The Liberty Lamp: Libertarian News & Editorials

Yesterday, I saw Argentina: Hope in Hard Times, a documentary about the economic collapse of the country in late 2001. While the Big Media in North America and Europe focused on Richard "The Shoebomber" Reid, violence and civil unrest wracked this Latin American country, previously home to the world's fifth largest economy.

After the initial shock died down, many people in the cities began to utilize a bartering system in place of their devalued national currency. Factories began to be operated by their workers, as many owners simply took the cash and ran, as it were, at the onset of the collapse. Self-help and mutual aid groups sprang up in both urban and rural areas, while some farmers started self-sustaining co-ops. As demonstrated by the Argentinians, self-reliance and non-governmental organization can- and does- work. I hope this puts to bed the statist claims that society is lost in today's complex world without government intervention once and for all!

Although some of the people in the film (as well as the producers themselves, whom I met) blame the past and current economic hard times on decentralization and privatization, many Argentinians shown in the film aggree that although the economic and governmental collapse has forced them to become more responsible and involved in more areas of their own life, the freedom one gains from such a setup is well worth the extra time and energy needed to maintain it.

Perhaps these ideas will filter down to people in the United States sometime soon. We can only hope! Argentina: Hope in Hard Times was produced by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin, and debuted in Seattle early this year. If it hasn't come to your town yet, it (hopefully) will soon.