Javier Milei, Argentina’s newly elected president, has embarked on an ambitious libertarian agenda aimed at transforming the country’s economic and political landscape.

Central to Milei’s economic reforms are measures to privatize state-owned enterprises, deregulate industries, and slash government spending, which he argues are necessary to address decades of fiscal mismanagement.

His fiscal policies include devaluing the peso, eliminating money-printing, and pursuing a unified exchange rate to combat inflation and restore economic stability, though these steps carry risks of recession and investor skepticism.

Milei has also proposed dollarizing the economy and abolishing the Argentine Central Bank, a controversial move that would require congressional approval and significant financial resources.

Politically, Milei faces significant challenges due to his minority position in Congress, which has forced him to rely on executive decrees and emergency powers to advance his reforms.

His omnibus bill, bundling major neoliberal reforms, has encountered resistance from entrenched political factions, leading to amendments that limit his emergency powers and preserve key state assets like YPF.

Milei’s policies have sparked widespread protests, particularly from labor unions and leftist groups, who argue that his austerity measures and deregulation harm vulnerable populations and exacerbate poverty.

Social backlash has included violent clashes with police and nationwide strikes, reflecting deep polarization in Argentine society and resistance to Milei’s libertarian approach.

Internationally, Milei’s climate skepticism and plans to weaken environmental protections risk isolating Argentina from global initiatives, such as the COP28 climate conference.

Milei’s governance style, characterized by populist rhetoric and legislative subversion, aligns with a global trend of neoliberal populism that prioritizes executive power over democratic processes.

Javier Milei, Argentina’s newly elected president, has embarked on an ambitious libertarian agenda aimed at transforming the country’s economic and political landscape.

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Content: Argentina’s Javier Milei’s “Instant Democracy” and Neoliberalism

Javier Milei, YouTube screen grab.

Self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” Javier Milei became the president of Argentina in December 2023 promising “drastic” measures to temper the inflation crisis that has gripped the country. In the weeks since his election, Milei has brought forward an ambitious neoliberal restructuring program encompassing almost every aspect of the government.

Milei’s agenda confronts considerable opposition in Congress, where his governing coalition, Libertad Avanza, holds only a fraction of the seats. To adjust to these circumstances, Milei has cultivated a strategy of “turbo-politics,” bypassing legislative processes that risk delaying the implementation of his state reorganization plans.

Milei’s approach to Congress is symbolic of a decades-old strategy I have elsewhere called “neoliberal parliamentarism.” This concept describes a pattern of deliberate efforts to reform or subvert legislative institutions as a means of facilitating neoliberal reforms that do not have sufficient popular support to be actualized through usual democratic channels. These changes, even when temporary, often leave long-term scars on institutions by weakening norms of institutional forbearance.

The Emergency Decree and the Omnibus Bill

Milei has followed this blueprint, insulating the core elements of his agenda from democratic influence. The dismantling of the Argentine state began in earnest in mid-December when the executive branch presented an 83 page Necessity and Urgency Decree (NDU) aimed at repealing over 300 various laws and regulations, facilitating the privatization of core public assets.

This “mega-decree,” Milei claimed, was necessary to “start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth”. It includes sweeping economic deregulation, such as the elimination of regulations on Argentina’s supermarket laws, which required the guarantee of low prices on basic products. It also includes measures to eliminate rent controls. Suggested labour reforms to cut pregnancy leave and increase the job probation period were suspended by the courts in January 2024.

Less than a week after issuing the NDU, the executive branch sent a massive omnibus bill titled Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentine People to Congress for consideration. The bill bundles the major elements of Milei’s neoliberal restructuring initiatives under the heading of a single piece of legislation with 664 articles. It will enable the government to carry out, in a matter of weeks, what would normally take years to achieve if these reforms were considered independently and subjected to the usual legislative scrutiny.

Reforms from the 351 page bill include an extraordinary provision declaring a state of public emergency on matters related to the economy, fiscal balance, social security, defence, health, and administration.

The emergency declaration delegates more than 1,000 extraordinary powers from the legislative to the executive until December 31, 2025, with the possibility of a two-year extension. This provision would enable Milei to make major reforms without having to consult Congress, thus eliminating a major hurdle to the implementation of neoliberal reforms.

Authors of the bill are attempting to facilitate the privatization of 41 state-owned companies across various sectors including energy, aviation, port administration, and agriculture. They also enable the reorganization of public administration, including embedding regulatory cuts from the NDU into law.

Additionally, the omnibus legislation proposes substantial reforms to environmental protection laws. These changes include the weakening of the Glacier Protection Law, allowing the mining of sensitive “periglacial” areas. The bill is presently being rushed through the legislative process by way of Extraordinary sessions of Congress, leading to marathon sittings during Argentina’s usual summer recess period.

“It’s impossible for people to have an idea of the enormous number of proposals Milei has sent,” said Ricardo Gil Laverda, a constitutional lawyer and former Argentine Justice Minister. “They cover dozens and dozens and dozens of laws, often on deep topics.”

To influence negotiations, Milei has threatened to put forward a non-binding referendum if the opposition parties do not agree to the main terms of his restructuring plan. Milei has also threatened to take away social welfare rights from protesters who block streets.

Despite these efforts, however, the reality of Milei’s lack of Congressional support has led him to compromise on some elements of his agenda as it makes its way through the legislative process. Although the structure of the bill remains, opposition politicians have made more than 100 changes to it, including curtailing the scope of the President’s emergency powers to one year rather than two, and retaining YPF, the national oil and gas company, in public hands, despite allowing most other state-owned companies to remain subject to privatization.

Neoliberalism and the Decline of the Legislature

Argentina is not unique. This most recent example of legislative subversion is a familiar tactic used to accommodate neoliberal restructuring, that has been utilized repeatedly by neoliberal reformers in recent decades, including the IMF-sanctioned omnibus bill rammed through Greece’s parliament in 2014.

This approach to the legislature is the consequence of the political limitations of neoliberal policy, which is opposed by considerable segments of society. A blueprint for this strategy is spelled out by former New Zealand Minister of Finance Roger Douglas in his 1993 book, Unfinished Business. The book recalls lessons from his experience implementing a neoliberal agenda dubbed ‘Rogernomics’ in the 1980s against the headwinds of widespread social and political opposition.

Douglas claimed it is “uncertainty, not speed, that endangers the success of structural reform programmes.” Neoliberal reforms should not be passed incrementally, but as a rupture, moving in “quantum leaps” to overcome popular opposition.

Democratic processes are typically slow and deliberate, designed to enable the legislative body to scrutinize the executive, foster compromise, and encourage debate. It was necessary, therefore, to streamline the democratic process to ensure that politicians could neither interfere with, nor demand meaningful changes to, neoliberal reorganization efforts.

Neoliberal governments should confront the legislature, not as an essential element of the process of democracy, but an instrument used by politicians and vested interests to interfere with the operations of the marketplace. “Speed is essential. It is almost impossible to go too fast,” Douglas said. “Once the programme begins to be implemented, don’t stop until you have completed it.”

This tactic did not occur in a vacuum, but emerged intrinsically from the content of a neoliberal theoretical framework that views democratic institutions as an additional layer of state administration to be overcome. Neoliberal thought is deeply skeptical in the capabilities of reason to infer or predict causality. Given the limitations of the mind, society should be governed, not by conscious modelling and careful planning, but according to spontaneous or “invisible hand” forms of social organization, which are the outcome of independent, unplanned individual decisions.

This position is most clearly expressed by Friedrich Hayek, who claimed that parliamentary sovereignty was in fact the “root of the evil” in modern society, since it facilitated the growth of the state. Legislatures constituted one limb of what Milton Friedman called the “iron triangle” of politicians, bureaucrats, as well as corporate and individual special interests that were perpetually reliant upon the government for rents, and therefore had an interest in obstructing market reforms.

‘Instant Democracy’ and the Rise of ‘Neoliberal Populism’

What should we make of Milei’s approach to Congress, then? Is it reflective of a new pattern in neoliberal governance, or merely the extension of an old one? The answer is both. While Milei’s approach clearly shares categorial similarities with the neoliberal legislative blueprint built for speed, his blending of these ideas with a coarse, populist rhetoric grounded in anti-statism, signifies an intensification of these patterns.

Milei’s populist neoliberal worldview contributes to a rising trend among far-right governments around the world to use this rhetoric to rationalize the subversion of democracy. This kind of “neoliberal populism” conflates democratic institutions with political actors, claiming that they are instruments of obstruction for self-serving politicians and bureaucrats.

This is a view Milei has proudly declared. “For me, the state is an enemy, as are the politicians who live off it,” he said. “We will put an end to the parasitic, stupid, useless political caste that is sinking this country.”

Grounded in the same logic as neoliberalism’s conventional demand for freedom from the state, democratic institutions increasingly appear as impediments to the logic of the marketplace. The elimination of cumbersome legislative processes, then, removes the obstacles that restrain market forces, generating popular economic independence, and restoring common-sense. This inverts the logic of democracy, making it appear as though executive rule is necessary to protect the interests of “the People” from Friedman’s “iron triangle.”

The anti-parliamentarism at the core of the neoliberal theoretical outlook has increasingly transformed into a populist program that mobilizes a general dissatisfaction with politicians against democratic institutions as such. Neoliberal politicians, such as Milei, use this reasoning to manufacture the conditions for the ongoing use of emergency powers and the concentration of authority in the executive branch.

The global elite, sensing “the smell of a big privatization wave coming,” are said to be “infatuated” with his take-no-prisoners approach to Congress. Thus, although not a new phenomenon, Milei’s brand of “instant democracy,” which conceives of speed and flexibility as the essence of legislative governance, has the support of both the financial elite as well as a growing populist dimension, giving it the hallmarks of a burgeoning political movement of the most regressive kind.

As the institutional forbearance that restrained most neoliberal governments to stay within the confines of liberal democratic constitutional structures continues to give way to a logic that sees the legislature as subordinate to the market, it is likely that we will continue to see the erosion of democratic standards.

Tom McDowell is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Neoliberal Parliamentarism: The Decline of Parliament at the Ontario Legislature (University of Toronto Press, 2021).

Central to Milei’s economic reforms are measures to privatize state-owned enterprises, deregulate industries, and slash government spending, which he argues are necessary to address decades of fiscal mismanagement.

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Content: Argentine President Pledges Economic Reform in a Passionate Speech to Congress | Deutsche Welle Introduces Germany | DW | 02.03.2024
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The political climate of the times
Argentine President vows to push for economic reform
In a speech to the National Assembly on Friday, Argentina's new president, Miguel Millay, vowed to continue to push for economic reform, whether or not he has the support of the National Assembly.
He said that if the economic model is not transformed, "Argentina has no future."
Milley told lawmakers he would continue to push through reforms with or without congressional support.
Argentina ’ s new liberal president, Javier Milei, delivered a passionate speech to Congress on Friday (March 1).
He said he "will continue to push" for economic reform.
The Argentine leader, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist," promised to slash state spending and reduce the government's fiscal deficit.
“We ’ re going to completely change this country. ”
Millet told lawmakers that he would continue to push ahead with reforms, whether or not he had the support of Congress.
He said "we will not back down, we will continue to move forward...
Whether it is through laws, presidential decrees or amending regulations, "he added," We will change this country forever...
with or without the support of political leaders, with or without all the legal resources of the executive branch ".
"I ask for patience and trust... It will take a while for us to see the results of the economic restructuring and the reforms that are being implemented," he added.
If the economic model does not change, "Argentina has no future"
Millay said he would introduce a bill that would penalize anyone — including the president — who financed the deficit by issuing additional money.
When he takes office, Mile will devalue the peso by about half.
"If we don't fundamentally change the economic model, then Argentina has no future," he said.
How will Argentina choose between China and the EU?
Milley's speech was repeatedly interrupted by cheers from supporters, who told Congress they would face "another animal" if they opposed his reform efforts.
Miley's Shock Therapy
After taking office in December last year, Millet issued decrees repealing or amending hundreds of laws aimed at curtailing the power of trade unions and deregulating state interference in the economy.
However, his claims met with resistance, and the court issued a ruling halting these measures.
Miller proposed a comprehensive reform plan, seeking to privatize state-owned entities and weaken labor protection.
The bill was voted down by lawmakers last month.
It includes the power to delegate to the executive branch for one year and the power to pass laws by decree on the basis of "economic emergencies".
Millet ’ s shock economic measures boosted the market, but sparked nationwide protests and strong opposition from labor unions.
Trade unions say the reforms will hurt the poor.
Despite his harsh words to lawmakers, the Argentine president struck a more conciliatory tone in his interactions with governors, proposing a 10-point “social contract ” agreed by May 25 that includes a“ rediscussion ” of the current tax distribution between the federal government and provincial governors.
Mire and the provincial governors have also been at loggerheads over the issue of funding cuts.
This week, when the governor threatened to cut off energy supplies to the rest of Argentina due to a funding dispute, the dispute heated up.
(Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse)
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His fiscal policies include devaluing the peso, eliminating money-printing, and pursuing a unified exchange rate to combat inflation and restore economic stability, though these steps carry risks of recession and investor skepticism.

Title:

Content: Milei Experiment

In the tangled web of Argentine politics and economics, one figure has emerged as both a lightning rod for controversy and a beacon of hope ~ President Javier Milei.

In the tangled web of Argentine politics and economics, one figure has emerged as both a lightning rod for controversy and a beacon of hope ~ President Javier Milei. His first 100 days in office have been marked by a whirlwind of fiscal manoeuvres, bold policy shifts, and commitment to economic reform. But as Argentina teeters on the edge of uncertainty, Mr Milei’s ambitious agenda raises questions even it offers solutions. At the heart of Mr Milei’s strategy lies a radical departure from conventional wisdom.

Brandishing a chainsaw as a symbol of fiscal austerity, he has pledged to slash spending and achieve a budget surplus, a feat unheard of in a country plagued by decades of fiscal mismanagement. His unorthodox approach has garnered both praise and scepticism, as Argentines grapple with the harsh realities of rising poverty and economic contraction. The cornerstone of Mr Milei’s economic vision is the elimination of money-printing and the pursuit of a unified exchange rate. By devaluing the peso and cutting interest rates, he aims to rein in inflation and restore confidence in the economy.

Yet the path to stability is fraught with pitfalls, as the spectre of recession looms large and investors remain wary of the government’s opaque monetary policies. While Mr Milei’s commitment to reform is commendable, his political isolation poses a significant obstacle to meaningful change. With little support in the Argentine Congress and a fragmented coalition, he faces an uphill battle. The recent defeat of a sprawling omnibus bill highlights the challenges ahead, as competing interests and entrenched political factions threaten to derail Mr Milei’s ambitions. Moreover, the uncertainty surrounding Argentina’s future monetary regime adds another layer of complexity to the equation. Will Mr Milei pivot towards dollarization or pursue a more gradual approach to currency reform? The lack of clarity on this front only serves to fuel investor anxieties and exacerbate economic volatility. Amidst these challenges, Mr Milei’s fate hangs in the balance. How much economic pain can Argentines endure before turning on their unconventional leader? And can Mr Milei muster the political support needed to navigate the treacherous waters of Argentine politics?

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In the end, the trajectory of Mr Milei’s presidency hinges on the delicate balance between economic resilience and political manoeuvring. Should he manage to maintain public support and secure crucial alliances, Mr Milei could emerge as a formidable force in next year’s mid-term elections. However, any slip in popularity could spell disaster for his ambitious agenda, opening the door for his adversaries to dismantle his presidency. Whether Mr Milei’s gamble will pay off remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. In a country accustomed to political upheaval and economic turmoil, the journey towards reform is bound to be fraught with uncertainty and adversity. Only time will tell whether Mr Milei’s vision for Argentina’s future will lead to prosperity or further hardship

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What economic issue did Milei want to address?

Milei has also proposed dollarizing the economy and abolishing the Argentine Central Bank, a controversial move that would require congressional approval and significant financial resources.

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Content: Argentina election: Javier Milei's radical proposals face test of reality

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Javier Milei, the anti-establishment politician who cruised to victory in the Argentine presidential election last week, has courted intense controversy with radical, provocative policy proposals and statements.

This led many detractors of the self-styled "anarcho-capitalist" to call his candidacy a "leap into the void".

Now, with the mop-haired president-elect only two weeks away from taking over Latin America's third-largest economy, many are asking, how will his policies and positions face the test of reality?

Taming inflation takes time

Javier Milei had proposed to dollarise the economy and eliminate the Argentine Central Bank as a strategy to "kill" hyper-inflation. This meant making the US dollar the national currency in place of the Argentine peso, whose value, Mr Milei said, had been "melting like blocks of ice in the Sahara".

One obstacle is that ditching the Central Bank and making the US dollar legal tender would need approval from the Argentina's Congress and could even require changing the constitution.

Although Mr Milei convincingly won the presidency, his Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) movement is barely the third largest political force in Congress. This suggests difficult negotiations might be in store.

Some economists have also questioned whether Mr Milei's plans are feasible, saying they would weaken his government's ability to manage domestic monetary policy.

Having the US dollar as the Argentine currency would effectively leave interest rate policy in the hands of the US Federal Reserve. Argentina's economy would be more vulnerable to external shocks involving the US dollar, for example sudden rises in prices for oil and fuel imports, which could make internal adjustments even more painful inside the country.

Sceptics also point out that Argentina would need to have in hand the US dollars to replace the pesos. Experts believe this could require anywhere between US $35bn to $50bn which indebted Argentina currently does not have and may not be able to borrow easily.

Mr Milei himself has admitted his "shock adjustment" economic stabilisation recipe could actually take up to two years to bring down inflation. "Saying anything else is lying," he said.

A climate sceptic?

Another topic that had made media headlines was Mr Milei's apparent declaration of himself as a climate change "sceptic", that is, someone who denies the role of humans in global warming.

"I do not deny climate change. What I am saying is that there is a temperature cycle in the history of the Earth... Therefore, all those policies that blame humans for climate change are false," Mr Milei said during a presidential debate last month, causing much commentary and criticism.

In his proposed government programme, one of the numerous ministries he had said he planned to axe would be the existing environment ministry.

Such apparent climate scepticism risked putting Mr Milei sharply out of tune with an international majority of governments and leaders who plan to gather at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai soon to seek urgent solutions to the problems of climate change and global warming.

Pragmatism and the Pope

Before he was elected, Mr Milei virulently attacked Argentine Pope Francis, calling him a "Jesuit who promotes communism", and even the "representative of the evil one [the Devil] on Earth".

Such statements caused frictions with the local Catholic Church and the Vatican.

However, this antagonism appeared to miraculously dissipate only days after his election win, when Mr Milei had what he called a "very friendly" phone call with the Pope, whom he addressed as "Your Holiness", inviting him to visit Argentina in 2024.

Asked in a TV interview about this change of heart, Mr Milei conceded that, when one is president, "there are some things that require greater doses of pragmatism".

No break with China and Brazil

Before his election, Milei had signalled he could freeze ties with Brazil and China, Argentina's two top trading partners, on the grounds that he did "not make pacts with communists".

"I am going to be aligned with the United States, Israel, and the free world," he said.

Not surprisingly, this assertion caused consternation in Beijing and Brasilia, as well as in Argentina.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson was quoted as warning that it would be a "huge foreign policy mistake" for Argentina to cut ties with countries such as China and Brazil.

Mr Milei's predecessor, outgoing left-wing President Alberto Fernández, had carefully nurtured ties with Beijing and had welcomed an invitation to join Brics, the China-led group which also comprises Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa.

Experts questioned the wisdom of dismantling a relationship that clearly brought benefits to Argentina, and not only by China being a top market for Argentina's soybean, meat and grains.

China was also helping to prop up Argentina's financial reserves with a major currency swap deal - significant support for a country already heavily indebted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Days after the election, however, there seemed to be clear signs that no major break in relations was planned. The president-elect received a personal letter of "congratulations and good wishes" from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr Milei himself made a point of thanking Xi on social media.

Mr Milei's pick for foreign minister, Diana Mondino, also dismissed as "nonsense" any suggestion that there would be a rupture in "commercial relations" with China or Brazil.

In Brazil, Mr Milei's invitation for former President Jair Bolsonaro to attend his 10 December inauguration was interpreted as "unfriendly" towards Brazil's current left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

But Milei has since said Lula would be "well-received", if he wanted to come.

Dictatorship denial

Mr Milei and his vice-presidential running-mate Victoria Villarruel also ignited intense controversy during the campaign with their position regarding Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship.

Defying traditional positions held by Argentina's government and society for the last 40 years, Mr Milei caused outrage by contesting the generally accepted estimate of those abducted and "disappeared" in the dictatorship - 30,000 - asserting the actual number was closer to 9,000.

The candidate argued that the political violence of the 1970s in Argentina was a two-sided "war" in which "the forces of the state committed excesses but the terrorists [anti-government guerrillas] ... [also] committed crimes against humanity".

This equivalence of presentation of the two sides raised howls of protest from groups like the Plaza de Mayo mothers and grandmothers of disappeared persons.

This was just another striking way in which the Milei-Villarruel duo were trying to shake up the political status quo in Argentina. The next four years will show if they can do it.

dollarizing the Argentinian currency
closing the central bank

Politically, Milei faces significant challenges due to his minority position in Congress, which has forced him to rely on executive decrees and emergency powers to advance his reforms.

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In initial victory for Argentine President Milei, Senate gives overall approval to key reform bills

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s Senate has approved key state overhaul and tax bills proposed by President Javier Miliei, delivering an initial legislative victory to the libertarian leader in his efforts to deliver on his promises of radical change.

Senators voted 37 to 36 late Wednesday to give their overall approval to the overhaul bill after 11 hours of heated debate as protesters urging lawmakers to reject Milei’s harsh austerity clashed with police outside Congress. The lawmakers still must approve individual measures in an article-by-article vote that will stretch throughout the night.

In a reflection of the fierce backlash to the legislation and deep polarization gripping Argentina’s Congress, Vice President and head of the Senate Victoria Villarruel cast the tiebreaking vote in favor of Milei’s agenda.

The legislation delegates broad powers to the president in energy, pensions, security and other areas and includes several measures seen as controversial, including a generous incentive scheme for foreign investors, tax amnesty for those with undeclared assets and plans to privatize some of Argentina’s state-owned firms.

If the Senate approves the articles with modifications, the lower house still has to okay them before Milei can claim passing his first law since entering office last December.

As Senators pored over the bills, protesters in downtown Buenos Aires hurled sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails at police who fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The fiery right-wing economist rose to power on promises he would resolve Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades, with annual inflation climbing toward 300% and a recession deepening.

But his political party of relative novices holds just a tiny minority of seats in Congress and he has struggled to strike deals with the opposition.

Senators approved two bills, a tax package that lowers the income tax threshold and a 238-article state reform bill that passed the lower house of Congress in late April after weeks of negotiations.

Initially dubbed the “omnibus bill” because of its more than 600 articles, the watered-down version at hand still delegates broad legislative powers to the president in energy, pensions, security and other areas.

The proposal’s immense scope — and staunch opposition to it — has limited progress.

“We have the weakest president we’ve ever seen who is trying to pass the biggest bill we’ve ever seen,” said Ana Iparraguirre, an Argentina-based analyst at Washington strategy firm GBAO. “That’s the contradiction.”

Unlike previous Argentine leaders since the return of democracy in 1983, Milei has failed to pass a single piece of legislation during his first six months in office. Instead, the populist outsider has relied on executive powers to slash state spending and sweep away economic restrictions.

“Today, it’s almost more important for Milei to demonstrate that he can pass laws in Congress than what he passes,” said Lucas Romero, director of Synopsis consultancy.

The package has faced tough resistance from the left-leaning Peronist movement loyal to former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, which has dominated Argentine politics for the last two decades and holds sway over the country’s powerful trade unions.

Thousands of bankers, teachers, truckers and workers from a range of other unions converged around Congress throughout the day, banging drums, blasting trumpets and chanting, “Our country is not for sale!” and “We will defend the state!”

“If this law passes, we are going to lose so many of our labor and pension rights,” said 54-year-old teacher Miriam Rajovitcher protesting alongside her colleagues, middle-class Argentines who say they’ve had to reconfigure their lives since Milei slashed their school budgets and devalued the currency, sending inflation soaring. “I am so much wor0se off.

The rally took a tense turn when hundreds of riot officers pushed back with their shields against angry protesters trying to surge through a barrier.

Police used pepper spray, water cannons and tear gas against the huge crowds while demonstrators set two overturned cars ablaze and threw Molotov cocktails.

Dozens of protesters were being treated by medics in the streets and police said 20 officers had been injured in the clashes. At least five Peronist lawmakers said they were hospitalized after police sprayed pepper spray in their eyes.

“Today the government is declaring war on the Argentine people,” Peronist lawmaker Cecilia Moreau told reporters outside Congress.

The presidency called protesters “terrorists” and accused them of “attempting to carry out a coup d’état” by disrupting Congress.

The Peronist bloc controls 33 out of 72 seats in the Senate while Milei’s party, Freedom Advances, holds just seven seats. The bill needed 37 votes from the 72 total legislators in the Senate to get a majority and ended up with a 36-36 tie.

Analysts say that foreign investors and the International Monetary Fund, to which Argentina owes a staggering $44 billion, are closely watching Wednesday’s vote to see whether Milei can build consensus with his opponents to deliver on his ambitions.

Wednesday’s article-by-article vote will stretch for hours, with analysts expecting lawmakers to further weaken the most divisive sections of the bills.

One of the most contested measures is an incentive program to spur foreign investments that offers lucrative tax breaks for 30 years, no import tariffs and other perks for big corporations that critics say go too far.

“What this law is hurting most are the pockets of workers, not the big companies that are just going to get richer,” said 36-year-old Juan Barreto, a bank employee jostling amid crowds of his fellow union members.

Argentina’s unions have also voiced vehement opposition to measures that would make it easier for companies to fire employees as well as plans to privatize some state-owned companies. The question of which ones will head to auction has generated intense debate.

Backlash to the tax bill has centered on an amnesty that would allow Argentines to register undeclared assets at home and abroad without paying heavy taxes, as well as a lower income tax threshold to boost revenue.

Frustrated by legislative resistance, the president has moderated his previous all-or-nothing approach. Earlier this month, in a bid to break the impasse, Milei fired his politically inexperienced Cabinet chief and replaced him with Interior Minister Guillermo Francos, a career politician skilled at congressional wheeling and dealing.

In recent weeks, Argentina has gotten a taste of what awaits if Congress fails to pass the bills.

Sovereign bonds have tumbled. The country’s currency, the peso, has depreciated as well, widening the gap between the official and black market exchange rate to nearly 40%. The peso was trading at 1,255 per greenback on the informal market Wednesday, a rate far lower than earlier this year.

Even as the IMF has praised Milei’s agenda and released tranches of frozen loans, the fund has held back from striking a new deal with Argentina.

Meanwhile, Milei has been in Silicon Valley rubbing shoulders with billionaire tech executives Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg. The meetings however, have not produced any announcements of substantial investments.

“What you’re seeing in the last three weeks is the market and investors getting a little nervous,” said Marcelo J. García, Americas director at geopolitical risk firm Horizon Engage. “The market is saying, ‘Show me that you can govern.’”

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His omnibus bill, bundling major neoliberal reforms, has encountered resistance from entrenched political factions, leading to amendments that limit his emergency powers and preserve key state assets like YPF.

Milei’s policies have sparked widespread protests, particularly from labor unions and leftist groups, who argue that his austerity measures and deregulation harm vulnerable populations and exacerbate poverty.

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Argentines Take Feminist Strike to the Streets on International Women’s Day

Activists demand an end to austerity measures, growing poverty and worsening food insecurity under President Milei.

Argentinian women from all walks of life will take to the streets nationwide on 8 March, International Women’s Day, as part of a feminist strike calling for an end to the country’s growing poverty, which already affects 57% of the population of 46 million.

The protesters’ “most important demand” is a solution to Argentina’s “food emergency”, said María Claudia Albornoz, an activist from La Poderosa, a group that defends the rights of the five million people living in the country’s 6,500 slums, or villas miseria (misery villages).

Three months after right-wing libertarian president Javier Milei took office, Argentina’s ever-increasing food inflation has reached 56%, according to the latest analysis from La Poderosa. Government data shows the country’s annual inflation rate is 254%.

Real-terms wages and pensions are deteriorating, and people go to supermarkets not knowing whether the money in their pockets will be enough to buy foods they could afford just a few days ago.

Shoppers have one certainty, though: what were once basic goods such as shampoo are now luxury items. The small local grocery stores that allow their customers to pay on an informal trust-based credit system now keep track of only the items and quantities purchased, no longer bothering to note down the prices that are constantly rising.

The spiralling cost of living has been worsened still by Milei’s cuts to ‘ollas populares’, community kitchens run by social, civil and religious organisations, which are a last resort for the most impoverished families.

There are around 44,000 of these kitchens across Argentina, which were able to produce around 10 million meals a day last year.

Since then, Milei’s administration has stopped the government packages of non-perishable food staples, such as pasta, rice and yerba mate (a traditional herbal drink) being sent to these kitchens, arguing that it must conduct an audit on how they use these resources.

The cuts have led to “a very desperate situation”, said Albornoz, whose group La Poderosa runs 158 kitchens nationwide.

“Without these basic food staples, we cannot cook,” she said. “This causes us enormous distress, sadness and pain, because we can’t feed our families, a role that is very much attached to women and gender non-conforming people.”

Protesters have taken to the streets nationwide to demand the cuts are reversed, but the government has doubled down.

Ministers claim the kitchens’ volunteers — many of whom are part of larger groups of organised unemployed, informal workers and leftist activists known as ‘picketers’ — are committing “extortion” by using food to lure people to their protests. They say they made the cuts to end this practice, advising people to enrol in the government’s food support program rather than relying on the community kitchens.

The minister of human capital, Sandra Pettovello, even mocked protesters as they gathered outside the ministry, saying: “Boys, are you hungry? Come one by one and I’ll write down your ID number, your name, where you’re from and you’ll receive help individually.”

But four days later, as more than 10,000 people lined up to meet her, Pettovello signed a $210,000 food assistance agreement with the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Argentina. “No longer will the picketing organisations be in charge of distributing food and social plans paid for by the national state with the money contributed by working Argentines,” she said.

Shifting Priorities

It is primarily the austerity measures, growing poverty and worsening food insecurity that the 8M feminist strike will denounce this week.

For the first time since feminists began holding open decision-making assemblies in 2015, participants have agreed to make tackling hunger the demonstration’s priority.

Organisers have drafted a manifesto to read out during the demonstration, which includes statements aiming to challenge ‘libertarian’ ideas advocated by Milei, such as: “With hunger and without rights, there is no freedom” and “Enough of austerity and repression”.

Assemblies allow any civil society group or individual to present their concerns to be discussed. They have achieved something that no other social movement in Argentina has managed to: working together to tackle issues of reproduction of domestic and community life, as well as formal and informal work.

But in previous years, the assemblies’ middle-class feminists, who are more likely to be educated, have sought to give priority to protests on issues such as access to abortion, femicides and gender-based violence.

Now, as the country’s economic situation has worsened, their goals have shifted. They are now in agreement with working-class feminists, who have long argued that food security must be their top concern.

“What seems to me to have changed this year is that we are a priority,” Albornoz said. “Feminists were able to begin to reach a consensus on issues that we, the slum dwellers — the people who cannot cover the basic food basket — consider a priority.”

The food basket Albornoz referred to are the essential food items required to sustain an adult for a month. These cost $110 when converted from pesos at the official exchange rate, more than half the average monthly earnings of a person living in an urban area ($218).

The assemblies allow villeras (women who live in slums), feminist academics, trade unionists and LGBTIQ people to share their lived experiences and political thinking, which has enabled the feminists to agree on strategies of resistance.

This is more important than ever, as the misogynist discourse Milei regularly touted during his election campaign has in recent months materialised as an avalanche of regressive measures stripping away the rights of women and LGBTIQ people.

The president has scrapped the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, replacing the entire department with an undersecretariat for protection against gender violence in the newly created Ministry of Human Capital.

His government has also ended two support programmes for victims of gender violence — one that sought to strengthen their economic independence, and another that provided psycho-social and legal help — and fired many of the public employees who worked on the hotline for counselling and assisting victims.

It also closed the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, and banned the use of language that is inclusive and gender-neutral in public offices or documents. Defending the move, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said inclusive language was being weaponised as “a political business”.

The government has further plans to weaken or dismantle legislation that feminists fought for, such as the 2019 Micaela Law, which introduced mandatory training in gender and gender violence for all public servants and the Law on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy, which legalised abortion in 2020.

Ministers claim these closures and austerity cuts are needed to fix the ailing economy, but the main attacks on women and LGBTIQ people have come from the president himself.

In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in mid-January, Milei spoke of “the cruelty of the bloody agenda of abortion”, said gender inequality no longer exists and branded feminism “a ridiculous and unnatural fight between men and women”.

Feminists fear the president’s misogyny, combined with his cuts, mean Argentina is “heading towards a scenario of worsening violence in general and gender violence”, according to Raquel Vivanco, who founded the Observatorio Ahora Que Sí Nos Ven (the Now That They See Us Observatory), which tracks femicides in the country.

“These structural conditions of extreme poverty and unemployment, as they increase inequalities, create more violence that can in turn increase numbers of femicide statistics,” said Vivanco.

There were 42 femicides in Argentina in January and February of this year. The observatory recorded the highest-ever number of femicides (297) in 2019, which was rightist president Mauricio Macri’s last year in office and was characterised by austerity policies that were harsh but not as extreme as those being introduced by Milei.

“Left With Absolutely No Rights

Though widespread hunger and attacks on women’s rights are the protesters’ main priorities, they also want Milei to address his measures of ‘economic terror’ and his denials that gender inequalities exist in Argentina.

Lucía Cavallero, a sociologist and researcher at the University of Buenos Aires and a member of Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), a group that fights gender violence, told openDemocracy about the dire economic situation in Argentina.

“There is an unprecedented devaluation of the peso, a deliberate freezing of wages and social subsidies, so inflation is brutal, and a perverse discourse of warning that it could be worse,” she said. “Added to all this is the deregulation of the economy in almost all areas.”

The government’s own data shows that one million people fell into poverty every month for the past three months. Albornoz believes these figures are an underestimate, though, telling openDemocracy that La Poderosa’s analysis indicates an increase of six million impoverished people in the past two months.

Argentina’s school year recently started, forcing many families to try to find creative solutions to not being able to afford school supplies, which cost an average of $150, or uniforms.

The best case scenario saw children reuse items from previous years or pick up supplies from the donation drives that took place across the country. At worst, though, “mothers said they would have to choose which children to send to school because they don’t have the school supplies or the smocks to send them all,” said Cavallero.

The effects of this economic and political turmoil are also being seen in housing, particularly since the government repealed the law regulating the rental market on 29 December.

“It left us tenants with absolutely no rights,” said Tamara Lescano, an activist from the social movement Inquilinas Agrupadas (Tenants United). “The lack of a legal framework enables real estate abuse”.

Rental contracts now have no minimum period and are able to be terminated at landlords’ discretion, without a need to consult the tenants or give a reason for the eviction — which was previously illegal. Landlords can also include unreasonable clauses in the tenancy agreements.

Lescano said the private rental sector in Argentina, which already encompasses some 10 million people, is growing — yet fewer and fewer landlords own more properties than ever.

Inquilinas Agrupadas receives an average of between 40 and 50 requests for advice every day, mainly from women with dependent children, pressured by their mostly male landlords.

“They Are Coming For Us”

The 8M strike faces a fresh challenge this year. Four days after Milei took office, his government outlawed any public protest involving the blocking of roads with a new ‘anti-picketing’ protocol that contains specific clauses allowing the police to criminalise, persecute and stigmatise protesters.

“They identify you in the marches, they take pictures of you, they film you. When we mobilise, the police, who are very violent, quickly repress us,” said Albornoz.

“This has already happened at various times,” she added, referring to hundreds of protests against Milei’s austerity measures that have been organised by different social organisations across the country in recent months.

The protocol also allows the government to issue protest organisers with hefty fines, deprive demonstrators of social aid, and punish parents or guardians who take minors to the marches.

These measures are attempts to intimidate the poorest, many of whom are women, said Gabriela De la Rosa, a member of the Polo Obrero, a social organisation affiliated to Argentina’s Trotskyist Workers’ Party, which runs 3,000 community kitchens nationwide.

“The movement of the unemployed is made up mostly of women comrades, who mobilise with their entire families because they have no one to leave their children with in order to demand food for their children,” De la Rosa told openDemocracy. “On the picket lines, in the encampments, in the mobilisations, the families often have a pot to eat, and at home, they don’t.”

As well as the risk of harsh policing, Argentinian feminists worry their protest could turn violent — fearing Milei’s repeated attacks, coupled with food insecurity and the general uncertainty caused by inflation and low wages, have set the stage for social unrest.

“There is fear of what might happen in the 8 March demonstration,” Albornoz acknowledged. “We have been holding assemblies to dispel this fear and to make the women understand that if we don’t take to the streets and defend our rights, we are going to lose much more than we have already lost.”

The feminists “will take all possible precautions” to avoid violence in the 8 March demonstration, said economist Candelaria Botto, the director of Economía Feminista, which seeks to expose gender inequalities in the world of work and business.

“But we know that we have to be there, on the streets, because they are coming for us.”

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How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

suspended 366 decrees to ease economic controls and reduce spending.

Who has opposed Milei's proposed layoff order?

Social backlash has included violent clashes with police and nationwide strikes, reflecting deep polarization in Argentine society and resistance to Milei’s libertarian approach.

Who has opposed Milei's proposed layoff order?

Internationally, Milei’s climate skepticism and plans to weaken environmental protections risk isolating Argentina from global initiatives, such as the COP28 climate conference.

Milei’s governance style, characterized by populist rhetoric and legislative subversion, aligns with a global trend of neoliberal populism that prioritizes executive power over democratic processes.