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A Planned Parenthood-funded list in Argentina of supposed members of the alternative right, including the country’s Catholic bishops, is decried as reminiscent of the country’s dirty war era.
A group of self-proclaimed progressive journalists have created a website called Reaccin Conservadora[Conservative Reaction], in which they have names, photos and personal information of people and institutions that they believe are conspiring to prevent the expansion of abortion rights.
The list includes Argentine Catholic bishops, politicians, journalists, academics, doctors and even the daughter of a candidate for holiness.
The website included an interactive map with logos of organizations and faces of people. When a person clicked on the images, they opened a file with personal information about them.
The list reminded its targets of similar blacklists used by the military during the dirty war of 1974-1983, when the regime wiped out thousands of political opponents.
Shortly after the site’s publication, #ReaccionConservadora and #GestapoArgentina began appearing on Twitter, with people defending and attacking the initiative.
Outrage at the site forced the creators to take it down just hours after it went live on Sunday. Many people on the website said they would prosecute the six journalists involved. The website was funded by the International Planned Parenthood Federation / Western Hemisphere Region.
Seeing the backlash on Twitter, the six reporters changed the status of their accounts to private, meaning only those they approve of can see their content. They declined several requests for comment made by some of Argentina’s biggest news agencies, including their employers.
The list includes more than 400 people and institutions belonging to a wide range of ideologies, including the Conference of Catholic Bishops; Nobel Prize nominee Abel Albino, who has long fought against malnutrition in Argentina; the Billy Graham Evangelical Association; Opus Dei; the daughter of Enrique Shaw, a local businessman recently declared venerable by the Vatican; Washington-based Capitol Ministries and Human Life International.
Maria Ines Franck, co-director of the bioethics center of the Pontifical University of Argentina, was featured on the site.
After seeing her name, she posted a series of tweets in which she said she found it funny because she took it as grade school work with inaccurate information. She added, however, that she thought it was good to at least be noticed by people who until recently ignored us.
A friend called me to ask me if I was angry and I told him not at all !!!! In Argentina, there is freedom of expression and freedom of the press for everyone, right? Franck tweeted.
Municipal governments controlled by different political parties have also been included on the list as they promote programs that attempt to help women with unplanned or vulnerable pregnancies.
Argentine Anti-Discrimination Law Law 23.592 warns against discriminatory acts or omissions determined by reasons such as race, religion, nationality, ideology, political or union opinion, sex, economic position, social condition or physical characteristics.
Fundacin LED, and an NGO defending free speech and democracy in Argentina, said the creation of lists such as the one on Reaccin Conservador is a cause for serious concern.
No person should be stigmatized, classified, cataloged or inscribed on a list because of his expressions, whatever the form, because this undoubtedly infringes the freedom of thought and expression protected by our National Constitution and the human rights rules that govern our country within its constitutional hierarchy, the organization said.
An expert consulted by Clarn, a major Argentine newspaper, told the publication that the country’s personal data protection law prohibits the creation of databases with information on people’s affiliation and political links because the current regulations consider them to be sensitive data.
Argentina’s main opposition coalition, Together for Change [Together for Change], issued a statement rejecting the creation of blacklists.
The coalition led by former President Mauricio Macri also said the website stigmatized people with the New Right label, which is often used as a code for the alt right movement, which is a white nationalist racist group.
In protection of the rights of those who have been pointed out in the inquisitorial map of Reaccin Conservadora, we demand respect for Law 25.326, as well as respect for constitutional rights and guarantees that grant every citizen the freedom to express ideas without censorship and not be bothered for their ideology, race or religion, says Juntos por el Cambio’s statement.
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