Proyecto Sur is a political party established in 2007 in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It was founded and would be led by film maker Fernando "Pino" Solanas

Fernando Solanas

Fernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and politician....

, who ran on the Proyecto Sur ticket for President in 2007

Argentine general election, 2007

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on October 28, 2007, and elections for provincial governors took place on staggered dates throughout the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts...

 and for Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires in 2011

Argentine general election, 2011

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on 23 October 2011. Incumbent president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner secured a second term in office after the Front for Victory won just over half of the seats in the National Congress....

.

The party's progressive

Progressive

Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a period of reform in the United States Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a...

 platform centers on environmentalism

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

, social democracy

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

, and the nationalization

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 of energy, petroleum, rail

Rail transport in Argentina

The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...

, and shipping

Elma

- Places :* Elma, Iowa, USA* Elma, Manitoba, Canada* Elma, New York, USA** Elma Center, New York* Elma, Washington, USA* Elma Township, Richland County, North Dakota, USA- Geography :* Elma River, a tributary of the Łyna river...

 concerns which, as former State enterprises, had been privatized

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 during the 1989-99 administration of President Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

.

Proyecto Sur maintains a think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

, the Instituto Argentino de Propuestas (Argentine Institute for Proposals).

History

The party developed in part from the Frente Grande, a political party established in 1993 by with Congressman Carlos Álvarez, film-maker Pino Solanas, human rights activist Graciela Fernández Meijide

Graciela Fernández Meijide

Rosa Graciela Castagnola de Fernández Meijide is an Argentine teacher, human rights activist and politician. She came to prominence by investigating the forced disappearances of thousands of people during the Dirty War...

 and others disaffected with President Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

's turn to the right. Solanas, a renowned film maker in the political cinema

Political cinema

Political cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator...

 genre, established Proyecto Sur in August 2007 ahead of his campaign for President in that year's general elections

Argentine general election, 2007

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on October 28, 2007, and elections for provincial governors took place on staggered dates throughout the year. For the national elections, each of the 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires are considered electoral districts...

. The ticket obtained fifth place (1.6%) and elected one Congressman. Solanas, however, was satisfied with the results, and declared that "we have planted our flag."

Proyecto Sur elected four Congressmen in the 2009 mid-term elections

Argentine legislative election, 2009

Legislative elections were held in Argentina for half the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the seats in the Senate on 28 June 2009, as well as for the legislature of the City of Buenos Aires and other municipalities.-Background:...

. The party later sealed alliances with a number of other left-wing parties, including Solidarity and Equality

Solidarity and Equality

Solidarity and Equality is a centre-left Argentine political party, founded in 2008 as a splinter from ARI....

, the MST

Workers' Socialist Movement (Argentina)

The Workers' Socialist Movement is a Trotskyist political party in Argentina. The MST was founded in 1992 as a split from another Trotskyist group, the Movement Towards Socialism . The MST is active on a number of college campuses, including the University of Buenos Aires...

, Free of the South Movement

Free of the South Movement

The Free of the South Movement is a leftist nationalist political alliance created in 2006 in Argentina, made up of the Movimiento Barrios de Pie, the Agrupación Martín Fierro, the Frente Barrial 19 de Diciembre and the Corriente Patria Libre.In the Argentine general election, 2007, the movement...

, the Authentic Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Communist Party

Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina

The Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina is a Maoist communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1969 from a 1967/1968 split in the Communist Party of Argentina caused in part by the Sino-Soviet split. Its flag colors are the red and the yellow. It publishes Hoy.- External links :...

. These alliances brought the Proyecto Sur-led caucus

Caucus

A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...

 in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies

Argentine Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....

 to 11 members. Solanas entered into an alliance with the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (Argentina)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....

-led Progressive Front in June 2011 for the general elections

Argentine general election, 2011

Argentina held national presidential and legislative elections on 23 October 2011. Incumbent president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner secured a second term in office after the Front for Victory won just over half of the seats in the National Congress....

. He left the Progressive Front within a week, however, and announced the party and its allies would run on an independent Proyecto Sur slate; he nominated Congresswoman Alcira Argumedo as their candidate for President.