Let's demonstrate!

A los porteños, les gustan manifestar.

It appears, based on casual observation, that porteños will take to the streets in protest for almost any reason at all. On any given day, I pass at least three 'manifestaciones' of one kind or another - on a good day, it gets up to six. Now, to be sure, I am helped in this regard by passing the main courthouse on the way to and from school every day, but the enthusiasm for street protest is nonetheless impressive. Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada, is another favored protest location. The "madres de los desaparecidos" still protest there every Thursday afternoon - this week, as part of a class excursion to the Cabildo (the first seat of government, now a museum, located across the Plaza from the Casa Rosada), we saw their demonstration. It seemed distinctly inappropriate to take pictures of what is now essentially an expression of mourning of personal tragedy, so I put the camera away. There were, however, at least three auxiliary demonstrations, related to causes which were impossible to determine, going on at the same time. All of which does raise the question - with so many demonstrations, is anyone really paying attention?