Football, dictatorship, and human rights: The 1978 World Cup and solidarity activism in the Netherlands for Argentina
| Author | Bram Daanen |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09240519221112555 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Football, dictatorship, and
human rights: The 1978 World
Cup and solidarity activism in
the Netherlands for Argentina
Bram Daanen
Instituto de Iberoamérica, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Abstract
This research shows that the 1978 World Cup was a key moment in the evolution of Dutch soli-
darity with Argentina. Based on both oral and written sources, it reconstructs the development of
this solidarity. Argentine exiles played a leading role in the process by using the attention generated
by the Dutch campaign for a boycott of the tournament to denounce the human rights violations
by the Argentinian dictatorship. These efforts led to the emergence of the Mothers of Plaza de
Mayo on the international stage, which prompted the formation of the first support group of
its kind in the Netherlands. Therefore, this research casts doubt on the dictatorship’s alleged suc-
cess to instrumentalise the tournament and proposes to see it as a Pyrrhic victory for the regime.
Finally, the findings contribute to the understanding of the emergence of a human rights discourse
during the 1970s, authoritarian regime’s endeavours to instrumentalise sporting events, and the
importance of football in modern society.
Keywords
Football, dictatorship, human rights, exile, solidarity
1. INTRODUCTION
With the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar on the horizon, society is once again confronted with
the question of whether or not to boycott a mega sporting event in a country where human rights are
being violated. The same issue surrounded the 1978 Football World Cup in Argentina, where Jorge
Videla’s ruthless dictatorship attempted to gain political benefit from the tournament. The actual
Corresponding author:
Bram Daanen, Instituto de Iberoamérica, Universidad de Salamanca, Hospedería de Fonseca n°2, Salamanca, Spain.
Email: bramdaanen16@gmail.com
Article
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
2022, Vol. 40(3) 269–289
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/09240519221112555
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relevance of this debate makes it even more important to understand the consequences of such
attempts, which have recently been dubbed ‘sportswashing’. Looking back at the mobilisation
around the 1978 World Cup provides us with valuable insights.
In Europe, the instrumentalisation of that tournament provoked the emergence of campaigns for
a boycott in various countries. In the Netherlands, the boycott debate gained particular traction,
because its national teams were among the favourites for the Football World Cup as well as the
Field Hockey World Cup, both of which were held in Argentina in 1978. The discussion started
on 15 January 1978, when Freek de Jonge and Bram Vermeulen, members of the activist
musical duo Neerlands Hoop [The hope of the Netherlands], launched a campaign denouncing
the Bloed aan de Paal [Blood on the post]. Ultimately, no boycott took place, and the
Netherlands lost the finals of both of these tournaments.
Nonetheless, the boycott discussion had tangible consequences, as it forced various actors to
position themselves in relation to the debate. After the hockey final against Pakistan had been
lost, Hans Jorritsma –a key player in the Dutch team –refused to receive the silver medal from
Jorge Videla’s hands and the football team did not attend the closing ceremony after the final.
Scholars have argued that these mobilisations prompted a public debate about the dictatorship in
Argentina, human rights in international relations, and the use of sports for political purposes.
1
Besides, they should be seen as an important expression of transnational solidarity. Most import-
antly, the World Cup generated an unprecedented interest for the situation in Argentina. In the
words of an Argentine who was exiled to the Netherlands: ‘the World Cup put Argentina on the
front page of the newspapers’.
2
To this day, the World Cup has received rather little attention in academic literature compared to
other events related to the Argentine dictatorship. The scholarly authors that have studied the instru-
mentalisation of the tournament have largely focused on the national level or have made a compari-
son with Brazil.
3
Other academics have focused on the mobilisation around the World Cup in
Europe;
4
the connection between the instrumentalisation of the tournament and the mobilisation
1. Raanan Rein, ‘Solidaridad Internacional y Protestas Transnacionales Contra La Copa Mundial de Fútbol 1978’(2019) 3
Cuadernos de Aletheia 29, 39.
2. Interview with Marcos Luis Lohlé, Argentine exile in the Netherlands (Virtual interview from Madrid, Spain, 06 April
2021).
3. Lívia Magalhães Gonçalves, ‘Com a taça nas mãos: sociedade, Copa do Mundo e ditadura no Brasil e na Argentina’
(Doctoral thesis, Universidade Federal Fluminense 2013)
GONCALVES_MAGALHAES.pdf> accessed 22 November 2020; Ernesto Sobocinski Marczal, ‘¿Qué otra cosa
puede festejar? Paixão política nas narrativas sobre a Copa do Mundo de Futebol na Argentina (1975–1978)’
(Doctoral thesis, Universidade Federal do Paraná, 2016)
%20-%20T%20-%20ERNESTO%20SOBOCINSKI%20MARCZAL.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y> accessed 25
October 2020; Marina Franco, ‘Les Émigrés Politiques Argentins En France (1973–1983) : Expériences et
Trajectoires’(Doctoral thesis, Université Paris-Diderot (Paris-VII) 2006) ;
Pablo Llonto, La Vergüenza de Todos (Ediciones Madres de Plaza de Mayo 2005); Abel Gilbert and Miguel
Vitagliano, El Terror y La Gloria: La Vida, El Fútbol y La Politica En La Argentina Del Mundial ’78 (Grupo
Editorial Norma 1998); Ricardo Gotta, Fuímos Campeones: La Dictadura, El Mundial 78 y El Misterio Del 6 a 0 a
Perú (Edhasa 2008).
4. Most recently, among others: Felix A Jiménez Botta, ‘“Yes to Football, No to Torture!”The Politics of the 1978 Football
World Cup in West Germany’(2017) 20 Sport in Society 1440; Camilla Cattarulla, ‘Detrás de la vidriera del Mundial.
Argentina 1978: derechos humanos, censura y fútbol en la prensa italiana’in Diego Armus and Stefan Rinke (eds), Del
football al fútbol/futebol: historias argentinas, brasileiras y uruguayas en el siglo XX (Iberoamericana Vervuert Estudios
AHILA de Historia Latinoamericana 2014).
270 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
against it has, however, barely been studied. This article proposes to see the Argentine exile as the
actor that connects the two processes.
Argentine exiles in Europe have been the subject of a number of investigations.
5
In addition,
various works have taken into account the role of the Argentinian human rights association
Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (the Mothers) and other human rights organisations, such as Amnesty
International.
6
Nevertheless, the multiple boycott campaigns, the efforts by human rights organisa-
tions, and the exiles’role in this process have been treated in an isolated manner. In the same way,
the exiles’leading role in forming and shaping the mobilisation for the Argentinian cause has often
been ignored in European studies, which have considered the exiles merely as objects for political
considerations. As a result, the tournament’s impact at an international level remains mostly
unknown.
This article analyses this process of global impact in the case of the Netherlands. To this end, it
will be examined how solidarity in the Netherlands has evolved between the foundation of the
Solidarity Committee Argentina-Netherlands (Solidariteits Komitee Argentinië-Nederland,
SKAN) in 1975 and the end of its existence in 1985. This article hypothesises that the 1978
Football World Cup was a watershed moment for the Dutch public’s awareness of human rights
violations in Argentina, that it functioned as an escape valve for the denouncements against the dic-
tatorship, and that it later opened the door for new actors to emerge on the international stage. In
contrast to earlier works, this article considers not the boycott movement, but the support for the
Mothers and similar organisations as the ultimate expression of solidarity. By doing so, it makes
visible the interactions between various actors who played pivotal roles at key moments in the
process that led to an increasingly strong wave of denunciations of the Argentine dictatorship in
Europe around the 1978 World Cup.
The research for this article has followed the historical method of trying to recapture the intri-
cacies of the mobilisation around the 1978 World Cup. On the one hand, it is based on oral
history, as ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with Argentine exiles, boycott activists,
journalists, and diplomats. On the other hand, informant testimonies have also been complemented
with documentary evidence. The documentation on solidarity movements regarding Argentina and
the archives of the PvdA (The Dutch Labour Party) in the collection of the International Institute of
Social History, as well as the archives of the Committee for Support for Argentine Mothers (Steun
Aan Argentijnse Moeders, SAAM) at the Atria institute in Amsterdam, were consulted. In addition,
thanks to one of the interviewed journalists, this study was able to examine confidential documents
from Argentina’s Embassy in The Hague. They concerned communications between the Embassy
and the Foreign Office in Buenos Aires, as well as local documents from the diplomatic mission and
a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands. Some of these files have been pre-
viously described by Jan van der Putten and have permitted considering the Argentine diplomacy’s
efforts to neutralise protests abroad against the regime.
7
This paper connects this information with
the solidarity movement.
5. For a collection of the works, see Pablo Yankelevich (ed), Represión y Destierro: Itinerarios Del Exilio Argentino (Al
Margen 2004).
6. Patrick William Kelly, Sovereign Emergencies: Latin America and the Making of Global Human Rights Politics
(Cambridge University Press 2018); Margaret E Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy
Networks in International Politics (Cornell University Press 1998).
7. For a reference to these documents, see Jan Van der Putten, ‘Junta Argentinië Probeerde Nederlandse Journalisten Te
Paaien’(2021) 4 Argus 14.
Bram Daanen 271
The present analysis studies the links between various actors during the clash in the public
debate between the dictatorship and the exiled Argentines in an examination of the solidarity
movement with Argentina in the Netherlands. To support this study, it is useful to review the
theories on mobilisation in Europe in solidarity with Chile. According to the ‘evolutionary
pattern of solidarity action’, solidarity develops in four phases: from initial indifference;
through increased awareness and the representation of the forces of good and evil; together
with a construction of imagined solidarities; to concrete solidarity action at last.
8
This theory
serves to explain how the Manichean divide between good and evil facilitated a direct strong
solidarity with Chile but provided an obstacle for the solidarity with Argentina since a clear
representation of good forces –and initially also evil forces –proved to be more difficult in
the latter case. Besides, it allows us to see the World Cup as the event that triggered the transition
from initial indifference to increased awareness. In what follows, after a short historical back-
ground section, the analysis of this article is presented in four parts that follow mentioned
phases. With regards to the fourth phase, Christiaens and others mention a division between soli-
darity with a humanitarian focus and a political focus. For the Argentinian case, this study pro-
poses that solidarity with a political focus is further distinguished between solidarity limited to
denouncing the enemy, on the one hand, and solidarity that includes active support for an ally in
its resistance against the identified enemy, on the other. In this division, the ally and enemy cor-
respond to the identified ‘forces of good and evil’.
The confirmation of our hypothesis can lead to the consideration of several new hypotheses
about the Argentinian dictatorship. Until now, the World Cup has largely been evaluated as a
success for the dictatorship, since the successful organisation and the Argentinian victory unified
the country and initially raised popular support for the dictatorship. This article does not pretend
to question these positive effects. Instead, it analyses the consequences of the tournament from a
new perspective that has not yet been considered. Evaluating the World Cup from an international
perspective, in this case focusing on the Netherlands, allows to consider the effects of the efforts of
Argentine actors like the exiles to foster solidarity with their country from abroad. The Netherlands
makes for an interesting case study, as the first support group of its kind for the Mothers was estab-
lished here. In addition, it has been argued that three different groups were responsible for linking
local and transnational activism: the Mothers through their actions to reclaim information about
their disappeared children, Amnesty International through their depoliticised stance, and the
exiles and solidarity activists with their more radical stance, as compared to the one purely
based on human rights.
9
In this sense, Kelly has argued that solidarity activists took a political
stance, while human rights organisations pretended neutrality. However, a closer look at the mobil-
isation in the Netherlands around the World Cup shows that even pro-boycott solidarity activists
took a depoliticised stance. Besides, the exiles as a group were primarily responsible for connecting
the Mothers, Amnesty International and the Dutch solidarity activists. The World Cup proved to be
the perfect window of opportunity to reach out to local activists and other Dutch actors such as poli-
ticians, journalists, and athletes.
If it is affirmed that the denunciations around the World Cup led to an intensification of allega-
tions of human rights violations, it is possible to see the tournament as a new turning point for the
8. Kim Christiaens, Idesbald Goddeeris and Magaly Rodríguez García (eds), European Solidarity with Chile –1970s –
1980s (Peter Lang 2014).
9. Kelly (n 6) 210.
272 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
military regime. To date, scholars have argued that the 1979 visit of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to Argentina following the allegations from the exiles
abroad was such a turning point.
10
Furthermore, Mira points out that it is difficult to classify the
transition to democracy in Argentina into the different categories developed in political sciences.
11
According to this author, the Falklands-Malvinas War did not directly cause the fall of the dictator-
ship, but rather opened up a political vacuum that could no longer be filled by the military. These
assertions lead us to consider the importance of the World Cup in the process that caused this pol-
itical vacuum and ultimately the transition to democracy.
2. FOOTBALL, DICTATORSHIP, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Sports and football events have long been instrumentalised for political reasons. The 1934 World
Cup in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and the 1936 Summer Olympics in Hitler’s Nazi Germany can be
seen as the first examples of this.
12
Since that moment, multiple sports events have been used to
affirm national ideologies using mass media. We must consider that instrumentalisation for political
reasons is inherent in the organisation of global sports events and see the 1978 World Cup as con-
firmation of the rule, rather than an exception.
At the same time, it is necessary to bear in mind that in Argentina and in various other South
American countries, football has played an important role in the construction of a narrative
about the national identity.
13
Football was initially introduced as a form of Anglo-Saxon cosmopol-
itanism. However, during the creolisation of the sport at the beginning of the twentieth century
when it was picked up by the local working class, journalists constructed a narrative of differenti-
ation about Argentinian football that was complementary with the ideas of arielismo about
Latin-American nationalism. Besides, various Argentine scholars have pointed to the importance
of football as a ‘cultural machine’for the creation of an Argentinian national identity and a way
for Argentine males to distinguish themselves at an international stage by playing football ‘the
Argentinian way’just as in art and cinema.
14
Argentina had been awarded the organisation of the World Cup in 1966. With the coup of
1976, the organisation of the World Cup for the nation’s most popular sport fell into the hands
of the dictatorship. By this point, the responsibility for organising the tournament had already
passed through seven presidencies, from Arturo Illia to Isabel Perón. When the Navy of Junta
member Emilio Massera took control of the organisation, the decision was made to spare no
expenses in exploiting the tournament for political gains. This was despite the fact the dictator-
ship’s civilian wing, composed of orthodox liberal economists, criticised the plans to dedicate
10. Among others Silvina Jensen, Los Exiliados: La Lucha Por Los Derechos Humanos Durante La Dictadura Militar
(Editorial Sudamericana 2010).
11. Guillermo Mira, ‘The Falklands–Malvinas War and Transitions to Democracy in Latin America: The Turning Point of
1979–82’in Guillermo Mira and Fernando Pedrosa (eds), Revisiting the Falklands–Malvinas Question: Transnational
and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (University of London Press 2021) 104.
12. Alan Tomlinson and Christopher Young, National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in
the Olympics and the Football World Cup (State University of New York Press 2006) 7.
13. Joshua H Nadel, Fútbol!: Why Soccer Matters in Latin America (University Press of Florida 2014); Pablo Alabarces,
Historia Mínima Del Futbol En América Latina (Colegio de Mexico 2018).
14. Pablo Alabarces, Fútbol y Patria: El Fútbol y Las Narrativas de La Nación En La Argentina(Prometeo 2002);Eduardo
P Archetti, ‘El potrero y el pibe: territorio y pertenencia en el imaginario del fútbol argentino’(2008) 14 Horizontes
Antropológicos 259.
Bram Daanen 273
large amounts of money to the organisation.
15
Finally, the tournament would end up costing more
than four times the amount of the next World Cup in Spain (700 million USD in comparison to
150 million USD).
Initially Jorge Videla’s regime was hesitant to use the tournament for political purposes, as the
instrumentalisation of sports had traditionally been associated with its enemy, Peronism.
16
This
populist workers’movement, led by the charismatic Juan Domingo Perón who was first elected
in 1946, advocated for a third way, alternative to capitalism and communism. With Argentina in
the midst of an industrialisation period that facilitated the emergence of a new urban working
class, Perón’s social justice policies gained him widespread support.
Nine years after his election, Perón’s government was ousted by the military in 1955 and
Peronism would become illegal until 1973 in a period marked by several military coups. After
the Cordobazo public uprising of 1969, a radicalised part of the youth reinterpreted Peronism
as a liberation movement and the armed struggle became an option. The left-wing Peronist
group Montoneros, as well as the non-Peronist People’s Revolutionary Army (Ejército
Revolucionario del Pueblo, ERP) that formed the military branch of the Workers’
Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores, PRT) became active.
Violence and State terrorism rose during the 1970s when anyone presumably linked to the left
became a target for right-wing death squad Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Alianza
Anticomunista Argentina, AAA, also known as Triple A) and, eventually, the dictatorship of
Jorge Videla.
This dictatorship proved to be of an unprecedented repressive and transformative nature, as it
not only sought to exterminate the left-wing ‘subversion’, but also strived to produce irreversible
changes to the economy, the institutional system, and social and cultural structures.
17
To this end,
a ruthless repression was implemented which, according to common estimates, resulted in the dis-
appearance of 30,000 people. Faced with the loss of their children, the Mothers confronted the
military to reclaim their disappeared loved ones. Together with the Abuelas de la Plaza de
Mayo [Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo], they became the most emblematic actor in remem-
bering the disappeared, and they managed to evoke great international attention for their
struggle.
18
Regarding the Latin-American dictatorships that took power during this period, it has been
argued that their real significance can be found in their political nature as they profoundly identified
themselves with the nation’s destiny and central values.
19
Considering this, it is important to also
see the instrumentalisation of the World Cup as an appeal to the cultural importance of football in
the nation. During the first months of 1978, the support for the military began to dissolve while at
15. Diego Pablo Roldán, ‘Paradojas Del Mundial Argentina’78: Estilos, Inversiones y Rituales’(2019) 3 Cuadernos de
Aletheia 7, 9.
16. Matías Bauso, 78. Historia Oral Del Mundial (Sudamericana 2018). For a detailed description of the relation between
Peronism and football, see Lucie Hémeury, ‘Le pouvoir hors-jeu ? Football et péronisme en Argentine (1946–1955)’
(2013) 74 Cahiers des Amériques latines 55.
17. Vicente Palermo and Marcos Novaro, La Dictadura Militar (1976–1983). Del Golpe de Estado a La Restauración
Democrática (Editorial Paidós 2003).
18. For a detailed account of their story, see Marguerite Bouvard, Revolutionizing Motherhood: The Mothers of the Plaza de
Mayo (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2002).
19. Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt, ‘Fuerzas Armadas y Política En América Latina: Perspectivas Futuras’(2002) 2
Iberoamericana 7.
274 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
the same time their task of bringing order to the country had been gruesomely completed with the
violent repression of their opponents. In this sense, the instrumentalisation of the tournament cor-
responded with the new turn that the National Security Doctrine (NSD) had taken.
20
Previously, the
regime had focused their attention on what they perceived to be a terrorist and subversive threat
coming from inside the country. Later, they identified the exiles’denunciations abroad as the
main threat. This meant that, for the dictatorship, the battlefield was relocated onto the international
scene. Consequently, the World Cup was used to portray the country as a disciplined, orderly, and
clean society without disruptions –as Alabarces concluded from the design of the opening
ceremony.
21
Although human rights have often been regarded as both an evident and ever-present concept,
recently, historians have pointed at the short history of their uprise. According to Moyn, it was only
in the 1970s that human rights transcended governmental institutions and gained momentum
through the European quest for an identity outside Cold War terms; the reception of Soviet and
Eastern European dissidents; and the end of formal colonialism.
22
Human rights came to be seen
as a new utopia following the collapse of previous ones. In the Netherlands, the strong social demo-
crat and Christian traditions were important for the emergence of a human rights discourse while at
the same time, these traditions allowed for adhesion to two dominant Latin-American ideologies:
liberation theology and dependency theory.
23
Regarding Latin America, Moyn and Baud agree
that the emergence of military dictatorships in this region has been of particular importance for
the rise of human rights.
Since the 1990s, numerous studies have been dedicated to human rights movements. Keck and
Sikkink coined the term ‘transnational advocacy networks’to describe the international networks
of actors tied by common values, discourses, and information exchanges working on a particular
issue.
24
Christiaens and others have pointed to the fact that studies based on this theory have
focused on moral principles, such as justice and peace, while overlooking the impact of political
organisations. While many works see Chilean exiles in Europe as mere passive recipients of soli-
darity, they emphasised the importance of their political advocacy.
25
This tendency could be
linked to persistent eurocentrism in western epistemology.
26
Inthesameway,Brownhassig-
nalled the broader tendency of overlooking Latin American agency in historical studies.
27
Making room for such agency, Christiaens and others adopt a transnational perspective in
what they call the ‘evolutionary pattern of solidarity action’
28
. The present analysis takes
account of this theory to analyse the leading role of Argentine exiles in the activism in the
Netherlands around the World Cup.
20. Marina Franco, ‘Solidaridad Internacional, Exilio y Dictadura En Torno al Mundial de 1978’in Pablo Yankelevich and
Silvina Inés Jensen (eds), Exilios: Destinos y experiencias bajo la dictadura militar (Libros del Zorzal 2007).
21. Pablo Alabarces, Héroes, Machos y Patriotas. El Fútbol Entre La Violencia y Los Medios (Aguilar 2014) 84.
22. Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (Harvard University Press 2012).
23. Michiel Baud, ‘Between Academia and Civil Society: The Origins of Latin American Studies in the Netherlands’(2018)
45 Latin American Perspectives 98.
24. Keck and Sikkink (n 6) 2.
25. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 13.
26. Walter D Mignolo, ‘The Geopolitics of Knowledge and the Colonial Difference’in Mabel Moraña, Enrique Dussel and
Carlos Jáuregui (eds), Coloniality at large: Latin America and the postcolonial debate (Duke University Press 2008).
27. Matthew D Brown, ‘The Global History of Latin America’(2015) 10 Journal of Global History 365.
28. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 13.
Bram Daanen 275
3. INITIAL INDIFFERENCE
During the 1970s, in the context of the Cold War, various events led Dutch activists to mobilise for
a wide range of causes. Although the social climate of this decade is important, the earlier origins of
these developments should also be underlined. As from the 1950s, Dutch academics first started to
consider the possibility of providing aid to developing countries.
29
Again, the two pillars below the
interest in development aid were the religious and social-democratic currents.
30
While the Roman
Catholic and Protestant churches fostered solidarity with the underprivileged peoples, the social-
democratic current inspired by economist Jan Tinbergen addressed the necessity of solving
global economic inequality.
Initially, Africa had been the focal point of development aid, but during the intense Cold War
debates surrounding the US-initiated coup against Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala and the Cuban
Missile Crisis, Latin America started to receive attention.
31
At the same time, the protests in
Paris, Mexico, New York, and Athens at the end of the 1960s penetrated the Dutch public
debate.
32
In this context, a great number of solidarity committees for countries all over the world
was founded during what can be described as the ‘years of solidarity’. The struggles in these coun-
tries became symbols of radical change for the New Left that was taking shape as the Algerian inde-
pendence struggle, the Cuban Revolution, and Vietnamese communists defied and overcame
Western involvement.
33
Particularly the Chilean Way to Socialism that was eventually ended by
a US-backed coup d’état gave rise to an iconic solidarity campaign based on the campaigns for
Algeria and Vietnam. Subsequently, the foundations of these campaigns would also be used for
the campaign for solidarity with Argentina.
Although the Argentinian campaign is frequently considered in relation to the movement for a
boycott of the 1978 World Cup, the foundations for this campaign were laid a few years earlier
when the SKAN was founded. A leaflet of this Committee shows that it was founded in 1975 in
response to the terror of extreme right-wing groups, particularly the AAA.
34
Nevertheless, at this
point, the Argentinian cause barely received any attention, as the Chilean situation dominated
the public debate. Revealingly so, one of the founders of the SKAN mentioned that he was on
his way to become a member of the Chile Committee when he met Fernando Peña, an
Argentine sociologist in The Hague, who convinced him to establish the SKAN together.
35
Two years earlier, the military coup of 11 September 1973 led by General Augusto Pinochet
against the socialist government of Salvador Allende had produced mass indignation in the
Netherlands. Prime Minister Joop den Uyl and his Minister for Development Cooperation Jan
Pronk had visited the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) of
1972 in Santiago de Chile and both politicians of the PvdA were fascinated by ‘The Chilean
way to Socialism’. After the coup, progressive politicians, syndicalists, and members of the
29. Jan Nekkers and Peter Malcontent (eds), De Geschiedenis van Vijftig Jaar Nederlandse Ontwikkelingssamenwerking
1949–1999 (Sdu Uitgevers 1999).
30. Baud (n 23) 100.
31. ibid 101.
32. Robert Gildea, James Mark and Niek Pas, ‘European Radicals and the “Third World”: Imagined Solidarities and Radical
Networks, 1958–73’(2011) 8 Cultural and Social History 449.
33. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 15.
34. SKAN leaflet (n.d.), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 89 (International
Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
35. Interview with Joop Bal, co-founder of SKAN The Hague (Virtual interview from Madrid, Spain, 14 April 2021).
276 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
government participated in demonstrations, which attracted up to 20,000 people.
36
According to the
observations of a SKAN member, this political and social engagement with the Chilean situation
explains why the Chile Committee –founded by Jan Pronk –received subsidies while the
SKAN did not.
37
At the same time, it is important to note that at least three similar committees called SKAN were
founded in the Netherlands at that moment. Different leaflets point to the existence of a SKAN in
The Hague, Amsterdam, and Tilburg.
38
With regard to the differences between both Committees,
the aforementioned activist of the SKAN The Hague indicates that the integration of Argentine pol-
itical exiles in the SKAN Amsterdam caused problems:
Later, [Argentine] refugees with connections to political parties joined [SKAN] Amsterdam. In The
Hague, we wanted to remain independent and form a national committee centred around human
rights. And we did not want to be used for the benefit of any political party.
39
In this sense, the intention of the SKAN The Hague to focus on human rights coincides with the
rise of this discourse and allowed them to apply to a broader public, but also contradicts an earlier
assumption that solidarity activists took a politicised stance.
In 1975, the SKAN The Hague began by spreading information about the illegal repression in
Argentina, but became more active in organising demonstrations and actions following the 1976
coup. The earliest document related to the SKAN shows that, in the context of the International
Workers’Day, the Committee urged ‘everyone who defends justice to raise their voices in the
name of their fellow workers, the companions in Argentina’.
40
A letter with an unknown recipient
mentions the three major activities until 12 December 1977: an Argentine week in The Hague in
November 1976; The Argentina Tribunal in Amsterdam in May 1977 that was attended by the
Argentine Human Rights Commission of which Roberto Guevara –a brother of the Marxist revo-
lutionary Ernesto “Che”Guevara –was a member; and a commemoration in August 1977 in
Amsterdam of the executed political prisoners in Trelew by the military government of
Alejandro Agustín Lanusse in 1972.
41
The same letter mentions the ‘suffering of the people
under the oppression by imperialism and their henchmen of the grand bourgeoisie’, and invites
everyone to actively express their solidarity, starting by attending a meeting of the SKAN. In add-
ition, at the end of 1977, SKAN published a testimony by Matilde Herrera –one of the Mothers of
Plaza de Mayo –and the translation of the ‘Open Letter from a writer to the Military Junta’by
Rodolfo Walsh.
42
36. Peter R Baehr, Monique C Castermans-Holleman and Fred Grünfeld, Human Rights in the Foreign Policy of the
Netherlands (Intersentia 2002).
37. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
38. See documents ‘Argentinië Organisaties’(1978–2002), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland
COLL00284 89 (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
39. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
40. SKAN leaflet in the context of International Workers’Day (1977), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in
Nederland COLL00284 90 (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
41. Letter from Gerard Janssen and Juan Carlos Gutierrez about the opening of a new building (12 December 1977),
Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 90 (International Institute of Social
History, Amsterdam).
42. Documents by SKAN about the situation in Argentina and Rodolfo Walsh (1977), Documentatiecollectie
Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 90 (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
Bram Daanen 277
As we have seen before, the military takeover in Chile generated an immediate global impact.
Televised images that showed the burning of books on the streets and even the bombarding of
the La Moneda palace of the President caused direct outrage.
43
In stark contrast, even after the
coup in Argentina, concern for the terror in that country remained low in the Netherlands. As a
result of this situation, Argentine exiles in the Netherlands referred to their Chilean counterparts
as the ‘spoiled ones of Europe’.
44
At that moment, reports by Amnesty International that made
mention of the kidnappings had already reached the Netherlands and had been translated and dif-
fused among politicians and legislators by the Dutch branch of the organisation.
45
To understand the close relationship between Dutch and Chilean politicians, it is important to
mention the pillarisation of Dutch society, even if the rise of the New Left and a social-liberal pol-
itical party (D66) had begun to weaken it. This phenomenon refers to the division of society into
three pillars that shared the same political parties, syndicates, radio, television, and newspapers: the
Christian pillar, the social-democrat pillar, and the liberal pillar. Chilean politics, as a unique case in
Latin America, were broadly divided in the same way. In 1970, in the last elections before the dic-
tatorship, the three great forces in Chilean politics were the left represented by Salvador Allende,
the Christian centre by Radomiro Tomic, and the liberals by Jorge Alessandri. The similarity in pol-
itical divisions made it easier for Dutch politicians to identify themselves with Chilean political
refugees.
For Argentina, the political divisions were radically different. Peronism, which had played a
crucial role in Argentina’s politics since the mid-1940s, was –and continues to be –a poorly under-
stood phenomenon in European countries. In the Netherlands, Peronism was often linked to
fascism. A document about the situation in Argentina from PvdA circles links the movement to
fascism for its anti-British nature, Perón’s fascination with Mussolini, and its strong anti-communist
and anti-Marxist rhetoric.
46
In addition, it is necessary to consider the strong economic ties between
Argentina and the Netherlands. While the Dutch government imposed strong economic sanctions
on the dictatorial government of Pinochet in Chile after the coup, exports to Argentina quadrupled
between 1976 and 1978, and the Netherlands became the most important destination for
Argentinian exports.
47
Even more so, at this moment Argentina was the most important importer
of Dutch arms in Latin America and already in 1978, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant published
that Fokker planes produced in the Netherlands were used for the infamous ‘vuelos de la
muerte’[death flights] during which prisoners were thrown into the ocean.
48
All this went
hand-in-hand with the fact that the new Dutch centre-right government elected in 1977 considered
the dictatorship’s justification for its coup acceptable and believed that it would restore order and
solve the country’s economic crisis.
49
43. Georg Dufner, ‘West Germany: Professions of Political Faith, the Solidarity Movement and New Left Imaginaries’in
Kim Christiaens, Idesbald Goddeeris and Magaly Rodríguez García (eds), European Solidarity with Chile –1970s –
1980s (Peter Lang 2014).
44. Interview Marcos Luis Lohlé (n 2).
45. Michiel Baud, Militair Geweld, Burgerlijke Verantwoordelijkheid: Argentijnse En Nederlandse Perspectieven Op Het
Militaire Bewind in Argentinië (1976–1983) (Sdu 2001) 139.
46. ‘Wat Is Er Aan de Hand in Argentinië?’(1977), Archief PvdA, ARCH01125 2470-2471 (International Institute of Social
History, Amsterdam).
47. Peter R Baehr and Monique C Castermans-Holleman, The Role of Human Rights in Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan
2003) 52.
48. Baud (n 45) 166.
49. Chris Van der Klaauw to Carlos W Pastor (3 March 1980), copy in possession of author.
278 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
4. RAISING AWARENESS AND CONDITIONED SOLIDARITY: THE
BOYCOTT
Whereas awareness of repression in Chile spread as quickly as the execution of the coup,
50
it took a
campaign by two activist musicians for a boycott of the 1978 World Cup Football to raise aware-
ness in the Netherlands about what was happening in Argentina. In the announcement of their cam-
paign in January 1978, the duo called Neerlands Hoop [The hope of the Netherlands] stated that not
enough people are aware of what is happening in Argentina and that ‘Argentina is brushed aside in
the midst of declarations on South Africa, Chile, Czechoslovakia, and Russia’.
51
The goal of their
campaign called Aktie Argentinië [Action Argentina] was to incite a World Cup boycott through
op-ed pieces, petition campaigns, press conferences, interviews, and performances of the theatre
play Bloed aan de Paal [Blood on the Post], with revenues going to Amnesty International and
the SKAN. In doing so, they sparked a heated debate about the relationship between sports and
politics.
Approximately one year earlier, the SKAN The Hague had already considered the idea of
using the World Cup to denounce the Argentinian dictatorship. A SKAN activist recalls that
before 1978, the Committee had already spoken to the press and had had a little op-ed piece in
a newspaper, but that after the start of Aktie Argentinië, large stories about their actions were pub-
lished which put them at the centre of attention.
52
Even the Argentine Embassy in The Hague
reported in a circular that the ‘World Cup has raised awareness in local press and other mass
media’.
53
This positive conjuncture for the defence of human rights, in combination with an
increased interest for the situation in Argentina, allowed exiled Argentines to more effectively
make their voices heard.
Nevertheless, the call by Dutch activists for a boycott of the World Cup also caused problems for
the Argentine exiles. The complicated relations between Argentine and Dutch activists as a result of
the boycott campaigns gives the impression that Dutch activists underestimated the importance of
the tournament for the Argentine people. Although a Dutch activist from the SKAN The Hague
recalls that most Argentines were in favour of a boycott,
54
testimonies from other Argentines in
the Netherlands generally point the other way. In line with the position of the left-wing Peronist
guerrilla organisation Montoneros,
55
one exiled Argentine states that it was a positive thing to
play football for the people and that journalists with information from the exiles should go and
investigate the situation.
56
Another Argentine exile affirms that opposing such a popular event gen-
erated some hostility with their family and friends in Argentina.
57
In addition, a third exile recalls
that, while watching the final in the Netherlands with fellow Argentines, people were chanting the
Montoneros slogan ‘Argentina campeón, Videla al paredón’[Argentina champion, Videla to the
50. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 17.
51. Declaration by Freek de Jonge & Bram Vermeulen titled ‘Oranje Kan Iets Bereiken in Argentinië, Door Niet Te Gaan.’
(1978), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 89 (International Institute of Social
History, Amsterdam).
52. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
53. Circular Telegráfica Europa Nro. 111 by the Argentine Embassy in the Netherlands (1978), copy in possession of author.
54. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
55. Franco (n 20) 9.
56. Andere Tijden, ‘Bloed Aan de Paal’, (NTR / VRPO, 2 June 2018)
accessed 7 May 2021.
57. Interview Marcos Luis Lohlé (n 2).
Bram Daanen 279
firing squad].
58
Finally, none of the SKAN documents promoting the boycott were signed by the
SKAN department in Amsterdam, suggesting a difference in opinion that various activists later con-
firmed.
59
In the same vein, Franco argues that because of their love of football, many of the large
Argentinian organisations in Europe supported a strategy of denunciation without a boycott.
60
However, while Franco claims that the Argentine exile community underestimated the military’s
ability to control the World Cup and benefit politically from it, it will be shown that the military
did not have total control over the situation.
As a result of the dilemma of the Argentine exile in the face of the boycott movement and the
frictions that came with it, the Dutch activists were also hesitant to affiliate themselves with the
Argentine exiles. The Aktie Argentinië that promoted the boycott saw itself primarily as a form
of nonviolent resistance, and –especially after the commotion in the Netherlands in 1977 about
a kidnapping by the left-wing Rote Armee Fraktion –wanted to avoid all associations with
armed struggle or terrorism.
61
One Dutch SKAN activist even suggested that Aktie Argentinië
did not join the SKAN movement in order to avoid members of the Montoneros or the PRT.
62
When evaluating the mobilisation of Argentines in the Netherlands, it is crucial to consider the
efforts of the dictatorship to infiltrate and sabotage this mobilisation. There was a lot of fear among
exiled Argentines after rumours about military infiltrations in exile organisations in Paris,
63
and
even SKAN activists suspected that staff of the Argentinian Embassy were infiltrating the
Committee.
64
Confidential documents from the Embassy show that these fears were justified. In
a letter to the Argentine Ambassador to the Netherlands, Roberto Pérez Froio mentioned the neces-
sity of gathering information on everyone involved in the campaign to discredit the image of the
Argentinian dictatorship.
65
This navy captain played a key role in setting up the dictatorship’s
Paris Pilot Centre that was initially a propagandistic instrument, but later also came to host under-
cover operations of agents of the School of Mechanical Engineering of the Navy (Escuela Superior
de Mecánica de la Armada, usually referred to by its acronym ESMA).
66
This clandestine deten-
tion, torture, and extermination centre was the operational core behind the illegal repression.
Despite the aforementioned discrepancies, the emphasis on denouncing human rights violations
allowed for some cohesion among those raising awareness about the situation in Argentina. The
boycott movement, like in other countries, served to amplify the voices of those attempting to
condemn the situation in Argentina. A SKAN leaflet signed by both the SKAN The Hague and
the SKAN Amsterdam specifies the movement’s goals: on the one hand, to inform the public
about the situation and, on the other, to organise solidarity actions.
67
The activities planned for
58. Interview with Alejandra Slutzky, Argentine exile in the Netherlands (Virtual interview from Madrid, Spain, 17 April
2021).
59. Interviews Marcos Luis Lohlé (n 2) and Joop Bal (n 35).
60. Franco (n 20) 13.
61. Freek De Jonge, ‘2016 - Freek de Leek - Mijn Koude Oorlog - Afl. 11 - Aktie Argentinie’(8 June 2017)
youtube.com/watch?v=RhBcX50N66Q> accessed 3 May 2021.
62. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
63. Interview Alejandra Slutzky (n 58).
64. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
65. Letter from Roberto Perez Froio to Rafael M Vazquez, ‘Directiva N.1 de Difusión al Exterior’(3 August 1977), copy in
possession of author.
66. Facundo Fernández Barrio and Rodrigo González Tizón, ‘De La ESMA a Francia: Hacia Una Reconstrucción Histórica
Del Centro Piloto de París’(2020) 38 Folia Histórica del Nordeste 99.
67. SKAN leaflet (n 34).
280 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
this purpose were aimed at four different groups: politicians, the football association, journalists,
and civil society. Argentine exiles visited political parties and even spoke with football players
to explain what was going on in Argentina, activists took part in debates at schools and universities,
and the SKAN The Hague published a newsletter about Argentina.
68
Exiles also informed journal-
ists who were planning to travel to Argentina during the World Cup, as mentioned by an Argentine
in Amsterdam:
We spoke with many journalists. […] I remember having contact with them before the World Cup and
telling them about what was happening. And having given them addresses of locations where they could
go and ask such as institutions, churches and unions. We told them to ask with discretion so they could
obtain a real idea of what was going on. That was of much help. I remember Jan van der Putten of De
Volkskrant, for example.
69
Jan van der Putten, who had been correspondent in both Chile and Argentina, had been actively
writing about the terror in Argentina and his articles were frequently cited in the report by Michiel
Baud on the position of Jorge Zorreguieta.
70
In an interview, he mentioned that he had had contact
with Argentine exiles both in the Netherlands and the rest of Latin-America and that these contacts
were very helpful.
71
The importance of these contacts becomes even clearer with the testimony of
Hebe de Bonafini –the emblematic co-founder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo –regarding
their contact with exiles: ‘one of the Mothers told us that her son abroad had said that a Dutch jour-
nalist might be coming to the Plaza de Mayo.’
72
Although at that point the Mothers were cautious
and unconvinced of this possibility, it demonstrates the value of their contact with Europe via the
exiles.
Strikingly, the increasingly strong economic ties between the Netherlands and Argentina were
hardly mentioned in this period.
73
While the Netherlands was selling weapons to the Argentine dic-
tatorship, the question of whether to play football in Argentina completely dominated the public
debate. Only after the World Cup, specific demonstrations were organised against the arms trade.
This intense connection between the football boycott and the Argentine cause not only increased
awareness about the situation, but also obstructed a closer integration of politicians within the
movement. This became a big issue for the PvdA, whose members voted in favour of a boycott.
Although some politicians appreciated the idea of a boycott, the fact that a majority of the Dutch
population was against it, made them reconsider their position.
74
A news article from 13
February 1978 suggests that PvdA party leader Den Uyl based his stance against the boycott par-
tially on a conversation with Argentine politician Simon Lázara of the Partido Socialista Unificado
[Unified Socialist Party], who opposed the boycott and whose trustworthiness was questioned by
68. ibid.
69. Interview Marcos Luis Lohlé (n 2).
70. Baud (n 45)
71. Interview with Jan van der Putten, former Dutch correspondent in Latin-America (Virtual interview from Madrid, Spain,
01 April 2021).
72. Interview with Hebe de Bonafini, cofounder of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Virtual interview from Madrid,Spain,
21 April 2021).
73. See Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 89-90 (International Institute of Social
History, Amsterdam).
74. See comments by Harry van den Bergh in ‘Een Vuil Spelletje: Het WK Voetbal 1978 in Argentinië’(20 February 2013)
Bram Daanen 281
SKAN.
75
Although a delegate of the Chilean socialist party had confirmed Lázara’s credibility to
Wim Bogaard, the international secretary of the PvdA, this proves that SKAN was wary of possible
attempts by the dictatorship to infiltrate.
One of the first important moments during the process of increasing awareness about the situ-
ation in Argentina was the 1978 Field Hockey World Cup organised in February in Buenos
Aires. At that point, the movement for a boycott of the Football World Cup had already gathered
attention and Aktie Argentinië pointed its arrows at a boycott of the hockey tournament. Confronted
with this pressure for a boycott, the national hockey association (KNHB) refused to take a stance.
This inertia was notably criticised by Dutch hockey player Paul Litjens, who would become the top
scorer of the tournament.
76
In addition, the beforementioned Hans Jorritsma –who refused to
receive the silver medal –kept a diary about his time in Buenos Aires, which was published
daily in the magazine Vrij Nederland. Jorritsma wrote that the Dutch ambassador attended Junta
events and disapprovingly described how the Dutch Embassy justified the dictatorship, how back-
room staff members of the hockey team were doing business in Buenos Aires, and mentioned that
an edition of the Buenos Aires Herald –the only newspaper that published about the disappearances
–was shoved under his hotel door.
77
Jorritsma even wrote about his meetings with two Argentine
citizens who told him about the repression and his visit to the weekly march of the Mothers of Plaza
de Mayo, about whom he had heard in the Netherlands. His testimony about the meeting with the
Mothers shows it deeply affected him:
The women take turns telling how many children they are missing, how long they have been missing,
how many times they have tried to get the executive branch to acknowledge that their child is being held
captive. So far without result. There are tears. The women support each other. Some of them grab my
forearm during their story. I feel powerless. Sadness takes over.
78
Hence, the Hockey World Cup experience demonstrates that, despite its efforts to control the
tournament, the dictatorship was unable to prevent Argentine civilians from breaking the silence
and giving a foreign athlete an impression of the terror that was taking place in Argentina. For
the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, the opportunity to speak with a Dutch athlete reinforced their
belief that they could use the competition in June to inform the world about what was going on.
79
The most significanteffect of the agitation that occurredduring the first half of 1978 was that foot-
ball reporterswho would travel to Argentinabecame more aware of what was goingon in the country.
In the words of one activist, SKAN made sure that journalists went to the World Cup ‘with open
eyes’.
80
Furthermore, the tournament provided an opportunity for a Dutch correspondent to return
to Argentina after previously having left for personal security reasons. The World Cup and the
75. ‘Argentinië Informatie’(May 1975), Archief PvdA ARCH01125 2470-2471 (International Institute of Social History,
Amsterdam).
76. Leaflet ‘Moet Nederland Hockeyen (Voetballen) in Argentinië?’(1978), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen
in Nederland COLL00284 90 (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
77. HansJorritsma,‘Waarom Hans Jorritsma de zilveren WK-medaille van Videla niet wilde’(VrijNederland, 10 December 2013)
2021.
78. ibid.
79. Ulises Gorini, La rebelión de las Madres: Historia de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo (1976–1983) (Editorial de la
Universidad Nacional de La Plata 2017).
80. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
282 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
fear of the military dictatorship to attract negative attention guaranteed the safety of critical foreign
journalists. The fact that the military welcomed European journalists with all honours demonstrates
their confidence in their ability to conceal the true situation from foreign eyes.
Nonetheless, the first major operation to achieve this goal of concealing the truth was a failure.
Aware of the fact that the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo had been meeting every Thursday afternoon at
the square for over a year, the regime made sure that the opening ceremony took place at the same
time as the Mothers’manifestation. This timing is especially remarkable given that a World Cup
typically begins on the weekend at an internationally convenient hour to allow as many people
as possible to watch the ceremony live. Despite this distraction manoeuvre, one Dutch journalist
reported on the Mothers’struggle and another managed to film an interview that caused widespread
outrage in Europe. The dictatorship’s efforts to prevent information from leaving the country failed
as a Lufthansa pilot took the tape of the interview with the Mothers with him on a flight to Europe.
81
To this day, images of the Mothers speaking with the foreign journalist continue to appear in the
press, movies, and documentaries.
82
The power of the foreign cameras protected the Mothers
during their denunciations.
5. PROBLEMATIC REPRESENTATIONS OF ‘GOOD’AND ‘EVIL’
For the Argentinian case, the construction of solidary identities was a much more complicated
process than for the Chilean case. Usually, solidarity is based on two dimensions: first, the rec-
ognition of closeness and common ground; and second, the recognition of differences with –
and distance to –the ‘other’.
83
Additionally, Christiaens and others mention how an identifica-
tion of the ‘forces of good and evil’accompanied the process.
84
With regard to Argentina,
imagining this Manichean divide was much more difficult. On the one hand, initially, the jus-
tification of the Junta that it was fighting a Dirty War against subversive elements –which in
reality was State terrorism –seemed acceptable to many. In 1976, in the European
Parliament, the Dutch State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the social liberal party D66
stated that the situation in Argentina had not worsened with the arrival of the regime of
General Videla and that committed excesses did not stem from explicit intentions by the
regime.
85
In same vein, the Dutch Ambassador to Argentina, Van den Brandeler, repeatedly
expressed himself very positively about General Videla in Dutch media.
86
One of the
common arguments in the Netherlands in defence of the military junta concerned the need to
repress the left-wing terror.
Still, predominantly when the boycott campaign grew in popularity, Videla was quickly por-
trayed as the enemy, not only by activists but also by national media, leading the Ambassador to
81. Marcos González Cezer, ‘Van Der Putten y Su Entrevista a Las Madres: “El Mundial 78 Nos Sirvió Para Contar Qué
Pasaba”’ (Télam, 1 June 2020) –madres-
mundial-78.html> accessed 7 May 2021.
82. A copy of the video is available on Youtube: ‘Entrevista a Madres y Abuelas En Plaza de Mayo 1
o
de Junio de 1978’(1
August 2018) =OBlVz3VO09k&t=2s>accessed 7 May 2021.
83. Jens Beckert and others (eds), Transnationale Solidarität : Chancen Und Grenzen (Campus 2004).
84. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 14.
85. Letter from Embajada de la República en Francia to Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto (9 September 1976)
%C3%ADses-bajos-sr-brinkhorst> accessed 9 May 2021.
86. Baud (n 45) 154.
Bram Daanen 283
be reprimanded by the Dutch government for his positive comments on the Junta. Often, Videla was
portrayed as a fascist enemy in SKAN leaflets and in the context of the boycott.
87
In some cases, the
military regime was even compared to the Nazis and the link with the instrumentalisation of the
1936 Olympics in Berlin by Hitler was made. In many cartoons, symbols of the military, the instru-
mentalisation of sports, and images of blood were used to portray Videla’s regime as the enemy.
Approaching the tournament, these denunciations were increasingly repeated by national
newspapers.
On the other side, Peronism, the primary source of opposition against the dictatorship, was also
associated with fascism. In addition, the revolutionary ideals of the Montoneros and the PRT
impeded the identification with these groups as these were incompatible with the wishes of
Dutch activists to defend human rights from a neutral perspective. This meant that it was difficult
to point out the oppressed ‘forces of good’. Various attempts were made to call for solidarity with
‘Argentine workers’or to achieve ‘justice for the Argentine people’, but after the appearance of the
Mothers, they became the central focus of solidarity.
88
This proved to be a key moment in the evolution of Dutch solidarity with Argentina. The image
of a mother demanding information about the disappearance of a child was powerful. Although
Argentine exiles and the SKAN had already spread information about them before the World
Cup, the televised interview during the championship gave them even more visibility and solidary
identities with them were easily constructed. One activist even considers the appearance of the
Mothers as a solution to the problem of not knowing which Argentinian group to actively
support.
89
The identification with the pain of a mother who lost her child was much easier than
with abstract groups such as the ‘Argentine workers’or the ‘people of Argentina’. In this sense,
the Mothers demonstrated the Manichean division of ‘good’versus ‘evil’and after the World
Cup, when a boycott was no longer the aim of solidarity campaigns, the Mothers took centre-stage.
6. CONCRETE SUPPORT: THE DENUNCIATION OF THE ENEMY
AND SUPPORT FOR THE ALLY
Before analysing the concrete support for the Argentinian cause in the Netherlands, it is useful to
present the different active groups of Argentines in the Netherlands that played a key role in shaping
solidarity. In countries all over Europe, Argentines in exile organised and created networks that
facilitated communication. Although the World Cup and the Falklands-Malvinas war created con-
flicts within the exile community,
90
these organisations were crucial in shaping solidarity. Despite
the relatively small number of Argentines in exile in the Netherlands, the Grupo Holanda was an
active member in the network of Argentine Workers and Trade Unionists in Exile (Trabajadores y
Sindicalistas Argentinos en el Exilio, TYSAE). In addition, pamphlets in Dutch from the PRT and
the Montoneros indicate that these groups were also active in the country.
91
During the second half
87. See documents ‘Argentinië Organisaties’(n 38)
88. SKAN leaflet in the context of International Workers’Day (n 40)
89. Interview Joop Bal (n 35).
90. Franco (n 20) 1
91. See Leaflet by Movimiento Peronista Montonero. Nederland (1978) (International Institute of Social History,
Amsterdam) F648EC1> accessed 11 May 2021;
ERP-Leaflet (1979), Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 90 (International
Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
284 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
of 1979, the Grupo Holanda was responsible for the organisation of the third international TYSAE
meeting which took place on 29-30 September 1979 in Amsterdam, and cooperated actively with
the SKAN Amsterdam.
92
Despite the presence of these groups, concrete support for resistance against the dictatorship
developed in a problematic way. In Chile, solidary action had two focal points: first, solidarity
with a political focus entailed resistance to the enemy and targeted support from an ideological
point of view; second, solidarity with a humanitarian focus included protection and help for
victims independent of their political association.
93
With regards to the Argentinian case, it is
important to distinguish between two forms of political solidarity. At first, this form of solidarity
was limited to denouncing the enemy. Only after a clear identification of the ‘good ones’in a
divide between ‘forces of good and evil’, it included support for an ally in resistance against the
enemy.
Many Argentines in the Netherlands appreciated the solidarity with a humanitarian focus.
Solidarity from individuals, who made them feel at home, as well as collective solidarity, which
became obvious through donations in many villages, were examples of this. Contrarily, solidarity
with a political focus had various problems. Initially, solidarity with a political focus was directed
almost exclusively at denouncing the dictatorship. During this period, the Argentine situation was
transformed into a domestic political debate in the Netherlands. The debate was not about how to
show solidarity with Argentina but revolved around the question of whether Dutch society should
see sport and politics as being separated. Although the initiatives came from sincere ideas, doubts
remain about the effectiveness and morality of a boycott. In the case of Chile, the domestication of
the crisis led Europeans to see it through a local prism and allowed activists to identify more easily
with the cause of the Chilean opposition.
94
In the case of Argentina, the appropriation and domes-
tication of the Argentinian crisis led activists to propose a boycott which Argentines –even many of
those who had to leave their country –rejected. As Baud argues, the issue became a debate on the
country’s conscience.
95
Moreover, Dutch activists avoided Argentinian associations that made
them uncomfortable, such as the Montoneros or the PRT. In retrospect, one of the activists
expressed mixed feelings: ‘one starts to enjoy it while others suffer enormously’.
96
Still, the atten-
tion generated by the debate amplified the voices of Argentine exiles in the country and, because of
their efforts to inform them, journalists went to Argentina with the intention to report about the
repression. This all led to the Mothers becoming more known in Europe.
As the Mothers had been identified as ‘the force of good’, it was possible to direct support
towards them. Solidarity in the Netherlands shifted from being limited to denouncing the enemy
to including active support for the Mothers. The involvement of the SAAM committee, created
in 1979, was crucial. A key person in this group was Liesbeth den Uyl, the wife of former
Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, who formed the committee together with other well-known
Dutch women. This group included members of various parties from across the political spectrum.
Whereas during the boycott campaign the political parties had not been actively involved in soli-
darity with Argentina, the Mothers had now succeeded in activating Dutch politics for their
92. See TYSAE documents Documentatiecollectie Solidariteitsbewegingen in Nederland COLL00284 90 (International
Institute of Social History, Amsterdam).
93. Christiaens, Goddeeris and Rodríguez García (n 8) 14.
94. ibid.
95. Baud (n 45) 143.
96. Interview with Freek de Jonge, Dutch activist (Virtual interview from Madrid, Spain, 9 April 2021).
Bram Daanen 285
cause.
97
As a result of the efforts of Argentines in exile, and of Dutch activists and journalists who
raised awareness and informed others about the situation in Argentina, a group was now entirely
dedicated to supporting the Argentinian resistance of the Mothers. One of the founders of the
Mothers stressed the importance of SAAM:
The solidarity of the Netherlands worked wonderfully well, because they [SAAM] were the first to raise
the funds to buy us our first house, which we did not have. We did not have a place to meet and that is
why they always arrested us.
98
SAAM’s objectives were significantly different from those of the Dutch SKAN. As we saw
before, both the SKANs in Amsterdam and The Hague aimed at informing about the
Argentinian situation and at organising solidarity actions. SAAM was entirely dedicated to
helping the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo in their resistance against the military regime in
Argentina. In that sense, the aim was purely to respond to the demands of the Mothers, as described
in the report of the Committee’sfirst meeting:
Money is needed:
(a) to raise the children of disappeared parents and enable them to go to school. The chil-
dren are cared for by their grandparents who often live in poverty.
(b) for the publication of advertisements with the names of disappeared relatives in some
Argentine newspapers for huge sums of money (15,000 dollars or more for a modest ad!). Such adver-
tisements can help to raise awareness at the national level.
99
One of the first acts of support for the Mothers was the publication of an advertisement in an
Argentinian newspaper. The Mothers informed SAAM that their advertisement about the disap-
peared in the newspaper Clarín had been initially accepted, but after a threat against the
editor-in-chief, the advertisement was not published. In early May 1980, a SAAM advertisement
wishing the Mothers strength was published in the newspaper La Prensa and the Mothers commu-
nicated their gratitude in an emotional letter to SAAM.
100
Subsequently, another proposal for an
advertisement in Argentina referring to the Dutch Embassy was blocked by this Embassy.
In addition, SAAM also supported the Mothers monetarily. Notes from a SAAM meeting on 28
May 1980 indicate that 20,000 Dutch guilders (approximately 10,000 USD) were donated to the
Mothers. During 1980, at least five transactions were carried out.
101
On the one hand, according
to one of the members, the SKAN The Hague sought to donate the benefits of their boycott cam-
paign, Bloed aan de Paal, directly to the Mothers. On the other hand, SAAM had also collected
money for the Mothers. According to Baud, Liesbeth den Uyl, and Mies Bouhuys of SAAM
97. With the notable exception of the youth wing of the Social Democratic party, which actively supported the boycott, but
whose party did not take over its position.
98. Interview Hebe de Bonafini (n 72).
99. Report of the first meeting of the committee (in formation), S.A.A.M. Steun Aan Argentijnse Moeders (1979), SAAM
archives (Atria, Amsterdam).
100. Madres de Plaza de Mayo to SAAM (12 May 1980), SAAM archives (Atria, Amsterdam).
101. See SAAM archives (Atria, Amsterdam).
286 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
travelled to Buenos Aires for the first time in 1981 for the opening of the first headquarters of the
Mothers.
102
During that trip, Liesbeth den Uyl delivered the 60,000 Dutch guilders (approximately
25,000 USD) generated by Bloed aan de Paal’s theatre tour and with which the Mothers bought
their first house. Furthermore, SAAM supported the Mother’s candidacy for the Nobel Peace
Prize, pressured the government in Argentina-related affairs and cooperated with the
Commission of Solidarity with Relatives of the Disappeared in Argentina (Comisión de
Solidaridad con Familiares de Desaparecidos en Argentina, Cosofam).
103
In the same vein,
SKAN also changed its focus after the World Cup had ended and a boycott was no longer relevant.
For example, in 1979, the Committees pressured the government to take in more Argentine political
refugees.
104
Apart from the national level, the Mothers’fame was also of importance at the UN. According to
Theo van Boven, a retired Dutch diplomat who worked at the UN at the time, the Mothers’declara-
tions in presence were of special importance.
105
Their statements verified the knowledge of the dis-
appearances in a powerfully emotive way, all while confronting the dictatorship’s efforts to sweep
the matter under the carpet.
106
Van Boven was one of the most prominent defenders of human rights
at the diplomatic level and his activities have been extensively covered. However, his influence on
Dutch public opinion was limited, as he often stressed his international role instead of representing
the Netherlands, and ‘never tried to get into contact with the Netherlands too much’.
107
At the same time the Dutch government’s response to Argentinian pressure was questionable. In
a letter from the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs to his Argentine counterpart –Minister Carlos
W. Pastor of Foreign Affairs and Worship –Chris van der Klaauw responded to the Argentinian
government’s reaction to Max van der Stoel’s intervention at the UN:
I have learned from your Ambassador in The Hague the feelings of your Government about the inter-
vention of the delegate of the Netherlands at the Commission on Human Rights. I wish to assure you in
this personal message that there was no intention to offend your country or members of your
Government in the words he spoke. My government is following the evolution of the human rights situ-
ation in Argentina very closely and is pleased that the situation has improved in recent months.
108
The Dutch minister suggests that ‘there was an extrapolation of the original text as delivered’by
Max van der Stoel, who was leader of the Dutch delegation to the commission of which Van Boven
was director.
109
Van der Stoel, then-member of the Social Democratic Party in the Netherlands, had
been a Foreign Minister and had built a reputation as an advocate for human rights of minorities in
totalitarian States. The letter to the Argentine Minister concluded: ‘It is my profound wish that the
102. Baud (n 45) 161.
103. See SAAM archives (Atria, Amsterdam).
104. Document about SKAN’s Visa campaign (1979), copy in possession of author.
105. Theo van Boven in: ‘Mundial ’78: La Lucha Por Los Derechos Humanos. Voces de Argentina y Holanda.’
(10 December 2020) =OCOB8QNxPPM>accessed 4 May 2021.
106. For an account of the dictatorship’s diplomacy at the UN, see Iain Guest, Behind the Disappearances: Argentina’s
Dirty War against Human Rights and the United Nations (University of Pennsylvania Press 1990).
107. Interview with Theo van Boven, former director of the Human Rights Department at the UN (Virtual interview from
Madrid, Spain, 17 May 2021).
108. Van der Klaauw (n 49).
109. ibid.
Bram Daanen 287
efforts of the government of the Argentine Republic to improve the situation regarding respect for
human rights in your country will be crowned with success’.
110
7. CONCLUSION
Looking backat the mobilisation for the Argentinian cause in theNetherlands, we can observethat the
1978 Football World Cup was a key moment. While the voices of those who denounced the dicta-
torship were barely heard in an environment that was primarily preoccupied with the destiny of
Allende’s project in Chile, this situation completely changed when the World Cup appeared on the
horizon. In Bauso’swords:‘everything football touches multiplies exponentially’.
111
During the
first half of 1978, a debate about the Dutch team’s participation in the tournament put the situation
in Argentina on the front pages of many newspapers. This attention amplified the voices of
Argentine exiles and Dutch activists, and allowed journalists to travel to Argentina with their eyes
open during the World Cup. At the same time, the Argentinian dictatorship actively sought to influ-
ence the debateand conceal the Mothers of Plaza deMayo. However, the interviewthat a Dutch jour-
nalist managed to recordand take out of Argentina caused new outrage –notonly in the Netherlands,
but also in other European countries. As a result, these images prompted the establishment of new
activist groups.The possibility to see theMothers as a force of good was criticalin this process, allow-
ing the construction of solidary identities. From this representation,solidarity was able to evolve from
being limited tothe denunciation of the enemy to the active support of an allyin its resistance against
the enemy. It isalso important to mention that several Argentine exiles in the Netherlands highlighted
the importance of solidarity from people without political objectives. Volunteers made them feel
welcome in the country, cultural events were organised, and lasting friendships were forged.
Between the Mothers and the support group in the Netherlands, a special relationship developed
that led to the opening of a square named after the Mothers in Osdorp (The Netherlands).
Argentine actors played an important part in all these stages: first, by means of exiles, who
created organisational structures in Europe and disseminated information about what was happen-
ing in Argentina; and later, through the demands of the Mothers and of relatives of the disappeared
in Europe. This evolution of solidarity, which could not have occurred without Argentina organis-
ing the World Cup, leads us to conclude that in the Netherlands the dictatorship lost the public rela-
tions battle surrounding the tournament.
It should be noted that this process was not without complications. Although the boycott move-
ment created circumstances that were crucial for the evolution of solidarity, we can observe several
seemingly contradictory situations in that campaign. The importance of football in modern cultures
is obvious from both Argentinian and Dutch perspectives. It is difficult to imagine that the Mothers’
denunciations would have gained such traction if the Football World Cup had not shone a spotlight
on them. Furthermore, the first Mothers’house was sponsored by funds raised by Dutch activists in
a theatre tour during which they had called for a boycott. In that sense, the importance of football in
raising awareness about the issue of repression in Argentina was critical. On the other hand, the
importance of football also imposed constraints on mobilisation. It is striking that no political
110. ibid.
111. Matías Bauso, ‘Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo y El Mundial 78: La Historia Detrás Del Estremecedor Video Viral Que
Conmovió a Las Redes’(infobae, 25 March 2019)
plaza-de-mayo-y-el-mundial-78-la-historia-detras-del-estremecedor-video-viral-que-conmovio-a-las-redes/> accessed
16 May 2021.
288 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 40(3)
party, including the one whose members voted in favour, supported the boycott. Only after the dust
had settled after the World Cup did the political parties dare to support the Argentinian cause more
actively. Besides, the boycott distracted from the fact that economic relations between the
Netherlands and the dictatorship were growing quickly. Football functioned as a reinforcing
factor, but also as a constraint.
For the Argentine exiles, the boycott produced discomfort. While they appreciated the efforts of
Dutch activists to assist them, their possible support for the boycott position annoyed their friends
and relatives in Argentina. From testimonies of Dutch activists, the feeling emerges that they never
realised the particularly immense importance of football in Argentina. Regarding the stigma that
exiles received for fleeing the country,
112
this stigma was likely worsened by a possible affiliation
with the boycott. The Argentine exiles were faced with a potentially diabolical dilemma. Still, they
managed to create links between various actors such as the Mothers, Dutch activists, and journal-
ists, and hereby played a crucial role in getting the human rights violations in their country on the
international agenda.
Finally, society is left with the following big question: was the boycott truly a good cause? Dutch
activists ‘had a good time’with the boycott campaign, while it provoked unease among Argentine
exiles. This is a complicated question that this article does not pretend to answer. The article has,
however, shown that viewing the World Cup from a Dutch point of view caused difficulties for
Argentines in the Netherlands. In the end, Dutch political actors remained silent, and the status
quo prevailed. As a result, it can be concluded that the boycott issue has not yet been resolved.
With several major sporting events organised by authoritarian regimes behind us and more to
come, society is torn between boycotting and participating with the aim of raising awareness.
With regard to this question, while the World Cup was a success for the dictatorship at the national
level, that success came at a high cost at the international level: a Pyrrhic victory.
Acknowledgement
The author is grateful to the anonymous reviewers and wishes to acknowledge and thank Prof. Olivier
Compagnon and Prof. Guillermo Mira for their help and recommendations. The author also wishes to thank
the interviewees for their willingness to share their memories of a distant past.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.
Funding
The research for this paper received the support of the Erasmus +Programme of the European Union as it was
conducted in the context of the Erasmus Mundus Master ‘LAGLOBE –Latin America and Europe in a Global
World’.
ORCID iD
Bram Daanen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9418-1628
112. Marina Franco, ‘Algunas Reflexiones En Torno al Acto de Exilio En El Pasado Reciente Argentino’in E Bohoslavsky
and others (eds), Problemas de historia reciente del Cono Sur, Volumen II (Prometeo Libros 2010).
Bram Daanen 289
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