Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo en la era neoliberal: ampliando objetivos para unir el pasado,el presente y el futuro

More than 25 years after their sons and daughters were disappeared, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo continue to march for justice every week and have a prominent role in Argentina’s social movement sector. They have extended their fight against impunity to include demands for peace and human rights around the world, and to address neoliberalism and the recent economic crisis in Argentina. How have the Madres broadened their resistance by expanding their goals? This paper chronicles the contemporary work of the Madres and documents their presence in the progressive movements organizing in modern Argentina. Drawing on media reports, qualitative fieldwork on their activities in Buenos Aires in 2002-2003, published accounts, and organizational documents and publications, I show how the Madres have expanded their goals to critique neoliberalism and its consequences. They exercise their moral authority in collective action frames that draw connections between past and present, and explain and support the expansion of their goals.