The anti-fascist assembly in Buenos Aires

Image: Juan Manuel Ferraro
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By ADRIÁN PABLO FANJUL*

A breath of fresh air seems to have filled the lungs of Argentina, in the midst of barbarism, and this is new

On Saturday, January 26, a call made just 48 hours earlier by LGBTQ groups gathered an unexpected crowd at Parque Lezama (Buenos Aires). Thousands of people participated in an assembly that even the organizers themselves had not imagined would have such an impact. The excitement was so great that they even considered holding a march that same night. A broad national mobilization was decided on February 1.

The call had been made to organize resistance actions against serious threats that Javier Milei had made throughout the week in various spaces. Excited about Donald Trump’s inauguration, he defended Elon Musk against those who criticized his Nazi salute. To this end, he posted an impassioned message in which he promised to pursue opponents “to the last corner of the planet.” “Tremble, leftist sons of bitches. Freedom advances.”[I], he posted. Two days later, in his speech at the Davos conference, he railed against homosexuals, identifying them with pedophilia, and against gender parity laws for jobs and functions, which he called “privileges” for women.

Even with this massive presence, the meeting in Parque Lezama managed to function in an orderly manner and with a list of registered participants, in the tradition of popular and neighborhood assemblies that, in Argentina, have characterized mobilization processes since the beginning of the 21st century.[ii].

In addition to the LGBTQ groups that had made the call, workers from the Posadas and Laura Bonaparte hospitals, which the government of Javier Milei is trying to close, from state centers dedicated to memory policies that are also being dismantled, feminist groups, organizations of relatives of victims of state terrorism, representatives of neighborhood assemblies, solidarity kitchens, retirees, cultural groups and murgas participated.[iii]. An influencer supporting Javier Milei showed up with the intention of provoking others and was expelled, having to take refuge in a police car.

The event sparked a wave of enthusiasm, very visible on social media and in various public places over the weekend, because it seemed that nothing was happening against the setbacks that the far-right government has been trying to impose on various fronts. The silence that has accompanied the nonconformity, in contrast to the strong opposition mobilization of the first months of Javier Milei's 2024 term, gave the impression of a peak for the “libertarian” troupe, which is difficult to explain in a context of a vertical drop in consumption and a lack of recovery in economic activity, even with the decrease in nominal inflation.[iv]

In recent months, actions to dismantle public policies have taken on a particularly provocative bias against human rights movements and against groups of relatives of those who disappeared during the dictatorship, a sector that for decades consolidated notable support and social respect. In December, the Centro Cultural de la Memoria “Haroldo Conti”, supposedly to revamp its work, but with the dismissal of almost all staff.[v]

More recently, last week, there was a provocation of a smaller scale, but extreme in its aggressiveness and the feelings with which it was related in memory. A group of young candidates from the official party, in the richest municipality in the metropolitan area, recorded and released a self-promotional video. In it, they appear erasing a mural of the organization of children of the disappeared, while cursing and claiming that all reports about the dictatorship are lies. The most criminal detail is that they travel to the “procedure” in a specific model of Ford car from the 1970s, which was used by the military dictatorship’s commandos to kidnap people and take them to the extermination camps.[vi]

In this context of attacks, the crowd gathered in record time and in the middle of the holidays, and the decision to mobilize in unison, appear as a promising relief. The defiant and fearless tone with which the assembly took place and was replicated on social media and in the media was also encouraging: Javier Milei's "tremble" and "we're going for you" were refuted with pride and sarcasm in dozens of formulations of popular creativity.

This surprising eruption seems to be the beginning of a “no more” and an attempt to take back the streets, and it may indeed be that. It is worth considering, however, some factors that differentiate this situation from other “no more” in recent Argentine history, and even from the massive mobilization process from January to May 2024.

This process has notably receded in the face of brutal repression, not seen in Argentina since the return of democracy, which in its ferocity was reminiscent of that of the Sebastián Piñera government against the Chilean uprising of 2019. Demonstrations have continued to take place from various sectors, mainly from workers at companies that are closing their doors due to the recession, from state employees and retirees, but they have been isolated, with little support, and have remained on the sidewalks to avoid being repressed. At the same time, the high-ranking union leaders have set aside any type of protest measure and have engaged in negotiations with the government, and, although they have achieved very little, they have not repeated the call for general strikes. Not coincidentally, one of the targets of criticism at the January 25 assembly was these leaders.

That is why it was so important that, on that day, a sector that was not mobilized managed to call on others that were. And the crossroads opens precisely at this point, because it is predictable that the setback of the last few months will already show, as a counterpart, some progress in the official preaching in mentalities. Precisely, what Piñera Milei is trying to do is divert attention from the serious economic situation, attributing the poverty of the population to the “privileges” that feminism, LGBTQ people, state workers, relatives of the disappeared and all the enemies created in his speech supposedly enjoyed.

 How will the movements gathered in Parque Lezama address the population as a whole? Will they prioritize what can unite them with other sectors disadvantaged by the government, or will they remain focused on their own agenda? There were very positive signs in the park, such as the defense, by the majority of the assembly, that the political parties present (incidentally, only the left-wing ones) could express themselves, the ovation for the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and to hospital nurses. And there was particular lucidity in the words of some LGBTQ leaders, such as transmasculine leader Ese Montenegro: “Javier Milei discursively constructs an enemy, because his economic plan only ends with cruelty, with everyone’s hunger, even though it only points to us.”[vii]

In the opposite direction of these positive signs, there are potentially two risks. One is the prominence, including discursive ones, of demands that lose the connection that the fight for gender equality necessarily has with the search for less socioeconomic inequality. In Parque Lezama, this did not happen, but this is a dispute within movements around the world, and also in Argentina.

Another is that sectors of the political right that are beginning to distance themselves from the openly fascist course of Javier Milei’s administration, but are very interested in continuing his economic plan, are extending their arms to the movement so that it can stay on the path of permitted “diversity,” without questioning the brutal increase in inequality and without getting mixed up with the struggles of workers, retirees, and movements for memory. Not even a day has passed since the grand assembly and there are already gestures in this direction: the governor of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macri, from the right wing who is now an ally of the government, appeared in the media contesting Javier Milei’s statements as “a brutal injustice,” and declaring that “diversity is a heritage of the city.”

These are the risks involved. But a breath of fresh air seems to have filled Argentina's lungs, amidst the barbarity, and this is new. Let us wait and see, without trembling.

* Adrian Pablo Fanjul is a professor at the Department of Modern Literature at USP.

References


Bonnet, A. The insurrection as restoration. El Kirchnerismo, 2002-2015. Buenos Aires: Prometeo, 2015.

Iñigo Carrera, N.; Cotarelo, M. “Genesis and development of the spontaneous insurrection of December 2001 in Argentina.” In: Caetano, G. (comp.) Social subjects and new forms of protest in the recent history of Latin America. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2006, p. 49-92.

Notes


[I] In Spanish, “tiemblen, so many bitches. Freedom advances.” In Argentina, “zurdo/a” (“left-handed”) is used to refer to people on the left. To see Javier Milei’s full post: https://elpais.com/argentina/2025-01-22/milei-defiende-el-saludo-con-el-brazo-en-alto-de-elon-musk-y-amenaza-zurdos-hijos-de-puta-tiemblen.html

[ii] Neighborhood assemblies, both in peripheral areas and among the middle class in large cities, were of great importance in the insurrectionary process of December 2001 (Iñigo Carrera; Cotarelo, 2006), and in the subsequent mobilization process, only decreasing with the new economic and political stabilization under the governments of Duhalde and Kirchner (Bonnet, 2015). The rejection of Javier Milei's first measures reactivated neighborhood assemblies after twenty years, as well as other forms of organization from the years prior to the uprising, such as retirees' collectives. The resurgence has been weakened in recent months, due to the setback that we will explain later, but it has not dispersed.

[iii] The “murga” is a type of carnival formation originating in Uruguay, widely used in Argentine cities close to the River Plate, such as Buenos Aires.

[iv] See this article by economics journalist David Cufré: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/799352-el-verso-de-la-v

[v] https://construirresistencia.com.br/milei-fecha-memorial-onde-funcionava-centro-de-tortura/

[vi] https://www.perfil.com/noticias/actualidad/libertarios-de-san-isidro-borran-murales-de-abuelas-de-plaza-de-mayo-en-un-falcon-verde.phtml

[vii] https://www.pagina12.com.ar/799528-el-orgullo-es-mas-fuerte-una-multitud-le-dijo-basta-a-milei


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