Global Policy Forum

By Dafne Sabanes Piou

Pictures of undernourished children in Turcuman, one of the provinces with the richest soil in the country, known as "the garden of the republic" owing to the variety and beauty of its vegetation, were a bitter blow to Argentinians. The crisis continues unabated, despite announcements of recovery emanating from government offices. The consequences of the neoliberal economic policies imposed on the country during the decade of the nineties are now all too visible and are claiming their victims from among the smallest and most defenceless. This week, in the province mentioned, six children died of hunger thus joining the other 359 newly borns who have died there so far this year, although not all died from problems related to malnutition. Cold statistics, however, show that in Argentina three children die everyday from starvation or poverty related diseases.

At the start of the nineties, the Brazilian theologian, Jung Mo Sung, produced a detailed analysis of neoliberal market ideology in his book "God in an economy without heart". There he stated bluntly that "the exclusion and death of the poor is a prerequisite for the harmony and prosperity of market members."

The death of the poor is a requisite and a route leading to full implementation of the market system. During the decade of the nineties, Argentinian GNP increased 55%, but the wealth remained in a few hands and was not shared out; while on the contrary, enormous amounts of currency were sent abroad in a capital flight without precedent to swell the assets of transnational undertakings or the Argentine upper middle class, which is as lacking in patriotism as the money it handles.

After the devaluation of the peso which occurred at the beginning of the year, wages in the official market dropped 20% and in the unofficial market 40%, while goods in the so-called "family basket" are registering a rise of 73.5%. According to recent studies by private consultancies only 20% of the population have incomes in excess of the basket average, while more than 50% of the population live in poverty. The most recent statistics also report that Argentine wages are the lowest in Latin America, equivalent to an average of 230 dollars monthly.

Childhood exclusion.

There are Argentine provinces where 20% of the newly born already suffer from undernourishment. They come from households of the unemployed or not fully employed who for several years have had no chance of getting a basic diet, health care or the minimal conditions necessary for self-respect. The infant under-nourishment and tragic death of children from hunger which now occupies the headlines and reports of the principal media are no more than the tip of the iceberg in an exploitative social situation. The undernourished youngsters are the children of under fed mothers and the fruit of an economic system which brought about a savage rise in unemployment (22% of the economically active population), the closing of factories and centres of agricultural production and the concentration of cultivable land and the means of production in just a few hands.

The agricultural population drifted away to the outskirts of the towns hoping to find better opportunities of work there. But this was not so, the recession is also hitting the urban population hard and poverty conditions are worsening in the townships. It is the small children who are worst affected. If their families are not receiving social assistance from government or private bodies it is very likely that will not have a full meal even once a day. The story of a Tucuman mother saying that her small baby, now dead, had lived for a month on nothing but an infusion of herb tea is horrifying.

The situation of school-age children is no better. The majority of public schools in the districts around the big cities have been turned into peoples' canteens. Of the four hours of class, the children spend half their time divided between their breakfast or morning snack and their lunch. Studies carried out by educational psychologists point out that a major part of the children no longer get any appropriate training. They attend school in order to eat and because there they feel secure. They play with their friends, they are away from the street for four hours, but they do not carry out the work set or do any studying. The consequences of the undernourishment they have suffered since infancy are already apparent. According to reports from tne Argentine Pediatric Society the children of very poor households who have insufficient food during the first two years of life, present a development coefficient lower than normal when they reach the age of five. It is difficult to pay attention in class when your stomach is empty.

Now that photos of the undernourished are filling the principal newspapers there is going to be a great campaign to feed the poor families of Tucuman. "We will go from house to house", declares Hilda "Chiche" Duhalde, wife of the Nation's President, anxious to be seen as a champion of solidarity with the most needy. Although sacks of food and also emergency care are more than necessary in very poor households, will the authorities start to question the prevailing economic model which continues generating poverty and exclusion? To what extent will a descent into patronising practices be avoided, when the poverty stricken electorate has, without doubt, an essential part to play in the system?

In a radio presentation, a representative of popular organisations declared that "in the squads there are no undernourished children ". There, solidarity work, mutual support and sharing of resources make it possible for extreme situations to be avoided. Grassroots social movements strive to ensure that their children and young people do not forfeit their physical and intellectual vigour. Outstanding leaders are needed in the struggle for a more just society and confronting hunger means more than distributing free food. To forge healthy men and women. literate and knowledgeable regarding their rights has become a social duty. So too has putting an end to years of exclusion.

Translated by Prudence Dwyer for ATTAC.

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