The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, declared that the era of the present State is over and that the state’s role should be limited to the defense of life, liberty, and property. In response to this, hundreds of thousands of people across the country took to the streets in defense of the free public university, which is a pillar of the Argentine State but is currently being questioned and defunded by the far-right government.
In the Argentine capital, students, professors, and workers gathered at the Argentine Congress after passing through an upper-class area near some of the main faculties of the University of Buenos Aires. They marched while singing the Argentine national anthem and carrying signs in support of public education. The demonstration was peaceful, with the city police remaining on the sidelines.
Participants from various faculties, including medicine, economics, law, and engineering, came together with different messages in support of education. The government had expressed concerns about possible acts of provocation during the march but did not intervene in the demonstrations.
The protest against the budget cuts to universities, which have resulted in a significant reduction in funds, was one of the largest in the last 20 years of democracy in Argentina. The public university is seen as a crucial opportunity for social mobility for the lower and middle class.
Despite attempts by the government to discredit the protest and portray it as politically motivated, the march was supported by a wide range of political figures and organizations. The resistance against the attack on public education has united various sectors of society and highlighted the importance of protecting the public university as a key institution in Argentina’s social fabric.