Harm reduction alliances in an Argentinean context

Abstract

Friedman et al., (2001) pose the question of what to do ‘‘with governments that are non-compliant – i.e., that do not follow public health advice that prescribes harm reduction’’. I prefer to focus my contribution on the Argentinean context. This provides an example of a country with the largest rates of AIDS cases related to IDU in Latin America, which is currently looking for harm reduction inclusion in the political agenda. At the time of writing (November 2000), the third workers’ strike against a government, which has been in power for 11 months is taking place. The working class in Argentina has never lost so many conquests as in the last 10 yr, when neo-liberal policies were developed. The 16% unemployment rate also shows the increasing number of people out of workers’ unions. The recent social struggles have encouraged the participation of groups that have organised very recently, such as the Unemployed Workers Movement, and persons who occupy land to establish their homes. These movements gather persons who live in the same area and share similar problems: lack of work, lack of housing. As Argentinean history shows, class struggle was brutally crushed in different moments. In this respect, one of the most devastating periods was the military dictatorship between 1976–1983. There is a history of repression regarding governmental responses to social struggle. This situation contributed to the organisation of social movements, which confronted the lack of guarantees that ruled in those days. The human rights movements developed their action not only in Argentina, but in many countries in Latin America that suffered similar problems. In Argentina, the ‘‘Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’’ became a symbol of social struggle against governmental repression. These social movements – older than the new movements, such as the Unemployed Workers Movement – made a significant contribution to discussing the situation of disadvantaged populations, and included womens’ rights movements, gay and lesbian movements, and co-ordinated actions with human rights organisations. Such issues were not discussed in the Left Party platforms of the 1970s, but began to be considered in the middle 1980s. So in this context, it is critically important to discuss responses to drug use and drug users E-mail address: drossi@mail.fsoc.uba.ar (D. Rossi).