This is not my first Cacerolazo, my first one was on somewhere in 2008, when K. took a few decisions to bring the agriculture (el campo), down. Protests were long, day after day, for weeks. Every evening at 8 pm people would open their windows, or just stand in front of their front doors, banging cooking pots and pans, while cars were honking their horns. I thought it was quite impressive. Some people would do it for 5 minutes, but others would keep on standing and banging in front of their window for half an hour or more. Then it was summer, everyone had his windows open and the noise is contagious. Now we are approaching winter, and windows are closed….
But the protesting has started again. Against inflation, corruption, insecurity, impunity, abuse of power, deceit, restriction of liberties,… In short, against everything that is not quite right here. And that is a lot.
What surprises me the most is how people complain, but yet don’t do anything about it. Some people say it is because in Argentina nobody is starving. Others say that it is because the profession of ‘politician’ is not considered an honorable job (as they have the reputation of being corrupt), nobody really wants to be one and start an opposition. But this flag says it all :
(‘I am not worried about the corruption, the violence, the dishonesty, the people without ethics, but what worries me the most is the silence of the good’ -which seems to be a saying by M.L.King)
This time people were asked to gather in specific places, the major one being the Plaza de Mayo, but every neighborhood seems to have its get together spot where one can go and make as much noise a you can with your cooking utensils. It is peaceful, but it is loud.
I was invited by mail, and asked to spread the word….just like hundreds of others.
All kinds of people go,
Young, old, women, men,…
Singing, banging, proud…
Today there weren’t all that many people, but the word spreads slowly. Maybe next week, or the week ofter that, the Cacerolazo will be everywhere in town….
this is the mail I got :
Por favor difundir a sus amistades. Gracias !!!
AQUÍ TODOS LOS PUNTOS DE ENCUENTROS DE CAPITAL FEDERAL, PROVINCIA DE
BUENOS AIRES E INTERIOR DEL PAÍS !!! DIFUNDIR !!
CAPITAL FEDERAL : PLAZA DE MAYO Y EL OBELISCONO IMPORTA DE TODO LO QUE NOS ACUSEN, NO IMPORTA COMO NOS CALIFIQUEN,
SI ESTAS EN DESACUERDO Y HARTO DE TANTA CORRUPCION, INSEGURIDAD,
INFLACION, IMPUNIDAD, KLIENTELISMO, ABUSOS DE PODER, ENGAÑOS,
RESTRICCION A NUESTRAS LIBERTADES, ENRIQUECIMIENTO DESMEDIDO DE
FUNCIONARIOS, INTERVENCION DEL ESTADO EN LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN, CENSURA, JUSTICIA DEPENDIENTE DEL PODER POLÍTICO, APRIETES, ENGAÑOS,MENTIRAS Y TANTO MAS…
PARTICIPÁ EN FORMA PACÍFICA Y PRUDENTE, NO TE PAREZCAS A LO QUE TANTO
CRITICAS !!
CON LA CONSTITUCIÓN TODO, SIN LA CONSTITUCIÓN NADA !!!!!
QUEREMOS NUESTRA ARGENTINA DE VUELTA !!!
The Feel Good Way 
10 responses to “Silent protest…”
“All kinds of people go,” you said… but i just see middle-high class people…
thats because these people were the ones standing in the front 🙂
Hi katti, watch this video,
at minute 4:40 you can see a real “cacerolazo” made by the people and its consecuences… this new kind of cacerolazos are a crude imitation of the original, where millons of the real working people take the streets…
I had already seen images like this. Let’s just hope it will not (have to) come this far this time….
Thanks for sharing!
Belive me, we are light-years ahead from a situation like that. Don’t worry!! Cheers
Well, I shall refrain from elaborating my opinion on this matter, given that I am an outspoken, confessed and convinced Kirchnerist since 2004. However, I would like to point out that this domino effect HAD its root on a political scheme by Max Gulmanelli, a high ranking PRO official.
Something that amazes me about the protesters is that they claim we are a “diktadura”…quite surprising we allow dissenting opinions in our regime, no?
Para pensarlo.
Anyway, regards! 😀
You are right, we were actually discussing this yesterday. There is always some kind of protest in town, and ever time the police is present to divert traffic so the protesters can protest in peace, and they even accompany then when they are moving. There certainly is ‘freedom of protest’…
By that logic Chavez’s Venezuela is a democratic paradise. The existence or expression of dissenting opinions is not a sufficient condition for Democracy. After all even in Cuba there are political dissidents.
Not everything is “quite right” here in argentina but since Cristina is our president we have improved a lot. You should have lived Argentina during the “menemato”
hello katti,i was just reading all your posts about argentina and i just want to point out that i dont know when did you came here..but really like marina said we are so much better than ever now..our governments have always taken measures against argentina´s people but that is only changing since the kirchners.that been said i dont think that ALL what they´ve done is perfection but since most of the things are only getting better,in opposition to what that flag expresses i think that it is a social phenomenon of argentina to keep protesting even when its not really needed.i mean,for example there have always been poverty,but even that has diminished in the last couple of years,and insecurity is increasing in every country but people is blaming that to cristina´s government. but those problems already existed before,but at that times argentina was so bad that there was so much to ask for that now people seems to have forgotten of this things being wrong already in the past .and as you said people is only complaining but i´ve never heard of an interesting idea that we can use to change those social problems..when some people passed that day outside of my appartment with their caserolas,me and my friend were talking about this.that while some of my friends were at the cacerolazo,those where exactly the ones that usually just complain about everything but never do things for their own,they are unemployed(we are all 21,but since they are not studying they could be looking for a job at least..because they are living freely in their parents house since their 18)..ok,how i was saying,while those people where making useless noise,we were the ones doing something productive,studying..and we are not rich or anything,so thats why i dont support this protest.well,i hope i made my point,i cant be more precise because my english is not so fluent and my comment will become endless,hehe.cheers!