Politics are Personal

First of all, Happy Census Day! Today is Census Day in Argentina meaning everything, and I mean absolutely everything is closed from midnight to 8 pm. People are required to stay in their houses until the Census collector comes around and gets their information. You have no idea when they will come except that it will be sometime between 8am and 8pm.

In the last few days Argentine politics have been a hot topic of conversation. Most importantly, today Nestor Kirchner died of heart problems at the age of 60. Nestor was the president from 2003 to 2007 and his wife, Cristina is the president now, although he still had a lot of influence. His death came as a surprise to many, but I am more surprised by the reactions the news is getting.

I was doing homework in my room at 1030 this morning when Magda answered my phone. After a few "Oh My God"s and "What news!" she finally exclaimed "Kirchner is dead!" This is about the time I tuned in, trying to figure out which Kirchner she was referring too. The next sentence out of her mouth was, "Oh thank goodness! Things will be better now!" I was shocked, I understand that she hates his politics, but to say it will be better now that he is dead seems extreme. I talked to some friends here and their host moms all had similar responses, although one even danced and screamed.

The City of Buenos Aires is notoriously anti-Peronists, and these feelings are not being hidden in the wake of his death. The rest of the country is generally lower-class and like Peronists, including the Kirchners more, so the grieving process seems to be a little more typical out there.

For the next three days, Argentina will observe a grieving period, for a lack of a better term. Brazil, Uruguay and other countries will too, but to a lesser extent. Its not clear what exactly will happen but in all likelihood most businesses will be closed. I am interested in what will happen in this country if everything is closed for four straight days! Blog post to follow...

On a non-Kirchner, but still political note...Yesterday my friend Hannah went to the library at the University of Buenos Aires, school of medicine. The library system here is beyond complicated and requires asking at least five people for help per trip. She asked one man to help her find an article about the Menem period. Menem was president from 1989-1999 and very controversial, in orientation they warned us against talking about him with locals. As soon as this man heard the name Menem, he kicked Hannah out of the library! After five minutes she was allowed back in but forced to listen to a 30 minute rant about the evils of Menem. I bet she thinks twice before naming he-who-must-not-be-named again!

My last political story of this very long blog update involves my Spanish class and freedom of speech. Last class we were given a list of 14 women and told to pick one or two to do a final presentation on. I went through the list and it mostly included people that lived during Argentine independence (1810) and artists. The one person that did catch my eye was Norma Arrostito. The paper described her as a guerrilla fighter in the 1970s who is very controversial and immortalized in many songs. I immediately knew I wanted to present on her. When I told the teacher she responded by saying, "If you do your project on her I will automatically fail you!" My classmates and I were all confused and began asking questions in a chaotic manner. The teacher explained that she does not like her politics and as a result will fail any student who presents on her, regardless of the stance they take. We argued with her for a little longer but had no success. So now my final presentation in comparing two actresses, which will be fine, but I am shocked at the limits she put on our freedom of speech.