Reality Check

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled "Spring" Break broadcast to get you up to date really quickly with what I´ve been doing since I got home from my trip.

I got stuck in a riot.

On Sunday afternoon my friend Danielle and I went to an Israel Independence Day celebration being hosted by the city. There were speeches, music, and dancing and there was a pretty decent sized crowd. The event was happening on a blocked off street near the Casa Rosada, and Danielle and I were near the back.

All of a sudden we heard a loud bang, some screams, and then people just started to RUN. Since Danielle and I were in the back (and short), we didn´t see the group of 25 protesters burst out of the nearby subway station with signs and weapons. They had sticks and nunchuks, and just started hitting people and screaming in Spanish. We started to run too.

I`m still not really positive who they were. Some people in the crowd were shouting that they were Nazis. Articles I´ve been looking at have said that they were anti-zionist, pro-palestinian, or anti-semetic. Now, these things don´t always have to go hand-in-hand so I can´t really say for sure who they were. Some people are starting to speculate that the rioters were hired just to create a ruckus.

People started shouting for the police, who took a really long time to come. Oh, there were police there--I saw them talking on their cell phones and walking away. Some went to help, but most didn´t. Three people ended up being injured. The front page of most newspapers yesterday showed a young Jewish man holding his head. There was a lot of blood.

Danielle and I ran to the other side of the crowd, away from the protesters. Once the police got their shit together, the program started again and people started coming back. It took about maybe...another 30 minutes for an ambulance to show up, and it came in from the wrong side of the stage so it just had to back up and go around the block to get to the people that needed help. And security still seemed sketch, so Danielle and I booked it.

Argentina has a history of anti-semitic and anti-Israel attacks occuring. In the 1990s the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center were blown up. In addition, the South American nation was a hub for Nazis fleeing Germany after WWII.

But I never thought these things would directly affect me during my semester in Buenos Aires. I´ve essentially been able to be open about my Jewish-ness here, and suddenly all at once I´m not so sure that´s a good idea. I appreciate better now why many Synagogues in the area and the Hillel building still check our IDs and passports before we can come in.

In Argentina, the past is always having a major, direct effect on the present. Sunday was definitely no exception.