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Bloque Latinoamericano in solidarity with Cuba

Political organisation takes part in the “Convoy to Cuba” as the delegation from Germany


20/03/2026

“Bloque Latinoamericano“ is joining the international project “Convoy to Cuva” as the delegation from Germany. This is to fight against one of the greatest obstacles to the development of the island: the blockades which are violating international law.

The current situation in Cuba is a real vicious cycle for the population. Due to the sanctions tightened by Trump and Rubio, the country has been almost completely cut off from its energy supply. Without a stable power supply, hospitals cannot operate, and food security cannot be guaranteed. Both are essential for living a dignified life in Cuba. Without energy, however, it is basically impossible to sustain the economy.

“We see the blockade against Cuba not as an isolated event, but as part of the global aggression that we have also witnessed in recent months against Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran. All these cases are connected by the economic interests of large financial and business groups in oil, who are ready to destabilize whole regions to secure resources,” declared Grasa Guevara, spokesperson for the Bloque Latinoamericano.

On March 21st, 2026, participants from around the world will hand over their humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and energy-supply equipment, at designated collection points on the island. On this day, numerous worldwide institutions and political organizations will gather in Cuba to work together to break the blockade and provide direct support to the local population.

“Our initiative follows the example of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was organized as a courageous show of support for Gaza. With the convoy to Cuba, we want to reproduce this form of active, physical resistance against the blockade, to deliver material aid directly to where it is most urgently needed, and through this to foster international solidarity around the world,” added an activist from the organization.

“This flotilla is our present response to the priceless historical aid that Cuba’s doctors, engineers, and soldiers provided for the liberation of countries such as Algeria and Angola. We are firmly convinced that international solidarity is the only way forward—both for the humanitarian crisis in Cuba and against military aggression in Iran and around the world,” explains a member of the Bloque Latinoamericano.

In parallel with the arrival of the convoy in Cuba, demonstrations and protests are organized in the most important cities around the world to increase global pressure against the sanctions. Berliners are also invited to join the work of the organization. The demonstration in Berlin takes place on March 21st at 13:00 in front of the US Embassy on Pariser Platz, near the Brandenburg Gate.

Contact the Bloque Latinoamericano

This statement originally appeared in Spanish and German. Translation: Andrei Belibou

Anti-fascism in Berlin: struggles, structures, and repression

Interview with Antifa Nord Ost about neo-Nazis and anti-fascism in the outskirts of Berlin

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This article is the fourth piece in the series Neo-Nazis and Anti-Fascism in Germany since the 1990s. The rest of the series can be found here.

For this article, we interviewed Antifa Nord Ost about their research on far-right mobilizations in Berlin. We also discussed their anti-fascist work, and why working on the outskirts of the city is crucial.

TLB: Thank you for taking the time to speak to me. Can you tell me about your group, and why it exists?

We founded it back in 2007, although there has been turnover and changes in structure since then. The founders were already active in various anti-fascist circles and wanted to start something new on the outskirts of the city. This was deemed important, especially in East Berlin, because fascist structures have been strong there for a long time. At the time there were Freie Kamaradschaft activists [a self-description for loosely formed neo-Nazi groups], the NPD, and so on. So the founding of our group was, in some ways, a response to that. At the same time, it was also meant to keep an eye on the bigger picture, which is why we also have an anti-capitalist stance. We do not see the current social order as the end goal; rather, we adhere to communist and anarchist ideas. 

TLB: And what kind of work do you do concretely?

We’re not a public group, we’re a closed group with a committed core of members. Sometimes we just assess what kind of fascist structures there are in the neighbourhood and beyond. We also do classic Antifa work, such as protests when fascists march or at right-wing meeting places. We support victims of right-wing violence when we have contact with them. We do commemoration work for those murdered in fascist attacks, such as the campaign Niemand ist vergessen [No one is forgotten]. Also other things I won’t get into here. We do a monthly info evening at Bandito Rosso, where people can get involved in practical work or just come talk to us and support open Antifa meetings at the outskirts like the OAT Hohenschönhausen. We have an email and social media where people can contact us. We’re also turning towards doing more anti-militarism work.

We have also worked on various issues in the group, including gentrification, international issues such as work on Rojava with Kurdish comrades, and we also try to engage feminist issues. Anti-militarism is another one, which is often a bit of a blind spot in the anti-fascist movement. We’re not a huge group, but we’ve always tried to connect with other political struggles. And, of course, throughout all of this we emphasise our connection to the city’s outskirts. We were never the typical inner-ring Antifa group, instead always willing to go where it was needed, even if it meant getting hurt.

It’s also important to show a presence in the city centre, and people do that, but there’s also often a lack of mobilisation outside the ring. It’s difficult to get people from inside the ring to go there, something which you can often see at Dritte Weg marches with okay [anti-fascist] turnouts. But when fascists want to go through Friedrichshain, thousands of people come out. So there’s an imbalance there, and that’s what we’re pushing to rectify.

TLB: I get why you emphasize the areas outside the Ringbahn, but why specifically Northeast? 

Fascist structures are strong there, and many youth groups focus there. There’s also practical reasons: people who are active in our group have their lives there. There are many antifascists in the outskirts, and it makes sense to network there. We’re going to be politically active in the place we live, where we spend most of our day. 

TLB: Do you experience state repression? 

Well, it depends how you define it. We’ve definitely been mentioned in the annual report of the Verfassungsschutz for years. That shows that we have some visibility and success. Of course, it happens quickly when you’re not the kind of Antifa that supports the state, but are instead critical of the current social conditions. You have plainclothes cops hanging around your events to check out who’s in your group. 

But let me put it this way: we’ve never been subject to a §129 proceeding or anything like that. So we haven’t faced any extreme state repression, but of course, you have to assume that the state has you on its radar. That’s how it is when you’re active against Nazis. 

TLB: What is a §129 proceeding?

A §129 proceeding is the criminal process that now affects, for example, the people who are charged in the “Antifa-Ost-Komplex” case or in the Budapest proceedings. The prosecutor claims that you are a criminal organisation, and the whole group is morally responsible for its actions and therefore charged as a whole. Then there’s §129a StGB, which specifically refers to terrorist organizations, and §129b StGB, the equivalent for so-called foreign groups. People are repeatedly affected by these proceedings. Our Kurdish friends, for example, are frequently affected by §129b. But our group has not had a similar proceeding.

TLB: To change tracks, I’d like you to imagine you are sitting with a comrade who is completely new to Berlin. What would you tell them about fascists in the city?

In Berlin, you have several relevant groups, such as Der Dritte Weg [The Third Way] and the Nationalrevolutionäre Jugend [National Revolutionary Youth] (NRJ). The Dritter Weg has been in Berlin for over ten years now, and is active throughout Berlin, but mainly in the East; especially in Hellersdorf, where many of them live. They feel safe there and often practice martial arts in public parks, shoot propaganda videos, or go to Cottbusser Platz and spray graffiti on the walls. 

They’re also very active in Pankow, where many NRJ members live, including their leader Erich Storch, in the Neumann neighbourhood. They’re trying to show their presence there, spraying graffiti on school walls and putting up posters. They also target left-wing youth centers, especially the JUP [Unabhängiges Jugendzentrum Pankow] and the Bunte Kuh [Colorful Cow]. There have been several threats and they showed up at events organised by left-wing groups here. La Casa [a cultural youth center] in Hellersdorf is also often targeted. La Casa and JUP have faced actual attacks. 

The National Democratic Party of Germany, now called Die Heimat [The Homeland, a term with Nazi connotations], was active here in Pankow around Christian Smidt, but he switched to Dritte Weg. For a while, Die Heimat was practically irrelevant here. Now, they’re trying to recruit young people from the Deutsche Jugend voran [German Youth Ahead] movement. Oliver Niedrich is particularly prominent in this regard, having already traveled with the group to anti-CSD demonstrations in the summer. He also attempted to hold an anti-Romani march through Mitte in November — hate of Romani people being one of his favourite topics — which was successfully blocked by anti-fascists. These are some of the shifts in the balance of power in the fascist scene in Berlin.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been seeing fascist youth groups develop that are less organised or ideologically committed. Groups like Deutsche Jugend voran, Patriotische Jugend [Patriotic Youth], and others. These groups have formed across Germany and are very active on social media to recruit new members, but also on the streets. They have mostly gone to CSD parades in East Germany, but they also tried to threaten the one in Berlin. These groups are not ideological; people tend to switch between them because of friendships instead of political reasons. That doesn’t make them less dangerous, though. They create real threats in schools, youth centres, and places where youth affected by racism, who are Jewish, or are somehow left-wing, gather. Finally, the AfD, with its fascist wing clearly dominating, is also present in Berlin and has run a strong election campaign in Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Lichtenberg.

TLB: When you say attacks on gatherings or youth centers, what do you mean?

For the Bunte Kuh, it has been limited to threats so far, although they have tried to attack the building multiple times. Sometimes it’s just small actions, like throwing glue at the wall, but it carries a threatening message: ‘we’re here’. 

Then you also have physical attacks, for example, on people who have a queer button on their shirt. Deutsche Jugend voran has attacked several people who were wearing an anti-fascist shirt or something like that, some of whom were then physically incapacitated. One person had a brace on their elbow and was attacked by seven or eight youths in Marzahn. And in 2024 there was this attack at Ostkreuz, where the NRJ attacked anti-fascists from behind in the busy station when they were going to an anti-fascist demonstration in Hellersdorf. This had a dimension that we haven’t experienced in Berlin for years.

In Rennbahnstraße, at the sports complex TSC Preußen 97, they held fascist training sessions for years. This is also a pretty crazy story. The district of Pankow basically provided club rooms free of charge for right-wingers to train in martial arts. Since at least 2019, several members of Die Heimat have been training here. They hosted training sessions together with AfD members and people from the Identitarian Movement. This was documented with photos, but at the time, no connection to TSC Preußen was identified. Later, the trainer in the photos was identified as the manager of TSC Preußen. Now, it’s clear that Dritte Weg has been training there since at least 2023, including very young people, likely also to integrate them a bit into their structures. There, they were able to train undisturbed for attacks like the one at Ostkreuz.

In response, we launched a big Schaut nicht weg [Don’t look away] campaign in order to put pressure on the district and kick these fascists out of the sports club. With the campaign, we also wanted to tell fascists that we had them on our radar, that they can’t just come here and train undisturbed. We were at least partially successful. After much back and forth, the district presented a list of cadres who are no longer allowed to train there. Although the sports club doesn’t totally abide by the rules, it’s an improvement. 

TLB: You mentioned several youth groups. Why do you think this is such a focus among the fascists? Or why do you think they find more success there?

I think it has to do with a general shift to the right within society and parliamentary politics. All the bourgeois parties are moving to the right, from the CDU to the Greens. You have drastic tightening of asylum laws, as well as a billion-dollar rearmament package and drastic militarisation of society. And so AfD positions and demands are already being anticipated, so to speak. At the same time, the AfD’s nationalist wing is becoming more and more aggressive, and young people are growing up in this environment. These are the discourses that they pick up on. And then you add the skinhead or right-wing youth movements of the 90s that offer a certain kind of excitement. When these things come together, certain positions become more acceptable. That’s how we understand it at least, but of course, this is an open topic that needs to be studied more

TLB: These groups are also very active on social media. What are they doing there?

The AfD is definitely very present on TikTok, together with these right-wing groups of young men that I mentioned earlier, like Deutsche Jugend voran. TikTok and Instagram are definitely where they recruit new people. Some of them write really stupid things and argue with each other publicly via Instagram stories, which is obviously useful for our research. However, on the other hand, it makes the subculture they’re part of seem cool. Some young fascists post right-wing music in their stories and then post where they’ve been at demonstrations today, which CSDs they tried to disrupt, and so on. That’s going to reach a lot more people than in the 90s, when the village fascists would get together. 

And social media is where left-wing groups sometimes still hold back, for valid reasons. But still, left-wing structures might need to show a stronger online presence. Of course, many of the apps are also dangerous in how they handle data, but we need to start offering content in some way.

TLB: Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. As a last question, what kind of collaborations would you like to see happening in Berlin? And how can other groups support your work?

They can connect with us, even if it’s just one person – it’s always interesting for us to get more information about where fascists are meeting, their events in different neighbourhoods, or stickers and posters you have noticed that weren’t there before. People can also let us know if they’re experiencing threats or attacks themselves. Otherwise, we’re happy to have people at our actions or to work on promoting things with other groups. 

And collaborations are really important, the networking between different struggles. We want to get involved in other people’s struggles as well, so we are all better informed about different problems, and can support each other in terms of repression. As a group we have a broad range of interest, from international struggles to feminist issues, and refugee rights. So we’re definitely happy when groups approach us. 

France: Polarization, fascism and local elections

Victories for far right and left in the municipal elections


18/03/2026

In the middle of the most comprehensive smear campaign against the radical Left that France has seen for the last 50 years, this month’s municipal elections are key struggles for fascists and antifascists alike. The first round on 15th March saw a strong showing for the radical Left and worrying steps forward for the fascists.

The first round of France’s municipal elections took place on Sunday 15th March, with the second round scheduled for the 22nd. Municipal councils in France have considerably more power than their counterparts in many countries. They are responsible, for example, for building and maintaining primary schools, developing social housing, and sometimes running a municipal police force.

The electoral system is a two-round list ballot with a substantial winner’s bonus. A list that comes first —either with over 50% in the first round or with whatever figure in the second round—receives a bonus of roughly half the council seats. The remaining seats are then distributed proportionally among all lists that obtained more than 5% of the vote. In practice, this means that a list winning 51% of the vote will usually obtain around 75% of the seats.

Occasionally, a list wins an outright majority in the first round. If not, a second round is held. Lists that received at least 10% in the first round can stand again or merge with others. Lists scoring between 5% and 10% cannot run independently in the second round but may join a qualified list.

Between the two rounds, lists frequently merge—often among left-wing parties seeking to prevent victory by the right or the far right. These mergers take two main forms. A political merger is based on a shared programme and usually includes a commitment to support the municipal budget. A technical merger, by contrast, simply places candidates from different lists on the same slate without any promise of political solidarity once elected. Supporters argue that this arrangement allows the council’s composition to reflect more democratically the range of opinions in the electorate.

Polarization 

In the six years since the last municipal elections, political polarization in France has deepened. President Emmanuel Macron’s camp, the traditional right, and the social-liberal Socialist Party have all lost ground, while both the far right—led by the National Rally (RN)—and the radical left, La France Insoumise (France in Revolt – FI), have expanded their support.

Predictions remain difficult. Turnout in municipal elections can be very low—abstention sometimes exceeds 50 percent—and the alliances formed between the two rounds are often decisive yet highly unpredictable.

A growing section of the traditional right is now willing to ally with the far right, giving the RN hope of taking control of a number of municipalities. Before these elections, fewer than a dozen of the roughly thousand French towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants were governed by the far right, (even though the RN holds 118 seats in the National Assembly and won 13 million votes in the last presidential election under Marine Le Pen). One of the main reasons for this gap is the RN’s historically weak local party organization. Nevertheless, with support from the establishment media, the RN has been promoting the message that it—together with the traditional right—can “save France” from the threat to democracy posed by La France Insoumise!

In three towns in the South -Toulon (170 000 inhabitants), Nice (350,000) and Marseille (850 000), the RN scored high in the first round and may win in the second round. In this last, the second-round result depends on whether the Socialist Party agrees a united Left slate. A rally to demand such a slate is scheduled for Monday night.

In the rest of the country the fascists did not at all see the breakthrough we feared in the big towns, but quite a lot of medium-sized communes saw them improve their score considerably.

The Left and antifascist fronts

On the Left also there has been much turbulence in recent months. The France Insoumise has been subject to a huge smear campaign claiming that the organization and its best-known leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, are hostile to Jews. 

The campaign is in many ways identical to the smear campaign in Britain against Jeremy Corbyn around eight years ago. In both cases, left-wing figures elected and re-elected to parliament for decades were never accused of anti-semitism until the Palestine movement and the radical Left became a real problem for the powers-that-be. The arguments used were generally laughable – how much had Corbyn studied some mural? Why did Mélenchon joke that Epstein’s name might be pronounced as if it were a Russian name? Establishment cronies work fulltime sifting through Mélenchon’s very long public speeches looking for ten-second excerpts to misinterpret. All the other classic smears – “friends of dictators”, “threat to democracy” and so on, are also blared out on the media day and night. Because the France Insoumise is getting stronger, the determination of the capitalists to smash it is also reinforced.

The Socialist Party (PS), which was pushed in 2024 into signing up to a radical programme jointly with the France Insoumise, the Greens and the Communists, has been looking for a way to reassert a break with any radicalism. They have joined in the smear campaign against the FI with enthusiasm. Several key figures have been arguing that no alliance should be made in any circumstances, even to keep the fascists out. Raphael Glucksmann, who is likely to be the presidential candidate for the Socialist bloc next year, demanded in a public meeting where he shared the platform with PS General Secretary Olivier Faure this week, that the Socialist Party “break definitively” with the FI. “We cannot fight for democracy with a friend of tyrants among us” he thundered. Leading PS senator, former minister for Women’s rights and feminist, Laurence Rossignol, circulated on social media an extract from my local FI group leaflet, (which committed itself to boycotting companies supporting Israel) ; alongside it she placed a large photo of Nazi graffiti (“Jude”) on 1930s shops in Germany.

Other parts of the Socialist Party, though, will not agree to rule out cooperation, since refusing all alliances would no doubt mean victory for the Right and even for fascists in a number of towns. The Socialist Party, much reduced in parliament since its horrific austerity governments of 2012-17, is still extremely dominant locally. Around half of all towns with over 10 000 inhabitants are run by the PS or by alliances which they dominate. PS mayors govern Paris, Rennes, Caen, Nantes and Montpellier, among many others. 

The national council of the Socialist Party voted last week against a national agreement on mergers with France Insoumise lists, but the France Insoumise leadership has proposed technical mergers for the second round with all other left lists, including those of the Socialist Party, in particular in towns where this could stop the fascists from winning. In a few dozen towns, united left lists already existed for the first round. Some second-round mergers will no doubt be announced this week (Toulouse has just announced one) but in other towns, the PS will refuse. PS heavyweight Boris Vallaud grumbled Sunday night “We thought the FI were going to lose out in these elections, but they’ve come out stronger”.

Citizens’ revolution?

The far-right has of course much profited from the attacks on the FI. After a fascist street fighter was killed in a street fight with antifascists in Lyon last month, a death blamed on the FI by the media despite all evidence, far right violence has soared. Dozens of leafletters or fly posters across the country (three in my town of Montreuil alone) have been attacked by fascist individuals. Many FI headquarters have been vandalized and a couple of meetings attacked by groups. Some of the revolutionary left (but not all) has stepped up to loudly defend the France Insoumise. Left wing Jewish groups published an open letter supporting Mélenchon.

The France Insoumise election campaign has been the most dynamic campaign in local elections for decades. A number of meetings with Jean-Luc Mélenchon attracted thousands, and mass door to door canvassing, not a tradition in France, has been generalized in working class estates. La France Insoumise leaflets call for “a citizens’ revolution in your town”, free school meals for all children, rent freezes where the legal instruments exist, requisition of vacant building for housing (just to give a couple of examples) as well as emphasizing green policies, opposition to Trump’s war and active solidarity with Palestine.

Before these elections, the France Insoumise, a young movement, governed only three towns, none of them over 20 000 people. Several impressive results were announced on Sunday night. Saint-Denis (150 000 inhabitants) was won outright. In Roubaix (100 000), the FI got 47%, making victory in the second round almost certain. In the cities Lille, Limoges, Toulouse, Argenteuil and in Montreuil, where I live, FI scores were over 20%.

The good results of the FI have made the PS smear campaign look stupid and unprincipled. In any case, the FI campaign has kept antifascism and opposition to austerity and war in the public eye. It has also ensured that in hundreds of towns there will be a radical left opposition for the first time. Finally, it is clear that for a number of years at least, the France Insoumise, which has progressed at each election, will remain the centre of gravity of the radical Left, and is attracting many of the best young activists. The far left needs to come to terms with this.

Fightback

Recent weeks have seen dozens of antifascist initiatives around the country, some organized by the France Insoumise, others by multiple local alliances. And on March 14th, there were 85 demonstrations around the country, coordinated by the Marche des Solidarités. The slogan on the call to demonstrate showed some anarchist influence and could have been better chosen (“Against racism, fascism and state violence”), but the whole of the radical left supported the demonstrations, and the timing- the day before the first round of crucial elections- was perfect.

If the state-sponsored pogroms we have seen in recent months in Minneapolis have not been happening in Marseille and Lyon, it is partly due to the magnificent antifascist mobilization during the parliamentary election campaign in 2024, which ensured that the National Rally eventually came in third in the number of seats won. All opinion polls had predicted a fascist Prime Minister.

A combination of electoral opposition and permanent antifascist education, combined with harassment of the RN, is the way forward.

23 March 1931 – Revolutionaries hanged in connection to the Lahore conspiracy case

This week in working class history


“…on behalf of the helpless Indian masses, we want to emphasize the lesson often repeated by history, that it is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas.”

On 23 March 1931, the death penalty was meted out rapidly to the south Asian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) by the British following the judgement passed coincidentally on October 7, 1930 for the murder of a British police officer in 1928. They were all 23 years old.

Reemerging from hiding, Bhagat Singh–arguably the most famous revolutionary of his time–and another fellow member Batukeshwar Dutt gave themselves up to the police following a strategic public action in the Lahore Assembly in 1929. They set off two low-intensity bombs in an empty area of the assembly in session and threw flyers intended to attract public attention to their cause. Their arrest and Singh’s eventual execution were among the final blows to the revolutionary cause in British India, leaving the hegemonical Indian National Congress and the Muslim League to fight it out till independence in 1947. 

HSRA, like many revolutionary youth organisations of its time, was founded in diametric opposition to Gandhian non-violence following the debacle of the Gandhi-led Non-Cooperation movement (1919-1922). A violent incident in Chauri Chaura led Gandhi to call off the successful popular mobilisation against the British which he intended to be “non-violent”. Bhagat Singh, who closely followed the developments in Russia and espoused anarchist and communist ideas, had several family members involved in the anti-imperialist struggle. Singh dived head first into the revolutionary movement, which was spreading across the north of India and Bengal. HSRA was involved in the Kakori conspiracy to steal arms from a British train and in the bombing of the Viceroy Lord Irwin’s train. Responding to Gandhi’s “Cult of the Bomb”, HSRA wrote a brilliant piece called the “Philosophy of the Bomb”, stressing on violence as the answer to imperialist oppression. HSRA members were young poets, scientists and university students across different faiths. 

In a peaceful protest in October-November 1928, the radical Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai was killed following a lathi (baton) charge in front of Bhagat Singh. As a prominent member of HSRA at the time, Singh conspired to kill James Scott, the superintendent who called for the lathi charge. In December 1928 he acted, along with Rajguru, Sukhdev and Chandrasekhar Azad but mistakenly killed a young police officer John Saunders instead, forcing them into hiding. As HSRA members were picked off one by one, Singh knew his time was near, and decided to exploit the power of the court to publicise their cause. The Lahore Assembly bombing was thus carried out, inspired by the French Auguste Valliant. Bhagat Singh defended himself in court, the published proceedings in newspapers made him a household name in India. He was initially given a life sentence in connection with the bombing. 

While in prison, Bhagat Singh witnessed discrimination between Indian and other European prisoners, and demanded to be treated as a political prisoner which meant better access to food and reading material. Thus began a 116-day hunger strike along with fellow revolutionaries, that also included the death of Jatin Das on day 63. British force-feeding and Congress lobbying did not deter him and his comrades. By this time, the British managed to tie up the ends regarding Saunders’ murder and sentenced the trio including him to death by hanging. The British were afraid that their eventual murder would set off nationwide clashes, and secretly killed them on March 23, 1931.

It is said that the three went to the gallows laughing, singing “Inquilab Zindabad” (Long live the revolution). The site where their bodies were disposed of in Husseiniwala ironically stands on a heavily fenced border area between India and Pakistan. Bhagat Singh remains a popular figure in the subcontinent, co-opted by all parts of the political spectrum.

Bhagat Singh famously read Clara Zetkin’s reminiscences of Lenin as the police came to take him to the gallows. For his last wish, he wished he could finish that book. He was an excellent writer and his writings are all over the internet. The reader is advised to start here.

Inquilab Zindabad!

12-Hour workdays, crushed rights: Argentina under Milei’s labor law 

The new labor reform in Argentina drastically reduces the rights of employees.


President of Argentina Javier Milei speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference

On Friday, March 6, 2026, in Argentina, the labor reform came into force. One of the cornerstones of Milei’s administration is now law. The reform affects the relationship between workers and employers. Voted in the Senate on February 11 and in the Congreso Nacional on February 27, it left behind a wave of controversy, mobilization, and, above all, repression. Strongly criticized by the opposition, this reform changes the regulation of labor relations, favoring employers and drastically reducing the rights of employees. According to Deputy Myriam Bregman, the law was supported and backed only by “entrepreneurs and law firm lawyers”, maintaining a strongly anti-popular character. Composed of 25 chapters, it introduces radical changes on issues such as compensation, dismissals, vacations, and overtime. Crucial and dangerous is the freedom granted by the new rules to employers. These create a relationship between employer and employee that is extremely unbalanced in favor of the former. It is because of this imbalance that the reform has been defined as “slavish”. According to Bregman, “the only freedom Javier Milei defends is the freedom to enslave.” 

The first major change concerns the length of the workday. The maximum limit of 8 hours per day is eliminated, introducing the possibility of working up to 12 hours a day, provided that 48 hours per week are not exceeded and 12 hours of rest are available between shifts. Another problematic point concerns the possibility for employers to pay wages with food, housing, or goods instead of money. Another ambiguity concerns the creation of a bank of hours. Under this mechanism, overtime may not be remunerated. The alternative to payment consists of compensation through additional days off. On paper, these options must result from an agreement between the two parties. In practice, the employer always holds the upper hand, especially considering the increasingly weak role of unions. 

Also worrying is the attack on workers’ right to strike, particularly in sectors such as commerce, education, port services, and telecommunications. For these categories, it is mandatory to guarantee at least 75% of services during strike days. 

The approval of the law has been, and continues to be, at the center of struggles by Argentine social movements. Strikes and demonstrations have highlighted the strong unpopularity of the reform. Bregman herself was present at the mass mobilization on February 11 that took to the streets of Buenos Aires and the country’s main cities. Her testimony is a crucial denunciation of the brutality used by the police to suppress the protest. “They approached (the police) to the sidewalk on motorcycles and started shooting from two or three meters away.” Saved only, according to her, by “the enormous solidarity of the people.” According to the deputy, the repression had the declared aim of concealing the massive rejection of the labor reform. The far-right responds once again to general discontent with its most representative weapon: repression, at any cost. 

The struggle, however, does not stop. The main Argentine unions and opposition politicians have called for a large popular demonstration on March 24. Not a random date, since that day marks 50 years since the coup that led to the dictatorship of the military juntas initiated by Videla, lasting until 1983 and stained with crimes such as murders, repression, and forced disappearances. Beyond the demand for a trial and adequate punishment for the remaining unpunished perpetrators, the organizers call for the repeal of the labor reform itself. 

The measure represents a huge blow to workers’ rights. The government continues with a hardline approach, saying that the situation in Argentina will improve. Improvements that come at a high cost for workers, stripped of their rights. The number of informal or precarious workers is extremely high. Reforms like this risk widening the gap between wages and the cost of living, effectively increasing this phenomenon. Once again, Milei’s ultraliberal policies end up favoring large companies and foreign investors, placed first, ahead of the needs of the people he had promised to uplift.