst companies for the right to association. The food workers union did not support the Kraft workers’ demands. Last year Kraft Subway workers and casino workers have also had to fight violent attacks from the formal unions in their union organizing efforts to form an independent union organization.
Subcontracting, synonymous with neoliberal capitalism, has become a common practice in public as well as private companies. Workers, are hired temporarily by outsource companies that provide service along the train lines. The company can decide to let the employees go without repercussions, pay them less and have a high turnover in personnel. The Train Workers Union benefits from this system because they get a percentage of ticket sales and have interests in supporting business interests.
Marcelo Adrian, a friend of the victim, says the corrupt union structure favors business interests. “The state is responsible, the bureaucratic unions… And the police that acted as accomplices. A group of 40 thugs from the Train Transport Union, Green list attacked us. It was a planned attack and there have been incidents of attacks against the subcontracted employees.”
The workers party newspaper reads: A crime against the working class.

Another activist, 61-year-old Elsa Rodríguez, is in critical condition after being shot in the head. Rodríguez has participated in the Worker’s Party for more than 7 years. Her daughters shed tears at the march demanding justice for those responsible for the shooting.

Another victim, Nelson Aguirre who was shot in the gluteus and leg, holds a sign that reads justice, punishment and jail for the assassins of Mariano Ferreyra.

At least 600 workers have been fired by the private company that is government subsidized to run the train lines that lead from the capital to the suburbs. The firing of 40 workers sparked the protest on October 20. The “violet list,” as the opposition group in the Train Workers Union is called have organized a campaign for the formal contracting of workers and an end to subcontracting along the train lines.
More than 25,000 protestors came out to repudiate the death of Ferreyra, demand an end to undemocratic union practices and demand justice for the death of the activist. Students wear signs that say: I am Mariano.
Mariano Ferreyra’s history and fate are tied to the fate of two activists Maximiliano Kosteki and Dario Santillan shot in a train station during a road blockade in the suburb of Avelleneda. The adolescent Ferreyra participated in the 2002 blockade, and 8 years later was shot dead along the train tracks leading to Avelleneda just a few blocks away.

The diversity of opposition slates and delegates assembly fighting for democratic union representation reflects the growing grass roots labor movement. This grass roots movement continues to grow despite corrupt and violence practices on the part of official union leadership.

“This custom of killing workers is going to end! Mariano Ferreyra presente!”

Resisting Mining: Brutal Repression and Uprising in Argentina

From Upsidedownworld.org Written by Marie Trigona

Tuesday, 23 February 2010 14:19

World-wide, mining operations have been associated with exploitation, corruption, violence, environmental devastation, human rights abuses, and impunity. However, despite threats and violent attacks, local movements resist mining operations and associated devastating effects. Residents in Northern Argentina have protested the opening of an open pit mining site in the town of Andalgala in the province of Catamarca. A recent police crackdown on the protest has sparked a popular uprising of citizens saying, ‘no to the mine’. Following massive protests in response to police repression this month, a judge temporarily halted further mine works planned to open in 2012. Andalgala, man of the high mountains The word Andalgala, in the ancient indigenous language of the Andean region, means ‘man of the high mountains’. The river Andalgala that flows between the high Andes Mountains of Catamarca has spawned an oasis. The pristine mountain water and rich valley has given life to a land of olive groves, peach orchards, sheep herds and mineral deposits. Transnational mining companies now threaten this Andean oasis, the social network in Andalgala and the entire water basin. If the company finds gold from drilling expeditions and decides to build the open pit mining site, the entire population of 20,000 inhabitants could be displaced, leaving transnational mining interests as the only man of the high mountains. The mine is owned by Agua Rica, a subsidiary of Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold producer which plans to begin mining operations in the town of Andalgalá in 2012. Yamana Gold has mining sites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Honduras. Yamana failed to comply with the law in conducting a study on the environmental impact required by the provincial Mining Secretary, making exploration illegal. The Agua Rica site in Andalgala would be three times the size of another mining operation in Catamarca, La Alumbrera which has caused environmental and health risks for residents since it opened in 1998. La Alumbrera is currently the largest open pit mining site in Argentina. Police repression Activists from the Citizen’s Assembly of Andalgalá have been blockading the mine site for two months. The Assembly, made up of a wide array of residents, has called for a local plebiscite on mining operations. Their request was met with police force. More than 60 people were injured on February 12 when police escorted excavating equipment through a protest blockade to the controversial open pit mine site. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters –women and children are among the injured. Nearly 50 demonstrators were arrested, of which 12 are still being detained. The passionate police attack against anti-mining activists sparked an uprising, with protestors breaking windows, attacking mining offices and trucks owned by Agua Rica in response to the arrests and crackdown. Less than 20 hours after the police attack, more than 4,000 gathered in Andalgala’s center to protest the mine. Leading up to the February 12 repression, the mayor of Andalgala, Jose Perea, who is so enthusiastic about the prospects of a mining invasion said in an interview with a local radio station, FM Z “if it is necessary we would kill the people maintaining the blockade against Agua Rica.” The mayor also lead a pro-mining march with nearly 100 public employees participating, which prompted a march of over 4,000 residents resisting the Agua Rica mine. Empty promises Andalgala resist the mining site having seen the negative effects of the La Alumbrera which has contaminated water sheds provincial wide. “After 12 years since the La Alumbrera, the largest open mining operation, the promises of wellbeing and distribution of wealth from mining has not been fulfilled in the province of Catamarca,” says the Union of Assemblies of Catamarca. The Alumbrera site uses between 600 million to 1 billion liters of water of day from depleted water tables to process the ore in a process which involves exploding mountains, removing ore, crushing the ore and mixing it with chemicals such as cyanide to make a metal rich slurry. The slurry is process and de-liquefied. The contaminated water is pumped back into aquifers and rivers. The site at Andalgala would be three times the size of Alumbrera and estimated to use 3 billion liters of water a day. The pristine waters from the mountain springs will be the source to be mixed into the pools that contain cyanide and heavy metals. “Not only has mining generated pollution and health problems, in addition it hasn’t created jobs or resources. Catamarca continues to be or is more poor than before, Andalgala has the highest unemployment in the province,” said Urbano Cardozo in an interview with Lavaca, an alternative media collective in Argentina. No more than 40 local residents from Andalgala, out of a population of 20,000 are employed by the mine, which Mayor Parea has admitted. “We share the air and soil, work with local suppliers, hire local employees and build relationships in the same regions in which we operate,” says Yamana Gold Inc on its website. Public relations for the Canadian company adds, “We listen to and value input from communities, embrace the rich local cultural and economic opportunities and as a result our community relations are incredibly strong.” The citizens’ demands against mining operations and the threat of displacement have fallen on deaf ears. Threats and abuses Anti-Mining Protest, Argentina Indymedia In a report conducted by the UNESCO Chair of Higher Education Management, from the Technical University of Catalonia in Spain reports serious human rights violations and environmental pollution as a result of mining activities in Argentina. The report titled, “Human Rights in Northeastern Argentina 2008-2009,” describes “pressures and threats against the populations that protest against damage caused” from mining activity. In Andalgala, Raul Martinez, Diola de Martinez, Ruth Vega, Carmen Chaile and Teresita Nieto, all participants in the Andalgala Citizen’s Assembly resisting mining activities have received threats on separate occasions. The activists were called into the police station and were warned by the police chief that “if they don’t change their attitude about the blockade, next week the Border Guard and police will evict them by force, and we will beat you.” The citizen’s assembly says that one long time activist, Aldo Flores, has been the target of death threats and police harassment in the days leading up to the crackdown. The UNESCO report defined the social responsibility of the mining companies as “an example of private assistance, that seeks to manipulate and condition freedom of thinking and consciousness of the residents in the affected that receive minute benefits from mining firms with the only objective of gaining a ‘social license’ to extract natural resources.” Among the companies mentioned in the report include Barrick Gold, Meridian Gold, Xstrata, Wheaton River Minerals y Northern Orion Resources. Currently in Argentina, there are more than 200 mining sites operating. In many of the communities, companies construct libraries, schools, public health clinics that resemble cheap warehouses, which will likely collapse shortly after the mining companies operations dry up. Mining companies only have to pay 3 percent in royalties on minerals extracted from Argentine territory and are allowed to pollute the environment with chemicals like cyanide, used to extract mineral ores from open pit mining sites. Three percent is a small price to pay for the billions of dollars extracted in mineral ores from Argentina’s soil. Minerals have become Argentina's largest export, valued at nearly 80 billion dollars over the past decade. In places like Catamarca, royalties represent nearly 80 percent of fiscal income. “Which is why the government does not investigate or control studies conducted by the companies,” according to the UNESCO Study. Disappearing communities Community groups throughout Argentina have tried shut down open pit mining sites, which national legislation permits. The struggle against mining in Andalgala has lead to a court order temporarily suspending Agua Mina from conducting further explorations. Now residents want a permanent sanction against the mining site which could literally displace the entire population, since one proposed site is located directly under residents’ homes. Nearly 600,000 people have been displaced due to mining operations and the expansion of agro-industry such as soy since 2000 according to a study conducted by environmental group Redaf, Red Agroforestal Chaco Argentina. Throughout Argentina, social movements are resisting mining, which they say is turning the nation’s natural resources into a cheap commodity for foreign transnational companies to exploit.

Radio Report: In Argentina human rights groups raise alarm over police violence against youth

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In Argentina, government efforts to confront corruption and brutality in the police force have gone through starts and stops, with attention in the 1990s falling to economic and political pressures in more recent years. Now, human rights groups report an alarming increase in police violence against poor youth. The disappearance of a 16-year-old in a Buenos Aires suburb has shed light on police corruption and officers who are quick to use force. FSRN’s Marie Trigona reports from Buenos Aires.
Photo credit: Mimi Schiffman

Where is Luciano Arruga? Disappeared in Argentina’s Democracy

Demanding Justice at Police Station

Written by Marie Trigona, Photos by Mimi Schiffman

Toward Freedom

"Everything is kept in the spine of memory that is life and history. The memory picks at people until they bleed when they keep it moored and don’t let it fly free like the wind" - Leon Gieco, Argentine folksinger and songwriter.

"‘Where is Luciano Arruga?’" His mother, Monica Alegre, struggles to answer this question, responding with hopelessness and despair in her eyes, the look of a mother who has lost her child. "Luciano Arruga is a 16-year old boy who was forcefully disappeared on January 31, 2009."

One year since his disappearance authorities, relatives and neighbors still have no trace of Luciano’s whereabouts. A growing movement of relatives demanding justice for and an end to crimes committed at the hands of police against their loved ones has joined the cries of "Where is Luciano Arruga?"

Luciano Arruga, working class youth from the suburban de-industrialized beltway of Buenos Aires, was disappeared in democracy. According to witness accounts and the little evidence collected in the investigation, his disappearance points to the model of police corruption and ‘easy trigger’ police who’ve turned violence against poor youths into an institution in the marginalized outskirts of the nation’s capital.

Luciano’s life

Luciano lived in a two room cement brick house with his mother and two younger siblings in the neighborhood of Lomas del Mirador, in the Greater Buenos Aires municipality of La Matanza. Like most boys his age in Greater Buenos Aires, he liked music, played the guitar and worked for months selling collected cardboard to save up for his first MP3 player. He was the oldest brother in his family, a heavy burden for a boy who lost his father at the age of 8.

"I don’t have hopes of finding Luciano if the police continue to operate in a similar fashion with complete complicity from the political and judicial system," says Vanessa Orieta, Luciano’s sister. The two siblings had a special relationship; Luciano looked up to his sister who is a student at the University of Buenos Aires. Shortly before he was last seen, Luciano decided that he wanted to go back to school to finish high school and give his sister his diploma as a present.

Leading up to his disappearance, Luciano was the victim of harassment from local police. According to his sister and mother, on several occasions he was offered to ‘work for’ the police who promised him that he would be able to buy himself brand name sneakers and take care of his mom. When he declined, the threats began. Twice, Luciano was detained at the local police station in Lomas del Mirador, on June 22 and September 21, 2009. "Luciano couldn’t walk over to my house, because the police would stop him, threatening him that he would end up in a ditch," said Orieta.

Luciano's mother, Monica Alegre, in front of a banner that reads the date of her son's disappearance. Photo by Mimi Schiffman

Officials admit that police corruption in the Greater Buenos Aires police force remains widespread. Pablo Pimentel, human rights lawyer from the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights says the recruitment of poor youths to commit crimes for police is a rampant trend. "What happened to Luciano Arruga is not an isolated case. It’s part of a culture of the provincial police who recruit vulnerable youths from poor neighborhoods to go out and rob for the police. The police accuse you of crimes you didn’t commit if you don’t work for them." He adds that because residents fear police repercussions they avoid reporting corruption. Luciano’s mother says the mistake she made that she will pay the rest of her life for is not taking action against the police harassment her son faced following his refusal to work for the police.

The last time his mother saw her son was the night of January 31, 2009. Luciano told his mother that he was going out and asked her for money, he gave her .25 cents, all that she had. He exchanged with her a smile and kiss. According to witnesses, Luciano was last seen on a corner four blocks from the police station. "At midnight, my son was disappeared. It happened at night when no one was around to see, my son was alone, defenseless and they took advantage of him," says Alegre.

Faulty investigation

Hours after Luciano didn’t return home his mother began to worry. When his mother went to the police station, they told her, "’don’t worry, he’ll show up.’ And they laughed in my face." Public prosecutor Celia Cejas told the national daily Pagina/12 that "the strongest hypothesis is that police are responsible." However, during the first 45-days of the investigation, no evidence was collected because the former prosecutor suspected Arruga of selling drugs. The previous prosecutor was removed and Cejas conducted a rescue dog search. From the dog search, traces of Luciano were found in a patrol car parked in the precinct’s driveway. Police records also recorded that the patrol car were stopped in municipal lot where traces of Arruga were also detected.

A prisoner identified Arruga from a photo, and testified that he had seen the youth in the station after being tortured. However, the prosecutor Cejas discounted the testimony. The eight officers on duty the night of Arruga’s disappearance were removed from precinct to be transferred to another by provincial Security Minister Carlos Stornelli. Arruga’s family lawyers have requested that the police officers on duty be asked to testify as witnesses in the case, to evaluate whether their testimonies contradict.

The social stigma of forced disappearances

"Until his body appears, we can’t say that the police killed Luciano Arruga. We can only suspect that police killed him," says provincial Human Rights Minister Sara Derotier de Cobacho. The Human Rights Minister is an expert on the stigma of disappearances. Her two sons and daughter in law were disappeared during the dictatorship, kidnapped in the night by commando groups, taken to clandestine detention centers, tortured and later their bodies were never to be found. She forms part of the human rights group, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo who still after 30 years continue to search for the whereabouts of their children and justice for those responsible for the disappearances.

"Where is Luciano Arruga?" Photo by Mimi Schiffman

The act of forced disappearances has left deep wounds in Argentina. More than 30,000 were disappeared during the nation’s bloody military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. The Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared (FEDEFAM) was formed in 1981. FEDEFAM defines forced disappearances as a method to instill terror and a violation of all basic human rights. "The objective of forced disappearance is not simply the victim's capture and subsequent maltreatment, which often occurs in the absence of legal guarantees. Because of the anonymity of the captors, and subsequent impunity, it also creates a state of uncertainty and terror both in the family of the victim and in society as a whole."

Even after the return to democracy in 1983, the legacy of forced disappearances has continued in Argentina. Miguel Bru, a student from La Plata, was killed in a police station in 1993 but his body was never found. Julio Lopez went missing three years ago on September 18, 2006 in his hometown of La Plata, Argentina. The disappearance of the witness Julio Lopez in 2006 has reignited painful memories of selective repression with impunity and fears about the possibility of violent repercussions against survivors and witnesses participating in human rights trials.

In the case of Luciano Arruga, activists participating in the campaign to bring to the alarming increase in police violence and corruption to public view have received threats. Juan Tevez, a 22-year-old activist with a grass roots movement of unemployed workers, Frente Dario Santillan, received a phone call on January 31, after attending an anniversary event for Arruga’s case. The caller asked Tevez ‘if this was his number’ and proceeded to say that he knew this date was special for him. The call ended with the caller playing a funeral march. "The case of Luciano Arruga represents the stigmatization of poor youths. The media tells the public that poor kids are criminals, which allows the police to commit abuses," says Tevez in an interview with Toward Freedom. He adds, "Our campaign into the whereabouts of Luciano Arruga questions the repressive state institutions like the police. Those of us who are receiving threats are young people who’ve chosen not to stay quiet and not to accept police violence; this is why they are upset because they want to silence us."

Movement against police violence

On the year anniversary of Arruga’s disappearance, hundreds gathered in La Matanza for a festival against police repression. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and compañeros carry photos of their loved ones who fell victim to police violence. Since 1983, 2,826 people have died at the hands of easy trigger police or inside prisons or juvenile institutes. Half of those deaths were of young poor males under 25 years of age, reports the human rights group, Coordinator Against Police Repression (CORREPI).

"The state is responsible. The state trains the police. Police officers are given honors, a diploma, a badge, a gun to kill and a license for it to be legal," says Alegre. "Our youths need opportunities, not police." Luciano Arruga has entered the lexicon of terror and impunity, where security forces stigmatize society with the uncertainty of the victim’s whereabouts or ultimate fate. However, a growing movement against state repression wants to break the walls of impunity.

Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and documentary producer based in Argentina. She can be reached through her blog www.mujereslibres.blospot.com

Argentina: Disappearing Farmers, Disappearing Food

Written by Marie Trigona for TOWARD FREEDOM

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Worldwide, industrial mono-culture farming has displaced traditional food production and farmers, wreaking havoc on food prices and food sovereignty. This is particularly true for the global south, where land has been concentrated for crops destined for biodiesel and animal feed. In response, peasants and small farmers organized actions in more than 53 countries on October 15 for International Food Day as an initiative of Via Campesina, one of the largest independent social movement organizations, representing nearly 150 million people globally. The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina joined the protests taking place on around the world by organizing a march in Buenos Aires for International Food Day. Argentina has often been described as South America’s bread basket because it once produced grain and beef for much of the region. But with the transgenetic soy boom the nation has shifted to a mono culture production for export, displacing traditional food production and farmers. Hundreds of campesinos marked the day with protests against this agricultural model outside of Argentina’s Department of Agriculture. “For the government, the countryside [is made up of] the landholding organizations and the agro-businesses, we practically don’t exist,” says Javier from the campesino movement in Cordoba, an organization that includes more than 1,500 families who have depended on traditional agriculture for generations. “We are also part of the countryside. We are the ones who live on the land and protect the land. We want to continue to live on our land, for future generations.” Evicted Farmers According to Argentina’s 2008 agricultural census, more than 60,000 farms shut down between 2002 and 2008, while the average size of farms increased from 421 to 538 hectares. The shift to soy has replaced cultivation of many grains and vegetables and even the country’s beef production. Researcher at the nation’s social research institute CONICET, Tamara Peremulter outlines the affects of monoculture soy on food production. “Soy historically hasn’t been grown in Argentina. Soy was brought in during the 1960’s during the Green Revolution. Transgenetic soy has been brought to lands where before cultivation wouldn’t have been possible. The low production cost of soy helped this process. Soy has replaced other crops, invading areas that were historically for cattle grazing and dairy production. Soy has also invaded indigenous and traditional farming communities. This model also implies deforestation and loss of biodiversity” Land access and disputes over land titles has become one of the central issues for traditional farmers being replaced by machinery and high tech mono-culture farms. The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina (MNCI) reports that 82 percent of farmers live off of 13 percent of the nation’s land used for agriculture, while 4 percent of large land holders or “growing pools” financial investors in the agro industry own more than 65 percent. The disparities in land titles have lead to violent evictions. On October 12, 2009 a day on which indigenous communities commemorate the genocide of their people following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492, an indigenous farmer, Javier Chacoba was murdered during a protest against the forced eviction of indigenous people off of lands. The 68-old farmer died of a gun shot wound to the abdomen by Dario Amín, a landowner. Members of the Chuschagasta community had been camping along a provincial highway bordering the lands to demand land recognition for the Chuschagasta when Amín and two ex-police officers showed up at the protest. “On the day commemorating 519 years of genocide in Latin America, we suffered the loss of our brother (Javeri Chacobar) for simply standing up for his rights, defending his dignity and land that belongs to him,” said Margarita Mamaní, member of the Chuschagasta community. “They have been evicting farmers and members of the indigenous community from lands. People have been killed in the evictions,” says Ricardo Ortiz is an indigenous representative from The Campesino Movement of Santiago del Estero (MOCASE). More than 9,000 families make up MOCASE, a grassroots movement of traditional farmers and indigenous groups. “Now they killed a farmer in Tucuman, a brother. He was in a march to demand their rights and the man who bought the lands took out a gun and shot the man and injured four more. The government has been blind, deaf and mute; this is why we are worried.” Police Repression In 2008 alone more than 35 campesinos were arrested and arrest warrants issued for 95 more, in Mendoza, Formosa and Santiago del Estero, in communities rejecting the agro-industrial model. Santiago del Estero is a province once rich in forest land and untouched by soy. This changed as the boom in soy prices has made these remote areas now profitable for soy growers. This is a “witch hunt,” as the MNCI has described the situation for campesinos resisting land evictions, and defending traditional cultures. Local police enforce eviction orders and meet any resistance with police force, clubs and many times bullets. “Campesinos resisting are suffering a violent political persecution. We demand that detained farmers are released, that officials, judges and police that violate human rights be investigated and that evictions are stopped,” declared the MNCI. Agro Industry Creates Joblessness The shift to mono-culture crops and land concentration has stretched into cultivations traditionally employing small farmers such as vineyards. Argentina’s wine industry has boomed in recent years, with the total value of Argentine wine in the US increasing from 75 million to 146 million dollars between 2006 and 2008. Mendoza is Argentina’s largest wine producing region, with a micro climate perfect for the Malbec grape. Access to water is a major issue for rural and indigenous communities there. Marcelo Quieroga from the Union of Rural Workers (UST) says that much of the vineyards in Mendoza have been monopolized by French and Swiss investors, who buy land and mechanize wine production. “They are using machinery to replace workers. By producing high quality wines for export the wineries have essentially monopolized the production. Who suffers is the rural worker who can’t find work, and ends up living in a shanty town due to rural unemployment.” Rural displacement results in poverty and joblessness; the poorest provinces in Argentina have ironically hosted a boom in soy industry, with soy fields replacing forests and even cattle grazing land. The MNCI has reported that the soy model creates only one job post for every 500 hectares cultivated. Meanwhile, traditional agriculture provides 35 job posts for every 100 hectares cultivated, while also guaranteeing food diversity, production or local markets and sustainable use of resources such as land and water. Food Sovereignty Industrialization and the globalization of Argentina’s food system has led to spikes in food prices, and increasing rural poverty. This has become a global trend. “A billion people are without food because industrial monocultures robbed them of their livelihoods in agriculture and their food entitlements,” writes Vandana Shiva in the Nation Magazine. Via Campesina does have an alternative to the agro industry, pushing for governments to promote local, traditional farming which provides communities with real food. “It’s time for all civil society to recognize the gravity of this situation, global capital should not control our food, nor make decisions behind closed doors. The future of our food, the protection of our resources and especially our seeds, are the right of the people,” said Dena Hoff, coordinator of Via Campesina North America. Food sovereignty as defined by Via Campesina is the peoples’ right to define their agricultural and food policy, and the right of farmers and peasants to produce food. Worldwide communities are seeking an alternative to a model controlled by Cargill, Monsanto, General Foods, Nestle and Kraft foods. Starved by industrialization and concentration, citizens are now hungry for traditional production methods and diversity in the food system. *** Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in Argentina. She can be reached at mtrigona@msn.com

Kraft Firings Feed Protests

Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)

Mass firings at Kraft Foods' plant in Argentina sparked protests throughout the nation, and ignited a new wave of worker organizing. In August, Kraft fired 160 workers after they went on strike to demand proper health measures at the company's factory in suburban Buenos Aires during the swine flu epidemic in Argentina. Most of the fired workers were active union members; almost all of the factory's union delegates were fired.

Kraft workers carry out a series of road blockades and a total work stoppage for more than 40 days. Photo: Marie Trigona.

Kraft workers responded by taking over the plant. They staged a 40-day work stoppage, with the majority of the 3,000 workers participating in the strike. The U.S.-based company has accused protesting workers of prohibiting personnel from leaving the plant, but the union says that they were camping inside the plant peacefully to demand their jobs. On Sep. 25, police attacked the workers and removed them by force so Kraft could resume plant operations.

The factory looks more like a prison than a factory. Barbed wire borders the gates, guards walk the perimeter with attack dogs, and police patrol on horseback. Union members are barred from entering.

"There are police inside the plant. The inspectors are going to the lines and forcing people to work. Outside the plant, there are police surrounding the factory," says Carlos Mores, a union delegate fired from Kraft.

Kraft: King of Consolidation

Kraft's history is laden with acquisitions, buyouts, consolidations, and the raw concentration of market power. The company dates back to 1903 when James L. Kraft opened a cheese distributor in Chicago, Illinois. In 1913, Kraft opened its first plant to manufacture cheese. Kraft's claim to fame came through consolidation and following Andrew Carnegie's motto: "Put all your eggs into one basket and then watch that basket, do not scatter your shot. The great successes of life are made by concentration."

By World War II the cheese giant was sending 4 million pounds of its patented pasteurized processed cheese to Britain weekly. Founding itself on the coattails of the military-industrial complex, its next frontier was the American housewife's modern kitchen, encouraged to cook easier, tastier, faster foods with a much lower nutritional value.

Kraft grew to become one of the largest food companies in the world after acquiring Nabisco Brands in 2000. Soon after, the Marlboro Man purchased Kraft in 1992. Altria (the new name for tobacco and food giant Phillip Morris) by 2000 planned to spin off control of Kraft Foods, which now is the second largest food company in the world, after Nestle.

The company produces in more than 70 countries, and distributes in more than 150 countries. In many countries, like Argentina, the food processing leader quietly buys out local brands and markets the brand under the same name. Consolidation of market power throughout the food industry has been a creeping trend, and Argentina's food market is no exception. Kraft's largest gem in Argentina is the Terrabusi cookie brand.

In 1994 Nabisco foods purchased Terrabusi, the nation's largest cookie/cracker manufacturer. At the time, the factory employed 8,000. By 2009, that number shrunk by half to only 4,000 workers. The company cornered nearly 50% of the nation's cookie market, making Kraft's plant in the working class suburb of Pacheco one of the most important outside the United States.

The U.S. multinational reaped record profits in 2008, taking in $42 billion dollars in revenue. "Kraft is one company that has managed to do well in spite of the economic downturn, because hey, people have to eat," boasts a Kraft online video. With skyrocketing food prices, many consumers turned to more economical, processed food, helping Kraft's stocks peak at an all-time high on Sep. 18, 2008 at $34 a share.

Anti-Union Practices

Around the country people organized actions in solidarity with the workers of ex-Terrabusi, today Kraft Foods, Inc. Photo: Marie Trigona.

During the swine flu outbreak in Argentina in July, the health ministry issued guidelines for workplaces. These included providing anti-bacterial soap, alcohol gel, and paper towels for increased hygiene and granting leave to pregnant women working in enclosed spaces, who are known to be at greater risk from the virus.

"The conflict started during the H1N1 epidemic," says Fernando, a worker fired from Kraft. "We were demanding improvements like paper towels, toilet paper, alcohol gel, and other health measures. Because we made our demands, they fired 160 workers."

In addition, the company refused to give pregnant women and women with children maternity leave. The Labor Ministry requested that Kraft Foods take health precautions, as schools, public spaces, and workplaces were shut down throughout the country to prevent the H1N1 virus from spreading, but the corporation refused. In addition, the company shut down the company daycare center offering women 200 pesos (70 dollars) to find their own private child care. The Labor Ministry or Food and Beverage Union did not intervene, but the ministry described Kraft as a "hard company" in respect to the labor conflict.

During this time, the company brought in police to guard the factory. According to union representatives, the company went so far as to bring in managers to interrogate workers with the police present, but without the workers' labor lawyers. The workers decided to hold a work-stoppage, showing up for their shifts and then camping inside the factory.

The U.S. company accused protesting workers of prohibiting personnel from entering the plant and threatening managers, but the union says that they were peacefully protesting to assert their demands. After striking workers went to the factory administrative offices, Kraft decided to fire 160 of the workers inside the plant.

A month-long campaign followed, to demand that the workers be rehired and persecution of union activists be halted. Workers carried out a series of road blockades and a total work stoppage for more than 40 days. Around the country, students, union activists, unemployed workers, and human rights groups organized actions in solidarity with the workers of ex-Terrabusi, today Kraft Foods, Inc.

For Kraft Foods, unionists and strikes blemish the company's public image. According to Sara Jones from the Say No to Kraft campaign in the United States, Kraft's headquarters have been following developments in Argentina closely. "One of the main reasons we're creating a solidarity campaign from here in Chicago is because the headquarters is located in Illinois and we are well aware that they are managing this 'operation.' On websites dedicated to news about the struggle we have seen the IP addresses of 17 computers that are connected from EDS/Kraft Glenview, IL."

Activists in Kraft's home state Illinois began the campaign in solidarity with the Argentine workers following the firings and have led a boycott campaign against the food leader, with products in 98% of American homes.

In the midst of a global economic crisis, job losses can literally destroy a family. At a time when Kraft has reported record profits, it decides to fire workers. Kraft has admitted that it fired the workers for participating in protests against the company. However, many of the delegates say that in addition to purging union activists from the company, Kraft planned to restructure shifts by cutting an entire shift and imposing extended hours on the others.

"The company wants to implement 12-hour shifts, but they need to cut personnel. First they had to remove all of the labor organization inside the plant—our elected union delegates and internal commission at the factory," says Fernando.

Signs point to a premeditated decision to fire the workers, with Kraft using the protests as an excuse to lay-off 160 workers en masse and rid themselves of union activism. In an interview published in Pagina/12 Labor Minister Carlos Tomada said that the conflict at the Kraft factory was "a conflict where the company made a decision to get revenge on its workers."

Kraft's Hopes for a Banana Republic

Following failed negotiations between the Labor Ministry, Kraft, and union delegates late on Sep. 25, police surrounded the plant and attacked protestors. They arrested 60 people and injured 12, police shot tear gas and rubber bullets, beating others and attacking protestors while on horseback. "Kraft is a North American multinational that has the money to finance repression and pay fines to the Labor Ministry when they violate Argentina's labor laws," says Fernando. The corporation has violated the Obligatory Conciliation period ordered by the Labor Ministry which would enforce the temporary rehiring of all fired workers until both sides of the conflict reached an agreement. Kraft even called for the U.S. embassy to take its side in the increasingly costly labor conflict.

Since the strike, the company has only reinitiated normal production on five of its 36 product lines. During the 40-day work stoppage, the production lines were paralyzed, including the Oreo line, clogging pipes with the white cream used in the cookies. The factory's silos have accumulated bugs contaminating flour supplies. Kraft's Director of Corporate Affairs Pedro Lopez Matheu said that the company has seen "significant losses," compared to 2008 sales in Argentina topping 370 million dollars.

During the eviction, police detained protesters inside the factory in a scene reminiscent of when unions were persecuted, detained, and disappeared inside the Ford factory during the nation's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Human rights lawyer Maria del Carmen Verdu says Kraft is in violation of Argentina's criminal code because it used the plant as a detention center. "Instead of being taken to the police stations, prisoners were detained inside the factory, in an unprecedented circumstance where lawyers couldn't even enter the place where the prisoners were being detained."

Business leaders of the Industrial Union of Argentina (IUA) are pushing the government to get tough on rising protests. They fear the protests could interfere with their plans for massive layoffs using the economic crisis as an excuse. The UIA reports that since 2008 there have been more than 220,000 layoffs in Argentina.

"Here in Argentina the economic crisis is getting worse. Many companies need to 'restructure' and cut labor costs to maintain profits," says Carlos Mores, another union delegate fired from Kraft who witnessed the police attacks on Sep. 25. "Kraft Foods, and other multinationals that have the UIA's support, are seeking to restructure personnel. This is why the government allows violent repression against workers, in scenes we haven't seen since the military dictatorship. Because they want the workers to carry the burden of the economic crisis."

Violating its promise to stop the firings, on Sep. 26 Kraft suspended 100 more workers who they suspected of participating in protests. On Sep. 28, thousands of workers and supporters marched in Buenos Aires to demand that the workers be rehired. The Kraft case quickly became emblematic of a larger battle over who would pay for the economic crisis—workers or the companies who skimmed off record profits before the fall.

"When the conflict started over health measures for the swine flu, Kraft already had a plan to fire the union delegates in order to make cut backs, adding to poverty and unemployment throughout the region," said Nora Cortinas, from the human rights organization Mothers of Plaza de Mayo at the massive march in support of the Kraft workers.

In the end, Kraft agreed to review the dismissals "on a case-by-case basis." The only offer the company has made was to 50 of the workers, saying that the fired workers are dangerous to the company, according to Kraft's Lopez Matheu. The union delegates have refused this offer at the latest round of talks at the Labor Ministry.

The U.S. Embassy has not intervened directly. However, it issued a statement that contained the veiled threat of reduced foreign investment flows. "The embassy has been following the conflict based on our interest in promoting U.S. investments in Argentina, which have helped generate jobs for over 150,000 Argentine workers."

"Inside and outside, the plant has been militarized," says Mores. The company's most direct violation of Argentina's labor code has been to prohibit union delegates from entering the plant. According to the law, companies must allow even suspended delegates to fulfill their roles inside the plant. The Labor Ministry has reiterated the delegates' right to fulfill their duties, but provincial police and barbed wire protecting the factory has made this an impossible feat.

Kraft's Anti-Union Practices Across the Globe

"Kraft has a history of getting rid of the organized workers and union organizers that are not under their control," says Jones, from the campaign to boycott Kraft in the United States. Colombia's Food Union, Sinaltrainal, has reported persecution of union members at Kraft factories in that country.

Kraft closed five factories in South America after the acquisition of Nabisco brands. Since 2003, the company has fired hundreds of workers, cutting personnel by 37%. When firings weren't enough to stave off union activity, the company has resorted to direct threats, as in the case of a group of 30 workers who were locked inside a lunch room and told to sign letters of recognition. After workers realized that they were locked inside, they refused to sign and held a protest in front of the Colombian factory. Similar to the Argentine case, in Colombia Kraft has also used the police to forcefully remove protesting workers from factories.

"The plant managers that have passed through this company over the last six years have had rising careers, climbing through various posts and seeking promotion by strictly applying the company's anti-union policies and using coercive measures against the workers," states the Sinaltrainal union in Colombia.

The U.S. boycott campaign states that Kraft has also played a role in the recent Honduran coup. "Kraft Foods has ties with the coup in Honduras," says Jones. "The Kraft Foods Company is a member of the Honduran American Chamber of Commerce—AMCHAM Honduras, which strongly supports the coup in Honduras and has stated its support for Micheletti." Kraft joined CitiBank and Wal-Mart, also members of AMCHAM, in a public statement of support for the "new president of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti."

The Honduran National Business Council, of which AMCHAM is a member, issued a press release on the day the Honduran Armed Forces kidnapped the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya, and forced him onto a flight bound for Costa Rica. "President Zelaya's departure comes as a result of a systematic violation, by the government he headed, of the constitution and Honduran laws … What occurred today was the not changing of one president for another; today, framed in national unity, respect for the constitution, national laws, and institutionalism was achieved," states the press release.

The Kraft conflict in Argentina may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It has already sparked massive protests as an outcry against further firings throughout the country. Many have said that if Kraft gets away with firings, it's a green light for companies in Argentina to follow suit. Other groups including the FUBA university student association, human rights group Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Linea Fundadora, Subway Workers, hospital employees throughout the nation, neighborhood assemblies, and unions are fighting for representation in their locales throughout the country to demand an end to repression of union activity and firings. The broad-based citizen response shows the resentment that has built up against transnational corporations that violate national sovereignty by breaking labor norms and laws, and unresponsive unions and governments unwilling to defend workers.

Kraft may have met its match in Argentina. The country has a long tradition of labor organizing and strong and active social movements. The current crisis has heightened demands for a new economic model less dependent on foreign investors and companies that use mobility as a way to control workers in developing countries.

Marie Trigona is a journalist based in Argentina and writes regularly for the Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org). She can be reached at mtrigona(a)msn.com.

To reprint this article, please contact americas@ciponline.org. The opinions expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of the CIP Americas Program or the Center for International Policy.

Sources

Honduran Chamber of Commerce Press Release:
http://www.cohep.com/pdf/Press%20Release%20June%20the%2029th%202009.pdf

Say NO to Kraft Campaign Facebook Campaign
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124299898146

Sinaltrainal "Kraft Foods genera desempleo, hambre y miseria en Colombia"
http://www.sinaltrainal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=620&Itemid=93

May Day Massacre - 100 years ago: Simón Radowitzky, Anarchist and Legend

By Trigona, Marie
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3850


May 1, 1909. Police kill thirty workers in a South American city. The workers are gunned down and violently beaten during a protest to demand an eight hour work day and remember the Hay Market Martyrs. Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, was the scene of this massacre targeting the anarchist-labor movement which proliferated throughout the region through the beginning of the 20th century.

One of Argentina's first unions, the anarcho-syndicalist Federacion Obrera Regional Argentina (FORA) organized the May Day protest in 1909, joining workers around the world mobilizing on May 1 to demand the institution of an 8-hour-long workday and commemorate the Chicago martyrs; Parsons, Engel, Spies, Fischer, executed by hanging at the hands of the United States government and Lingg, who committed suicide in his jail cell. Buenos Aires police commissioner, Coronel Ramón L. Falcón, legendary for his anti-anarchist and immigrant tendencies, gave the order to brutally repress the peaceful May Day protest.

Thousands of workers from the FORA began to mobilize in the late afternoon in Plaza Lorea, in front of Congress on May 1, 1909. Shortly before the speakers began, Coronel Falcón ordered police to break up the protest. The squadron mounted on horses, armed with clubs and bullets, attacked the unarmed anarchists. Those who could escape ran to inform of the police repression. A witness of the event, Dardo Cuneo gave the account from a separate socialist May Day act 20 blocks away, "among those who arrived from Plaza Lorea with the news of the police repression, was a young man...in his hand he had a blood stained scarf. 'This is the blood of the brothers and sisters who were killed,' he said in his foreign accent. Afterward it was discovered, when a newspaper published his photo, that the young man with a blood stained scarf clenched in his fist was named Simón Radowitzky" (Juan B. Justo, Editorial América Lee, Buenos Aires, 1943).


Simon Radowitzky

Six months later, a young anarchist named Simon Radowitzky took justice into his own hands - organizing a direct action against Coronel Ramon Falcon. He threw a bomb at the Coronel's coach, killing Falcon in the act. We can only assume that Radowitzky was deeply hurt by the bloodshed and deaths at the hands of the police. Knowing that Falcon would order future police repression against workers, Radowitzky wanted to prevent future bloodshed.

Radowitzky, of Russian origin and barely 18-years-old, was sentenced to life in prison in the Siberia of Argentina, Ushuaia. At his trial he admitted to throwing the bomb which killed Falcon. "I killed Colonel Falcon because he ordered the massacre of workers. I am the son of working people and a brother of those who have died fighting the bourgeoisie."

Anarchist historian, Osvaldo Bayer wrote a number of books and articles on Radowitzky, including Simón Radowitzky, ¿mártir o asesino?. Anarchists made several attempts for Radowitzky's release and organized an international campaign to "Free Radowitsky." Bayer writes that Radowitzky stood up to all humiliations in prison and defended his fellow prisoners who respected Radowitzky as a man jailed for defending his ideals. The campaign for his release continued until he was finally freed in 1930, after 20 years of hell and almost complete isolation. He was expelled from Argentina, taking Uruguay as his new home. When the Spanish Revolution broke out, he headed for Spain in 1936 to join the anarchist division on the Aragon Front. Radowitzky died of a heart attack on February 29, 1956 as a true internationalist in Latin America - far from his birth place Russia.

Simon Radowitzky left a tradition of anarchist-individualist action. After Radowitzky, came the anarchist expropriators, individuals who employed direct, violent means to undermine what they saw as an unjust, corrupt and violent political and economic system. Whether or not these actions were justified can be debated, but it must be taken into consideration the violent attacks that the state and state apparatus has imposed on the oppressed in order to judge whether violence should be used against the state as a method of defense or social revolution.


Tradition of State Violence

Brutal state violence against working class resistance did not begin nor end with the 1909 May Day massacre. The Argentine State implemented a number of measures in fear of growing manifestations of radical activity - particularly anarchism. Ten years after the 1909 massacre, four workers were killed by police in Buenos Aires, Argentina starting "la semana tragic" or the tragic week. On January 7th, 1919, military officers used deadly force against striking workers echoing the worldwide demand for an eight hour day and improved wages in the Vesena Iron Workers plant in the capital city. Two days after the start of the tragic week, the FORA mobilized hundreds of thousands of people into the streets. The military, police and company vigilante groups cracked down on the general strike as hundreds of workers were killed and more than 50,000 were arrested during the tragic week. Later in 1921, the Patagonia Rebelde took place, with the mass shooting of over 1,500 rural workers on strike in the southern region of Patagonia.

Argentina would see several military dictatorships after 1909. The most brutal being the 1976-1983 military junta which imposed absolute terror throughout the population. During the nation's darkest chapter, the dictatorship disappeared more than 30,000 people - students, labor organizers, and activists, victims of the military's unimaginable methods of terror. The military dictatorship systematized the practice of forced disappearances and torture with U.S. financial support and training. Like the previous massacres throughout the century, the military sought to wipe out political opponents and growing social movements in order to implement an economic model in line with the Washington Consensus. They didn't want radical organizers who would challenge the accumulation of foreign debt, reliance on foreign investors and foreign corporations' industrial takeovers.

The military dictatorship successfully implemented a neo-liberal order, but they were unable to prevent future movements from trying to undo neoliberalism. State violence and the killing of activists transformed Argentina's labor movement, but it has not destroyed it which leads us to where we are today.


Historic Memory and Resistance

On May 1, 2009, workers and social movements will return to Plaza Lorea the location of an event that changed the face of working class history and the life of Simon Radowitzky, where he saw his fellow comrades fall victim to police violence a hundred years ago. The utopian dreams of the anarchists of social revolution a century ago have dwindled but hope reigns.

Ramon Falcon has been memorialized with bronze statues and his name given to police academies and streets. During the 70's, military dictatorship named a plaza tucked in a residential neighborhood after Ramon Falcon. In 2003, a neighborhood assembly unofficially changed the name of the Plaza to "Che Guevara," which was decided in a popular vote in which over 10,000 people voted. Falcon's memorial statue located in an upper-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires has been destroyed on a number of occasions. Falcon's memory as an honorable police official can be erased, his memory as a brutal repressor will remain in the historic memory of the oppressed.

This May Day comes as a recession is begins to unfold in Argentina, since October 2008 more than 55,000 people have lost their jobs. During this financial crisis when capitalism is at its weakest, the revolutionary spirit of Simon Radowitzky lives in the struggle of women and men who continue to fight for a better world, a world without exploitation and oppression. Radowitzky is alive in the subway workers who are fighting to form their own union in Buenos Aires subways; the autonomous social movements fighting transnational companies polluting the Andes mountains; the anarchist groups of today; the worker occupied factories where over 10,000 workers are producing without bosses or owners and the many social movement practicing direct democracy and carrying out their own direct actions against capitalism.

Que viva Simon Radowitzky y los Mártires de Chicago!


Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and video maker based in Buenos Aires. She can be contacted at mtrigona@msn.com

Poor Evicted in Buenos Aires

Radio Report
Free Speech Radio News
by Marie Trigona

In Buenos Aires, attractions like tango, quaint cafes and soccer matches bring millions of tourists to the South American city each year. But the boom in tourism and real estate values in Argentina's capitol and largest city, has also brought a housing crisis in which thousands have been evicted. FSRN's Marie Trigona reports.

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/poor-evicted-buenos-aires/3931

Three months since the killing of Carlos Fuentealba