Thousands take to the streets in Argentina for more funding for universities – 10/02/2024 – World

What seems to be one of the only guiding threads of mass protests against Javier Milei’s decisions in Argentina, public education once again took thousands of people to the streets this Wednesday (2), four months after a similar protest in April.

Argentines demonstrated around Congress in Buenos Aires and in different parts of the country against the Casa Rosada’s announcement that it will veto the University Financing Law approved by the Legislature on the 13th. There were no scenes of repression or confrontation.

The measure declares a budgetary emergency in the university system and requires the Executive Branch to update the salaries of workers in the sector based on the inflation accumulated since December 2023, recomposing the values. It also establishes that the government updates the budget for university operations every two months.

In the first eight months of this year, until last August, the government transferred to national public universities, in which many Brazilians also study, an amount that was 30% less than that transferred in the same period of 2023, discounting inflation.

Mainly on the agenda is the salary of university teachers. Data from Conadu, the National Federation of University Teachers, show that the monthly income of these professionals increased by 76% in August compared to last December. Meanwhile, inflation was 94.8%. There is a gap of almost 20% in lost wages.

As soon as the content was approved in the Senate, the last House to analyze it, however, Milei announced his veto. As argued this Tuesday (1st) by his spokesperson, Communications Minister Manuel Adorni, “the government is not against the demand, but it is against Congress sanctioning a law without indicating where it will get the money from.”

The Casa Rosada administration accuses public universities of not accounting for all their expenses. Adorni, who is an economist, stated that 89% of the funds transferred to institutions from 2015 to 2022, for example, were not accounted for. “This lack of spending control makes its review essential.”

An analysis by Argentina’s Todo Notícias channel showed that, of the 62 national universities, only ten will have an increase greater than inflation next year, according to the national budget that Javier Milei outlined two weeks ago in Congress.

The crux of the issue is whether Javier Milei actually has the capacity to veto the restructuring of the university budget, which he says is inimical to his zero deficit proposal. In Argentina, the presidential veto must be validated by at least one of the two legislative houses. And the situation for the president is not easy.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the government needs at least 86 votes to maintain the veto. The matter, however, was approved in this House by 143 votes against just 77 negative votes. Liberdade Avança, Milei’s party, has few seats in the Legislature, and depends on negotiations to get its proposals approved.

Milei’s government has been the target of protests that have not been very significant so far. The topics that brought the most people to the streets so far were, respectively, the president’s veto of pension adjustments, and this Wednesday’s topic, public higher education.

Analysts consider that the decrease in funding for groups that organized protests in the country along with an idea that it is necessary to sacrifice for a change in the economy are two of the factors that dampen massive acts. Poverty is at record levels in Argentina. Consumption fell. The cost of living has increased.

The protest at universities was attended by students, teachers, workers from other areas of the institutions and many families. Several parties, some that even negotiate with the government, called for their presence. The subject generates appeal in the country, and recently UBA (University of Buenos Aires) surpassed USP and became the best in Latin America according to the QS World ranking.

The topic is also (very) interesting to Brazilian students in Argentina. Milei’s government’s accusations about the higher education budget made his administration float the idea of ​​charging tuition fees to foreign students at universities.

An analysis by the Chequeado portal, which specializes in checking information and data, shows that students from outside the country represent 4.1% of university students in the country. In the medical course, in which Brazilians dominate, there are 23% foreigners.