Dreams shattered for Argentine Jews
FLORENCIA ARBISER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel has responded to the political and economic crisis in Argentina with a plan to encourage immigration to the Jewish state, and the first wave of Argentine emigrants since the crisis arose began to arrive in late December.
But it is not clear how many of the 220,000 Jews in Argentina - 50,000 of whom live below the poverty line - will take advantage of the incentives.
Ironically, a major conference on Jewish poverty concluded here just days before the president of the country, Fernando de la Rua, was forced out amid charges of a corrupt government and a collapsing economy.
A caretaker president, Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, took over Dec. 23 after several days of rioting and civil unrest. One week later, he was succeeded by President Eduardo Duhalde. A special election has been slated for March.
The conference earlier this month, "Confronting Poverty: Solutions, Experiences and Projects," was organized by the Latin American Jewish Congress, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Tzedaka Foundation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Several Jewish organizations are assisting families in economic need but the resources are limited, aid workers say.
Most of the families seeking assistance are considered "new poor," people who used to belong to the middle class but could not survive the economic and political policies the government implemented in the 1990s.
These policies - while they led to some short-term gains - had negative long term effects. Many middle-class Argentines lost jobs, closed shops, went into debt and auctioned off their houses. Small businessmen, small industrialists, state employees, professionals - all were affected.
"Members of the Jewish community are the test case of these policies, as they were on the front line of these politics and measures" because they are disproportionately represented in the middle class, says Bernardo Kliksberg, head of the Inter-American Initiative for Social Capital, Ethics and Development at the Inter-American Development Bank.
"In the 1990s, 7 million middle-class Argentines became poor," Kliksberg says, adding that only 25 percent of today's Argentina is middle class, as opposed to 53 percent in 1960.
According to Kliksberg, 300 Jewish families now live in shantytowns, while another 1,700 live crowded in small rooming houses.
At the unemployment office of the AMIA community center - the most important in the country for the Jewish community - the situation is changing dramatically. AMIA has received 500 work applications a month in 2001, compared with 1,000 for all of 2000.
Some 70 percent of the applications are coming from the young generation, according to Kliksberg.
"The situation is alarming - in the last two years, social assistance grew from 4,000 cases to 20,000," he says.
Tzedaka, a Jewish organization dedicated to social assistance, estimates that it will assist 3,553 families this year, with another 80 families on a waiting list to receive help.
AMIA is helping 1,500 families this year, says Elida Kisluk, director of AMIA's social action department.
The JDC and Chabad-Lubavitch also are helping with special programs.
The organizations provide credit for building or repairing houses, paying rent, buying food and medicine and getting psychological assistance, as well as grants for clubs, schools, recreational and cultural events.
But that often isn't enough, which is leading many Argentine Jews to consider emigration.
In 2001, approximately 1,500 Argentine Jews have immigrated to Israel, a 30 percent increase over 2000.
Jewish Agency for Israel officials estimate that number may double in 2001, depending on how the situation in Argentina plays out.
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