Racism in Argentina
Encyclopedia
In Argentina
, as other countries with high levels of multiculturalism and immigration, there has been discrimination
based on ethnic characteristics or national origin. In turn, racial
discrimination tends to be closely related to discriminatory behavior for socio-economic and political reasons.
Given that trait of Argentine Society, one of the more active institutions against discrimination in the south hemisphere has been established, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
. The INADI (Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, la Xenofobia y el Racismo) was created in 1995 by Federal Law 24515. The Institute placed Argentina in the foreground of the fight against racism and discrimination.
Different terms and behaviors have spread to discriminate against certain portions of the population, in particular against those who are referred to as "negros", a group that is not particularly well-defined in Argentina, but which is associated, although not exclusively, with people of dark skin or hair; members of the working class or lower class; the poor; and more recently with crime. Is also confusing the fact that words like "negro", "gallego", "bolita", "indio" or "ruso" also are utilised as affectionate nicknames.
Other racist, xenophobic, and spiteful terms and attitudes have developed against immigrants. Historically, "gallego" (Galician
) for the Spanish people in general, tano, an apocope
of napolitano (Napoletani, from Naples
) for the Italians and "ruso" (Russian) for Jewish
immigrants were terms that carried pejorative connotations. These have to some extent carried over to the present, the former as jokes about Galicians and the latter as anti-Semitic insults. Today, words such as "bolita", "paragua", and "boliguayo" constitute derogatory terms to refer to certain immigrants of Latin American origin, mostly from neighbouring countries like Bolivia
and Paraguay
.
An older xenophobic slur was the use of the name godos for the Spaniards or royalists during the Argentine War of Independence
.
Anti-Semitism
also exists in Argentina, in a context influenced by the large population of Jewish
immigrants and a relatively high level of intermarriage between these immigrants and other communities.
In many cases, "social relations have become racialized"; for example the term "negro" is used to designate a worker, without any relation to the color of his skin. It is common for people who hold positions of responsibility in business to refer to the staff as "negros". In political circles as well it is common for certain groups to denigrate peronist sympathizers by referring to them as "negros".
There is an active debate about the depth of racist conduct in Argentina. While some groups maintain that it is only a question of inoffensive or marginal behavior that is rejected by the vast majority of the population, other groups contend that racism is a widespread phenomena that manifests itself in many different ways. Some groups also assert that racism in Argentina is no different from that which is present in any other country in the world, while other groups claim that Argentina's brand of racism manifests itself in a number of unique ways that are related to the country's history, culture, and the different ethnic groups that interact in the country.
Negro is also one of the most common nicknames, with no offensive meaning.
Paradoxically, the same racist ideology in Argentina that maintains that "there are no negros (of African ancestry) in Argentina" uses the word negro to designate a vaguely-defined population made up of workers, poor people, internal migrants, Latin-American immigrants, and natives, without any more distinction.
Víctor Ramos, the president of SOS Internacional, responded in the following manner when asked by a journalist what were the most common manifestations of racism in Argentina:
An example of this type of racism is the response given by a high-level official of the municipality of Escobar
to two businessmen who wanted to set up a nightclub next to the rail station:
There is such close identification between poverty, race, slum
s and marginalization
in Argentina that philosopher José Pablo Feinmann compares these circumstances with the "Muslim question" in France.
It is also important to note that there is widespread use of the terms negro and negra that has a fraternal meaning totally devoid of discriminatory intention. Between friends and family they are common nicknames. For example, the famous singer Mercedes Sosa
is affectionately known as "Negra Sosa".
Un grone is not necessarily a black person or someone of dark skin color. Basically it refers to a person who is denigrated for their social situation; frequently someone who belongs to the working-class or who comes from a working-class family. A grone can also refer to a person with light skin, hair, and eyes if the individual belongs to the working class or shows a taste for popular culture. More recently grone or negro has come to be associated with criminal conduct.
This word entered the lexicon in the second half of the 1970s. In the 1980s a famous television sketch called El groncho y la dama was made as part of the show Matrimonios y algo más featuring Cristina del Valle and Hugo Arana. The sketch was a satirical look at a marriage between a working-class mechanic and an upper-class lady who referred to her husband as the groncho (in the sense of "vulgar person", not properly a racist slur) while seduced by his sexual skills.
The rock group Babasónicos
recorded an album entitled Groncho in 2000.
. It is used to disparage a somewhat nebulous sector of society associated with people that have black hair and medium-dark skin, belonging to the working class.
The term was coined in Buenos Aires
during the 1940s, when a large internal migration started from the rural northern provinces towards Buenos Aires and other large urban centers. The impetus for the migration was the newly created factory jobs that came about as a result of industrialization in Argentina.
The Argentine author Germán Rozenmacher (1936–1971) wrote a well-known short story in 1961 titled: "Cabecita negra" which depicted everyday racism in Argentina with stark reality. The plot deals with a mid-class citizen of European ancestry, who resents the increasing internal migration of impoverished people from northern Argentina to Buenos Aires. A portion of the story reads:
Nevertheless, the term is sometimes used with a racist subtext. For example, the phrase: "¡chicos, parecen indios!" ("You children look like Indians!"), although no longer heavily used, clearly implies "dirty" or "disorganized". Other examples such as: "Yo de pendejo era re-indio" ("When I was a brat I was wild") and "Mi hermanito es un Indio" ("My little brother is an Indian") are still used to refer to someone who has violent or irrational attitudes, or who acts impulsively. Although the phrases also suggest laxness or dirtiness, they are more often used from a deceitful or even conceited point of view.
There is also a clear tendency to label all indigenous people as indio or indígena without the speaker specifying which group the person belongs to, or even knowing which group they belong to. This is a generalized practice that is common to Latin America as a whole and not just Argentina, and is directly related to the effacement of non-European cultures.
is not used very often in daily speech, although it is relatively common in the context of social sciences and history, sometimes with racial connotations.
The use of mestizo as a racist term comes from the colonial caste system which was based on the concept of pure blood: the mestizo was considered inferior to the pure Spanish because his blood was mixed which made him impure. Although today it is known that biologically there is no such thing as a pure person, and various researchers have recycled the term to refer to any exchange of DNA, and various other experts assert that all peoples and races are the result of prior mixing of races, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas the idea was imposed that mestizo should be applied only to those persons of mixed indigenous and European ancestry, in order to demarcate their difference from the pure people who were generally of European ancestry.
The racist colonial concept of mestizaje to some extent endures to this day, as witnessed by the recent debate about the racial origin of José de San Martín
, one of the founders of Argentina. Commenting on this phenomenon, historian Hugo Chumbita asserted that "there has been and continues to be resistance to revising official history due to the idea that by corroborating the mixed racial origin of San Martín, then Argentina's image would be tarnished." In a similar vein, an Argentine newspaper reported that conservatives voices were complaining: "If the founding father is a mestizo bastard, then so is Argentina."
The following interview with a rugby player demonstrates how the term is used:
that was practiced during the beginning of the 20th century.
White-European racism in Argentina has a history of government participation. The ideology even has a legal foundation that was set forth in Article 25 of the National Constitution sponsored by Juan Bautista Alberdi
. The article establishes a difference between European immigration (which should be encouraged) and non-European immigration.
Alberdi, the article's sponsor and the father of the Argentine Constitution of 1853, explained in his own words the basis for White-European discrimination:
The discrimination between European and non-European immigration established by Article 25 of the Constitution has survived all subsequent constitutional reforms (1860, 1868, 1898, 1949, 1957, 1972 and 1994).
Originally this ideology had been structured to include immigrants of Spanish
, Italian
, and Jewish origin in the undesirable category, claiming that the "races which could improve the species" in Argentina where those that originated from northwestern Europe, chiefly England and France.
Alberdi, who was a proponent of French being the national language of Argentina, believed that Hispanic and Christian traditions were enemies of progress and supported discrimination against Spanish, Italian, and Jewish immigration.
On the other hand, Argentine racist ideology against Jews became stronger over time. The apex of this tendency occurred when the Argentina foreign minister during the presidency of Roberto M. Ortiz issued a secret order in 1938 to deny Jewish immigrants visas to Argentina.
Serious acts of racism against Jews have been committed in Argentina, such as the Argentine Chancellor's secret order in 1938 to prevent the arrival of Jews on national territory and the terrorist attacks on the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in 1994
. The terrorist attacks against Jewish targets has sparked a debate between those who believe that they were not anti-Semitic acts and those who believe that the attacks were the "worst act of anti-Semitism since the second world war".
In an attempt to synthesize the positions of both sides of the debate, the researcher Daniel Lvovich has written:
In 1937, during the government of Augustín P. Justo, the Argentine consul in Gdynia
, Poland sent several notes to the Minister Carlos Saavedra Lamas
under the heading "Jewish problem" that demonstrate the generalized anti-Semitic sentiment of the Argentine government. In a letter sent July 13, 1937, on the eve of the Nazi invasion, the consul wrote:
During the military regimes in Argentina, and especially during the dictatorship known as the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, serious acts of anti-Semitic persecution occurred. Some were tortured, degraded, and even murdered for the sole fact of being Jewish. In the secret detention centers it was common practice to burn the Star of David
onto the bodies of Jewish prisoners. Ramon Camps
, the Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, who allegedly kidnapped and tortured Jacob Timerman, claimed that Zionists were enemies of Argentina and had a plan to destroy the country. This ideology was used as a pretext to implement illegal repressive methods to resolve what was referred to as "the Jewish issue".
Anti-Semitism in daily life is widely apparent in Argentina. A prime example of this occurs regularly at the Atlanta
soccer club located in the Villa Crespo
neighborhood of Buenos Aires, a district that has a significant Jewish population. For several years now the fans of opposing teams root for their clubs by waving Nazi flags and throwing soaps onto the playing field.
A report by the DAIA revealed that discriminatory acts against Jews in Argentina rose 32% in 2006.
ans and Bolivia
ns were the two principal sources of Latin American immigrants to Argentina in 2007. It is estimated that almost 5% of the population in Argentina is from Paraguay or Bolivia, or has Bolivian or Paraguayan ancestors.
In this cultural context, fans of one of the most well-known football clubs in the country regularly sing in unison a song aimed at denigrating the fans of one of the club's classic rival (Boca Juniors
), calling them "fag negroes from Bolivia and Paraguay".
Another well-known incident was the racially motivated murder of Marcelina Meneses and her ten month old son Josua Torrez who were pushed under a moving train near the Avellaneda station on July 10, 2001. The Bolivian community in Argentina protested with the slogan "Do not forget Marcelina".
, British
and French
populations.
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...
, as other countries with high levels of multiculturalism and immigration, there has been discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
based on ethnic characteristics or national origin. In turn, racial
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
discrimination tends to be closely related to discriminatory behavior for socio-economic and political reasons.
Given that trait of Argentine Society, one of the more active institutions against discrimination in the south hemisphere has been established, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism is a state agency of the Government of Argentina which is charged with receiving complaints and pursuing charges against citizens accused of acts of discrimination or hatred...
. The INADI (Instituto Nacional contra la Discriminación, la Xenofobia y el Racismo) was created in 1995 by Federal Law 24515. The Institute placed Argentina in the foreground of the fight against racism and discrimination.
Different terms and behaviors have spread to discriminate against certain portions of the population, in particular against those who are referred to as "negros", a group that is not particularly well-defined in Argentina, but which is associated, although not exclusively, with people of dark skin or hair; members of the working class or lower class; the poor; and more recently with crime. Is also confusing the fact that words like "negro", "gallego", "bolita", "indio" or "ruso" also are utilised as affectionate nicknames.
Other racist, xenophobic, and spiteful terms and attitudes have developed against immigrants. Historically, "gallego" (Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
) for the Spanish people in general, tano, an apocope
Apocope
In phonology, apocope is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Historical sound change:...
of napolitano (Napoletani, from Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
) for the Italians and "ruso" (Russian) for Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
immigrants were terms that carried pejorative connotations. These have to some extent carried over to the present, the former as jokes about Galicians and the latter as anti-Semitic insults. Today, words such as "bolita", "paragua", and "boliguayo" constitute derogatory terms to refer to certain immigrants of Latin American origin, mostly from neighbouring countries like Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
.
An older xenophobic slur was the use of the name godos for the Spaniards or royalists during the Argentine War of Independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...
.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
also exists in Argentina, in a context influenced by the large population of Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
immigrants and a relatively high level of intermarriage between these immigrants and other communities.
In many cases, "social relations have become racialized"; for example the term "negro" is used to designate a worker, without any relation to the color of his skin. It is common for people who hold positions of responsibility in business to refer to the staff as "negros". In political circles as well it is common for certain groups to denigrate peronist sympathizers by referring to them as "negros".
There is an active debate about the depth of racist conduct in Argentina. While some groups maintain that it is only a question of inoffensive or marginal behavior that is rejected by the vast majority of the population, other groups contend that racism is a widespread phenomena that manifests itself in many different ways. Some groups also assert that racism in Argentina is no different from that which is present in any other country in the world, while other groups claim that Argentina's brand of racism manifests itself in a number of unique ways that are related to the country's history, culture, and the different ethnic groups that interact in the country.
Racial terms
A series of terms are used in Argentina that have a certain discriminatory intention and constitute a particular form of racism.Negro y negra
In Spanish, negro literally means "black male" and negra means "black female". Negro and negra are widely-used terms in Argentina, across all social classes, including in those classes which are referred to as negro and negra by other social groups.Negro is also one of the most common nicknames, with no offensive meaning.
Paradoxically, the same racist ideology in Argentina that maintains that "there are no negros (of African ancestry) in Argentina" uses the word negro to designate a vaguely-defined population made up of workers, poor people, internal migrants, Latin-American immigrants, and natives, without any more distinction.
Víctor Ramos, the president of SOS Internacional, responded in the following manner when asked by a journalist what were the most common manifestations of racism in Argentina:
An example of this type of racism is the response given by a high-level official of the municipality of Escobar
Escobar Partido
Escobar Partido is a partido situated in the northern part of the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 178,000 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Belén de Escobar, which is located from Buenos...
to two businessmen who wanted to set up a nightclub next to the rail station:
There is such close identification between poverty, race, slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s and marginalization
Marginalization
In sociology, marginalisation , or marginalization , is the social process of becoming or being made marginal or relegated to the fringe of society e.g.; "the marginalization of the underclass", "marginalisation of intellect", etc.-Individual:Marginalization at the individual level results in an...
in Argentina that philosopher José Pablo Feinmann compares these circumstances with the "Muslim question" in France.
It is also important to note that there is widespread use of the terms negro and negra that has a fraternal meaning totally devoid of discriminatory intention. Between friends and family they are common nicknames. For example, the famous singer Mercedes Sosa
Mercedes Sosa
Haydée Mercedes Sosa, known as La Negra, was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout South America and some countries outside the continent. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by both...
is affectionately known as "Negra Sosa".
Derivations
- "Grone" ("ne-gro", backwards) is another racist term with widespread use in Argentina, especially in Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. The word is a product of a type of slang used in the Río de la PlataRío de la PlataThe Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
region that consists of inverting the syllables of words.
Un grone is not necessarily a black person or someone of dark skin color. Basically it refers to a person who is denigrated for their social situation; frequently someone who belongs to the working-class or who comes from a working-class family. A grone can also refer to a person with light skin, hair, and eyes if the individual belongs to the working class or shows a taste for popular culture. More recently grone or negro has come to be associated with criminal conduct.
- "Groncho" is an openly racist or classist term, an equivalent to the English word "bumBum-Slang:* Buttocks* A term which is frequently, but not exclusively, pejorative, referring to a lazy person. By extension, extended to beggar. See also slacker, a generally ironic and humorous variant.-Places:* Bum, Afghanistan, the name of several locales...
".
This word entered the lexicon in the second half of the 1970s. In the 1980s a famous television sketch called El groncho y la dama was made as part of the show Matrimonios y algo más featuring Cristina del Valle and Hugo Arana. The sketch was a satirical look at a marriage between a working-class mechanic and an upper-class lady who referred to her husband as the groncho (in the sense of "vulgar person", not properly a racist slur) while seduced by his sexual skills.
The rock group Babasónicos
Babasónicos
Babasónicos is an Argentine rock band, formed in the early 1990s along with others such as Peligrosos Gorriones and Los Brujos. After emerging in the wave of Argentine New Rock bands of the late '80s and early '90s, Babasonicos became one of the banner groups of the "sonic" underground rock...
recorded an album entitled Groncho in 2000.
- "Negrada" is a term used with regularity in Argentina and Uruguay and one of its meanings is identical to gronchada. It is also used as a derogatory term to refer to a group of persons described as negros, even though they are not. An example of this use is provided by the pianist Miguel Ángel Estrella when recalling the interrogations he endured in Uruguay when he was detained by the last military dictatorship during Operation CondorOperation CondorOperation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
:
Cabecita negra
"Cabecita negra" (literally, little black head) is an oft-used, historic racist term in Argentina. The word was coined after the Spanish name of a native bird, the Hooded SiskinHooded Siskin
The Hooded Siskin is a small passerine bird in the finch family , native to South America. It belongs to the putative clade of Neotropical siskins in the genus Carduelis sensu stricto....
. It is used to disparage a somewhat nebulous sector of society associated with people that have black hair and medium-dark skin, belonging to the working class.
The term was coined in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
during the 1940s, when a large internal migration started from the rural northern provinces towards Buenos Aires and other large urban centers. The impetus for the migration was the newly created factory jobs that came about as a result of industrialization in Argentina.
The Argentine author Germán Rozenmacher (1936–1971) wrote a well-known short story in 1961 titled: "Cabecita negra" which depicted everyday racism in Argentina with stark reality. The plot deals with a mid-class citizen of European ancestry, who resents the increasing internal migration of impoverished people from northern Argentina to Buenos Aires. A portion of the story reads:
Cabeza
Cabeza (head, in English) is a derivation of cabecita negra that has appeared more recently. It tends to refer to someone from the countryside, simple and unsophisticated, who lives in the city. The word is also used by some groups of young people to refer to someone who is viewed as undesirable, badly dressed, unpleasant; someone who falls outside of what is considered to be the "correct" style.Indio
The word indio (Indian, in English) is much less racially charged than the term negro in common Argentine language. There has even been a trend over the last several decades of naming children with indigenous names such as Ayelén, Maitén, or Lautaro. The trend even forced the Argentine government to revise the laws prohibiting the use of indigenous names.Nevertheless, the term is sometimes used with a racist subtext. For example, the phrase: "¡chicos, parecen indios!" ("You children look like Indians!"), although no longer heavily used, clearly implies "dirty" or "disorganized". Other examples such as: "Yo de pendejo era re-indio" ("When I was a brat I was wild") and "Mi hermanito es un Indio" ("My little brother is an Indian") are still used to refer to someone who has violent or irrational attitudes, or who acts impulsively. Although the phrases also suggest laxness or dirtiness, they are more often used from a deceitful or even conceited point of view.
There is also a clear tendency to label all indigenous people as indio or indígena without the speaker specifying which group the person belongs to, or even knowing which group they belong to. This is a generalized practice that is common to Latin America as a whole and not just Argentina, and is directly related to the effacement of non-European cultures.
Mestizo
The word mestizoMestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
is not used very often in daily speech, although it is relatively common in the context of social sciences and history, sometimes with racial connotations.
The use of mestizo as a racist term comes from the colonial caste system which was based on the concept of pure blood: the mestizo was considered inferior to the pure Spanish because his blood was mixed which made him impure. Although today it is known that biologically there is no such thing as a pure person, and various researchers have recycled the term to refer to any exchange of DNA, and various other experts assert that all peoples and races are the result of prior mixing of races, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas the idea was imposed that mestizo should be applied only to those persons of mixed indigenous and European ancestry, in order to demarcate their difference from the pure people who were generally of European ancestry.
The racist colonial concept of mestizaje to some extent endures to this day, as witnessed by the recent debate about the racial origin of José de San Martín
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...
, one of the founders of Argentina. Commenting on this phenomenon, historian Hugo Chumbita asserted that "there has been and continues to be resistance to revising official history due to the idea that by corroborating the mixed racial origin of San Martín, then Argentina's image would be tarnished." In a similar vein, an Argentine newspaper reported that conservatives voices were complaining: "If the founding father is a mestizo bastard, then so is Argentina."
Boliguayo
The word boliguayo, a combination of boliviano (Bolivian, in English) and paraguayo (Paraguayan, in English), is a blatantly derogatory term that first appeared in the 1990s and its use is growing rapidly in the first decade of the 21st century. The term's derogatory nature comes precisely from the speaker's indifference to the immigrant's identity, in a similar way to indio or sudaca.The following interview with a rugby player demonstrates how the term is used:
"White-European" racism and Article 25 of the Constitution
In Argentina an extensive racist ideology has been built on the notion of European supremacy. This ideology forwards the idea that Argentina is a country populated by European immigrants "bajados de los barcos" (straight off the boat), frequently referred to as "our grandfathers", who founded a special type of "white" and European society that is not Latin-American. In addition, this ideology holds forth that cultural influences from other communities such as the Aborigines, Africans, fellow Latin-Americans, or Asians are not relevant and even undesirable. White-European racism in Argentina shares similarities with the White Australia policyWhite Australia policy
The White Australia policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted "non-white" immigration to Australia. From origins at Federation in 1901, the polices were progressively dismantled between 1949-1973....
that was practiced during the beginning of the 20th century.
White-European racism in Argentina has a history of government participation. The ideology even has a legal foundation that was set forth in Article 25 of the National Constitution sponsored by Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo and Chile, he was one of the most influential Argentine liberals of his age.-Biography:...
. The article establishes a difference between European immigration (which should be encouraged) and non-European immigration.
Alberdi, the article's sponsor and the father of the Argentine Constitution of 1853, explained in his own words the basis for White-European discrimination:
The discrimination between European and non-European immigration established by Article 25 of the Constitution has survived all subsequent constitutional reforms (1860, 1868, 1898, 1949, 1957, 1972 and 1994).
Originally this ideology had been structured to include immigrants of Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, and Jewish origin in the undesirable category, claiming that the "races which could improve the species" in Argentina where those that originated from northwestern Europe, chiefly England and France.
Alberdi, who was a proponent of French being the national language of Argentina, believed that Hispanic and Christian traditions were enemies of progress and supported discrimination against Spanish, Italian, and Jewish immigration.
On the other hand, Argentine racist ideology against Jews became stronger over time. The apex of this tendency occurred when the Argentina foreign minister during the presidency of Roberto M. Ortiz issued a secret order in 1938 to deny Jewish immigrants visas to Argentina.
Anti-Semitism
Leonardo Senkman, editor of the book Antisemitism in Argentina, stated:Serious acts of racism against Jews have been committed in Argentina, such as the Argentine Chancellor's secret order in 1938 to prevent the arrival of Jews on national territory and the terrorist attacks on the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in 1994
AMIA Bombing
The AMIA bombing was an attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina building in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, that killed 85 people and injured hundreds. It was Argentina's deadliest bombing...
. The terrorist attacks against Jewish targets has sparked a debate between those who believe that they were not anti-Semitic acts and those who believe that the attacks were the "worst act of anti-Semitism since the second world war".
In an attempt to synthesize the positions of both sides of the debate, the researcher Daniel Lvovich has written:
In 1937, during the government of Augustín P. Justo, the Argentine consul in Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
, Poland sent several notes to the Minister Carlos Saavedra Lamas
Carlos Saavedra Lamas
Carlos Saavedra Lamas was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient.-Biography:...
under the heading "Jewish problem" that demonstrate the generalized anti-Semitic sentiment of the Argentine government. In a letter sent July 13, 1937, on the eve of the Nazi invasion, the consul wrote:
During the military regimes in Argentina, and especially during the dictatorship known as the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, serious acts of anti-Semitic persecution occurred. Some were tortured, degraded, and even murdered for the sole fact of being Jewish. In the secret detention centers it was common practice to burn the Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
onto the bodies of Jewish prisoners. Ramon Camps
Ramón Camps
Ramón Juan Camps was an Argentine general and the head of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police during the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process...
, the Chief of Police in Buenos Aires, who allegedly kidnapped and tortured Jacob Timerman, claimed that Zionists were enemies of Argentina and had a plan to destroy the country. This ideology was used as a pretext to implement illegal repressive methods to resolve what was referred to as "the Jewish issue".
Anti-Semitism in daily life is widely apparent in Argentina. A prime example of this occurs regularly at the Atlanta
Club Atlético Atlanta
Club Atlético Atlanta is an Argentine sports club from Buenos Aires. Nicknamed Los Bohemios , its football team won the 2010/11 Primera B Metropolitana championship and promoted to the Primera B Nacional for the 2011/12 season.-History:The club was founded on October the 12th, 1904 in Buenos...
soccer club located in the Villa Crespo
Villa Crespo
Villa Crespo is a middle-class neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the geographical centre of the city. It had a population of 83,646 people in 2001, and thus population density of 23,235 inhabitants/km²....
neighborhood of Buenos Aires, a district that has a significant Jewish population. For several years now the fans of opposing teams root for their clubs by waving Nazi flags and throwing soaps onto the playing field.
A report by the DAIA revealed that discriminatory acts against Jews in Argentina rose 32% in 2006.
Racism against other Latin-Americans
ParaguayParaguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
ans and Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
ns were the two principal sources of Latin American immigrants to Argentina in 2007. It is estimated that almost 5% of the population in Argentina is from Paraguay or Bolivia, or has Bolivian or Paraguayan ancestors.
In this cultural context, fans of one of the most well-known football clubs in the country regularly sing in unison a song aimed at denigrating the fans of one of the club's classic rival (Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
), calling them "fag negroes from Bolivia and Paraguay".
Another well-known incident was the racially motivated murder of Marcelina Meneses and her ten month old son Josua Torrez who were pushed under a moving train near the Avellaneda station on July 10, 2001. The Bolivian community in Argentina protested with the slogan "Do not forget Marcelina".
Contemporary Demographics
The current Argentine population reflects the former immigration policy conducted by the government in the 19th and 20th century only partially, considering that Italians and Spaniards were not intended to predominate as they do. There are also significant Germanic, SlavicSlavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
, British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
populations.
See also
- EurocentrismEurocentrismEurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture...
- Social classSocial classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
- Demographics of ArgentinaDemographics of ArgentinaThis article is about the demographic features of Argentina, including population density, ethnicity, economic status and other aspects of the population....
- RacismRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
- XenophobiaXenophobiaXenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...