Conservative Iconoclasm and Memory Disputes: Attacks on Symbols in Argentina

Abstract

This article analyses the attacks carried out between 2023 and 2024 against memory symbols linked to State terrorism in Argentina: the white headscarves of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the commemorative tiles honouring those who were forcibly disappeared during the last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983). These acts of destruction, removal, or defacement take place in the context of the rise of the far right and the implementation of an agenda that undermines human rights policies and promotes denialist discourse. The article proposes to understand these attacks through three main analytical concepts: conservative iconoclasm, defined as the deliberate destruction of images that embody uncomfortable memories; historical purification of public space, which refers to the removal of dissonant signs in order to restore a hegemonic spatial and symbolic order; and restorative symbolic violence, a form of aggression that not only causes material destruction but also seeks to reinstate meanings that predate the democratic consensus on memory. The study is based on the analysis of ten cases located in different provinces of the country. It employs documentary analysis, image analysis, and participant observation. This methodology made it possible to reconstruct the events, examine the affected visual representations, and document community responses.

The results show that these attacks are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a broader dispute over hegemony, which includes struggles over the meaning of the recent past, the legitimacy of memory policies, and the symbolic control of public space in the current Argentine political context.