Being "Argentinian," or National Pride

Tomorrow is a national holiday to celebrate the Revolucion de Mayo. This is the historic moment when Argentina began its path to independence from Spain in the 1800s, and apparently it has some of the flavor of our own Thanksgiving in the sense that it's a day when people feel especially Argentine. Elementary school kids celebrate their history on this day with school pageants where they play various traditional roles illustrating life in this period, and I have already seen some families walking around carrying dresses - their costumes - that are in the style of the 1800s. Among the traditional roles in these pageants are the street vendors who were the merchants of the period. Apparently these vendors were often black and the roles are today played in black-face. Race relations are a whole complex issue in themselves that I will have to write about another time, but for now I'll just say  that black-face seems to have none of the emotional weight here that it would back in the States (i.e., it's viewed as completely normal and no big deal).

In advance of the national holiday, I thought I'd write a few words about national pride in Argentina, which is a particularly interesting topic to me. In my previous visit to Buenos Aires, I had the impression that there was little or no national pride here - quite the opposite, in fact. I have a very powerful memory of sitting in a restaurant with my colleagues and, in casual conversation, asking them if there was national military service here. With disgust in her voice, my colleague said "Are you kidding? Absolutely not! After what's happened in this country, no one is going to stand up and fight for her!" When I hear strong views like this, they seem to stem from 2 things: rage over the military junta of the 1970s & 80s when thousands were tortured, killed or 'disappeared', and anger over the way the economic management of the country that has led to crushing poverty and wasted opportunities in the views of some people.

However, now that I've spent more time here, national pride is starting to surface in unexpected ways. This is a country where there are constant protests, and protestors often block off major roads in the capital as well as roads leading into the city. As a result, it can take people up to 2 hours to commute to work in the morning. It's very popular to blockade the Avenida 9 de Julio, which is THE major thoroughfare in town and only a couple of stone's throw from the main seat of government. Because this is so disruptive to city life, I've actually been surprised that the authorities don't force the protestors to move, but this never happens or is even considered. In addition, when I see these constant protests, I instinctively feel that something is wrong: there is social unrest, it's a big problem, and the government needs to address or resolve this somehow. Interestingly, most of my Argentine friends absolutely do not share this reaction. Instead, they view the unrest and public debates as extremely positive because it's evidence of the absolute freedom of speech that exists here. "It's healthy!" several people have told me, "We live in a true democracy. La Dictadura esta terminada (the dictatorship is over)" Affectionately and with smiles on their faces, I've heard several people observe "Oh we Argentinians! Opinamos, Opinamos!" (i.e., everyone has an opinion about everything!). In fact, when I watch the news on TV here, one of the most striking differences between coverage in Argentina and coverage in the US is the extreme length of time devoted to getting reactions from the Argentine man on the street. Whereas in the US, our network news would show very brief reactions from average citizens to events of the day (the weather, traffic tie-ups, a political scandal, etc), these reactions get major airtime in Argentina. Though the average citizen is not an expert and has no more information that you or I, that average Joe will be granted extensive airtime to share his views. I think this is one indicator of the high value that Argentinians place on freedom of thought and freedom of speech. In fact, this seems to be their primary source of national culture and national pride.