Basketball personalities against the LUC

Dozens of athletes and people linked to professional basketball decided to commit to the campaign for the repeal of 135 articles of the Urgent Consideration Law (LUC), which will be voted on March 27. They called this movement “A double for the Yes” and brings together approximately one hundred members from different sectors of the sport: male and female players, coaches and referees. For example, athletes such as Marcos Cabot, Manuel Romero, Mateo Sarni, Emilio Taboada and Sabina Bello participate; the coaches Pablo López, Marcelo Signorelli, Alberto Spasandín and Gerardo Jauri, and personalities such as Gonzalo Salgueiro, Alejandra Godoy and Valentina Dorrego, who are dedicated to arbitration.

One of the actions undertaken by this group is the making of informative audiovisual videos in which different personalities base their position on certain articles and explain why they consider that they should be repealed. Some of the issues on which the campaign focuses are education, fuel policies, financial freedom and housing.

“We vote Yes, you vote what you think”

Regarding the modifications in education, they state that “it distances the opinion of teachers and students.” “Before, in the Central Board of Education, decisions were made with four out of five votes. Today, with the LUC, the vote of the teachers is no longer necessary, since the three votes of the representatives of the Executive Power are enough to make the decisions, and these should not even come from the field of Public Education”, expresses one of the messages created from the different voices of participants in the movement. For those who make up “A double for Yes”, teachers cannot be excluded “from one of the most important debates that the country should give”. “We think that they should be part of it and that dialogue should prevail over the urgency of an external imposition.”

Regarding the modifications introduced by the LUC in terms of fuels, they recalled that, with the new articles, the value is set based on a report from the Regulatory Unit for Energy and Water Services (URSEA) on the parity price resulting from importing the finished product and make it available at Ancap’s distribution plants. “We do not agree with setting the price taking into account only the market. We believe that the State, and therefore its companies, must intervene in the fulfillment of the social rights of all men and women. We want to be close to a State as a shield for the weakest”, they expressed.

Regarding financial freedom, they refer to article No. 221, which modifies the maximum amount that is allowed to be paid in a cash transaction, increasing it from 5 thousand dollars to 120 thousand dollars. Something similar, they point out, happens with the payment of professional fees in article No. 219, which establishes the possibility of paying up to 120 thousand dollars in hand. “This markedly reduces the control that financial inclusion means allow over the origin of funds,” they said. “Article No. 215 takes a step back and once again allows payment outside the means of financial inclusion. Although in theory this presupposes a freedom of choice for the worker, practical life shows that, in an asymmetric relationship of power, this possibility will be available to the employer, favoring a return to informal working conditions”, they argued.

At the end of each audiovisual piece, the participants of this initiative highlight their position in favor of the Yes and invite citizens to define theirs: “We vote Yes, you vote what you think. Here we show the articles.

A big step: social positioning

To find out when, how, and with what objectives this initiative arose, Caras y Caretas spoke with the basketball player and secretary of Associated Uruguayan Basketball Players, Mateo Sarni, one of the athletes who promoted the movement. “The movement arose when the referendum was confirmed. It was conceived between male and female players, coaches and basketball leaders who were linked by social activities that we have been doing for a long time”.

The athlete said that in the first stage between four or five people got together to read the articles, deepen, and thus be able to take a position. From there they generated several instances with the rest of the group to be able to share, reflect and build a joint vision. “I think that what most exalts this move are precisely the different informative instances that we share to generate reflection. We believe that this dynamic gives an important level of honesty to what we are doing, and that, at the same time, it takes care of all the personalities with great experience and popular knowledge who participate in the movement”.

Regarding the dynamics of the group’s operation, he assured that it is a horizontal space, beyond the fact that there are people in the coordination role. “From the beginning, dialogue, openness and respect for different opinions were prioritized.”

The basketball player valued that all the messages transmitted in the videos contrast it, in the same audiovisual piece, with the textual articles. “We seek to be able to generate a contrast and get out of another type of logic that arrows the field.”

Asked about the motivation to get involved with a political and social issue from the place of athletes, the player expressed: “I think that this social positioning as athletes —something that is not very common— is a great step we have taken. No person is oblivious to political issues because they indirectly affect us all. We believe that as public personalities of something as important as sports —and in the case of basketball, the second most important in terms of mass use— it is extremely positive to be able to open the debate and take an interest in learning about politics”. And he added: “Knowing and being interested in the articles [de la LUC] It is an opportunity to visualize a certain political philosophy that remains half abstract, such as neoliberalism and the welfare state. For example: in education before there were Councils and now there are directors. The Council, due to its form, expands the dialogue, while the director is only one, so it is very important to be able to visualize these positions and get out of the theoretical fraction”.

To conclude, Sarni stressed that those who make up Un doble por el Sí have “maximum respect for the diversity of expressions.” “If another group of athletes, or people from another branch, manifest themselves in favor of the No, we would be the first to congratulate them and from there arrive at a real argument that allows us to continue growing. This is how we understand the movement and it makes us proud. In this sense, we believe that we have planted a seed to continue building a better society, more democratic and with knowledge of politics, which is so important”.