ARGENTINA

words by Rocio Fortuny illustration by Ali Harford

If there is one thing that characterizes Argentina as a country, it’s our people’s will to publically gather in the streets and make our voices heard— to demand change and support. Since I was a girl I have seen people get together to make something happen. I have always been allowed to go to “Pacific gatherings,” such as our 200-year celebration as a country. One time my entire family and I walked the streets with hundreds, if not thousands, of people to demand justice and truth after a prosecutor managing a highly important case died under mysterious circumstances.

Public demonstrations, especially those that pressure the powerful to change, are constantly rising up and defining who we are as a society. But the infamous grita —meaning “the crack” in English— also characterizes the social divisions within our own people based on political views that have damaged and even broken families and friendships. You either stand on one side of the crack or the other. There is no in-between.

Now, since 2017, there have been numerous protests in many cities back home that are unique for various reasons. Some of the protests are among the largest to ever take place in our history. They have also seen some of the most diverse groups of people participating. Women and men of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and religions are coming together for them—even managing to close up the infamous grita. Senators and representatives from opposing parties united to create and fight for the bill that would legalize abortions in rape cases in Argentina. That action lead to a feminist revolution in my country that aims to improve the lives of thousands of women by ending femicidios—or hate crimes towards women—by obtaining long-needed equality, and by gaining a new understanding of what is acceptable as a comment or “joke.”

Every time I think about these protests my heart is filled with joy and pride for my compatriots who began a movement that surpassed our national limits and inspired countries around us to begin having the same conversations Argentinian people are having. I am impressed by the maturity and passion the women that started this all have. They were able to fight together regardless of their differences.

But at the same time, I am sad.

I am sad that because I chose to follow my own path so far away from my homeland, I have been unable to take part in this movement and these protests. More than anything, I feel like an impostor in my own home when I see the girls that were present in the protests celebrate victories together, like when our Congress decided to debate the bill to legalize abortion, and I feel like I don’t deserve to be as happy as they are because I wasn’t there to fight with them.

"the

infamous grita also characterizes the social

divisions within our own people."

gotten any easier since I left in 2015 to come to the U.S. What is new is a feeling of missing out and a feeling of absence towards my people and my fellow women. I know it has been physically impossible for me to be at these protests, and I also know that it’s not like I was sitting on my couch at home doing nothing while they took place. Still, I feel a sense of shame and sadness as I walk around acting like a strong and independent woman who supports a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body when to this day, I have never been to a protest, never publicly tweeted about it, and never worn the green cloth around my wrist that represents the movement.

I might be the only one that is holding this against myself, but as the Argentinian woman I am, I feel remorse that I haven’t been present. I look home, and I see myself on one side of the crack, and my people and fellow Argentinian women on the other. JM