Berkley Center

At the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), students interrupt my classes roughly once per hour with announcements about protest marches, club meetings, and panel discussions. The professors all stop in the middle of sentences, step aside, and let the students speak; it's normal and doesn't surprise me anymore. Nonetheless, when an old man walked into my history class holding a cup rattling change, I was sure that my professor would turn him away. However, he paused his lecture to let the man speak. The man explained to a room full of college students that he was blind and living on the streets, and as his health was failing he wanted to fulfill his lifelong dream of visiting Iguazu Falls while he still could. Everyone listened quietly and respectfully and, to my great surprise, almost every single student in the classroom gave the man some change.

As I've discovered after living in Buenos Aires for three months, this experience was indicative of the norm, not the exception. The people of Buenos Aires give money to beggars not only on the street, but also on the subway, in restaurants, and in the supermarket. In some situations, it even seems that those that don't give are being judged as selfish. This attitude toward the homeless, so markedly different from what I'm used to in the United States, has caught my attention since my first week here. They are not giving because they are rich—what I see the Argentines give usually amounts to less than an American quarter, and those who give often don't appear to have much to spare. Although the small amounts add up to make a difference for the recipients, the cultural significance of this giving lies more in the gesture than in the actual transfer of wealth.

What lies behind the way normal people in Buenos Aires treat the homeless? One aspect of the answer to this question is the way Argentines conceptualize solidarity. Although there is enormous variety within any group of people, Argentines in general seem more focused on the collective than the individual, a trend that I experience in my everyday life. For example, many of the exams given at UBA are group tests with no grade variation for the members within the group. In my service learning class, we compared the connotations that Argentines and Americans attach to this word that, when translated literally, means exactly the same thing. In both Spanish and English, the dictionary definition of “solidarity” is essentially as follows: “unity that produces or is based on community of interests.” However, while Americans attach a negative connotation to this word and connect it with the political left and ideology, the connotation for Argentines is positive and generally associated with the ideas of collective action and collective achievements.

This linguistic difference also has deep cultural significance. Historically, the Argentine culture of solidarity has influenced the political sphere. Juan Domingo Perón came to power as president in 1946 with a platform of dramatic economic redistribution in favor of the poorest classes, and although it has experienced drastic changes, Peronism continues to occupy an important place in modern Argentine politics (the current President Kirchner is a member of Peron's Justicialist Party). Until recently, this ideal of solidarity also helped to produce, in the context of Latin America, a relatively egalitarian society. However, during the economic collapse of 2001, the economy contracted by 11 percent in just one year, and the income ratio between the richest and poorest sectors of the Argentine society exploded from a 1990s level of 18:1 to 43:1. It has yet to come back down to anywhere near its pre-crisis levels. The manifestations of this relatively recent divide include the growth of the slums surrounding major Argentine cities, such as the villas surrounding Buenos Aires, and decreased social mobility. Despite the setbacks of the economic crisis, the concept of solidarity is still alive and well in the Argentine culture.

I am volunteering with an organization called Help Argentina, which raises funds from Argentines living in the United States and distributes the money to different Argentine NGOs. Help Argentina's current strategy is to find and contact every Argentine living in the United States with the means to donate, a strategy based on the belief that everyone who can donate will. By in large, this strategy appears to be working. But can the concept of solidarity really alleviate poverty on a national level?

Many economists now blame the economic collapse of 2001 on the excesses of the previous decades of welfare-style state. Based on these analyses, it is difficult to say if the spirit of solidarity is going to play a significant role in helping Argentina recover from economic collapse. However, this concept does seem to play an important role in holding the society together during difficult times.