Svampa. Entre la ruta y el barrio

In the context of latin american survival networks being more effective than state mechanisms of integration to deal with poverty, argentina presents a number of peculiarities that end in the formation of the piquetero movement (movement of unemployed). Argentina has emerged at the beginning of the 20th century as a "waged" society, and by the non existence of community contention networks, as well as a limited development of the informal labor sector. The process of disarticulation of a populist government with a strong base in the union system, had a starting point in the military coup in mid 1970s, with the crisis of the 80s and the arrival of neoliberalist policies hand in had with menemist government. This generated a disarticulation of unions, and a general disarticulation of popular sector as workers, as most people were now unemployed, the increase of individual informal economic activities, the lack of expectation of access to labor market of vast sectors of the 90s youth and change in the role of women in popular groups through into the sector of domestic or community service in order to guaranty basic familiar subsistence. The emergence of the piquetero movement cannot be only explained as a result of the economic situation, as if this was the case they should have emerged during the privatizations.

She sees the origin of the piquetero movement, which is an heterogeneous "movement of movements" as twofold: on the one hand there is are the particular clashes unfolded in location where state employment was the structure of social life (cutralco and huincul) and so the first to block the roads are the formerly employed that had lots of stability and a social position before the privatizations. This thread is related with aspects of rupture of the piquetero movement in relation to other forms of organization of the popular. On the other hand the territorial movements based on neighborhoods holding a pauperized working and low middle class population that had a longer time being excluded from stable labor and had a continuous experience of organization to be able t satisfy basic needs. Basing her analysis in the heterogeneity of the piquetero movement and on this two converging lines she follows the first steps of organization of the movement, which had its origins in the popular upraises and road pickets in the provinces of the north and the south.

In both cases there were particular claims made to the state however the identification as piquetero was associated with both generating a new form of political actions (form the workers strikes to the street and road blocking)and the reconfiguration of alliances and articulations between unions, the left, unemployed and popular sectors. The new movement also implies the cretion of a new form of collective dignity in being unemployed, something that initially was reservedas a privite stigma to be carried and allienated people form the "dignity" of work. In he first puebladas and road blocks the state was still being recognizaed as a legitimate interlocutor and the calim was towards a reinstauration of labour, security and stability and of a certain level of welfare. In both cases (Salta and NEuquen) the state intended to repress the movements and in both cases there was a popular response in support to the piqueteros. The people who organized this initial picket to the national roads "had no other resource to gain visibility other than their own bodies exposed in the roads". (28 my translation) The fogoneros that remained in the roads in Cutral Co after the unions had negotiated with the state to stop the protests, demonstrates that they had no connection to the world of unions, they had no experience nor expectation to access to labor, they were the youth that will integrate in all piquetero movements the "forces of security", the ones most generally confronting with the police during repression and demonstrating that the thing to offer is their bodies in the street. This is the struggle made available to them. This also constitutes a new form of connection of politics and violence in which violence is not the liberatory force or the violence of the military during the dictatorship, but an association of protest and police in which unemployed youth take a central role (this last line is my interpretation).

The territorial line was the confluence of groups making "base" work in the suburban great Buenos Aires. Territorial meaning a work in the bases, with a strong inheritance of the work during the 60 and 70 in the neighbourhoods organized be y left militants and the third world church. If this thread if the movement that will quickly recognize a connection with the puebladas in the provinces, brings a line of continuity of previous forms of social work and protest also marcs some distinctions. It is now a strong aspect of being a militant to belong to the neighbourhood against the 70st leftist militants and students directing some of the movements. The neighbourhood movements then made a shift form the basic demands of state services, land and housing towards including the unemployed as a problematic and adopting this new form of protesta and a link to the problems of the provinces. In the neignbourhoos even though there is a need to articulating with the state for the basic satisfaction of needs, there is also the constitution of the movement as a parallel structure to the peronist patron-client relations and the peronist networks (cfr Auyero). Even though the interconnection of peronist and piquetero movements are inevitable, there is also a turning point in the monopoly of peronist organization in the popular neighborhood. The piquetero act over the political economy of emotions that distributed frustartion and a sense of personal failure to the unemployed and a sense of euphoria to the upper and upper middle classes participating in the profits of neoliberal policies.

One of the outcomes of the movements was to reconfigure the relation between the popular sectors and the state. If the surviving groups have been the ones that were able to accept the sate aid and build from them spaces of relative autonomy through the administration of social programs, the responsibility of negotiating with the different levels of state administration also contributed to defer the initial demands in order to attend some immediate urgencies.