Protest!

I just got this email from a TA from a class that I dropped, called Capitalism, Socialism, and Contemporary Revolutions. I was originally signed up for the class, but when it came down to reading and discussing Marx and Lenin in Spanish or taking a class about Tango, I had to choose the tango. However, it was an awesome experience and I still get the emails. This one read (translated from Spanish):


Friends:
Before the demonstration for the workers of Kraft-Terrabusi to the Ministry of Work and the administrative holiday decreed by the University at 4 o'clock, we will all walk out of class today and convene with the rest of the students to actively support this great fight, whose victory is of interest to all students and workers.

Given that the extent of the demonstration depends on successful negotiations that are taking place right now in the Ministry, we would prefer to not have the 'practica' portion of class at 9pm because we can't predict, even now, if the demonstration will have finished by then.


A little background:
This is a class taught at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a university well known for its politically charged atmosphere and liberal thinking. Before I came to Buenos Aires many people warned me to beware of classes at the UBA being canceled or teachers not showing up for political reasons, but I didn't really believe them until I went to my first UBA class.
A little story:
During our "testing" period we were allowed to go to many many classes for two weeks to try them out and determine which ones we'd like to take for the semester. This was the first class that I tested at UBA, and my first impression was "This place is CRAZY!" Let me explain:

First of all, the building of Social Sciences, where this class is located, is a nine story high, run down building in the middle of the city. The entrances are covered with handmade papers, fliers, posters protesting a cause or exalting a political leader. When I first walked into the building I was swept into a stream of hundreds of students entering the building, overwhelmed with the amount of brochures and fliers being shoved into my hands by activist groups, and completely confused about where to go. After 20 minutes of searching I finally found the correct room-- I was 2o minutes late and freaking out! Well, I got to class and there were ten other students sitting in desks, no professor present. I sat down and waited. And waited. And, in typical Argentine fashion, the teacher walked in 45 minutes late! I had seen him when I walked in- he had been standing right outside the classroom talking to students!! Here were the notable aspects of the class:
1. For the first two hours of class (its a four hour class: two hours of lecture, two of discussion) students kept walking into class late. They didn't walk in quietly, either. They would walk in, dragging a desk from another classroom because there are never enough desks around and then proceed to greet all their friends in the class!
2. My professor was impossible to understand. The window was open to keep the room cool, but the combination of his heavy accent, cigarette-deteriorated voice, and noise from the street, I had NO idea what he was talking about. I look at my notes from that day and all I have are a lot of question marks and the words "Crisis!" and "capitalismo" ......
3. The first question my professor asked the class is if anyone has medical problems with cigarette smoke. No one did, unfortunately. Second question: if anyone preferred him not to smoke, but he just laughed before anyone could answer and said he didn't care. So, right in the classroom, he lit up his first cig and proceeded to chain smoke throughout the entire theory class. He said he knew that his addiction was the reason he had no voice, but he couldn't stop so why fight it! What surprised me most was that he just threw his cigs on the floor of the classroom when he was done with them. When he left he just kicked the butts and ash under the desk... What?!
4. During the break between lecture and discussion, an Argentine student approached me and one of my friends from the program who was also testing the class. She asked where we were from, why we were in the class, etc. She then asked if we had understood anything from class and we reluctantly admitted that we couldn't understand anything. Well, she shared that our teacher is a very famous revolutionary in the history of Argentina and his classes are held in very high regard on UBA campus and in Buenos Aires in general. Sweet!
5. The professor left after the lecture and the two TA's took over during the last two hours. About ten minutes into class three people stuck their head into the classroom and our TA beckoned them in. They were representatives from an activist group on campus promoting a protest that was happening that Friday in the Plaza del Mayo. They passed fliers around to the students and our TA even chipped in and added some information. Throughout the duration of the class two more groups like this came in and each time, they spent about 5-10 minutes explaining their causes. Our TA's didn't mind at all, even though that took up about 30 min of our two hours. That just wouldn't happen in the US.

I went to this class a couple times before I decided to drop it. I really wanted to stay in it just because the atmosphere was so crazy and interesting, but I couldn't justify doing all the work when I couldn't understand the professor AT ALL. I still get the emails though, and a couple of my friends and I plan on still going to some of the protests.

I love Argentina :)