If the sun is shining in Buenos Aires, then there must be a strike. On this day of protests I went out for an afternoon walk to see what the proleteriat was up to. Walking down Callao I ran across a small group of protests on the corner of Corrientes. It was about a dozen hospital workers.
I could tell from the lack of traffic on this normally very busy thoroughfare that Callao must be blocked somewhere. Looking down the street I saw a very large group with about a dozen banners, if not more. Then I heard the distinctive sound of the drum line that marches in front of most demonstrations.
This group, la Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE), stretched for several blocks and must have numbered around a thousand people. I walked swiftly to get to the front of the group as they neared the Congreso. A flatbed truck with loudspeakers and photographers drove slowly in front of the worker´s association.
Seeing the group turn at the Congreso, I knew that they were heading the Plaza de Mayo. Walking ahead I beat the group to the Plaza for a nice view of them marching down Av de Mayo with the Congreso behind.
Since Thursday afternoon is Madres´ day in the Plaza, the group lined up on the side on the Plaza on calle Yrigoyen. As the group entered this area I saw another small group starting to march in front of them and carrying a banner that said Teatro Colon. My reaction was “What?! Why is the opera house upset?”
I guess it was a show of solidarity. Members of the Teatro Colon orchestra climbed onto the flatbed truck and played the Argentine national anthem. Actually it was a nice gesture with members of the crowd singing along and the Argentine flag being waved around. The orchestra finished and went on with their day, but the workers stayed for about an hour and gave a dozen or so speeches, using the word compañero incessantly.