The national deputy of the Left Front, Myriam Bregman, denounced this Thursday night on C5N that the Government tried to impose a “de facto state of siege” during the protests against the labor reform and assured that the repression sought to prohibit social protest to hide the growing popular discontent.
Interviewed from Congress after the vote in the Senate, Bregman took aim directly at the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, whom she linked to historical policies of adjustment and repression. “What I experienced was a true state of siege that the national government wanted to implement and that went wrong,” he stated.
The deputy reported that during the repressive day she was attacked by security forces when she was on the sidewalk. “Motorcycles approached and shot directly at two or three meters. They did not hurt me because of the enormous solidarity of the people, who came closer, took out the signs to protect us. The intention was to hurt us,” he denounced.
According to Bregman, the repression was intended to cover up a massive rejection of the labor reform. “The discontent I saw in the square was gigantic. You asked any column—student, union—and they all said the same thing: there should be a strike here. Nobody asked for the reform to be explained because the people already know that it is totally retrograde,” he said.
In that sense, he stressed that the ruling party does not find social defenders of the initiative. “When they defend the reform in the media, they have to bring in businessmen, lawyers from law firms. They don’t get a single worker to defend it,” he stated, adding that this political isolation was transferred to the streets through repression.
Bregman also blamed the blocs that accompanied the vote in the Senate. “It’s not just La Libertad Avanza. There are deputies who got themselves elected because of radicalism and Peronism. Jaldo’s deputies talked about the country and now they vote for this slave law. It is a historic responsibility,” he said.
The deputy described several points of the reform as “barbarities,” including the salary reduction for workers who are experiencing serious illnesses. “If you are undergoing cancer treatment and you have to miss work because the chemo leaves you feeling unwell, they pay you 50% or 75% of your salary. What are we going to expect, for them to put a rope around our neck?” he questioned.
In view of the discussion of the project in Deputies, scheduled for February 25, Bregman called for redoubling the mobilization. “We have to be double or triple. There has to be a day across the country, an active strike, a great national rebellion. This cannot happen,” he emphasized.
Faced with accusations from the Government, which blamed the left for the incidents, Bregman responded that it is a stigmatization strategy. “They are angry with those of us who do not accept being slaves. I defend the right to demonstrate. Even the right to rebellion is in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1793,” he recalled.
In addition, he maintained that the reform is “illegal and illegitimate” and that it does not pass “any minimum test of constitutionality.” “Many kids were told that they had no rights because of other workers. What they did was take away rights from those who had them and leave it in writing that those who do not have rights will never have them,” he denounced.
Regarding the acts of violence that occurred during the protest, Bregman avoided accusations without evidence, but stressed that there is a growing social anger. “The more the reform is explained, the more anger it generates. They tell you that you are not going to have vacations when the kids don’t go to school. That is dissolving the family. It is not a labor reform, it is a paradigm shift,” he stated.
In closing, he linked the labor reform with other policies voted in Congress, such as the juvenile penal regime. “They sent 14-year-old kids to jail and then they say that there is no budget for the provinces. It is a profound degradation. Those who vote for this are going to the garbage dump of history,” he said.
And he concluded: “The people can endure it once, twice, three times, but when they wake up, they wake up. The working people are having a very profound experience with this government. And that anger is going to continue to grow.”
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
