The Art of the Protest

On our first day here, the guy from whom we're renting an apartment got all shady when telling us where to put out the trash.

"Just take it little by little and put it in the city bins," was his advice. Which we did, although we could just have easily just dumped it on any random corner, as many of them were 12-deep with trash bags that had been picked over for recyclables and extra food. Not exactly a beautiful site to welcome you to the city.

Turns out there'd been a trash strike. (It just ended.) The garbage men were protesting --- something. Doesn't matter what because as people have told us, protesting and striking is very Argentinian. On any given day, you'll find some group or another marching in front of the Presidential Palace where Evita once held center stage. One group recently called on citizens to occupy the Supreme Court. The other day, there was a Subte slow down, we assume because of another protest.

Yesterday, we went to the Plaza de Mayo where the Mothers of the Disappeared have been protesting the disappearance of their loved ones every Thursday for years. While they were marching, a rival Mothers group also protested and yet another random group showed up with placards.

(We appreciate protesters, having spent quality time on our honeymoon with protesters in Thailand.)

The Mothers were the only ones who really moved me. They wear white kerchiefs tied around their heads, and the image of just the kerchief is now seen painted on playgrounds and schools. The message: These mothers are watching you, because what happened to their children 30 years ago will not happen to yours.

But the protest now has become a tourist spectacle. Tourists --like us -- walked along with the mothers, snapping photos. (I justified this as I am writing about them when I get home so I was doing work.) And you have to wonder how many of these tourists know about the Dirty War and all the chaos it wreaked.

Then again, maybe the tourist-y nature isn't a bad thing, because it'll interest people in learning about the history of the country they're visiting and not just see it as a place for good steak. (And Malbec.)

--NXP