The approval of the Base Law is contrary to the opinion of the majority and collides head-on with international trends: it belongs to the past. Editorial of “El Círculo Rojo”, a program on La Izquierda Diario that broadcasts on Thursdays from 10 p.m. to midnight on Radio Con Vos, 89.9.
- The photo of the deputies voting on the Milei Base Law is an old photo. It belongs to the past. It is an image that delays.
- It is an archaic image in several senses. Let’s start with the most formal aspect of all.
- It can be stated—as is sometimes said about translation—that “all representation is a betrayal.” They saw that it is often stated that any translation (from one language to another) is a “betrayal” because it can never faithfully reflect the original text. Well, the same idea can be extended to political representation, which is also a thousand times more complicated. Because how can we—in complex societies like the ones we live in—faithfully represent the majority or average feeling or opinion of society at a given moment? It is a very difficult problem for which history has given different answers, some more accurate than others. Personally, the councilor experiences, in the context of more global transformations, seem to me to have brought an answer closer.
- But, if this is a problem in general, in that system of representation in which the majorities are consulted only once every two or four years, while the de facto powers, as they say, “vote every day”, it is a major problem. , an abysmal distortion.
- In concrete terms for the debate that we are going through: the majority of the deputies were elected in the 2021 (one part) and 2023 (other part) elections in political contexts completely different from the current one, in very different conditions, in addition to a classic: most of them in their campaigns promised something very different from what they ended up doing.
- Without the need to go until 2021 (which was literally another country), from October of last year to now has passed like half a calendar year, but it seems like a century in political terms and, furthermore, the majority of those legislators were elected on opposite lists to Milei, that is, as opponents. This is beyond the fact that the extortionate runoff system ended up pushing many people to opt for a “lesser evil.”
- So, in strictly formal terms, this representation of those who voted for the Base Law is old and, furthermore, it “betrays” even the most basic thing for which they were elected at that time: to be something different from Milei, not Milei’s lapdogs.
- But let’s get to the substance (which, obviously, is linked to the above): any of the opinion studies that can be observed, if we abstract from the figures of personal support more generally, yield categorical results: the majority of consulted are against the measures that the Government could take thanks to the Bases Law.
- I take a random job because it arrived today, it belongs to the consulting firm Gioaccobe and was carried out between April 18 and 23. When asked about the possible increase in the retirement age, 60% are against it, only 18% say they are in favor and another 18% do not know or do not answer. When asked what the Government should do with the 4 million people who retired due to moratoriums, without having completed pension contributions, 65% respond that these retirements must be maintained as they are (22% say that they must be transferred to “ social plans” and 10% eliminate them).
- Other works (which may be from consulting firms such as Zubán-Córdoba or Sentimientos Públicos that we have cited on different occasions) show that a clear majority is against privatizing state companies (such as Aerolíneas Argentinas) or also against the loss of labor rights. through labor reform.
- Another essential substantive aspect were the mobilizations that not only show the opinion (or changes of opinion) of those who participate, but also impact the whole: the most notable was the 23 A in which more than a million people were mobilized.
- So, the majority of Argentines are against raising the retirement age and what did the deputies do?: They voted for a law that allows the Government to increase the retirement age; A majority speaks out against privatizations and what did the deputies do? They gave Milei a law that enables him to carry out those same privatizations; The majority of people believe that labor reforms should not be carried out that imply the loss of more rights and what did the deputies do? They approved a labor reform that has the sole objective of liquidating labor rights; The majority is very much in favor of the defense of Public Education (and demonstrated it not only in the polls but also on the street) and the deputies gave a victory (probably partial and even pyrrhic) to the Government that hates education. Public education. And so we could continue with a long list.
- Finally, this photo is old in relation to international trends. Until a while ago, what came from the world was the famous reactionary wave at an international level with the coming to power or the rise of extreme right or alternative right forces in many countries (from the United States to several countries in Europe or Latin America). That is the photo of the world that the Government wants to continue showing. But a reaction is underway to the reaction that goes from the United States to Europe with a wave of student protests against the genocide of the Palestinian people and that has an epicenter in the United States. Some of the largest mobilizations were in capitals such as Berlin, Paris or Rome. Furthermore, in the US, a process of unionization or union revitalization has been taking place for some time. And Diego Sachi told here about the student mobilizations in countries like Paraguay.
- The deputies of the Left Front, precisely those whom Miguel Pichetto accused of an “old speech,” were the ones who talked about all this, and also voted and acted—outside and inside—accordingly. It’s comical about Pichetto, he doesn’t realize that he is not 50 years behind, but 100 or 200 years behind (he has just confirmed this with the key role he played in the approval of this law) and yet he perceives himself as “modern.” .
- Those who analyzed the emergence of these rights in the world proposed that they were the product of a moment of interregnum, the famous “Gramscian” moment in which the old does not die, the new is still born, precisely situations conducive to the emergence of aberrant phenomena. Perhaps that is what is changing and we are witnessing the time when the new is born and leaves as a pathetic memory, among many other things, the conspiracy that voted for that embarrassing law.
Politics / National Congress / Javier Milei
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
