Author: Michael Volpe

Co-authors: Samuel Halligan, Alexa Bryden, Manuel De Jesus Fernandez

When many people think of Argentina, it is thought of as the Europe of Latin America.  Its associated with a lot of European architecture and also culture as well, with a majority of Argentina’s being white and of European decent.  There are even many stereotypes that Argentinians harbor about their own indigenous people, like that there is none be because they have all died out or have been assimilated.  This makes a lot of indigenous people have to hid their identity to avoid racial discrimination.  And yet out of a population of about 40 million people, the latest national survey says about 955,032 identifying as belonging or descending from an indigenous group and there are about 35 recognized groups (IWGIA 2017).  The largest three indigenous groups in Argentina are the Mapuche, the Kolla, and the Qom.  The Mapuche are by far the biggest and mostly consist of traditional farmers.  Their social organizations are made up of their extended families and the leader is called the Ionko or chief (Worldatlas 2017).  For Decades, the indigenous people of Argentina have, had many hardships and have been treated extremely poorly in their own country.  Land disputes and racial discrimination have been seen through the indigenous community.

The main contention in the Indigenous rights issues are land, territory, and natural resources, and also racial discrimination and violence as well, which is the plight of most indigenous communities.  The Qom people, living in the Formosa Province, have been subject to human rights violations for years and the taking of provisioned land, but in 2011 the government granted precautionary procedures for these groups.  These actions would protect the livelihood and physical veracity of individuals in the group.  Since these agreements, there has been little to nothing done to satisfy the demands of the Qom people.  In 2015, activists in the Qom community staged a protest in the center of Buenos Aries to request the return of their land from the government.  They also called for additional rights such as respect to their cultural identity and rights that that they did not have such as education and health care.  Additionally, they had two marches at the supreme court trying to get promises that were granted fulfilled.  But hope was not lost.  As the new president at the time, Macri, claimed the presidency, to indigenous leader’s surprise, he set up meetings and press conferences to address their concerns.  So far in the last couple of years little has been done to fix these problems the community in Formosa experience (IWGIA 197).

Another huge concern of the indigenous community in Argentina is the exploitation of the indigenous people as lithium mining become more abundant in their country.  This is clearly seen in the events surrounding the indigenous Atacamas.  The people of the Atacamas group are peaceful llama herders who live in bud brick homes in the northern part of Argentina.  Despite this, underneath their land is a treasure trove of the mineral lithium.  This mineral lithium, is used to make lithium batteries which is a big export in Argentina.  But this small indigenous community has seen almost none of the benefits.  Sometimes only ranging in 9,000-60,00$ per community for water rights and other things.  Going to even one of these 6 communities in the northern part of Argentina makes it evident, that these communities are having problems with clean drinking water, education, among many other things.  This big find in lithium has also caused a big split in the community as well because sometimes some of the communities working class can get some jobs.  But all in all, these indigenous communities are getting shouldered in the emence amount off profits made off of their own land (Frankel 2016).  For the past 2 years, there has been a lot of activism and community organizing inside of these communities.  And yet, not much has been done to help the people suffering from just being ignored.

Summery Factoid questions

1. How many people identify, belong or decent from an indigenous community in Argentina?

-The latest national survey said that about 955,032 identify, belong or decent from an indigenous group.

2. What are the main things or rights that the Qom people are fighting for?

-the main rights they are fighting for are health care, education, and recognition of identity.

Sources

Frankel, Todd C. “Tossed aside in The White Gold Rush.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 19 Dec. 2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

“Indigenous Peoples Of Argentina.” WorldAtlas. N.p., 11 Oct. 2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. <http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/indigenous-peoples-of-argentina.html>.

Iwgia – The Indigenous World –. “Argentina.” IWGIA – THE INDIGENOUS WORLD – 2016 ARGENTINA (n.d.): n. pag. Www.IWGIA.org. 2016. Web. 4 Apr. 2017. <http://www.iwgia.org/images/stories/sections/regions/latin-america/documents/IW2016/Argentina_IW2016_web_redu.pdf>.

Author: Alexa Bryden

Edited by: Michael Volpe, Manuel De Jesus Fernandez, and Samuel Halligan

In January, three Argentinian women were sunbathing topless on a beach when a tourist complained about them. The police responded forcefully to this complaint, twenty police officers and six patrol cars showed up to threaten the women with arrest unless they covered their breasts. This reaction was seen as excessive by the female population of Argentina and this event led to a national debate on women’s rights and various topless demonstrations around the country. These demonstrations are about more than just the right to go topless. They are about equality and fighting against the oppression of women. They write phrases on their breasts such as “We’re not going to ask for permission”, “I decide”, and “equality” during demonstrations.

A Protester’s chest reading “censor this”

Women in Argentina are subject to violence frequently. A woman is killed every thirty hours in Argentina simply because they are women. These murders are called femicides and are traditionally considered crimes of passion. Femicides such as those of Ramona Luque Blanco, Sandra Barrientos and Denise Juarez, who were murdered by a man named Saul Heredia. The murders occurred because Ramona was leaving Saul. Another example is the murder of Nancy Ibanez by her partner Sebastian Galvan due to relationship problems. Another example is the murders of Claudia Arias, her aunt, and her grandmother. Two of her children were seriously injured during the attack. This happened because she fought with her ex-partner about the paternity of her youngest daughter. There are many more examples of murders such as these, in fact last year there were around 235 cases of femicide in Argentina. These murders are somewhat common, and they are one of the many reasons that women are participating in the tetazo (topless) protests. These demonstrations are about much more than simply not wanting to wear shirts.

There has been efforts by the government to curb gender based violence. In 2009 president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner implemented the “women’s comprehensive protection law” which was supposed to “prevent, punish, and eradicate” violence against women. In 2012 the maximum prison sentence for femicide was raised from 25 years to life. In 2013 a helpline for domestic violence victims was launched. The new president Mauricio Macri is also trying to improve life for women in Argentina. He has a plan to spend 750 million pesos (50 million usd) over three years to build women’s refuges and increase efforts to electronically tag violent men.

Activists want real cultural change and are frustrated with the presence of hypersexualized images of women in the media, and images of almost nude women being acceptable when it is unacceptable for women to portray themselves as such in everyday life. Many protestors connect these hypersexualized images of women in the media to the gender based violence that is ravaging Argentina. If women are seen as objects in the media and popular culture that will translate into reality. Cultural change starts with the youth, and there are plans in place to combat the culture of machisimo in the classroom at a younger age.

• How often is femicide committed in Argentina?
  • Every thirty hours
• What triggered the topless protests?
  • The extreme police response to topless sunbathers.
• What is femicide?
  • The murder of a woman because of her sex.

CuéTwitter, Carlos E., et al. “Centenares De Mujeres Exigen La Legalización Del Topless En Argentina Con Un ‘Tetazo’ En Buenos Aires.” EL PAÍS, Síguenos En Síguenos En Twitter Síguenos En Facebook Síguenos En Twitter Síguenos En Instagram, 8 Feb. 2017, internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2017/02/07/argentina/1486498659_776624.html. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

Murder and Machismo. www.economist.com/news/americas/21709579-fighting-femicide-argentina-murder-and-machismo. Accessed 4 Apr. 2017.

Roja, Cosecha. “Al Menos Cuatro Asesinadas En Las Últimas 72 Horas.” Cosecha Roja, 20 Feb. 2017, cosecharoja.org/al-menos-cuatro-mujeres-fueron-asesinadas-en-las-ultimas-72-horas/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

Timerman, Jordana. “Topless Uprising Against Sexism.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/opinion/topless-uprising-against-sexism.html rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FArgentina&action=click&contentCollection=world%C2%AEion&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection&_r=0. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.