Forward from Nestor

[DMS <dmschanoes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Nestor Re:  Revocation of Immunity



David Schanoes reports:

"As reported in today's NYT:  Kirchner pushes revocation of
amnesty laws re "dirty war."   And I believe the Argentine
Senate has already acted to revoke the laws."

In fact, neither Chamber of the Legislative can _revoke_ the
law, nor any law for that matter. This whole "revocation" game
is an unlawful political move promoted by President Kirchner
(who is a lawyer, and not a bad one, himself) with the all-but-
expressed thankful support from the Left. The move simply
intends to put pressure on the single body that can actually
revoke the law (in fact, establish that it is an anti-
constitutional "law" extracted by extorsive means).  And this
body is, in Argentina as well as in the US, the Supreme Court,
not the Congress.

This revocation will have no real effect whatsoever.  Any lawyer
even the worst, and believe me the lawyers of the murderers of
1976-83 are among the best) would laugh at this "legal menace"
by the chambers, and would win any action against
this "revocation".  No Legislative cannot revoke its own laws.
This is is Right 101.  Moreover, within the framework of bourgeois democracy 
and the division of powers (Montesquieu, et
al.), this is in a sense a guarantee that hardly won rights
won't be easily destroyed and, in that sense, one of the few
institutions within bourgeois right that can be defended from
the point of view of the working classes. In the end, it is
also a guarantee that there might exist _any_ kind of truly
functioning legal framework.

Thus, were it not because at least their upper leadership (many
of who are lawyers: Zamora, Etchegaray, etc.) _knows for a fact_
that all this "revocation" game is a comedy, and lends itself to
the game keeping this unbeknown by the rank-and-file, the
mobilization of the Buenos Aires "Left" around this issue would
be like spitting to the sky.

If there were a single opportunity that this unlawful revocation
took root,it would be very stupid for the Left to have supported
this legal monster.

Allow me to give an example. Imagine that today, after a massive
drinking spree, the American Congress decides to adopt a maximum
workday of 5 hours for every American worker on any job. Next
month, under pressure of the Executive, whose reading of the
Bible has had some effect, the same Congress decides to return
to the 8 hour labor day, but _with retroactive effect_:this
means that any worker who has worked 5 hours during the past
month and has refused to work the remaining 3 hours is guilty
of breaking the law.  And thus amenable to legal action by her
or his employer...

Well, this is _exactly_ what the revocation by the Congress
would mean in Argentina. Any right-wing judge (and right-wing
judges are a little bit more usual than left-wing ones...) might
cite the precedent of the revocation of the immunity laws
against any pressures by workers or even by the Left. In
this sense, Zamora's decission to refrain from voting was
reasonable. Even though the introductory speech, aimed at his
elective constituency,demonstrates that the single reason
behind his position was electoral calculation.

This law, if put to action, would thus become a precedent of the
worst kind,and in fact puts us in the weird situation of hoping
that the reactionary right-wing defenders of the criminals
obtain the invalidity of the whole "revocation" as soon as
possible. All the above putting some clarity in legal darkness,
now I move on to the more_political_ issue at stake.

To begin with, one would be tempted to ask "Why, if the
unlawfulness of the move is so obvious, has the
Argentinean 'Left' decided to support it?". There are many
answers. Some are of a lowly character, others more, er,
spiritual.

In terms of elections, the Human Rights agenda (understood
as "hate a military a day, and win a place in Heaven") pays.
This is particularly so in Buenos Aires City, the
strongest stronghold of the "Left" in Argentina. The general
public of the "Left" in Buenos Aires is mostly petty bourgeois,
in origin as well as in mental complexion.  We are facing
elections for Major and City Legislature on Sunday 24, and the
Left tries to get a not so scant result with this kind
of mobilisations, presented to them by the Executive due to
Kirchner??s own reasons.

In fact, the "Left" has no serious policy for Argentina, and
thus the moves by Kirchner have fallen on her like an unexpected
boon.  Since he got to power, Kirchner has been waging an
internecine struggle with Eduardo Luis Duhalde, on one side,
and Carlos Menem, on the other side, while attempting
some inroads towards a defensive patriotic policy.  The
establishment distrusts him, a good deal of the votes he
collected were "lent" by Duhalde,and he hasn't obtained his
own mass support as yet. For him, the whole issue of the
laws of immunity is both a just cause to fight for and a good
paying electoral move.

In fact, what we have been having for a few weeks is a
morganatic marriage between Kirchner and the "Left" with the
intention to reap political gains from the hatred against the
criminals of the Proceso.  Some "leftist" fervor in Buenos
Aires, thinks quite reasonably Kirchner, may favor his own
candidate for Major, "center-left" An??bal Ibarra (this is
probably one of the few cases where "center-left" is a good
description in Argentina) against the candidate of both
Duhalde and the establishment, Mauricio Macri.

Kirchner gets a winning hand on many sides this way: first, the general climate 
in the city may turn against Macri, who is
strongly linked with the Proceso through his father, through the
Cabinet he announced, and with Menem; second, a couple of
harmless but not voiceless "Leftist" City Legislators will help
keeping the most recalcitrant "leftists" happy in a city where
Peronism is almost non-existent; third, through this and other
arrangements he obtains a "Leftist" movement of _his own_
so to say (in neighboring Greater Buenos Aires, for example,
and with a similar move, he has already brought to his ranks
the CTA-led wing of the piqueteros, under the leadership of
 D' El??a).

So that, in the end, the whole thing boils down to a
clueless "Left" trying to get some votes by staging
mobilizations to support a stupid law that the President
wants to use against the Supreme Court.

Now, _this_ is the essential issue. This is _all_ that matters.
And this side of the issue is not faced, not at all, by
the "Left".

The above, on NYT's visibly misleading info.

Now, as to David's conclusions("It seems imperative that
Marxists advocate the organization of tribunals,courts of
inquiry, etc. under workers' control to
prosecute these issues  WITHIN Argentina.  There should
be no support for extradition of the accused military
officers to any other country or to any "international"
court."), a couple of further comments.

I am very glad to read the last part of this statement by David.  I would add 
that if our cdes. abroad could help us by
actively rejecting any attempt by bodies in imperialist
countries, etc., to impose any kind of extraterritorial
rule on Argentina, then they would be helping us and fighting
their own bourgeoisies. Moreover, it would be very interesting
if cdes. abroad could mobilize requesting that _their own_
criminals, like for example Henry Kissinger, be handed
down to the authorities where the crimes they concocted were
perpetrated (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay: there is enough
stuff on the declassified papers on the Condor Operation to
bring Mr. Kissinger many times to the South).

As to the first part, I would take exception.  The very idea of 
"workers'controlled" tribunals, etc., sounds quite
preposterous in Argentina today, with 25% open unemployment, 25%
underemployed, etc. It would be enough to request the
replacement of the members of the Supreme Court with serious,
bourgeois, democratic and honest judges, and a due ruling by
the Court against the laws of immunity.

On the other hand, the other problem that I see with David??s
formula is that it loses sight of the fact that in Argentina, the 
imperialist-oligarchic dictatorship of 1976-83 not only affected workers, but 
also many other classes which have equal
right to steer the movement taking the criminals to
law.


Well, too long already. See you later though hardly today.