AI voice cloning is an advanced artificial intelligence technology that leverages deep learning, neural networks, and natural language processing to accurately replicate a person's voice using only brief audio samples.

It analyzes unique voice characteristics such as pitch, tone, rhythm, speed, and cadence to generate synthetic speech that closely mimics the original speaker.

Recent developments have greatly simplified access to voice cloning technologies, allowing even non-experts to clone voices with as little as three seconds of audio input.

Notable AI models like Microsoft’s VALL-E demonstrate how quickly and realistically voice cloning can be achieved today[ e3eac26f-b4ab-4cad-a17b-244b8a501047_871210594].

The technology has evolved sharply over the past few years, with key breakthroughs involving unstructured training on thousands of hours of voice data, allowing AI not only to reproduce what is said but also how it is said.

Open-source systems like Tortoise laid the foundation for commercial platforms such as Elevenlabs and NeuralSpace’s VoiceAI, which offers high-accuracy, culturally attuned synthetic voices, including local dialects in Arabic, Hindi, and English, facilitating authentic, engaging user experiences across industries.

The typical process involves collecting quality audio samples, training AI models to learn voice features, and generating speech on demand.

Applications of voice cloning span entertainment (voiceovers, video games, films), accessibility (aids for individuals with speech impairments), virtual assistants, education (including language learning tools), business, marketing, and customer service automation.

In education, voice cloning holds promise for creating authentic listening comprehension materials customized to specific proficiency levels, which could address your need for realistic yet accessible foreign language audio content.

However, the ethical use of this technology demands careful consideration of voice consent and authenticity.

The legal landscape around voice cloning is complex and still evolving.

Key concerns include copyright on voices and performances, right of publicity, and the necessity of explicit consent for voice use.

Notable controversies include OpenAI's unauthorized use of Scarlett Johansson’s voice, which sparked public and legal scrutiny and highlighted the risks of cloning without permission.

Licensing voice data from actors or voice owners is considered best practice to mitigate legal risks.

Ethically, voice cloning raises dilemmas such as identity theft, deepfakes, misinformation, fraud, privacy violations, and erosion of societal trust.

Cybercriminals have exploited voice cloning to conduct scams, impersonate individuals for fraud, and create harmful deepfake audio and video content.

For example, voice cloning has been used in online scams where attackers mimic a loved one’s voice to extort money, sometimes requiring only a brief original audio clip.

Industry efforts include developing detection tools such as voice biometrics and acoustic signal analyses to identify synthetic voices and prevent abuse.

In sum, AI voice cloning offers tremendous technical potential for educators to create tailored, authentic listening materials by generating synthetic voices that sound natural and culturally relevant.

Nonetheless, careful adherence to ethical guidelines and legal requirements around consent, rights, and privacy is essential to prevent misuse and protect individual identity.

Practical steps include obtaining explicit permission for voice data, spreading awareness about voice scams, and applying voice biometrics or watermarking where possible to verify synthetic audios.

For further adoption in curriculum design, educators should integrate these technologies responsibly, with a clear protocol safeguarding against deception, and stay updated on evolving regulations and detection technologies.

AI voice cloning is an advanced artificial intelligence technology that leverages deep learning, neural networks, and natural language processing to accurately replicate a person's voice using only brief audio samples.

Title:

Content: Opinions and Articles
What is deepfake technology and how does it work?
What is deepfake technology and what is its mechanism of action and the limits of its potential that can be used to fake videos, images and sounds?
# Alert your personal opinion as a specialist in the field in the last post:
Deepfake is a very dangerous artificial intelligence technique that is used in the manufacture and counterfeiting of videos, images and sounds, which can show people saying or doing things they never said or did in fact and can reach high accuracy in it with the large size of data used in the training of the quasms that the technology works on.
Let ’ s start with Voice Deepfake, also known as Voice Cloning, is an artificial intelligence technique designed to create quasmids capable of imitating the voice of a real person.
In order to do this, it must be trained on the recordings of the target person and after the completion of the training phase, the algorithm is able to produce a synthetic voice similar to the voice of the target person.
To do this, specialists use natural language processing techniques such as NLP, a machine learning technique that enables computers to interpret, process, and understand human language.
These techniques are used to identify the distinctive voice features of the voice of the target person and there are a large number of voice features that are analyzed, including the feature of pitch and low voice so that there are people characterized by high voice and others by low voice, and is also analyzed speed feature in the nature of the speech of the target person, and also of these features Cadence, which is the way the voice of the target.
Of course, to reach high accuracy, there must be huge data to train Khasmia many recordings of the target person and the easiest way to reach quick results to falsify the voice of a person is to use one of the existing Khasmia online open source and the transfer learning technology on it and train the algorithm on a simple recording can Khasmia trained high precision easily identify the voice features and imitate.
But the problem is that most of the existing algorithms yes are high precision but they have been trained on either recordings in English or classical Arabic and algorithms trained on ZD data for those who enter a section in Sudanese bicycles get what is known as data drifting and this leads me a sharp decline in the accuracy of the results of the algorithm so you will find the product section very clear that it is fake.
Good and solution?
In the case of trying to fake the voice of a person in a Sudanese dialect using the technology of transfer learning will not benefit and will not come satisfactory results so you must train Khasmia from scratch on data using too many clips for the target person and is a very cumbersome process so you find there is a Russian company that offers this service to produce clips in English to fake videos and voice me anyone but at a cost of $20,000 per minute English can cost you $100,000.
The conclusion of the personal opinion that the audio in the video is real, but the video may be an old video was installed audio and adjust the synchronization and movement of the lips using the Deepfake technology in the video I noticed in the movement of the lips of the speaker some errors in the synchronization between what is said and the movement of the lips.
with my regards,
M.M. Mohammed A.M.
Valid
Researcher and Engineer Automated Robotics and Expert Artificial Intelligence Systems
London, United Kingdom
# Cher _ in _ the _ good
A dose of awareness
# شير _ على _ معر _ مع

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

It analyzes unique voice characteristics such as pitch, tone, rhythm, speed, and cadence to generate synthetic speech that closely mimics the original speaker.

Title:

Content: Expressionkaspersky.com
What are the mysteries of deep sonic falsification?
The spread of artificial intelligence and easy access to tools capable of altering the truth have led to the emergence of one of the most shocking and disturbing digital manipulation techniques, “deepfake. ”
Deep fakes make it possible to create fake videos, photos and sounds that show individuals saying or doing things they never said or did, and although the most popular version until recently was video, deep fakes are gaining importance day by day.
A historical overview
The first major program to bring the potential of deep voice counterfeiting to the general public was Adobe Voco in 2016, which used artificial intelligence to mimic a person ’ s voice from a short recording.
emoticalipwatchdog.com
The software was scrapped after it was found that it could be used to create false, misleading and dangerous sounds, and since then, advances in neural network technology have enabled increasingly realistic and convincing audio falsifications.
At present, we can find many applications and tools online that use this technology to create fake sounds, where Microsoft has launched an artificial intelligence model called VALL-E that can imitate the human voice with a recording of only three seconds.
Deep sonic falsification
Deep voice falsification aims to create an audio model capable of replicating the actual speaker ’ s voice, but the model must be trained through the speaker ’ s audio recordings, in order to be ready to generate an artificial sound similar to that of the original person.
expressiontelegraph.co.uk
Deep learning and natural language processing techniques are used to analyze the unique patterns and characteristics of sound, some of which include pitch, speed, rhythm and tone, and artificial intelligence uses recordings to deliver an original sound, creating a new audio recording that mimics the speaker ’ s voice to a full degree.
How to Create Deep Audio Counterfeiting
Fake deep voice is created using AI-powered text to speech technology, and this can be done with just a few minutes of recorded speech to train an AI speech model, which can read any text with the target voice.
expressionveritonevoice.com
The original recorded sound must be of sufficient quality to sample the unique characteristics of the speaker ’ s voice, after which AI algorithms analyze the patterns and characteristics of the original sound and learn to mimic them.
This can be done with male and female voices and adaptation to the identity of the speaker, the result is a fake voice recording that mimics the voice of the original person, and in addition to generating speech, these instruments can simulate sounds such as breathing and mouth movements.
Initiatives to combat voice counterfeiting
There are initiatives aimed at combating this increasingly prevalent voice counterfeiting, and some technologies can detect these counterfeit products, such as voice biometrics, an authentication method that uses a person ’ s unique voice pattern to verify their identity.
expressionclt.nliu.ac.in
This pattern includes characteristics such as tone and pitch of the voice, speech speed, and pronunciation, and to use voice biometrics, a person's voice must be captured, after which, its unique characteristics are analyzed as well as the length of the words.
Spectroscopy can also be used, consisting of analyzing acoustic signals to detect unique sound patterns that are difficult to replicate in deep fakes.
There are also tools that can detect the digital traces present in deep voice fakes, because the latter fails to accurately simulate all the variables of the actual voice recording, and therefore, deep fakes may contain breaks in sound or background noise that differ from those expected in the original sound.
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Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

Recent developments have greatly simplified access to voice cloning technologies, allowing even non-experts to clone voices with as little as three seconds of audio input.

Title:

Content: The scary side of artificial intelligence

The pros of AI outweigh the Cons or threats in our day-to-day lives, and there’s no magic pill to protect us from the scary threats of AI.

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  • Updated On Oct 3, 2023 at 03:02 PM IST

Artificial intelligence (AI), as we all know, is the simulation of human intelligence leveraging computer systems and machines. AI programs can continuously learn and evolve with experience. In technical terms, AI systems render the output by churning and analyzing the data for correlations and patterns and help make future predictions using these patterns.

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Today AI is being used extensively in all facets of our lives starting from lifestyle, e-commerce, home appliances, automobiles, navigation, transport, healthcare, agriculture, education, financial planning, chatbots, marketing, cyber security, virtual assistant, industrial automation and many more.

Clearly, we have and are leveraging the strengths of AI to the fullest to automate the routine tasks and make it auto-learn over a period. There’s no doubt that AI has revolutionized the lives of all – organizations, consumers etc. But as they say, “Everything comes at a price”. This analogy is quite true for AI as well, there have been a lot of threats that have emerged using AI and are being utilized by the Cyber criminals to dupe the ignorant users, cause mental stress and extort money.

continued below

Executive Workshop

I’m not going to delve into all of threats but would like to elucidate some of the real ones that have come to the surface recently:

Voice cloning or mimicry

As the name suggests, it uses machine learning algorithms to simulate anyone’s voice. It requires certain voice data to analyze and learn the specific patterns of any individual. There are certain advantages of cloning a voice that can be used in voice assistants, chatbots, navigation systems and other areas. Voice cloning has existed for a while but was restricted to experts who possess the technical knowledge to be able to use the same. But now AI Voice cloning tools are available on the open Internet that anyone can leverage with literally no technical knowledge or cost to clone anyone’s voice. All you need to do is just Google and it will pop up and get a bunch of both free and paid AI Voice cloning tools.

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In fact, recently one of the global leaders in online protection published a report stating how AI is fueling a rise in online voice scams, with just three seconds of audio required to clone a person’s voice. This is extremely creepy. Just imagine, if a Cyber-criminal clones your voice and tricks your near ones by making them believe that they are talking to you, and request for money due to any distress reasons. In fact, these are not assumptions but real-life incidents that are happening across the world every minute.

Deepfakes AI

Deepfakes AI are being used to impersonate an individual by manipulating videos, images, audios, and other content available on the social media platforms using deep learning techniques. It mainly transforms existing content from one person to another. This is another area that has been exploited by the Cyber criminals in the recent past, and there are a few deepfake cases that have made waves on the Internet. One of the most famous ones being Deepfake created by a VFX artist of one of Hollywood’s most famous male actors. This piece was so well made by rendering thousands of pictures using artificial versions of the actor. There are similar Deepfakes incidents involving other global celebrities and leaders. The damage and misuse of the deepfakes videos could be extremely dangerous for the human society and can be used by terrorists to incite riots and create nuisance.

Creating virtual people

This is another area where AI is being used to create people that do not exist. There are a lot of websites that allow you to generate a random image by just specifying the age group, gender & ethnicity, and you can continue to refresh these images at the click of a button. Be mindful of the fact that these images pertain to people that do not exist in this world. On the similar lines, there’s an emerging trend of AI news anchors that possess a human-like appearance and are fed data that they can read using text-to-speech technology. Recently, there's been a surge of AI-Driven robotic new anchors in multiple language channels. While the main objective of this initiative is to provide royalty free or cost-effective human images for branding and other purposes. However, the overuse of these technologies causes Fear of missing out (FOMO), Feeling of inadequacy, dissatisfaction, and isolation may potentially lead to psychological and emotional vulnerabilities.

One of the Hollywood movies, ‘HER’ portrayed an introverted and lonely writer (Joaquin Phoenix) who purchases an AI virtual assistant personified through a female voice to assist him in his writing job. However, when he finds out about its ability to learn and adapt, he falls in love with it. The film delves into emotional vulnerability and the impact of AI on human relationships.

Needless to say, that the pros of AI outweigh the Cons or threats in our day-to-day lives, and there’s no magic pill to protect us from the scary threats of AI. However, there are certain preventive tips that one can follow to mitigate any such risks. Do spread awareness with your family and friends:

  • Set some code words with family, and friends to verify the identity during emergency circumstances
  • Optimize social media presence by limiting your connections with only known contacts and avoid connecting with any unknown ones
  • Avoid saying ‘Yes’ as a greeting while receiving unknown calls as it can be used to authorize credit card charges or other purposes
  • Continuously update privacy settings on social media to allow viewing by friends and family only
  • Avoid clicking on any suspicious links or calls received without proper due diligence
  • Do not share your passwords and other sensitive information with anyone
  • Verify the credentials of any online information before circulating it through various mediums
  • Avoid public Wi-Fi connections offered at coffee shops or airports, which requires to enter password
  • Closely monitor the time spent by younger generation on social media and online gaming
  • Finally, in case of any suspicion, double check and report it to the host site or concerned authorities
The author is the CIO of MOVIN

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETCIO does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETCIO shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.

  • Published On Oct 3, 2023 at 03:02 PM IST

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What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

Notable AI models like Microsoft’s VALL-E demonstrate how quickly and realistically voice cloning can be achieved today[ e3eac26f-b4ab-4cad-a17b-244b8a501047_871210594].

The technology has evolved sharply over the past few years, with key breakthroughs involving unstructured training on thousands of hours of voice data, allowing AI not only to reproduce what is said but also how it is said.

Title:

Content: OpenAI's Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone

By AFP

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Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her". — Reuters file

Published: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:51 PM

Last updated: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:52 PM

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice -- or something very similar -- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson's, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media -- "Her".

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her", which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities -- Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program's developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

"That was a pretty big paradigm shift," Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week's VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

"It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that -- really not very good," Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

"If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that's very very bad," said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine's firm provides virtual voice assistants -- essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm's system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors' voices are used without their consent.

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video -- in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter "How dumb is OpenAI?", other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI's argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

"If it's not her but someone who sounds a lot like her... where do you draw that line," Riparbelli asked.

"If they're not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent."

More news from World

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

Open-source systems like Tortoise laid the foundation for commercial platforms such as Elevenlabs and NeuralSpace’s VoiceAI, which offers high-accuracy, culturally attuned synthetic voices, including local dialects in Arabic, Hindi, and English, facilitating authentic, engaging user experiences across industries.

Title:

Content: There were 107 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 446,378 in the last 365 days.
VoiceAI, technology for local dialects, transforming global customer service experiences
NeuralSpace launches AI voices in local languages
NeuralSpace logo
NeuralSpace's VoiceAI platform
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, December 10, 2023 / EINPresswire.com / --
NeuralSpace, a leader in linguistic artificial intelligence, has launched a transformative voice technology feature within its VoiceAI platform, offering realistic artificial sounds in Arabic, Hindi and English.
The innovation, unveiled on December 11, marks a major development in sound technology, offering speech formulation with unparalleled precision, especially in local dialects such as Saudi Arabia.
Three main advantages characterize NeuralSpace ’ s offerings:
Cultural Interaction: Artificial sounds capture the essence of local dialects, fostering deep communication between users and technology in regions such as Saudi Arabia, India and the English-speaking world.
Instantaneous Interaction: VoiceAI technology provides instantaneous, natural-sounding voice feedback, which is essential for dynamic speech generation in virtual assistants and voice response systems.
Ease of integration: The technology is sophisticated but easy to use, allowing developers to effortlessly optimize their applications.
VoiceAI for NeuralSpace meets the growing demand for accurate transcription, speech analytics and authentic synthetic sounds.
These AI sounds are finely tuned to real-world interactions, providing engaging and realistic user experiences.
Felix Le Mans, CEO and co-founder of NeuralSpace, said:
“NeuralSpace was founded with a vision to make the technology globally available in any language.
Today, with the release of our natural AI sounds, we are one step closer to turning this dream into reality.
Our human-quality Saudi, Indian and English voices in AI are not just revolutionizing technological innovation; they are gateways to make dialectical interactions with technology a tangible experience for everyone. ”
About VoiceAI: This platform and application programming interface (API) allow companies to copy, translate and analyze voice data with exceptional accuracy, especially in Arabic and Hindi.
Key features include up to 91% copy accuracy for these languages, surpassing major tech brands.
The platform also ensures high-level data security through in-house deployment, NeuralSpace ’ s ISO 27001 certification and compliance with the General Data Protection Law.
NeuralSpace invites you to integrate VoiceAI into your systems, and promises to change customer experiences.
The platform can be accessed via a code-free web platform, REST APIs, and Python SDK, ensuring easy integration.
About NeuralSpace: At the forefront of linguistic artificial intelligence, NeuralSpace is committed to technologies that enhance human-machine communication.
VoiceAI embodies this vision, reflecting the diversity and richness of human languages.
For more information, demos or enquiries, visit www.neuralspace.ai or contact sales @ neuralspace.ai.
NeuralSpace ’ s latest innovation is more than just a technological advance; it ’ s a step towards a future where you not only understand technology but also speak with a voice that resonates with the cultural richness of human languages.
Melanie Swamy-Brown
NeuralSpace
melanie @ neuralspace.ai
Visit us on social media:
Twitter
LinkedIn
Youtube

The typical process involves collecting quality audio samples, training AI models to learn voice features, and generating speech on demand.

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

Applications of voice cloning span entertainment (voiceovers, video games, films), accessibility (aids for individuals with speech impairments), virtual assistants, education (including language learning tools), business, marketing, and customer service automation.

How will educational institutions benefit from developing AI voice audio content for languages learners?

Enhance language comprehension
Enhance pronunciation abilities

In education, voice cloning holds promise for creating authentic listening comprehension materials customized to specific proficiency levels, which could address your need for realistic yet accessible foreign language audio content.

How will educational institutions benefit from developing AI voice audio content for languages learners?

Respond to different learning demands
Enhance language comprehension

However, the ethical use of this technology demands careful consideration of voice consent and authenticity.

The legal landscape around voice cloning is complex and still evolving.

Key concerns include copyright on voices and performances, right of publicity, and the necessity of explicit consent for voice use.

Notable controversies include OpenAI's unauthorized use of Scarlett Johansson’s voice, which sparked public and legal scrutiny and highlighted the risks of cloning without permission.

Licensing voice data from actors or voice owners is considered best practice to mitigate legal risks.

Ethically, voice cloning raises dilemmas such as identity theft, deepfakes, misinformation, fraud, privacy violations, and erosion of societal trust.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

Cybercriminals have exploited voice cloning to conduct scams, impersonate individuals for fraud, and create harmful deepfake audio and video content.

What do cybersecurity experts believe about the use of synthesized voice?

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

For example, voice cloning has been used in online scams where attackers mimic a loved one’s voice to extort money, sometimes requiring only a brief original audio clip.

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

Industry efforts include developing detection tools such as voice biometrics and acoustic signal analyses to identify synthetic voices and prevent abuse.

In sum, AI voice cloning offers tremendous technical potential for educators to create tailored, authentic listening materials by generating synthetic voices that sound natural and culturally relevant.

How will educational institutions benefit from developing AI voice audio content for languages learners?

Nonetheless, careful adherence to ethical guidelines and legal requirements around consent, rights, and privacy is essential to prevent misuse and protect individual identity.

Practical steps include obtaining explicit permission for voice data, spreading awareness about voice scams, and applying voice biometrics or watermarking where possible to verify synthetic audios.

For further adoption in curriculum design, educators should integrate these technologies responsibly, with a clear protocol safeguarding against deception, and stay updated on evolving regulations and detection technologies.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?


Javier Milei, elected president of Argentina in late 2023, is known for his radical libertarian and anarcho-capitalist views, advocating comprehensive economic and institutional reforms designed to drastically reduce the role of the state and expand free-market mechanisms.

His ideology heavily critiques socialism and government intervention, seeking to transform Argentina into a country with maximal economic freedom.

Key elements of Milei’s policy agenda include eliminating the central bank, adopting the U.S. dollar as Argentina's currency (dollarization), and aggressively cutting government spending through fiscal austerity.

He has proposed slashing government ministries, privatizing up to 41 state-owned companies across sectors such as energy, aviation, and agriculture, and deregulating key economic activities, including removing rent controls and easing labor regulations.

These economic reforms also entail tax amnesties, lowering income tax thresholds, and reforming environmental protections, notably weakening glacier protection laws to enable mining expansion.

Politically, Milei employs a strategy described as "turbo-politics," seeking to bypass the legislature through emergency decrees and omnibus bills that consolidate sweeping reforms under single packages.

This approach has allowed rapid, extensive state dismantling efforts but has raised concerns regarding the erosion of democratic norms and institutional checks and balances, as his Libertad Avanza coalition holds only a small minority in Congress.

The declaration of a state of public emergency delegates extraordinary powers to the executive until at least 2025, enabling Milei to implement major reforms without legislative input and igniting protests and political opposition.

His political narrative often pits him against what he calls the "political caste," criticizing entrenched elites and positioning himself as an outsider challenging corruption and government inefficiency.

Javier Milei, elected president of Argentina in late 2023, is known for his radical libertarian and anarcho-capitalist views, advocating comprehensive economic and institutional reforms designed to drastically reduce the role of the state and expand free-market mechanisms.

Title:

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).

His ideology heavily critiques socialism and government intervention, seeking to transform Argentina into a country with maximal economic freedom.

Title:

Content: Argentina sees the light with Maverick Javier Milei – Ivo Vegter

In a surprising turn, libertarian firebrand Javier Milei secured Argentina’s presidency after a second-round victory against his left-wing rival. Vowing to end decades of socialist mismanagement, Milei, an outspoken economist, faces challenges in implementing radical reforms, including abolishing ministries and dollarising the economy. While hailed as the world’s first libertarian president, Milei’s uphill battle involves legislative opposition and managing economic pain amid promises of a freer, market-oriented Argentina. Skepticism remains, awaiting the true impact of his ambitious plans in a nation grappling with deep-rooted economic struggles.

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Argentinians see the light

By Ivo Vegter*

It took a second round of voting, but the libertarian Javier Milei has defeated his Peronist rival to become president of Argentina.

A month ago, Javier Milei unexpectedly lost the first round of the Argentinian general election to his left-wing Peronist rival, Sergio Massa, after the latter had cynically promised zero taxes as a way to bribe voters.

In my column on the lessons South Africa could draw from that election, I said: ‘Let’s hope Argentinians see the light before Massa and Milei face off in the run-off election.’

Happily, they did see the light.

After decades of economic malaise under a government that for most of the last 30 years has been socialist, corrupt, wasteful and incompetent, leaving Argentina eighth from last in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report 2023, they elected Milei, a libertarian firebrand, in the biggest landslide since Juan Perón’s election in 1973.

Milei becomes the first libertarian president, not only of Argentina, but in the world. The closest precedent that comes to mind is that of Calvin Coolidge, the small-government conservative president during the Roaring Twenties in the US, but Milei is far more radical than that.

‘“oday the reconstruction of Argentina begins’, he said, after winning 56% of the vote in the head-to-head race. That was also his first lie as president-elect, since he doesn’t actually take office until 10 December, but we’ll let that slide.

Radical

To describe Milei as radical would be putting it mildly. He has described the country’s ruling elite as thieves and the government as ‘a criminal organisation’. He has promised to abolish ten of the government’s 18 ministries. He said he would do away with the central bank and dollarise the Argentinian economy.

‘The model of decadence has come to an end’, he told his supporters. ‘There’s no going back. We have monumental problems ahead. Inflation, lack of work, and poverty’.

Milei is an accomplished economist, and largely follows the Austrian School of individualist free-market economics. He has variously described himself as an anarcho-capitalist and a minarchist (an anarchist who accepts the legitimacy of a small government dedicated to protecting life, liberty and property).

He has been extraordinarily outspoken on the evils of socialism and statism, and how they turned Argentina from a once-wealthy world power into an over-indebted, poverty-stricken, underdeveloped basket case.

Mainstream media

The mainstream media, with its largely left-leaning bias, has compared Milei to former presidents Donald Trump of the US and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.

‘Argentina set for sharp right turn as Trump-like radical wins presidency’, trumpeted the Washington Post

‘Argentina Elects Javier Milei in Victory for Far Right’ was the headline in the New York Times, which added: ‘Argentina’s next president is a libertarian economist whose brash style and embrace of conspiracy theories has parallels with those of Donald J. Trump.’

The ‘embrace of conspiracy theories’ is a particularly vicious jab. Readers would have to follow a link to find an explanation, and it turns out that the Times only referred to Milei’s allegations of polling irregularities, which have not been tested.

It is entirely plausible that Argentina’s electoral system is less secure than that of the United States, and that the incumbents – who went as far as abolishing taxes in order to engineer a win – might have been involved in some electoral skulduggery.

Allegations of election fraud are very common on all sides of the political spectrum, and do not, in and of themselves, rise to the level of the debunked claims of Trump, and his attempt to derail the orderly election of his rival.

Authoritarians

More importantly, both Bolsonaro and Trump are alt-right populists. They are moral authoritarians – not liberals – and appeal to collectivist – not individualist – principles such as nationalism and protectionism. They have often, rightly, been described as fascist, which is just as antithetical to libertarians as is left-wing socialism.

That both former presidents expressed their support for Milei has a lot more to do with shared anti-socialist positions than any real congruence in their political philosophy.

Milei has himself rejected the right-wing label, and indeed, his classical liberalism (for which ‘libertarian’ in the American sense is a synonym) does not yield to a simplistic left-right analysis. Rather, it falls on the liberal end of an authoritarian-liberal scale, and on the progressive end of a conservative-progressive scale.

Sour-grape-ish

Milei does have some views that are questionable, or traditionally associated with the conservative right, such as his anti-abortion stance and his rejection of climate alarmism.

Neither define him, however, and both are issues on which libertarians can and do disagree.

By similar logic, Milei’s promise not to dismantle Argentina’s extensive social welfare programmes does not make him some sort of left-winger.

In focusing on incidental agreements between Milei and leaders like Trump and Bolsonaro, and ignoring the fundamental philosophical differences between the former’s individualist, free-market, small-government ideas and the authoritarianism, nationalism, populism and protectionism of the latter, the media does both Milei and their readers a great disservice.

That a politician does not perfectly reflect all one’s personal political or moral views is in any case far less of a concern when that very politician proposes as far as possible to keep government out of people’s personal affairs and to leave most of the world’s problems to the private sector.

‘When your response to everything that is wrong with the world is to say, “There ought to be a law,” you are saying that you hold freedom very cheap’, said Thomas Sowell.

Moreover, it seems extraordinarily petty and sour-grape-ish to complain about a few differences of opinion with a candidate who promises radical change in a country that is mired in economic crisis, thanks to the policies of its incumbent rulers.

Music to the ears

Sniping from the mainstream press aside, the rise of a truly libertarian president in one of the world’s most economically unfree countries should be music to a classical liberal’s ears.

Who doesn’t want to radically slash the size of government? Who doesn’t question the inflationary monetary policy of highly indebted countries? Who doesn’t want to see free enterprise flourish, and witness the departure of a government that strangles business with red tape and taxes, and tries to pick winners by throwing subsidies at favoured companies?

On the face of it, this should be an excellent experiment to show whether the libertarian prescriptions for government do, indeed, produce a better outcome than the socialist quagmire in which Argentina has been stuck for so long.

Pain and gain

Practically speaking, however, there are reasons to remain skeptical.

First, we’ve only seen Milei’s talk, and not his walk.

Second, making drastic changes in the structure of a country’s government and economy, as Milei proposes, will be painful.

It is arguable that the short-term pain is justified by the long-term gain, but electorates are rarely forgiving to those who inflict necessary pain. Witness Margaret Thatcher, who saved Britain from the socialist economic malaise of the 1970s, but remains hated to this day by those who bore the brunt of her reforms.

Dollarising an economy does not produce immediate results, for example. It can take years before the stabilising effect of dollarisation filters through to low inflation rates. It can, however, immediately harm people and even increase poverty levels, depending on the exchange rate at which existing deposits are converted.

Drastically reducing the size of government will also face much immediate opposition, especially from civil servants who stand to lose their jobs.

Privatising healthcare, education or other government functions is also fraught with transition difficulties. Much depends on exactly how such privatisation is carried out. It can fail, and even if the eventual outcome is a success, it could cause years of disruptions and dissatisfaction.

Then there are the entrenched patronage networks of the incumbent socialist government, who will be highly upset – and fight back vigorously – when the taps of corrupt fiscal spending get turned off.

Finally, few voters have the patience to wait five or ten years for radical free-market reforms to have a positive impact, and Argentina’s president only serves a four-year term before facing the electorate again.

Legislative opposition

A further obstacle to Milei’s reforms is that he will not be the philosopher-king of every libertarian’s dreams. He will not be a dictator.

He will simply be the head of the executive in a constitutional parliamentary democracy, with strictly circumscribed powers.

And the elections did not result in a similar landslide in the legislature.

Argentina has a 72-seat Senate, or upper house, and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies, or lower house. Together, they make up the Argentinian National Congress.

In both houses, Milei’s libertarian coalition, Liberty Advances (La Libertad Avanza, or LLA) took more seats from the conservative coalition, Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio, or JxC), than from the socialist Peronista coalition, Union for the Homeland (Unión por la Patria, or UxP).

In the Senate, this leaves the Peronistas as the largest coalition, with 32 seats. It would need 37 seats to command an outright majority. The conservative coalition, JxC, retains only 27 seats. As the third-largest party in the Senate, Milei’s LLA only has six seats, which even in coalition with the conservatives is not enough for an outright majority.

In the lower house, the picture is similar. UxP has 104 out of 257 seats, JxC has 93, and LLA has 38. The only difference is that here, a JxC and LLA coalition can command a simple majority.

This leaves Milei at the mercy first of the conservatives, who would welcome market-oriented reforms and a departure from socialism, but by their very nature would be reluctant to endorse Milei’s more radical, disruptive proposals. Once Milei has cleared that hurdle, he needs to gather a majority in the upper house, which will be even harder.

Argentina is also heavily indebted, including to the International Monetary Fund, and creditors are likely to have a say in how the country is run. Anything that scares them will raise the cost of credit, which Argentina can ill afford.

Wait and see

Once the initial euphoria of seeing a true libertarian in power has cleared, then, we are left with the sobering realisation that Milei may not be able to achieve anywhere near as much as he has promised.

Turning failing countries around is not for the faint-hearted, and it always comes with social upheaval and economic pain.

Even if Milei gets the good ship Argentina pointed in the right direction again, the prevailing winds and currents may still dash it – and its captain – upon the rocks.

Read also:

*Ivo Vegter is a freelance journalist, columnist and speaker who loves debunking myths and misconceptions, and addresses topics from the perspective of individual liberty and free markets.

This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission

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How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

suspended 366 decrees to ease economic controls and reduce spending.

Key elements of Milei’s policy agenda include eliminating the central bank, adopting the U.S. dollar as Argentina's currency (dollarization), and aggressively cutting government spending through fiscal austerity.

Title:

Content: Young Argentinians want change. Many see Javier Milei as their best option

Milei, one of two candidates in Sunday’s run-off election, has whipped up a devoted following among young male voters.

Buenos Aires, Argentina – David Urbani was 15 years old, barely in high school, when he first encountered the future far-right presidential candidate Javier Milei.

Now an economics student at the National University of Mar del Plata, Urbani remembers surfing on YouTube when he stumbled on a series of educational videos that Milei had put together, as part of his work as an economist and professor in Buenos Aires at the time.

“I think what moved me the most was the simple way he explained concepts,” Urbani, 20, said, holding up an introductory economics book with Milei’s autograph in it. “The guy is an academic, not a politician.”

A relative newcomer to Argentina’s politics, Milei has nevertheless catapulted to international fame as the dark horse candidate in this year’s presidential elections.

This Sunday, he faces centre-left Economy Minister Sergio Massa in a run-off race so tight that polls show the two candidates in a dead heat.

Part of the fuel behind Milei’s sudden political rise has been the devoted following he has whipped up among young, largely male voters like Urbani. Some are devoted libertarians. Others are merely curious and feeling disaffected with the political establishment.

But while pundits and opposition politicians lambaste Milei for his radical right-wing policy proposals, this young generation of “mileistas” say they’re all in.

“I believe we have to try, and that’s it,” Ramiro Gómez, a 21-year-old information technology (IT) technician from the province of Rosario, said of his decision to back Milei.

Elected to the lower chamber of Argentina’s congress in 2021, Milei was still in his freshman term when he launched his long-shot presidential bid in this year’s race.

But he quickly scored an upset. In August’s open primary, he rocketed to the top spot, earning more votes than establishment figures like Massa and former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich.

Milei has remained a frontrunner ever since. In October’s general elections, he finished in second place behind Massa, earning one of two slots in the run-off race.

Many experts credit Milei’s sudden popularity to the dire straits of Argentina’s economy. The country faces a long-running economic crisis, and inflation has topped 140 percent, driving down the value of Argentina’s national currency, the peso.

To address the crisis, Milei has promised to slash key government ministries, charge fees for Argentina’s public healthcare system, shutter the central bank, and adopt the United States dollar as Argentina’s national currency.

He has also adopted an eyebrow-raising mixture of libertarian and conservative social stances, offering support for banning abortion and legalising organ sales. Popular targets for his sharply worded broadsides include women, the LGBTQ community and even Pope Francis, an Argentinian himself.

Yet, while other right-wing populists like former US President Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro have struggled to win over younger generations, Milei has consistently led polls of voters between the ages of 16 and 35.

Mark P Jones, a professor in Latin American studies at Rice University, credits the difference to the deep-seated frustration with Argentina’s crisis and Milei’s image as a political outsider.

“When younger voters look at Milei, they see someone who’s fighting against the system and a rebel,” Jones said. “And I think one thing Milei has been able to do is effectively dissociate himself with younger voters from his more conservative policies.”

A ‘chainsaw’ to the status quo

Milei’s most ardent supporters often connect through WhatsApp groups and on social media, where fan accounts feature silhouettes of the candidate’s signature sideburns and memes depict him locked in epic anime battles.

Milei’s eccentricity is central to his brand: He once was the frontman of a Rolling Stones cover band, and he currently owns five cloned dogs, each named after right-wing economists.

Videos have also gone viral during the election showing Milei tearing down Post-It notes with the names of the government ministries he intends to cut and shouting his catchphrase, “Long live f***ing liberty!”

Jones described Milei’s base as motivated less by ideology and more by desperation and exasperation with the traditional political establishment.

His bloc of supporters, Jones explained, is largely composed of middle- and working-class voters in their late teens and 20s who are frustrated with struggling to maintain gainful employment.

“Milei is their vehicle to effectively take a chainsaw to the status quo, but also to perhaps try something different,” Jones said, referencing Milei’s embrace of the chainsaw as a campaign symbol.

Alan Quiroga, 28, who lives in a working-class suburb of Buenos Aires and drives for Uber on his motorcycle, said he was first drawn to Milei when he saw the libertarian on television, speaking passionately about Argentina’s “golden age” in the early 20th century.

“What he wants to implement is what they do in the United States, in Spain, in normal countries,” Quiroga said. “What we are experiencing here is going towards Venezuela, Cuba.”

Though popular with many of his supporters, Milei’s proposal to adopt the US dollar faces steep opposition from the broader public. A September poll showed nearly 70 percent of Argentinians disapproved of the idea.

That month, 170 Argentinian economists also published an open letter predicting that a currency switch would lead to further inflation, mass unemployment and “absurd” increases in Argentina’s $400bn public debt.

‘A good crazy person’

But Milei’s appeal among young voters goes beyond his radical economic plan. The candidate has sought to position himself as a critic of corruption among the political elite, whom he calls “the caste”.

High-ranking members of Argentina’s main political parties have recently faced corruption charges. Last year, for instance, outgoing Vice President Cristina Fernandez was sentenced to six years in jail for fraud.

“The Javier Milei I like the most is the effusive Javier Milei, the honest Javier Milei,” Urbani said. “It’s the Javier Milei who gets mad when he’s faced with lies, faced with dishonest people.”

Milei has a penchant for the dramatic, at times appearing overcome with emotion during his public speeches.

“A good crazy person — that’s how I would describe him,” Quiroga said. “It comes from his heart. He can’t control it.”

Yet, even some of Milei’s longstanding supporters have their doubts about his ability to maintain his credentials as a corruption fighter, especially as he broadens his coalition to include the kinds of establishment figures he frequently criticizes.

Former President Mauricio Macri has offered Milei his backing, as has Bullrich, his former conservative rival in the presidential race.

“When he became involved in politics, without wanting to, he became part of the caste,” said Lucas González, a 28-year-old bookstore owner who said he still supports Milei.

Though Milei has built a strong movement, whether or not it survives will depend on the results of Sunday’s election and how the economy fares in the coming months, said Noam Lupu, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University who researches Argentina.

“There will always be this kind of libertarian, pro-business vote in Argentina,” Lupu said. “But the sort of anti-establishment, anti-status quo, pro-disruption only succeeds if it continues to feel threatened by the status quo and the political class.”

Urbani disagrees. He believes that Milei has triggered a significant political shift among Argentinian youth that will persist regardless of Sunday’s election results.

“The majority of the youth are Milei voters, and especially boys,” Urbani said. “What is coming for Argentina is very good, because a lot of kids have started to reckon with capitalist ideas, with economic concepts in their heads that they were not talking about before.”

Source: Al Jazeera

criticism of government spending
dollarizing the Argentinian currency
closing the central bank

What issue did Milei want to address without printing money?

He has proposed slashing government ministries, privatizing up to 41 state-owned companies across sectors such as energy, aviation, and agriculture, and deregulating key economic activities, including removing rent controls and easing labor regulations.

Title:

Content: Streets of Argentina Ablaze with Dissent as Milei’s Controversial Reforms Ignite Outrage

In a stunning turn of events, Argentina has become a battleground for public discontent following President Javier Milei’s introduction of a series of controversial proposals. Thousands of Argentinians have taken to the streets, enraged by the president’s push for drastic cuts to public spending.

Milei’s latest measures, unveiled on Wednesday evening, aim to revolutionize Argentina’s struggling economy through a variety of initiatives. These include deregulating the government and opening up state-run industries for privatization in order to spur both exports and investment.

However, the people’s outrage has manifested in widespread protests, often met with a heavy police presence. Gathering in front of the Argentine Congress, hundreds of demonstrators made their opposition to Milei’s proposals known.

Undeterred by the dissent, Milei appeared on national television to defend his agenda and offer reassurances of a prosperous future. He asserted, “Our objective is to rebuild our nation, restore individual freedom and autonomy, and dismantle the myriad of regulations that have impeded our economic growth for far too long.”

Acknowledging the mounting protests, Milei’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, announced new measures aimed at maintaining public order. These measures grant federal forces the power to disperse protesters blocking streets without requiring a judicial order, and authorize the police to use video or digital evidence to identify and hold accountable those obstructing public thoroughfares. Moreover, the legislation empowers the state to apportion the costs of mobilizing security forces to the protesters themselves.

Milei’s presidential victory was built upon a campaign centered around reducing public spending. Since assuming office, he has already made significant changes to the country’s financial landscape. The value of the Argentinian currency has been adjusted, contracts of public employees with less than one year of service have been terminated, and the prices of basic services and public transportation have seen notable increases.

FAQ:

Q: What are President Milei’s proposals?

A: President Milei’s proposals include deregulating the government and allowing the privatization of state-run industries to boost exports and investment.

Q: Why are Argentinians protesting?

A: Thousands of Argentinians are protesting against Milei’s proposals due to their belief that the drastic cuts to public spending will adversely impact their lives.

Q: How is the government responding to the protests?

A: In response to the protests, the government has announced new measures to maintain public order, empowering federal forces to disperse protesters without a judicial order and enabling the identification of those obstructing public thoroughfares through video or digital means.

Q: What changes has Milei already implemented?

A: Since taking office, Milei has adjusted the value of the Argentinian currency, terminated contracts of public employees with less than one year of service, and increased the prices of basic services and public transportation.

(Sources: Information gathered from local news outlets)

How many state-owned companies would be privatized under Milei's mega bill?

How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

What industries were affected by Milei's deregulations?

These economic reforms also entail tax amnesties, lowering income tax thresholds, and reforming environmental protections, notably weakening glacier protection laws to enable mining expansion.

Politically, Milei employs a strategy described as "turbo-politics," seeking to bypass the legislature through emergency decrees and omnibus bills that consolidate sweeping reforms under single packages.

This approach has allowed rapid, extensive state dismantling efforts but has raised concerns regarding the erosion of democratic norms and institutional checks and balances, as his Libertad Avanza coalition holds only a small minority in Congress.

The declaration of a state of public emergency delegates extraordinary powers to the executive until at least 2025, enabling Milei to implement major reforms without legislative input and igniting protests and political opposition.

His political narrative often pits him against what he calls the "political caste," criticizing entrenched elites and positioning himself as an outsider challenging corruption and government inefficiency.