Argentina’s Bicentennial: Another Take

• The indigenous have little to celebrate

“Los pueblos originarios están acá; están presente,” an indigenous woman shouted to the camera of Argentina’s Canal 7 news program on May 18th. She was surrounded by fellow protestors from across Argentina. In a period of eight days this group had marched to Buenos Aires in an event called the “Marcha de los pueblos originarios; Camino por la verdad, hacia un estado plurinacional” (March of Native Peoples; Walk for truth towards a plurinational state).

Argentina’s indigenous have used the nation’s bicentennial celebration to raise their visibility and address issues facing their community. On May 24th and 25th, indigenous nations as well as non-indigenous supporters from around the country held an event outside the Congressional Palace called El Otro Bicentenario (The Other Bicentennial). This consisted of speeches, panels, and music promoting indigenous rights and demands. The bicentennial, native peoples say, is not a time “to celebrate [Argentina’s freedom from colonialism], but to reflect on past and present colonial policies.” To the country’s indigenous, independence marks the beginning of the state expansionism that destroyed their culture, their way of life, and often their people in some form of travail. From their perspective, it signifies the genocide of native peoples and the theft of their land. Today, the indigenous remain stigmatized outsiders from Argentine society who receive inadequate federal aid and even less concern. Additionally, they have had to face eviction from their traditional lands through some form of ruse at the hands of various state and transnational forces. As El Otro Bicentenario states, no hay nada que festejar, y todo que hacer (There is nothing to celebrate, and everything to do).

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Julia Nissen