“From workers to vandals”. Analysis of a ‘social explosion’ in the port of Mar del Plata, June of 2000

Abstract

On 28 June 2000, fisheries workers were mobilized in the streets of the port of Mar del Plata. They intended to conduct a “escrache” off the fishing plants denouncing the serious economic situation which hit about the decline in income from fish. But the demonstration ended up taking the form of an attack on the factories. The protest took place as part of a deep crisis in the fishing industry, states from the lowest levels of historical catch the main commercial species (hake hubbsi). This event went virtually unnoticed by social scientists. Not so for journalists, who built an image of the fact dominated by negative reports, describing it as a “explosion” and dismissing as “vandals” to the protesters. As invisible to some and present and negative for others, we consider that a scan from the social sciences, looking not be content with appearances and try to penetrate the underlying relations systems, can provide interesting elements for understanding mobilization and public anger.