Raul Bassi
In the early hours of December 31, more than 4000 people were enjoying local rock band Los Callejeros in Buenos Aires when suddenly joy became misery. A fire ripped through the Republica Cromagnon nightclub, killing 190 people, and leaving more than 700 injured.
Most of those attending were young people from poorer working-class suburbs. One was Julian Rozengardt, 18 years' old with a red star tattooed on his chest. He lost his girlfriend in the pandemonium that followed the fire. He remained in the disco, looking for her, but when he left the building, it was too late. The fumes had already poisoned him. He died three days later in a hospital. His mother Silvia, a political activist, said, "He was right. He did what we taught him. Nothing special, risk your life to save another. Never save yourself alone."
What made this tragedy even worse was that it should never have happened. It is not by chance that most of the victims were the same age as those the brutal corrupt Argentine police force kills and tortures the most.
Silvia Rozengardt pointed out that in Argentina, "Always they kill the young, this time one of mine, but always they kill them."
The emergency fire doors were closed, allegedly to stop anyone trying to get inside without paying. The toilets on the first floor were being used as childcare facilities, and the place, with a designated maximum capacity of 1031, was filled to three times its legal capacity. The club had been able to open, despite its failure to comply with many health and safety regulations, because the owner had bribed local officials.
One of the big questions today in Argentina is who should be held responsible for the fire. The fingers first pointed to the club's owner, Omar Chaban. His absolute disregard for the safety of his patrons made his situation untenable. He was arrested the day of the fire.
But is he the only one? In May 2004, the Argentine equivalent of an ombudsman's office presented a report warning that there were severe deficiencies in the licensing system that regulated many discos and nightclubs. The report mentioned the possibility of a disaster, adding that it seemed likely that only such a tragedy would force the necessary changes to the registration system to be made. Since the fire, more than 60 venues have been closed by the government.
While officials from the city government of Buenos Aires are putting on distressed faces, they are part of a corrupt system that has allowed such a tragedy to occur. A system based on profit, under which youth are considered dangerous.
These officials are in positions of power, they are the self-appointed protectors of local business, and the supposed future of the country. For many of the families and friends of the victims, the names of those most responsible are the mayor of Buenos Aires, Anibal Ibarra, and the Argentine president, Nestor Kirchner.
Ibarra has blamed almost everyone in Buenos Aires — including firefighters and inspectors — except himself. Kirchner did exactly the same, standing by his political ally. Both embraced and cried with the families of the victims, promising justice.
Why are they responsible? Because the bureaucracy of the Argentinian state is not neutral.
In the middle of the fire there were not enough ambulances or doctors. Even in the morgue there was not enough ice to keep the bodies refrigerated before autopsies could be carried out. The process of releasing information about the injured or dead was absolutely inefficient. Hundreds of families went from hospital to hospital, even to the morgue trying to find their loved ones.
At a time when the state should have taken care of its citizens, it was totally inept. Yet every time, it has to defend the bosses' interest or corrupt politicians it becomes a very effective machine. This is why the bureaucracy is not neutral.
Neoliberalism hasn't destroyed the Argentinean state — hospitals and schools might have been sold off, but repression has been booming. At the head of this adjustment is Ibarra and Kirchner. In the morning, these politicians talk about love, peace, national unity, and comfort the victims and their families. At night time, they use police, batons, water cannons and jails, particularly against the youth.
This two-faced approach is an attempt to control the country in times of rebellion. Sometimes, they blatently use the politics of division, saying: "You, the families of the victims, have a reason to feel the pain. But human rights or political organisations, the activists, they don't feel the pain, they only want to use you."
But after 190 funerals it is clear who the victims and the killers are. The outpouring of grief has been reflected in a number of rallies, where thousands of people have called for the resignation of Ibarra, reigniting the demand made famous by the December 2001 rebellion, "All of them have to go."
The response has been overwhelming, as youth assemblies have convened in every capital city, organising rallies with photos of the dead and banners demanding the punishment of those responsible. In Buenos Aires, the assembly, made up of survivors, family members and student organisations, has held rallies every Thursday, marching from the fire venue to the government offices.
The first one on January 6 had more than 20,000 people, predominately family members, friends, as well as members of social and political organisations and youth in general. They marched under banners which read "Our kids were killed by corruption", and "Ibarra and Chaban you have to pay". At the end of the rally, the police used strong force to remove them, with scores of people arrested or injured.
The second rally on January 13 was smaller than the previous one, attended by around 5000 people. The drop in many ways was due to the actions of the government, which had made offers to the victims' families of around A$130 000, in compensation and even jobs to family members. In return the families would have to keep quiet.
In a country racked by huge unemployment, where over half the people live in poverty, such a pay out is not easily dismissed. Social workers had been encouraged to tell the grieving families not to protest, in order to "help" the healing process. Members of the government have even been offering lawyers to victims' families in order to open cases against their own government departments, such as the fire department and registrations office, as an alternative to protesting.
However, on January 20, more than 8000 rallied. This time the rally had the participation of representatives from factories, offices and transport unions, who brought solidarity and support from workers, as well as the promise of mass participation by organised workers in the next rally.
This involvement of workers and their organisations has made the demand for an independent inquiry into the tragedy a reality. Many do not trust the current investigations being carried out by the police's and the attorney's departments, nor do they trust the judge assigned to the case. The proposed independent inquiry would involve families and human rights organisations, the only way to make sure that the truth comes out.
As Celia Hart, Latin-American writer, argued in her January 5 rebellion.org article; "We have to demand justice: absolute and exemplary justice. We ought to add to these almost 200 missing persons, the 30,000 brother and sisters [who "disappeared" between 1976-1983 under the military dictatorship]. And once justice is served to all those who have committed the crimes, we must sentence this social order to death. We have to eliminate worldwide this perverse society, from whom no one seems to be free."
From Green Left Weekly, February 2, 2005.
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