"Indigenous communities are leading the struggle in Jujuy" (Argentina)
WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST 2023, BY COLLECTIVE
This summer, the province of Jujuy in Argentina exploded in protest against constitutional reforms with the indigenous communities at the forefront. The backdrop to this conflict is an anti-imperialist fight for control of the country’s resources. Warren Montag, Jimena Vergara, and Joseph Serrano interviewed Argentinian socialist activist and professor Gastón Remy for Tempest.
The protests exploded against constitutional reforms imposed by the government of Governor Gerardo Morales with the help of all the traditional parties, including the center-left Peronist Justicialist Party (PJ). International uproar was caused by images of intense police repression of roadblocks, strikes, and mobilizations. The backdrop to this conflict is an anti-imperialist fight against austerity and for control of the country’s resources. Also at stake is the strength of a working-class, indigenous population that is rising up against years of oppression and hyperexploitation. We sat down with Gastón Remy — a professor and councillor for the city of San Salvador in Jujuy, who is a member of the Party of Socialist Workers (PTS) and the Workers Left Front (FIT-U) — to talk about the rebellion and where it goes from here for Left Voice and Tempest.
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Interviewers: In June, Jujuy governor Gerardo Morales, of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) party, passed a reform to the state constitution, a reform that has been resoundingly rejected by the people of Jujuy. The reform proposes, among other things, to prohibit street and highway blockades as a method of protest. It also includes several attacks on democratic rights, including voting rights. The reform was approved not only by the representatives of the UCR — the traditional right-wing party in Jujuy — but also by the opposition, represented by Peronism. Since the day the reform was approved, the rebellion of the people of Jujuy has not been quelled. The protests against the constitutional reform — led by indigenous communities — coincided with teachers’ protests demanding better wages, as well as the mobilizations of miners calling for better conditions. How was the reform approved? What are its most relevant provisions? And why have the people of Jujuy risen up to overthrow it?
Gastón Remy: The provincial constitutional reform was approved twice, once on June 16 and again on the 20th. Both times it passed with the vote of the governing party, UCR, and its supposed “opposition,” the Justicialist Party (PJ) — the center-left party of Peronism, which now holds the presidency. It was voted on twice because the government retreated in the face of mass protests, particularly the resistance of indigenous communities, which began roadblocks on June 17. These communities resisted repression and the police were unable to subdue them, forcing the government to withdraw changes to articles 50 and 36, which directly affected their land rights. Before the first vote of the reform to the Constitution, mass protests forced the government to withdraw two points from the reform that would have created a near-authoritarian regime in Jujuy, enshrined in its Constitution. It would have eliminated legislative elections every two years (changing it to every four years), as well as adding a “governability” clause, whereby the political party that won the governorship would automatically control the majority of the legislature. The mass rejection of these measures in the streets throughout the province forced the government to remove them.
More:
https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8209