Shaping Concrete Utopia: Urban Experiments (Argentina)

Abstract

All of them out! Much has been written about the Argentine financial crisis and the popular insurrection of December 2001, and their legacies. But today the slogan of the popular insurrection of December 2001, i.e. ‘¡Que se vayan tod@s!’ (referred to as ‘QSVT now onwards) sounds like a beautiful melody that brings nostalgia. Just before the new default of the external debt in 2014 as a result of the pressure from the so called ‘vulture funds’ the country’s economy was stable and the GDP growing. Back to normal the political debate refocused on institutional politics after a period when society had been at the centre of politics. Like in the old times, with the arrival of a new Peronist government to power, society became divided into pro (Kirchneristas) and against (anti-Kirchneristas). Yet, the negation voiced in the event that reverted hopelessness in Argentina remains lurking, indescribable, still unanswered: ‘the desiderium, the only honest attribute of all men, is unexplored’ (Bloch, 1959/1986: 5).