Piqueteros

Hello 888,
Interesting questions.
The motorway blockades were about stopping the circulation of capital (I guess you know that) and the piqueteros declined when the movement in general in Argentina was weakened by the successful manouvers of the state in offering what looked like positive change through elections, a more "progressive" government. What I was universally told by Argentinians was that the whole popular uprising got derailed by the political parties intervening.
This is a really interesting topic.

The movimiento piquetero started out with motorway blockades by workers protesting layoffs by the petrol company YPF (now part of Repsol) in Nequen. It didn´t just involve the workers concerned but also their families and other people in their community, which was very highly dependant on the petrol company for work.
In 1997 unemployed workers in Buenos Aires and around blocked 23 motorways. The piqueteros where a fundamental part of the MTD (unemployed workers´ movement.)

And don't forget the singing! Though I can't remember the name of the woman behind it all I'm afraid.

Err... I googled ¨movimiento piquetero¨ in Spanish and noted down facts from different pages without keeping any kind of record of what they were, not very helpful!

This question about relationships with political parties, one thing that came up when I was reading was about one of the main piquetero demands, which was for some kind of unemployment benefit. They would carry out blockades and demand benefits, and often get them. However this carried the risk of a clientelistic relationship with the local government. A lot of unemployed workers participated in blockades solely to get some money, (which of course they desperately needed) not with any commitment to continuing the struggle. However the piqueteros participated in many collective forms of sharing such as comedores populares, collective kitchens, using the money that they recieved through blockades, which was much less individualistic.

Piquetero groups that wanted to form relationships with the state and cross class alliances were CTA and CCC (Corriente Clasista y Combativa) CTA ended up accepting positions in the government. Groups like Bloque Piquetero maintained a more horizontal structure and more antagonistic class politics.

I know I´m not addressing your good and specific questions that you started out with, but I´m thinking about them...

Ok, here goes....

1. Tactics used apart from blockades- blockades seem to be the main piquetero tactic. Apart from that piqueteros were participants in the various self organised activities in the barrios, clinics, schools, comedores populares and so on.

2. Why did they succeed? I would question the question- did they actually succeed? Depends what a success is. To the extent that they succeeded, it was because they were part of a mass movement of people, because the neoliberal attacks on wages and conditions that had been going on for years, and then the crisis of 2001, meant that huge numbers of people were plunged into poverty at the same time.

3.What did tactics achieve? People got a certain amount of dole, and in general the piqueteros were a militant part of the self organisation of the working class. The piqueteros gave strong practical street support to employed workers in struggle and to workers occupying factories.

4. What factors made it possible to win. I would repeat what I said before, I don´t know that they won.

5. Why did it stop? Recuperation by the political parties and the government offering what looked like improvements with a more "left" in big inverted commas elected government. And violent repression.

6. The current state of the piqueteros- they are still going, there has been a lot of fragmentation and some elements have been more integrated into the system, with the more radical groups suffering a lot of repression. But they are still going.

7. How did they start? The tactic had been used sometimes previously in struggles. The piqueteros around the petrol workers involved other groups of workers including teachers.

8. Could they be reproduced in other countries now?
If you had a mass movement in the millions exploding onto the streets around you with proletarian fury, then yes, the piqueteros methods could be very reproducable, yes.

a bit in this Taking back control

you can also download a pdf on them from we are everywhere

D20 Argentina: 2 years later

might be worth a look despite it being from the Monthly Review

http://www.autonomista.org/

ttp://www.zcommunications.org/against-and-beyond-the-state-by-john-holloway

Power or counter power? The dilemma of the Piquetero movement in Argentina post-crisis from Capital & Class

They are at Jason's link: http://www.autonomista.org/projects.htm

Sure, fair enough 888, getting dole certainly is a success. I didn´t mean to sound sarcastic.