Piqueteros

Protests, or manifestaciones, are such an important part of the Argentine national identity that they are considered tourist attractions here.  In class today, my teacher mentioned today’s protest as if it were a holiday.  If a protest of thousands of feminist activists descended upon the White House, surely it would be a newspiece in the Washington Post.  And yet on the front page of La Nacion was a headline describing Michelle Obama’s gown at the State dinner and no sign of protests.

Piqueteros, which get their name from the English picketers, ostensibly protest in order to have their demands met, yet there protests have devolved into something approaching nihilism (it is no wonder that Nietzsche is a national hero here) — thinly veiled efforts to discrupt the flow of commerce in order to show their disapproval for the goverment.  For me, as someone almost-employed by the US government, it adds another dimension to my education here, in a place where government seems to be invariably an enemy of the people.  I’m still not sure how I would describe the government’s relationship with the people of the US.  I believe that the duty of government is to protect people’s liberties, which can mean actively taking a role in the private sector, because the private sector has no constitution, and wouldn’t have any safeguards to protect people’s welfare if it weren’t for the government.  But there are certainly libertarians and neo-liberals out there would disagree.  I’m sure my description of Argentinean politics (which are discussed in every cafe and grocery store you can find here) are more than just “government is corrupt” discourse, but I have a much harder time simplifying American politics.  Bear in mind that this is sort of a stream-of-consciousness post.

And on the subject of education, as trite as it sounds, the marginal benefits in the way of learning during the first few months in another country are inestimable.  I am always stimulated here, and especially now because I’m working hard to learn the language.  My boss at Zizek wrote in his bio that he was educated by the world (he went to college as well), and though it sounds like a (perhaps) pretentious or elitest cliché, I understand what he meant.  I met a, for lack of a better word, meathead, construction worker from New Jersey the other day who told me that this was his way of educating himself, and he certainly couldn’t be considered an intellectual elitist.  Admittedly, he did say he has partied almost every day on his year-long world tour, but I do think he seemed to have learned quite a bit from his travels. It makes a lot more sense to me now why some social scientists believe that living abroad and learning a language breeds creativity.

I have to say, I’m really excited to get a nice camera so that I can update this blog with images rather than words.  I don’t want to be using English much over these next few months.  I’m sure, if you’re reading this, you wouldn’t mind that either.

On a less introspective note, this Swiss girl said today in class that in Switzerland they have laughing classes. Yeah, that’s right, classes designed to make you (or teach you) to laugh. Ah, the Swiss.