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Monday, October 24, 2011

And so it ends for Argentina

Cristina Kirchner and "Young Ks" of La Campora

In spite of having a healthy sized ego I’ve always known my limitations. Even though I’ve been writing about survival and preparedness for many years on daily basis I’ve never considered myself a writer, not even a mediocre one. I know what a writer is and I know I’m not one. I’ve read the work of excellent ones, and I know I just lack that art. I am though a somewhat acceptable story teller, and that’s how I managed to write a book that people can relate to, can learn the lessons I want to transmit and read it without deciding to use it for tinder after ten pages. The most recurrent topic in my blog has been preparedness stories and anecdotes, specifically oriented towards real world survival events and how the people of my country managed to get up, shake off the dust and continue in spite of what this country throws at us.

Some of the events I’ve written about have been hard to digest. Even though I’m firmly against the doom and gloom fascination so common in the survival and preparedness world, there’s times when you just have to tell it as it is. You can’t disguise the death of a person you know, or relate incidents of crime and violence looking through pink-shaded glasses because one extreme is just as bad as the other. The nature of the topics discussed here are serious, sometimes matters of life and death, so that’s why to a certain nouvel readership it might seem dark to read. Even with a pragmatic eye and objective point of view none of this reads like a walk in the park.

As I write this, I can’t avoid feeling two very clear sensations. The first one I can only explain by saying that it’s like stepping out of a boat just as it finishes its slow, decadent sinking and finally goes under the surface. The second one is genuine sadness. Of all the posts I’ve written, this is without a doubt the saddest one I’ve written. I’m not talking about the loss of culture, standards of living or the death of a friend. Its not about the starvation of children of violence towards people close to me. It’s about all that and more. It’s about the death of a country itself.

As the press all over the world talks about the political success of the current administration, and mentions the “flourishing”, prosperous Argentina, a clear minority which I’m part of sees things differently. It makes you wonder and ask yourself a few other things as well. Who writes all these praises? What kind of data do they use to make such positive statements? How can a country be booming economically, yet keeps having shantytowns grow at an accelerating rate, poverty, misery and decadence never backing down one inch, and the 3rd greatest inflation in the planet as the icing on the cake? After reading some of the emails people sent me on the “success” of Argentina, I wonder if its just innocent stupidity, lack of professionalism or if there’s more to it than meets the eye and there are other intentions behind it.

Argentina was fatally wounded almost ten years ago and Argentina as I knew it died yesterday, October 23, 2011, when Ms. Kirchner was re-elected  with over 50% of the votes, gaining complete control of the country. She now controls the executive of course, but also the congress, unions and even the media through the Kirchner Media Law.  The headlines of the world consider this something of a surprise, a small number of Argentines such as myself consider this the culmination of a decade long process that started with the destruction of opposing parties by any means, legal or not, the indoctrination of the generations to come through several channels including the mandatory “Citizen Formation Studies” in schools and even an officially approved version of history. It seems insane, but the “History” I was taught twenty years ago is different from the one my son is taught, much worse, its different from the recent history I SAW with my own eyes.
One can only wonder how can such an authoritarian leader earn so much public support? Wasn’t it bad enough when they controlled the media through an unconstitutional law, or what about our retirement funds begin stolen (nationalized) right in our faces?

How Did This happen?

The process was long and patient at some times, brutal at others. People from other parties or simply with different views suddenly found themselves facing various charges or harassment. People that didn’t play along simply didn’t end up well, and by that it includes every possible end you can think of. Soon enough politicians that used to be the opposition ended up siding with the ruling K party. Journalists and political analysts that didn’t play ball would be threatened to remind them of their position, or eventually found themselves unemployed and no one willing to hire them. The young adult sector was dealt with by the son of the Kirchner’s, Maximo. He formed “the young Ks”, with their leaders grouped in an organization called “La Campora”.La Campora was formed by friends of the son’s president, at times such a useless and lazy gang, not even Nestor Kirchner himself could place them in the positions they wanted on occasions. During a meeting with the Young K leaders he’s quoted to have said” guys, guys, you come here asking for positions of power and management, but you don’t even have a high school diploma for me”.  Almost like a Homer Simpson parody, even the slightest degree of competence would place you in charge of an area of the government or in charge of a recently “nationalized” company, like when they took back “Aerolineas Argentinas” airlines from the Spaniards.

As for the rest of the population, nothing has ever worked as well for the peronist party as keeping those families poor and numerous, and the Ks repeat that same recipe. The handouts for one reason or another make sure those votes keep coming. Handouts per child, for political support, its all there if you show up to the rallies or protest against the companies that aren’t “team players” with the government.  If you are a company owner, in the legal or illegal pharmaceutical business, a good amount of donations will go a long way in ensuring the health of your business. We’re does the money come from? Stealing the retirement funds helped, so does sucking the blood out of what’s left of the middle class through taxes, but the key is Argentina’s Green Gold: Soy. In a world in crisis commodities such as soy are expensive. What did the K’s do? Take so much from the farmers through taxes with no regard to the future, so that today the land almost grows soy exclusively. In agricultural terms this is madness but they are doing it anyway. Get rid of everything, cattle, other agro, just plant soy. Soy kills the land and ten years from now we’re looking at a food crisis, but who cares? The amount of pesticides used already has consequences with child mortality and significant amount of malformations. No one seems to care.

But the most brilliant part of this evil plan was the children, the generations to come. Political brainwashing thanks to the mandatory citizen formation classes, combined with the iron grip on the media that ensured the famous in the showbiz which the uneducated masses follow play along supporting the Ks, all this “work” had its results eventually. This was complimented with an extreme liberal agenda, from gay marriage and adoption to the official nod to drug abuse. Keep in mind that this has been going on for a decade now. It was first four years of Nestor K, then four more of Cristina K during which Nestor died. Now its four more of Cristina K, and the first generation of indoctrinated kids finally had a chance to vote in these elections.

Don’t repeat Our Mistakes

Ms. K won with over half the country voting for her. This may appear to be a triumph of Democracy. You have to wonder though, if it really is a democracy after everything that has happened, including the sharing of power between husband and wife to extend their period in power. Hugo Chavez was voted at some time into office. So was Hitler.

Many people consider what happened to Argentina after its economic collapse to be a window into the possible future of USA. In many ways and in spite of the differences I do think it is. I do see so many of the similarities that I feel encouraged to make certain warnings which followers of my blog read time and again. One of them is being watchful of the calamity of crime and the suffering it causes. Argentina is already becoming like Venezuela in that area as well.

The one I want to make sure people listen to in this case is to please be careful of authoritarian governments. They sprout and grow within the political system and government structure during hard times like we’ve seen it happen so many times in the past, in different countries at different times. Never forget Hitler got voted into office thanks to the desperation of the Germans just wanting to believe the promises after so much economic struggling.  Argentines would hand over a freaking crown to this woman if she asked for one, but they already gave her so much more than that. Please learn from our experience in this as well. Never give more power to a president than the one he should have. Remember that he’s always an employee of the people, and not the other way around. Punish authoritarianism by taking action, talking with your representatives and remembering it when its time to vote once again.

USA has real hope in its Tea Party movement and politicians like Ron Paul. Support them. Support movements like the Appleseed Project, those are great folks that teach a key part of the TRUE history of the United States and not a sanitized politically correct version.
Take care everyone,

Join the forum discussion on this post
 
FerFAL

20 comments:

Mayberry said...

I felt exactly the same way when Bush Inc. passed the bank bailouts. Obama was (s)elected. When "Government Motors" was taken over. When the TSA started molesting people for "safety"...

Our kids are not taught true history. And they have the same "citizen formation studies", there's just not an official name for it. The whole world has gone insane, and George Orwell was a prophet...

Anonymous said...

It breaks my heart to read this, not only as a liberty-loving man but also as a historian. You, your family, and your countrymen will be in my prayers. Hopefully, something can and will be done to prevent a slide towards absolute despotism.

Loup Espiègle said...

Hi FerFAL,

I sadly watched the news on CNN, they were vomiting their evil propaganda, like "Argentina ajor problem is inflation, officials say it's close to 9% per annum but if you ask people in the street it's more like 25%/y"... What a joke ! :-(

I then thought that without your blog I wouldn't know how F-up the situation is in your country.
Thank you for your blog and take care !

Anonymous said...

Thank you for shining light into the darkness.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for you, Ferfal, and your country. I don't agree with all of your judgements but I have to believe your perceptions of Argentina.

Here in the U.S., we plod towards the same destiny, perhaps, despite our Constitution. As the first poster said, every day one wakes up here and thinks"George Orwell, you were right."

Steve

Southern Patriot said...

Thank you for posting this. Ron Paul is the only one who understands liberty and knows what is the cause of our financial troubles - excessive debt and an unchecked Federal Reserve.

I'm glad to see you supporting him!

Anonymous said...

My parents were married in the depths of the great depression in the U.S. My father could not get one of the public jobs because the money from the federal government to the states and down to the communities were used to help a particular group of people, i.e. Democrats and my father had choosen the wrong party to register with to vote. No jobs, no help but you could still stand in the long line at city hall for the daily handout of cabbages or bread. I learned many lessons around the dinner table when the conversation turned to talk of life during the depression. I became a "prepper" in the mid 50's without even knowing what a prepper was. When I turned 21 and could register to vote I registered as a Democrat and I am still a registered Democrat today 47 years later. I always believed another great depression was coming and I wanted to NOT be the nail that stood out. In the future people will suffer and even be selected for "special treatment" based on their appearent political affiliation. Don't be that nail that needs to be pounded down.

Bones said...

The parallels between what happened in Argentina and what is being pushed by the left and democrats in the USA is frightening.

Unfortunately the broadway show "Evita" left your average American thinking that the peronists were somehow the good guys.

In my experience people willingly believe the lies and make no effort to critically analyze events. The number of supposedly well educated obama voters I know is staggering - and they still love him despite his record.

Fortunately there is still a strong conservative voice in the US and hopefully things will turn around, but not without constant vigilance.

Anonymous said...

It's like Hemingway said in "The Sun Also Rises":

"How did you grow poor?"
"Two ways. Gradually, and then suddenly."

/The Viking

Anonymous said...

If I can help you to move here, just tell me how.

I think Argentina is 10 years ahead of the US in the national life cycle. Dictatorship is comming to us all, but we will have a shorter period of it. Here, we can fight ourselves free easier than in many countries. We have become soft, but that softness is not everywhere. We will learn to be free again one day.

Pitt said...

"I think Argentina is 10 years ahead of the US in the national life cycle. Dictatorship is comming to us all, but we will have a shorter period of it. Here, we can fight ourselves free easier than in many countries. We have become soft, but that softness is not everywhere. We will learn to be free again one day."

How many of us are really prepared to make the hard choice when it comes to how far we will let this country go towards Orwell's Nightmare?

Many of our countrymen still blindly support a man who obviously either doesn't have a clue or is willfully driving us to the same fate that Argentina is suffering through right now.

We all better be praying (and loading magazines).

dc.sunsets said...

People today appear to have little understanding of the Very Long View of history.

2000 years ago Ancient Roman historian Sallust said, "Few men desire liberty. Most men wish only for a just master."

500 years ago Etienne de la Boetie wrote his "Discourses on Voluntary Servitude," showing logically that all political systems, from benign republics to the worst tyrannies, rest on public support and acceptance.

We get the "government" our neighbors tolerate, and since most people prefer a safe slavery to hassle-filled liberty, the norm in all times and places is some sort of slavery (albeit with some facade or other making the slaves think they're free.)

The few people who don't want to be slaves are stuck with the system as it is. We can only endure, and teach our kids the truth (quietly.)

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sallust382981.html

http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Etienne_De_La_Boetie__Discourse_on_Voluntary_Servitude.html#toc2

Anonymous said...

Excellent article, hopefully the Occupy movements will gain enough traction to actually have an impact on how things are run. There is no hope in politics.

Anonymous said...

What an ironic statement! The occupy movement is run and controlled by the far left Marxist/Leninist and cheered on by Obama and Democrats in congress. And you are hoping they will "have an impact"!! This illustrates the depth of our ignorance and how "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately".

Anonymous said...

@Craig Cavanaugh:
"Our kids are not taught true history. And they have the same "citizen formation studies", there's just not an official name for it."

Actually, there is. It's 'multicultural education'. Most universities have this as a required part of the teacher prep programs. They also have 'dispositions' in which students must pledge to support cultural marxist goals in order to get a teaching license in most states.

We also have the 'drug free gun free' school zones, where students are taught about the evils of drugs and guns. In this way, the government can walk all over our liberties in the name of the 'war on drugs' and confiscate the guns because few, if any, of the young people own evil guns.

If we let this crap continue, we'll go the same direction as Argentina.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry. I feel for you. I've been doing a lot of research the last few weeks and America is next. If we don't vote Ron Paul in we are in serious trouble. Can you leave Argentina and move to the states? We would love to have you here in the states. You would receive a warm welcome.

Anonymous said...

I hope can get your family our before the really bad part happens.

Anonymous said...

Just fyi, Bank Of America just moves trillions in bad derivatives from Merrill Lynch to Bank of America's retail arm.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/another-weapon-for-ows-pull-your-money-out-of-b-of-a-20111028

In other words, Bank of America account holders have just bailed underwritten an even bigger bailout than TARP et al.

raz khafila said...

Sorry to hear about Argentina. I have been trying to warn my Americans friends for so long that I
have given up. Despite the books and
the internet they just don't get it,
don't care to know and don't want to know. Now the irony, Doug Casey from
Casey research, the guy with land in
Cafayate, is now telling his readers
to get out of the US or make plans for a long vacation because it is going to get bad and you may not be able to get out. Suerte Amigo

Jason said...

Hi Ferfal

Greetings from Cape Town.

Thanks for the blog!

I wonder if you're aware of this commentator, and if you would care to comment.

All the best,

Jason

http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2012/11/argentina-and-america-of-vulture-funds-and-justice/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=argentina-and-america-of-vulture-funds-and-justice