Since the fall of the military dictatorship and authoritarian regimes,
there has been an ursurge of grassroots democratic movements
which have increasingly been flexing their collective muscle
in the form of democratic direct action, strikes and street protests.

The strike by pilots and mechanics of Aerolineas Argentinas, the privatised Argentine
national airline, forced us to cancel our trip to the Iguazu Falls as no settlement between
the contending interests appeared likely in the foreseeable future.

The highly militant union's uncompromising stance suggested that they may have a far more
radical agenda in line with the general shift to the Left in Latin American politics
during recent years.
This agenda probably included re-nationalisation of the airline which was nationalised by
Juan Peron and then subsequently privatised by Carlos Menem.
It may also signal an audacious vision of attacking the neo-liberal paradigm both nationally
and internationally, in concert with the exponentially growing anti-globalisation movement.