Escrache is a type of

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

demonstration which involves publicly harassing public figures, usually by congregating around their homes, chanting and publicly shaming them. In Argentina the term was coined in 1995 by the human rights group

HIJOS HIJOS is an acronym for Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (English: ''Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice Against forgetfulness and Silence''). It is the name of two organizations founded by children of peo ...

, to condemn the genocides committed by members of the

Proceso de Reorganización Nacional The National Reorganization Process (Spanish: ''Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'', often simply ''el Proceso'', "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, in which it was supported by the United St ...

who were pardoned by

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

. In Chile these actions are known as ''funa''. In Peru they are known as ''roche'' and are often signed "El roche". In Spain in 2013, a number the Platform of Mortgage Victims (PAH) held escraches against members of the parliament who were not willing to sign a popular legislative initiative (ILP) supported by 90% of the population, to allow the repossession of homes to cancel out mortgage debt, a law without which homeless former owners would be forced to continue paying the banks after losing their homes. The PAH's campaign – "There are lives at stake" – referred to the high rates of suicide among those evicted and detailed strict guidelines of how escraches were to be conducted in nonviolent manner, without insults or affecting the children of the deputies.

Origin of the term

The

lunfardo Lunfardo (; from the Italian ''lombardo'' or inhabitant of Lombardy in the local dialect) is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and from there spread to other urban are ...

term "escracho" has been used for some time in

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

. It was mentioned by Benigno B. Lugones in 1879 referring to a

scam A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

in which a lottery ticket supposedly naming the victim is presented to them and they are asked to pay to receive it, for an amount which is inferior to the amount they have "won" in the lottery. Escrache might also have come from the Genoese synonym for a photo "scraccé", "scraccé" also passed to mean make a portrait, or more recently to smash someone's face in. Another proposed origin is the English ''to scratch'' (the tickets used in the lottery scam were scratched to modify the number) or the Italian ''scaracchio'' meaning spit.Teruggi The term came into wider use in 1995 by the human rights group HIJOS, when

pardoned members of the ''

'' who were accused of human rights violations and

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

. Using

chants A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...

, music, graffiti, banners, throwing eggs,

street theater Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves, college or university ...

, etc., they informed neighbors of the presence of murderers in the neighborhood. Over a decade passed before those responsible for the murders committed under the regime of

Jorge Rafael Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. H ...

were brought to trial for their crimes.

Notes

External links

Publicly exposing abusers through targeted demonstrations @ New Tactics in Human Rights.

"If there's no justice, there's escrache!"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617203823/http://www.argentinaindependent.com/socialissues/humanrights/if-theres-no-justice-theres-escrache/ , date=2012-06-17 in the Argentine Independent.
Video of an escrache in Spain, in 2013 (in Spanish)
Protest tactics Articles containing video clips Spanish words and phrases

Origin of the term

See also

Notes

External links