Potbanging

Regardless of how many people were actually out on the streets on Thursday, it was an extremely impressive sight. Landmarks and central avenues teemed with people, not just in Buenos Aires but all over the country, and the squares were full of pot-bangers. A friend of mine went to the Plaza de Mayo at 7pm, fully expecting a few hundred at most; by 7.50pm, it was full and the entrances were crammed full of people. Despite the political expression against the government, and the presence of some neo-Nazis, the atmosphere was amazingly positive – it brought to mind images of the bicentennial celebrations in 2010 or a carnival in a hotter neighbouring country. This celebratory protest was Thursday night’s greatest strength – and its fundamental flaw.

For all of its preaching, Kirchnerism, the name given to the constantly-shifting political philosophy allegedly guiding the actions of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her followers, is not an inclusive political movement. Through its repeated insistence on a ‘national project’, Kirchnerism thrives on creating an ‘us’ v ‘them’ ideology. You’re with us, or you’re against us. In this context, it is an easy choice to make: become a Kirchnerite (or a K, as they are both referred to derogatively and proudly describe themselves), and accept and agree with what our leader says and does, even if you don’t.

Faced with that choice, it’s easy to be an anti-K. If you don’t like having to keep all your savings in a currency that is devaluating on a daily basis, albeit slowly, or if you happen to think that tax agencies shouldn’t really be keeping tabs on what you do in your spare time, then you’re against the government. If you think that continuous re-elections smack of autocracy, or that teenagers who can’t legally drive or stand for election should be forced to vote to choose a President is just plain preposterous, then you are firmly in the ‘them’ department. Realistically, it is hard for people who were born and at least partly raised outside Argentina to sympathize with a government who sees it as its right to nationalize private companies (including pension institutions, airlines, energy companies and football broadcasters) but doesn’t have the money to fix its trains.

However, within the polarized political arena known as Argentine society, opposition may seem like an easy option, but it isn’t. The political leaders nominally representing opposition to the government are lightweight, past it or undercooked, depending on which one you choose. It’s easy to tell which ones the government sees as a threat, because those are the people the Kirchnerites try to undermine financially (see Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli and Córdoba Governor José Manuel de la Sota) or legally (see Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri). The rest, from the Radicals to the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) are doomed by their laudably high principles – they simply cannot give ground without losing moral strength. And they cannot form alliances with other parties, because their own parties are equally good at lamenting the present as remembering long-standing grudges.

Thus, there is no real opposition, helped by the government’s ability to position itself so that on any key issue, whether it be expropriation, re-election or giving teens the vote, at least some of each party will agree with the concept and back it accordingly. The people know this, and they are angry: those on the streets on Thursday were clearly aiming their ire at the opposition as much as the national government.

As far as I can tell, or based on what I’ve learned in four years here, this government exists to fight. Kirchnerism was born out of the ashes of the last major economic crisis in 2001-2, in which the middle class lost their future. Kirchnerism has provided the same victims of 2001-2 with the means of building something new, an Argentina that does not depend on outside influences and that generates its own strengths. A steady stream of enemies has assisted this growth process: both externally (the IMF, the British and the Spanish, to name a few) and internally (Macri and the farms, among others).

But, as last year’s election, in which Fernández de Kirchner romped home with 54 percent of the vote, clearly shows, there is no political opposition. There are no more real enemies outside Kirchnerism. This means that, sooner or later, the government was bound to start turning on itself. Kirchnerism will eat itself. If in doubt, just ask Vice-President Amado Boudou.

The real problem facing the thousands of people who filled the streets on Thursday night is that they have no single, unified goal. Their gripes, as justified as they are, are many. Their anger has one target, which is fine, but offers no solution.

Pot-banging has a sacred place in Argentina’s recent history, emblematic of the protests that brought down Fernando de la Rúa’s government in 2001 and that echoed during the Resolution 125 farm crisis in 2008. The difference in 2012 is that protestors have nothing to offer but anger, and therefore, at the moment they are likely to still go home empty-handed.