Why New York?


- Hey, did you see that Argentina is going to New York on Wednesday, to face those vulture funds?

- Yeah, we´re gonna bust’em for sure, along with that imperial judge, what's his name? They say the Minister of Economy is going, and the whole world is supporting us! See that? The U.S., the banks, even the IMF - somebody I guess was one of the top dogs there, Krewger or something like that – they’re all supporting us!

- But if they’re all supporting us... What's going on? And why is our Minister going to New York? Aren’t we a sovereign country? Doesn`t our Constitution say that conflicts, disputes, must be resolved in the courts here, not in other countries?

- Well, I don’t know, I don’t really understand that much. I think they say that’s what the markets demand...

- But we have our rights! We have to make the rules, not them. And all those they say are going to support us - those "friends of the court" as they say, the U.S., the banks, all the bondholders we are paying very well, every year -, it seems to me they must be getting involved to support those markets, not us. I don’t see them demanding priority for our rights to have a job, food, shelter, decent transportation. For me that’s it, they just want to be sure the markets can continue their bloodsucking...

- But what can we do? The government says it’s not going to pay the vultures. I believe’m. Didn’t they bring the Liberty home without paying a peso, without negotiating with anyone? Only if they’re really powerful...

- Well, it’s true they brought the Liberty home - but it’s us who are paying, and in dollars! And there`s a whole string of new lawsuits just getting started. And this case in New York, it’s pretty tough: the government is already looking to pay the vultures, it says it’s going to open up the swap again. I don’t think this is going to solve anything. Are we going to continue like this forever? I think it’d be better to do what Iceland did I think, or that Correa in Ecuador they like so much.

- You mean there are alternatives?

- For sure! In Iceland they had a referendum and stopped paying! We should start here with the unconstitutionality of all those bonds that don’t respect our sovereignty and our courts. There are lots of cases pending in our courts, even a prosecutor who has demanded the annulment of all that debt. Instead of going to New York, the Minister of Finance should just go around the corner to the courts on Comodoro Py Street, to denounce the perpetrators of such a capitulation. And yes, we need to audit the debt like in Ecuador, see who really owes whom and use that evidence to stop paying. The government says we’re getting out of debt - but the truth is it’s growing faster and faster - and what we’re paying in interest.... They're all vultures! Now we’re using pension funds to pay, what’s next?

- You’re right. If we don’t get a move on this now...

- Yeah, tomorrow will be too late. But for sure we can get support in other South countries, and people in the North who are also suffering from unjust debt. We can’t forget that this debt comes from the dictatorship, and all the neoliberal adjustment policies that came after. We have to achieve TRUTH and JUSTICE so that there can be reparations, and we can start to “collect” on the debts they owe us: the social debt, the ecological debt, the colonial debt, the debt with women...

- Well, let’s see what we can do then.

- Right on!  And check out what happened 60 years ago, on the day of the hearing tomorrow in New York: the USA, England, some other countries canceled more than 60% of Germany’s debt and agreed that the rest would only be repaid to the extent that Germany grew. That was some real debt relief! So there are options, lots of ‘em. And now, in New York and London, there are going to be some demonstrations in support of our right not to pay. We better get moving!

Buenos Aires, February 25, 2013
Beverly Keene, Dialogue 2000 - Jubilee South Argentina