Javier Milei’s right-wing government promised to stop inflation in Argentina, and has thus far failed
The neoliberal economic measures of Javier Milei’s government are not improving the economic situation they promised to eradicate. During the election campaign, Milei made several promises that thus far he has been unable to keep. For example, he stated that the price of gas would not increase under his government, but from April to May rates rose by 450%. He also promised that public transportation fares would not increase, but the price of the subway went from 125 to 757 pesos.
The government has not been able to stimulate the growth of the Argentine economy either. According to the IMF itself, which bases a good part of its analysis and recommendations on neoliberal economic theory, the GDP of the Argentine economy will fall by 3.5% in 2024. In this sense, the recession the country is enduring does not seem to have a clear way out. Initially, the IMF thought that the economic contraction would be 2.8% of the GDP, but given the incontestable evidence, it had to adjust its forecast.
However, the IMF maintains that there will be a rebound effect, and that, therefore, in 2025 Argentina will grow by 5%. In addition, the agency praised the economic measures of the Milei government to curb the inflationary process, fiscal adjustment, and liberalization of the economy. Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the Research Department, said that “looking ahead, even in the coming quarters, we expect growth to rebound because we see the effects of fiscal adjustment, the return of confidence and rising wages.”
However, several Argentine economists have stated that such expectations are not based on the reality of the national economy, as the problems caused by high inflation have worsened, as well as the evident decrease in employment in the country. According to data for the first half of 2024, Argentina has the highest cumulative inflation worldwide, 79.8%, and a peak year-on-year inflation of 271.5%.
Another unfulfilled promise of Milei was the increase of employment in the country thanks, according to the libertarian government, to the radical liberalization of the economy. However, despite the set of neoliberal economic measures, there has been a 7.7% increase in unemployment during the first quarter of 2024.
Milei’s administration celebrates the fact that the inflationary process decreased a little compared to previous years, claiming that this is thanks to certain public policies of his administration. This is even though Milei’s brutal fiscal adjustment, the contraction of the State, and the loss of thousands of jobs, which Milei stated would have a very positive impact on inflation, have not had the expected results. For example, food prices in Argentina have risen 260% (40 times more than Mexico), one of many figures which confirms that the neoliberal “shock” measures of Milei are not likely to benefit workers in the long run.
Green Party’s co-leader and Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
In the wake of unfounded reports that Ed Miliband will announce a ban on new drilling in the North Sea, Green Party co-leader and MP for Bristol Central, Carla Denyer, has urged the energy secretary to do just that, and “send a clear signal to the fossil fuel industry that they have no future in the UK.” Denyer said:
“It didn’t take long for the right wing press to come out waving the banner for the fossil fuel industry together with the usual round of scare stories about a dent to the economy and tax revenues if we don’t continue to burn oil and gas. Those cheerleading for oil and gas corporations must not be allowed to derail us from the path towards a green transition. That is where our future prosperity and thousands of good new jobs lies. We need to seize the opportunities that greening the economy will bring.
“This is a test to see how brave and bold Labour will be and whether they will send a clear signal to the fossil fuel industry that they have no future in the UK. Ed Miliband certainly should ban all future licences for new North Sea oil and gas fields, and do so immediately.
“The Green Party would like to see him go further by revoking the licence for Rosebank which has the potential for producing around 500 million climate-wrecking barrels of oil. We would also like to see a carbon tax on polluters to help drive the transition to cleaner and cheaper renewable sources of energy.”
The UK’s energy bills were £22bn higher over the past decade than they would have been if Conservative governments had not cut “green crap” climate policies.
In 2013, then-prime minister David Cameron was infamously reported to have asked colleagues to “get rid of the green crap”, referring to climate policies supporting better home insulation.
His government later scrapped a “zero-carbon homes” (ZCH) standard for new-build homes, ended support for solar power and blocked the expansion of onshore wind.
The number of homes getting insulated each year is now 98% below 2012 levels, while the growth of onshore wind and solar remains far below previous peaks.
Carbon Brief’s new analysis updates figures published in January 2022, showing that the “green crap” rollbacks left UK billpayers more exposed to record gas prices during the energy crisis.
The £22bn added to energy bills since 2015 as a result of the rollbacks includes £9bn due to not having built more cheap onshore wind, £5bn due to poorly insulated homes, £5bn due to low solar deployment and another £3bn because new homes were less efficient than the ZCH standard.
In total, the UK’s gas demand is 99 terawatt hours (TWh, 14%) higher than it would have been if climate measures had been added at earlier rates, the analysis shows. This means the UK’s net gas imports are 31% higher than they would have been with more “green crap” in place.
‘Green crap’ cuts
In November 2013, a Sun frontpage reported then-prime minister David Cameron’s “solution to soaring energy price[s]” with the headline: “Get rid of the green crap.”
Cameron’s government, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, went on to make a series of changes, including cutting spending on energy-efficiency improvements and introducing the “green deal” efficiency scheme, later described by the National Audit Office as a “fail[ure]”.
The number of homes getting their lofts or cavity walls insulated each year plummeted almost immediately – by 92% and 74% in 2013, respectively – and has never recovered.
30+ young people, scientists and supporters occupy Science Museum’s new climate gallery in protest over its sponsorship by coal-producing conglomerate Adani
Group announce plan to remain over weekend ahead of the opening to school groups next week
Naturalist Chris Packham says sponsorship deal is “beyond greenwash – it’s grotesque” and attends to support the protesters
Science Museum criticised over ties to conglomerate involved in manufacturing drones for the Israeli military amidst bombardment of Gaza and destructive coal mining operations in India and Australia opposed by Indigenous groups
This evening, more than 30 protesters led by young people from Youth Action for Climate Justice and members of Scientists for Extinction Rebellion have occupied the Science Museum’s new climate gallery, Energy Revolution, over its sponsorship by the coal giant and arms manufacturer, Adani. Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham joined the group as they began their protest, with scientists and young people now intending to remain in the museum over the weekend, with the first school visits to the gallery beginning on Monday.
Chris Packham, who famously claimed that peacefully breaking the law is the ethically responsible thing to do when it comes to protecting the planet, told the protesters: “For me science is the art of understanding truth and beauty and a lot of that beauty lies in the natural world. Science tells us that the fossil fuel industry is responsible for the accelerating destruction of our natural world. The Science Museum is a place to spark imagination, to provide answers but also to encourage us to ask questions. The question I’m asking today is a big one, “why on earth are we allowing a destructive industry to sponsor an educational exhibition whilst simultaneously setting fire to young peoples futures?” This is beyond greenwash – it’s grotesque. We urgently need an ‘Energy Revolution’ to steer us away from the course of planetary destruction on which we are heading. We need a rapid, just transition to renewables – that revolution means an end to coal, and starts with the young people and scientists occupying this space this evening. Science tells us the truth, and the truth is that we must change.”
Naturalist Chris Packham at the Science Museum occupation 12 April 2024. Image: Extinction Rebellion.
The Energy Revolution gallery opened to the public just a few weeks ago amidst protest, with over 150 people taking part in a day of creative action. A few days earlier, guests arriving for the private VIP launch were greeted by protesters as they arrived, as well as the museum throwing a lavish dinner for the Adani Group’s billionaire chairman, Gautam Adani, with the Adani Group’s logo plastered on screens around the room.
To coincide with today’s protest, activists have released a new video exposing the truth behind the misleading claims made by Gautam Adani during his speech at the opening of the gallery. While he discussed the energy transition from oil and gas, he neglected to mention coal, the industry from which the Adani Group derives 60% of its revenue. The Science Museum has attempted to defend its sponsorship deal by claiming it has only partnered with the Green Energy division, although evidence clearly shows that it is directly linked to Adani’s coal business and that the museum has maintained a relationship with the main Adani Group.
At 2pm on Saturday, the occupiers will invite members of the public to join them for an interactive assembly inside the gallery to discuss alternatives to toxic fossil fuel sponsorship at the Science Museum. The group plans to tell the public the truth about the gallery’s sponsor and the urgency of keeping fossil fuels in the ground for a liveable future. Throughout their occupation, the protesters are also constructing sculptures of fragments of coal as a poignant reminder of Adani’s core polluting business.
Ian McDermott, a Chemistry teacher who will no longer organise school trips to the museum, has said: “For decades I ran a couple of trips to the museum a year, but I just don’t think it’s in the students’ interests to engage with the greenwashing of the companies destroying their futures.”
Protest placard reads Greenwash detected
Adani is the world’s largest private developer of new coal mines and coal-fired power plants, including Australia’s largest, the Carmichael Coal Mine built on Wangan and Jagalingou ancestral land. This ongoing investment in coal mining and power flies in the face of the scientific warning that most fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned and emitted if global warming increase is limited to 1.5°C, or even 2°C above pre industrial levels.
Anya, a young person occupying the gallery said: “To have a coal company sponsoring an exhibition on the future of energy is blatantly deceiving. Through this sponsorship deal, the Science Museum is helping Adani attach itself to the image of a positive and sustainable future when in reality it is a coal giant, weapons manufacturer and genocide supporter. It’s plain wrong for the Science Museum to be deceiving visitors, including young people like me, when it comes to the climate crisis.”
This is not the only instance of the museum welcoming fossil fuel companies to sponsor and influence its science education programmes and galleries. The Museum’s STEM Training Academy, which aims to support teachers in delivering science education, is sponsored by oil and gas giant BP, while the Museum’s interactive children’s gallery is named after Norwegian oil and gas company, Equinor.
Dr. Aaron Thierry, a scientist, who has researched climate impacts in the Arctic, is among those currently occupying the museum: “It’s not just Adani’s brand that the science museum is greenwashing, they’re also allowing the oil and gas giants BP and Equinor to sponsor their exhibits, disregarding the fact that these companies continue to expand fossil fuel production against the warnings of climate scientists. The latest science has shown we must leave the majority of fossil fuels unburned to prevent catastrophic changes to our climate. That an institution like the Science Museum is working with such rouge companies is a disgrace. The museum’s management needs to follow the example of Britain’s other leading cultural institutions and drop all ties to the fossil fuel industry.“
Scientists for Extinction Rebellion and Youth Action for Climate Justice (who have led this action) are members of Fossil Free Science Museum Coalition who are campaigning for the Science Museum to end its sponsorship by fossil fuel companies.
Youth Action for Climate Justice (formerly UKSCN London) is a radical youth organisation mobilising for climate justice. YACJ aims to create a new generation of young activists who are educated about society and the change we need, in order to work with other movements to change the system we live in. The group was previously part of Youth Strike for Climate Movement and coordinated the London youth climate strikes in 2019 and 2020, which brought thousands of young people to the streets of London. Instagram | Twitter
Other groups involved are: International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India), India Labour Solidarity (UK), Students for Survival; and numerous Extinction Rebellion groups.
Police attacked the protest organized by UTEP in Buenos Aires. Photo: UTEP
Police cracked down on a protest of thousands of workers in the capital who demanded the government listen to its demands to send food to the community kitchens and address the growing hunger in the country
On Wednesday April 10, the Federal Police and the Police of the city of Buenos Aires violently evicted and repressed a peaceful demonstration on 9 de Julio Avenue in the center of the capital. The mobilization organized by the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) was one of many which took place in cities across the country to raise awareness to the critical situation faced by workers in the popular, or informal, economy in Argentina.
Organizations part of UTEP claim that the national government has suspended programs providing food to community kitchens and has also refused to dialogue with organizations who have repeatedly denounced the suspension and now, are unable to provide food to the thousands of families that they previously worked with. Many poor families across the country have also suffered from a freezing and arbitrary reduction of their “Social Complementary Salary”, a government program which provided supplementary economic aid to workers of the popular economy.
In Buenos Aires, thousands of protesters attempted to march to the Ministry of Human Capital when they were violently attacked by police with gas, water cannons. Over 10 were arrested in the brutal police repression and several were injured, including one protester who was dragged down the street and hit against the asphalt. Additionally, a journalist with the outlet Crónica TV driver was hit with a rubber bullet in the face.
The Ministry of Human Capital is a creation of the Milei government as a part of his promise to cut the majority of ministries and secretaries and create “super ministries”. It is the combination of the former Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Employment and Social Security, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Social Development. This move, in addition to massively reducing the number of people working for the ministry, also saw severe cuts be made to the dozens of social programs run by those areas.
Milei, who was in Miami visiting with zionist and far-right US leaders such as Ben Shapiro, celebrated the repression of the protesters who were demanding government action against hunger amid unprecedented levels of poverty in the country. Milei reposted a publication from user Diego Álzaga Unzué on X which said: “Applause, gentlemen, see how the fire hydrant truck came out to remove the picketers who wanted to get dirty and cut off 9 de Julio Avenue, harming the workers. This is cinema. Enjoy, my friends.”
His Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich declared: “Law and order” in her post praising the “effective” crackdown on the mobilization through her “anti-picket protocol”.
Following the repressive operation, UTEP wrote in a statement: “We tried to create a channel of dialogue by all possible means, but once again the only response to the social and economic crisis is batons, gas and bullets. We denounce the violent actions of this Government, which the only thing it proposes for the people is planned misery. Our fight plan will continue to deepen to get food for our community kitchens, work and projects in our working class neighborhoods and social wages for the workers of the popular economy.”
