The alarm in culture due to the possible rise of Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel is the late symptom of a plague that should have been stopped before this unprecedented crossroads where a formula that represents the old dictatorships has the possibility of winning the elections through democratic means. Milei is an updater of the shock neoliberal ideas applied by Alfredo Martínez de Hoz. And his partner is a detractor of human rights and a propagandist of the old dictatorships. In his way, The Videla-Martínez de Hoz alliance is updated by this new partnership that this time he wants to achieve democratic elections.
Collectives of science, cinema and music have repudiated the formula of Freedom Advances. The Mar del Plata Film Festival was a forum for the impact of this rejection, the 70 thousand fans or Swifties who attended Taylor Swift’s concerts turned the recitals into rallies against Milei and slogans in favor of Sergio Massa.
The Union of Independent Musicians, which includes, among others, Susana Rinaldi, Gustavo Santaolalla, León Gieco, Litto Nebbia, Teresa Parodi, Víctor Heredia, Pedro Aznar, Lito Vitale, Peteco Carabajal, Chango Spasiuk, Barbarita Palacios, Miguel Cantilo, Raúl Porchetto, Diego Frenkel, Carolina Peleritti, Franco Luciani, Luciana Jury, Bruno Arias, Guillermo Fernández and Diego Boris, issued a statement repudiating Milei and supporting Massa.
In Morón, thousands of Wos fans shouted “Milei, Trash, you are the dictatorship!” And in the packed Luna Park, the kids who were at the recital by the Spanish band Ska P, all shouted in unison “He who doesn’t jump votes for Milei!” Catriel, Trueno and Lali Espósito expressed their repudiation of the self-designated libertarian candidate.
There was a request from intellectuals, many of them who are or have been supporters of Together for Change or the left, such as Hugo Vezzetti, Beatriz Sarlo, José Emilio Burucúa, Oscar Cetrángolo, Rubén Chababo, Graciela Fernández Meijide, Roberto Gargarella, Adrián Gorelik, Claudia Hilb, Alejandro Katz, Federico Lorenz, Mariano Llinás, Camila Perochena, Hilda Sábato, Maristella Svampa and others, also to repudiate Milei’s candidacy.
And today at 7 p.m., another group of intellectuals called for a “Walk for Culture” that will start from the corner of Callao and Corrientes. “We unite,” says the call, “more than ever, to defend the life, peace and rights of Argentines. That is why we gather in its defense, more freedom, more art, more country. Therefore, more Democracy.» Among those calling are Alejandro Dolina, Nora Lafón, Ana Celentano, Patricia Palmer, Nito Artaza, Juan Will rise, Mauricio Kartun, Juan Carlos Junio, Luisa Kuliok, Santiago Doria, Pompeyo Audivert, Patricio Contreras, Víctor Laplace, Juano Villafañe, Eduardo Calvo, Alejandro Vaccaro, Alejandro Grimson, Ricardo Forster, Beto Muscardi, Raúl Rizzo, Victoria Onetto, Tristán Bauer , Lucrecia Cardoso, Fernán Mirás, Juan Manuel Correa, Rubén de León, Alejandro Tarruella, Jorge Garacotche, Manuel Santos Iñurrieta, Antoaneta Madjarova, Mirta Narosky, Alberto Arias, Jorge Dubatti, Walter Alegre, Luis «Chino» Sanjurjo, Ariel Prat, Delfor «Pocho» Brizuela, Enrique Stola, Carlos Salatino, Luis Gutiérrez, Claudio Kleiman, Jorge Pailhé, María Sol Copley, Pablo Aguiar Cau, Mónica López Ocón, Alejandro Robino, Natacha Mell and the Bersuit Vergarabat in full.
Rarely in history has culture, or at least a large part of its expressions, from the most diverse political currents, been so alarmed and mobilized by an electoral crossroads. Culture, its protagonists, are interpreters, transmitters, sensitizers, the heart of a society that represents itself and is woven as an identity, expressed with an impetus and a massiveness that contrasts with a society that is practically divided down the middle. , according to the latest surveys. Half of them give some points in favor of Sergio Massa and the other gives some points in favor of Milei.
This difference between the massiveness of what would be the symbolic representation of this society, and the scenario it represents, constitutes a symptom, a discordant note, which tries to reveal, to make a warning voice heard.
All this enormous cultural communication machinery appears silenced or unknown to almost half of Argentines. There is a point of disconnection, a dead end, a clogged artery, which neither communicates nor translates nor is heard., even if it is seen and heard. Not for everyone, but for some.
Culture needs freedom to grow and flourish. And freedom is a permanent tension with other factors such as inequality, injustice, repression, which are what will be predominant if the Milei-Villarruel duo wins the elections. All the factors that are detrimental to culture will predominate over education, solidarity, nationality and real freedom.
The only freedom they guarantee is that of the markets, around which they subordinate and order all the other values of ethics and coexistence. The ethics of the market are those that govern the family, the care of the environment, the education and health of people. That is why they propose a society in which, if they need money, the poor can sell their organs or their children so that they can be adopted by rich families.
An example of this clot is that of the province of Córdoba, where 70 percent will vote for Milei, who not so long ago filmed himself watching a video where half a sanction was given to a project to declare the quartet’s national day on the 4th. July. Milei recorded himself insulting the deputy. «Daughter of a bitch, your mother’s cunt, is that what we pay you for, you useless person?» Piece of shit. You are of no use. Is that what we pay them for, sorete?
That was shortly after starting his political career, three years ago. Now, as part of the caste he criticizes, although he detests, she incorporated the quartet’s music into his campaign.
That is the province where this candidate who looks like he came out of a neuropsychiatric hospital garners the most votes. The quartet is popular music, it is the representation of a community that gave rise to that musical expression. And there will surely be people from Córdoba who do not like the quartet, but it is the music that identifies them.
There may be a candidate who doesn’t like it, too. But it is one thing to not like him and another to reach that level of insult, violence and contempt. That Córdoba is precisely the province that votes for him the most shows the breakdown of that network of communications and sensibilities that contains a community.
Córdoba is the extreme example of a problem that encompasses the entire country. Representatives of all expressions of culture feel in danger from the rise of two characters who represent the old dictatorships, that fateful marriage Videla-Martínez de Hoz, now reborn as Milei-Villarruel. When it is said that culture is in danger and that is how its protagonists perceive it, it is the same as saying that the soul of a country is in danger.