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[matttheboy]

I'm sat at home watching a bunch of fcuking idiots destroy Mar del Plata. It's pretty much the same 20-30 people caught on camera going from shop front to shop front. Banks, mobile phones companies and local businesses run by local people all appear to be fair game. These people are simply ransacking and looting for the hell of it. They have no political agenda, they are simply muppets. I'm actually, genuinely willing the (incredibly restrained) police to wade in and start clubbing and shooting these fckers. And then take them off to jail for another severe beating. Sadly i don't think they will.

All these people do is steal the media exposure that is desperately needed to highlight the real reasons for the 'Contra-Cumbre' and the march against Bush. 99% of people want to peacefully express their rights and protest against the injustices they see in the world- 1% decide to ruin it. The newspapers won't mention the poverty statistics, they'll talk almost exclusively about the damage caused by a bunch of fu ck-wits. The real, important issues simply get lost in the haze of tear gas fired over the barricades to disperse these wan-kers.

This part of the world has enough negative press. In fact, the only time Latin America makes the news in England is when something like this happens and it simply re-inforces the stereotype we have-Latin America is a dangerous place and the people are savages. It scares off foreign investment and tourism and who really loses out? The average latino-americano trying to earn a living to feed himself and his family.

These thugs have absolutely nothing to do with anti-capitalism and are not protesting about Bush; they are simply destroying their own people's lives and livings for the fun of it. What have a locally owned video shop or farmacy got to do with globalisation? Nothing. Will these locally owned businesses have insurance to cover the damage and loss? I'd guess that most don't. Normal, average, hard-working Argentines have just lost how they feed themselves.

Sorry for the rant, but these idiots really make my blood boil.

PS, they've just started throwing molotov coctails at the police and into shops. All of these shops have flats or houses above them. I'm guessing some of the police have families who won't appreciate having a burned and disfigured dad come home. Clever, eh?

[lozwich]

Good on you, Se�or TheBoy.

I was watching it on tv myself, and pondering if this would increase the panicked emails my father has been sending me since I arrived in Bogota. Emails that are 20 times more frantic than the phone calls and emails I got after narrowly missing being involved in the recent London bombings.

On one of the broadcasts it was saying that the press obviously knew about it because they were all there with their gas masks on...

But are they muppets, or puppets?

[RyanS]

I cheer on my comrades in Argentina who are resisting neoliberalism and Imperialism. The police are armed agents of the state and deserve what they get.

And I've never heard the stereotype of Latin Americans being savages.

[grahamb]

Violence is distasteful, but decades of poverty and oppression - Argentina's had its share of military dictatorships - lead to desperation and discontent.
Europe is not immune to riots - look what's happening in France at the moment. Cast your mind back to the early 80s in the UK - Brixton, Southall and Toxteth spring to mind. Remember the violence that accompanied the miners' strike?
Push someone against a wall and they either submit or come out fighting.

[lozwich]

I agree with you Graham, but I will never understand why people need to ruin the lives of others in retaliation against 'the man'..

peace.

[grahamb]

It's simple, Lozwich: they can't get at Bush, whereas shops and vehicles are easily accessible.

[YanquiQuilme�o]

Matt, what happened in Mar del Plata makes me very sad and angry, too.

[RyanS]

Thanks for twisting my words.

I don't know which shops you specifically are refering to, I didn't say all the damage I agree with. Some shops I would agree with getting destroyed and looted, ones that are there for the rich elites only, many of the multinational ones. Not everyone who attends a protest has a clear analysis of the situation nor is everyone there to protest the Summit of the Americas some are to loot.

[Aramas]

Ah, but who's wtaching the fcuking idiots wtaching the fcuking idiots?

[vivaBarca]