G20 summit evoked protests in Argentina

CORDOBA — More than the G20 summit it was the shameful events that unfolded at the Libertadores Cup Final — where fans of one soccer club attacked a bus full of players from another club — that became the talk of the town across Argentina, as the world’s most powerful leaders came together in Buenos Aires, the first ever G20 summit the country hosted from November 30 to December 1. 

The high profile event, however, did not evoke much enthusiasm among regular Argentinian people. Instead, about 700 kilometres away in the city of Cordoba, people gathered in large numbers to protest the summit, which was quickly dubbed anti-G20 summit.

Argentinian photojournalist Ignacio Conese captured the protests.

Argentinian government led by president Mauricio Macri was supposed to present a progressive and economically promising Argentina to the world leaders, hoping that the western bloc will announce some investments in return. But the US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other world leaders landed in a country that was dealing with social unrest.

Prior to the G20 summit, experts criticised the government for using the summit as a PR tool to improve Macri-led government’s standing, while ignoring crucial discussions over national debt and terms and conditions for IMF loans.  

As the G20 summit started off, the crowd in Cordoba swelled with both anti-G20 and anti-IMF rallies.

About 70 social organisations, cooperatives and political parties are the main organisers of these rallies and they are also represented in the Confederation of Workers of the Popular Economy. From left-leading activists to the followers of theology of liberation to feminists, farmers and environmentalists, the rallies were driven by people from different backgrounds.

Similar rallies were held in Santiago del Estero, Mar del Plata, Rosario and other cities across the country.

“Patria Grande”- “Big Homeland” was another organisation attending the protests.

Nationally they respond to Juan Grabois, who is very much linked to Pope Francis, as well as the “Carlos Mujica”, another organisation that follows the third world catholic priest’s teachings. They champion feminist causes like legalisation of abortion, something that the church and their followers despise and accuse as a crime against humanity.

Argentina continues to go through both political and social instability. Only this year, more than 70 thousand jobs have been lost. Poverty has raised to almost 40 percent, and 10 percent of Argentinians live in slums and don’t know if they can put a meal on the table.

Inflation in basic goods has sky rocked to 55 percent this year. The Peso devalued more than 100 percent against the US Dollar.