Marengo also describes them as a place of resistance. Now 72 years old, he joined Franja de Oro in 1962, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had been the group’s treasurer.
A decade later, in the 1970s, Argentina would fall into dictatorship, when the military and other right-wing forces took power. Around 30,000 people were killed as the dictatorship sought to eliminate political rivals, leftist dissidents and anyone considered a threat.
Marengo himself was a left-wing activist in his youth. Although voting was prohibited during the dictatorship, he attributes the role of keeping residents politically engaged to clubs.
“Neighborhood clubs served as the only venues for political discussions, effectively keeping the seed of democracy alive,” Marengo said.
“The democratic vote among club members made many realize that, through political debate, they could change their reality – even when the debate was about the use of space for a football or volleyball field.”
Another member of Franja de Oro, a 77-year-old volunteer named Jorge Zisman, was also an activist during the dictatorship.
Known by the nickname “El Ruso” or “The Russian”, he had been registered with the club since he was two years old: his father, himself a member, signed him up.
The club became central to Zisman’s activism. He told Al Jazeera that in the 1970s, the club’s basement showed films that would otherwise have been censored by the government. He and other members also used the club’s attic to house political activists against persecution.
Clubs like Franja de Oro “have always had a political component”, he said, “as their essence is to build networks”.
This, he added, has allowed them to be a bulwark against the far right, both past and present.
“This quality of resistance is not only observed during dictatorships, but also during neoliberal economic crises, where the predominant narrative is that of individualism,” said Zisman, in a nod to Milei’s administration.
Pacín, Franja de Oro’s treasurer, said the clubs’ ability to survive the turmoil indicates the value of the community model – something he thinks privatization advocates would do well to take note of.
“Time has shown that neighborhood clubs have always found a way to move forward,” Pacin said. “If they’ve been open for 120 years, we must be doing something right. we achieved this.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
