Labour Research August 2004

Reviews

We are millions

Neo-liberalism and new forms of political action in Argentina

Marcela López Levy, Latin America Bureau, 144 pages, £7.99

In 2001 Argentina went from being an acclaimed free-market experiment to a meltdown economy with a political system lacking any legitimacy.

However, the crisis also provoked a popular uprising - known as the Argentinazo, which has thrown up a whole new vocabulary for protest actions.

The symbolic banging of pots and pans while demonstrating - the cacerolazo - is probably the image most will remember.

More important were the piqueteros - the unemployed workers movements - who organised road blockades to get government funding for work programmes.

Workers also occupied factories to keep their jobs - and over 100 are still in operation.

Finally large "neighbourhood assemblies" met and discussed the way forward for the protests.

We are millions is a good place to start for anyone who wants to understand these events.