First Person Global.(protests in Buenos Aires)(Brief Article)

When I lived in Buenos Aires, I used to go to a McDonald's located in the city center. Recently, I saw TV footage of that same McDonald's being vandalized in riots sparked by the country's IMF-approved austerity policies.

It's a powerful image--the downtrodden lashing out against the forces of globalization--but not a representative one. True, I wouldn't want to walk through Buenos Aires wearing an INTERNATIONAL BANKER T shirt these days, but that does not mean that Argentines are opposed to globalization. In fact, they practically invented the idea.

An immigrant nation, Argentina has long been famous for picking and choosing the best the world has to offer. Its food is Italian, its cafes Parisian and its military Prussian. As they say, an Argentine is a Spanish-speaking Italian who lives in a French house and thinks he's British.

Consider that unfortunate McDonald's. What you couldn't see on TV was a little section in back called McCafe, a special area where adults could linger over the newspaper and a double espresso. I loved McCafe because it was so profoundly Argentine: a piece of world culture carefully adapted to local tastes.

And take a good look at those protesters. Sure, some of them were pretty scruffy, but wasn't that a Prada bag I saw? And some Gucci loafers? Appearances ...