The Missionaries of Francis: The Theology of the People and the Unification of the Argentine Piquetero Movement (2014–2018)

• Author: Pablo Forni
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Date: 01 September 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20931104
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20931104

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 234, Vol. 47 No. 5, September 2020, 35–48

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20931104

© 2020 Latin American Perspectives

35

The Missionaries of Francis

The Theology of the People and the Unification of the

Argentine Piquetero Movement (2014–2018)

by

Pablo Forni

Founded in 2014, the Missionaries of Francis is a small social movement organization

made up of activists from several other social movement organizations representing

informal workers and the unemployed. Its goal was to promote the message of the newly

appointed Pope Francis among the poor and excluded. Drawing inspiration from the

theology of the people, the movement is contributing new repertoires of contention based

on popular religious images and icons to Argentine social movements. Starting in 2016,

it has occupied a key role, bringing together ideologically and politically heterogeneous

social movement organizations to resist the neoliberal social policies of President

Mauricio Macri.

Fundados en 2014, los Misioneros de Francisco son una pequeña organización formada

por activistas de varios movimientos sociales que representan a los trabajadores informales

y a los desempleados. Su objetivo fue promover el mensaje del recién nombrado Papa

Francisco entre los pobres y excluidos. Inspirado en la teología del pueblo, el movimiento

está aportando nuevos repertorios de protesta basados en imágenes e íconos de la religio-

sidad popular a los movimientos sociales argentinos. Ha jugado un papel clave a partir de

2016, reuniendo organizaciones de movimientos sociales ideológica y políticamente het-

erogéneos para resistir las políticas sociales neoliberales del presidente Mauricio Macri.

Keywords: Missionaries of Francis, Social movements, Argentina, Popular religiosity,

Piqueteros

Known locally as piqueteros (pickets), social movements representing the

unemployed and the poor have been important political actors in Argentina

since they were founded in the late 1990s. These movements were historically

fragmented and divided in terms of ideological and political identities and

degrees of support for or opposition to the administrations of Néstor Kirchner

and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Now, with the return of neoliberal policies

under President Mauricio Macri (2015–), they are adopting new repertoires

and, more important, engaging in collective political action with unprece-

dented levels of unity. Within the repertoire of Argentine social movements, the

Pablo Forni is an independent researcher of CONICET (Argentina) and a professor at the

Universidad del Salvador. His research areas include grassroots organizations and social

movements.

931104LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X20931104LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVESForni / THE MISSIONARIES OF FRANCIS

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