JE REFUSE!

Being the customary plagiarist that I am, I shall today paraphrase Emile Zola’s “j’accuse.” Because my reaction to these difficult times in Argentina is “je refuse” (and, by the way, I will be more than delighted if, after reading the following, you decide to plagiarise me!)

I refuse to panic. I refuse to let my spirits be influenced by the rotten atmosphere intentionally created by interested parties, which include politicians, newsmen, financial institutions, individual speculators and all sorts of different birds.

I refuse to be brought down by perennial pessimists and masochists.

I ref use to stop fighting against those who want to replace the republic with an autocracy.

I refuse to retransmit groundless rumours and fake news.

I refuse to take the veracity of polls for granted.

I refuse to give dice to sensationalist media.

I refuse to stop constructively criticising the unnecessary blunders committed by the government.

I also refuse to accept our president’s excuses for not communicating adequately with the population.

But, at the same time, I refuse to compare the mistakes of this administration with the crimes of the previous one.

And, of course, I refuse to even consider finding another place in the world to live in.

Finally, and above ever ything else, at 87 and with a spot of life experience behind me je refuse to give in! Harry Ingham City