[1353] in peace2
riots in Argentina, 16 rioters killed so far, survey of world
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Corrina Chase)
Sat Dec 22 20:59:38 2001
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Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 21:00:35 -0500
To: peace-list@mit.edu
From: Corrina Chase <corrina@MIT.EDU>
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Meant to send this earlier. oh well. Happy solstice.
-ccc
1)Argentina riots
2)rioters killed
3)interesting survey of world "elite" blames US
State of Siege in Argentina
Economy Chief Quits Amid Riots
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3715-2001Dec19.html
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 20, 2001; Page A01
BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 19 -- After months of escalating economic crisis, Argentina
boiled over today in a wave of street violence and looting, raising alarms
that
Latin America's third-most populous country is being destabilized and that its
government may be in danger of falling.
President Fernando de la Rua declared a state of siege tonight and ordered
additional security forces into the streets to control violence that left at
least six people dead and hundreds wounded or arrested. It was Argentina's
worst unrest in a decade.
Fueling fears that economic collapse is now imminent, sources said that
Domingo
Cavallo, de la Rua's economy minister, who is the government's main advocate
for cutting state spending and paying off foreign debt, resigned late tonight
after his apartment building was attacked by hundreds of protesters.
The looting and attacks on government buildings in dozens of cities and towns
across this country of 36 million people marked a sudden escalation in a
revolt
against economic austerity measures imposed by de la Rua, who has been trying
to fend off an international debt default and a currency devaluation after
four
years of crippling recession.
A combined social and economic breakdown in Latin America's richest nation
could have an impact beyond its borders, causing jitters in Brazil and other
countries in the region that also carry heavy foreign debt.
During Argentina's last major economic crisis, in the late 1980s, similar
violence hit the government of President Raul Alfonsin, from the same
center-left party as de la Rua. The unrest helped bring on Alfonsin's early
resignation.
Analysts said today that de la Rua, who is accused of ineptly handling the
financial crisis, may face the same fate. Leading politicians called for his
resignation, and the opposition Peronist party convened an emergency
session of
Congress to withdraw key executive powers granted to de la Rua to manage the
crisis.
Sources said tonight that de la Rua, in a desperate bid to salvage his
presidency, was struggling to create a new unity cabinet that would include
Peronists. A large and increasingly powerful segment of the Peronists have
opposed Cavallo's free market efforts, calling for greater protection of
domestic industries and more trade barriers.
Late into the evening, spontaneous anti-government protests broke out in
lower-, middle- and upper-class neighborhoods across the city. Thousands of
demonstrators marched on the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, chanting
anti-government slogans and demanding an end to a decade of U.S.-backed market
reforms that were adopted in the 1990s and have now become the focus of
popular
rage about Argentina's economic woes. Police, claiming protesters were trying
to force their way into the palace, responded with tear gas and batons.
"We are dissolving into instability, and the government has two choices --
either take immediate steps to relieve the social crisis or face the
consequences," said Rafael Ber, a political economist with Argentine Research
Inc. in Buenos Aires. "We are on the verge of a total social eruption."
The state of siege, which the government said would last at least 30 days,
suspends many constitutional rights. The president can deploy the military and
special police to patrol streets, set curfews and limit public meetings and
demonstrations. Authorities also have the right to make arrests without
probable cause.
In a short national address, de la Rua, who was severely criticized today for
his slow reaction to the escalating violence, did not outline which
extraordinary measures he would take. However, sources said that more than
35,000 security personnel had been put on alert and that federal and regional
riot police were being given orders to begin protecting businesses Thursday
morning. The government also said it would spend an additional $7 million on
food distribution programs.
De la Rua said he declared the state of siege to stop "groups that are enemies
of order and the republic who are sowing discord, chaos and violence. . . . I
understand the suffering of my countrymen, but you don't solve these with
violence."
Perhaps the most significant event, however, was the late-night resignation of
Cavallo, who has tried to prevent a default on foreign debt by cutting
retirees' pensions and state employees' pay, and slashing social spending at a
time of soaring poverty and a record unemployment rate of 18.3 percent.
Cavallo's departure may provoke dismay in the U.S. government and among
Argentina's international creditors, which generally supported his economic
moves. To pressure Argentina to stay in that direction, the International
Monetary Fund earlier this month held back a $1.3 billion loan disbursement.
In response, Argentina took financial measures that spurred social unrest. It
partially froze bank accounts and seized retirement funds to raise money to
pay
foreign creditors. Many Argentines found themselves unable to get at their
money for Christmas shopping.
Tempers overflowed today, apparently in reaction to those steps. Mobs of state
workers and the unemployed took to the streets, chanting slogans against free
market reforms and austerity steps. Protesters took over and largely destroyed
the municipal government building in Cordoba, Argentina's second-largest city,
and marched through Buenos Aires.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of poor Argentines -- though many mobs were
clearly laced with common criminals -- sacked grocery, clothing and
electronics
stores, in one instance even taking Christmas trees. "We have no food, and the
government is doing nothing but paying foreign creditors," shouted a looter in
the Buenos Aires suburb of Ciudadela shown on the Telenoticias TV station.
"Argentines have got to take back their country, now."
The ransacking paralyzed the capital. Fearing attacks on symbols of the United
States, virtually all McDonald's restaurants in the city closed.
Often no police responded to the attacks, and shopkeepers, many of them
Asians,
were left begging for mercy from looters. Large chain stores were also hit
hard, and many supermarkets organized their employees into impromptu defense
brigades, using grocery carts as barricades and trying to fight off the mobs
with sticks.
In at least one store in western Buenos Aires, a shop owner shot dead one of
hundreds of looters who stormed his store.
"I have never seen anything like this before -- it's a war of Argentines
against Argentines," said Alfredo Coto, owner of the Coto supermarket chain.
"We are in the same situation as they are, suffering from the recession. The
only difference is that we're wearing suits. Where is the government? I
have my
people out there defending my stores with sticks!"
De la Rua was harshly criticized today for failing to mobilize the police
sooner and blamed for the millions of dollars in stolen and damaged property.
Many Argentines say the austerity measures have only deepened the recession.
The Harvard-educated Cavallo had persuaded de la Rua not to heed his party's
demands to move away from market measures. Now, his departure may signal not
only a looming debt default, but perhaps a shift back toward a protectionist
economic system, analysts say.
"This is happening because of this savage economic model!" declared Osvaldo
Cormide, head of the Small and Medium-Size Business Association in Buenos
Aires. "We have got to return to protecting our industries, giving our people
jobs. It is the only way out."
_____ Update _____
Riot Death Toll Rises to 16
From Reuters at 9:43 AM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Dec 20—Rioting and looting across Argentina has left
16 people dead, police said on Thursday as the government declared a state of
emergency to contain the unrest driven by a staggering economy.
Half of the deaths since Wednesday were in the suburbs of the capital, said
police. Many were shot dead by shopkeepers defending their shops.
On Wednesday, police said four people had died in looting as thousands sacked
supermarkets in Buenos Aires, its suburbs and several provinces.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to scatter the looters.
-------------
Divergent Views of U.S. Role In World
'Elite' Abroad Tie Sept. 11 to Policies
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 20, 2001; Page A34
PARIS, Dec. 19 -- Opinion leaders around the world say the United States is
admired as the land of opportunity and democratic ideals, but large numbers
see
U.S. policies as a major reason for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
according to a new survey of "elite" opinion in two dozen nations.
A sampling of the political, media and business elite on five continents said
by large majorities that they believe the United States is mostly acting
unilaterally in the fight against terrorism. By contrast, 70 percent of
American opinion-makers in the survey said the United States is acting jointly
with its friends and is taking into account the interests of its partners in
the war on terrorism.
The survey, by the Pew Research Center, Princeton Survey Research Associates
and the International Herald Tribune newspaper, provides further evidence of
the gap between how Americans view themselves and how others in the world do.
Asked whether the United States and its allies should attack other countries
such as Iraq or Somalia, if they were found to be supporting terrorism,
half of
American opinion-makers said yes, but more than half of the non-Americans said
no. Eastern Europeans, Asians and Middle Easterners were most reluctant to
extend the war beyond Afghanistan, while Western European opinion-makers
appeared evenly divided.
When asked whether "U.S. policies and actions in the world" were responsible
for the Sept. 11 attacks, a majority of those questioned outside the United
States said they were the cause. Only a small number of Americans thought so.
Likewise, American opinion-makers overwhelmingly expressed the view that the
United States is disliked in the world for its support of Israel. That reason
also was given by elites in the Middle East. But outside the Middle East,
respondents said resentment of U.S. power and the growing gap between rich and
poor were more important factors.
The survey was conducted Nov. 12 to Dec. 13, well after the terrorist attacks
and in the midst of the war in Afghanistan.
The findings were based on 275 interviews with persons identified as
"influential" in government, politics, culture, the media or business.
About 40
interviews were conducted in the United States, and approximately 10 each in
various countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The findings are the latest in Pew's "Global Attitudes Project," initially
designed to measure world views on globalization, but now focusing on
attitudes
toward the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.
Most striking about the latest survey, Pew Research Center Director Andrew
Kohut said, is that "people are saying this is a new chapter in history, but
when you look at how elites characterize public opinion about America, it's
very familiar -- it's this love-hate thing."
"And there's this big gap," Kohut said. For example, he said, when elites were
asked why people in their country like the United States, large majorities
everywhere -- from 63 percent in Western Europe to 86 percent in the Middle
East -- said U.S. scientific and technological advances were most admired.
Only
32 percent of American opinion-makers, however, thought that was a reason the
United States was admired in the world.
American opinion-makers, by 52 percent, said they thought the United States
was
admired because it does "a lot of good around the world." By contrast,
majorities elsewhere disagreed, saying that was at most a minor reason.
On the war against terrorism, "it's a very mixed image," Kohut said. Overall,
opinion leaders said large numbers of people in their countries are
sympathetic
to the United States over the terrorist attacks. But surprisingly large
numbers
said people in their countries feel the United States is "overreacting" to the
attacks -- 53 percent in Eastern Europe and Russia, 62 percent in the Middle
East, 40 percent in Latin America and 42 percent in Asia. Only in Europe did a
small percentage -- 27 percent -- think the U.S. was "overreacting."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
------------------------------------
-Corrina Chase
http://web.mit.edu/corrina/tpool/tidepool.html
