Photo courtesy of Paolo V via Flickr
Jendayi Leben-Martin ’24
Global Editor & Managing Editor of Content
Javier Milei surprised many by winning Argentina’s run-off presidential election in a victory over opponent Sergio Massa, according to BBC News. However, The New York Times reported that while Milei captured a large sector of the youth vote, his campaign faced a considerable enemy: Taylor Swift fans — Swifties for short.
A group of Argentinian progressives called Swifties Against Freedom Advances — Freedom Advances is the name of Milei’s party — took to social media to make their dissent for his political platform known. Created by 10 Taylor Swift fans, SAFA says they were motivated by Swift’s own willingness to oppose right-wing politicians in her home country of the United States.
According to The New York Times, in a statement posted to X — the site formerly known as Twitter — the group said that they “[could not] not fight after having heard and seen Taylor give everything so that the right [wing] doesn’t win in her country.”
The group also voiced, “As Taylor says, we have to be on the right side of history.” In the case of the recent election, the group saw being on the right side of history as opposing far-right libertarian presidential candidate Milei. The New York Times reported that the statement had amassed 1.5 million views on X as of Nov. 4, 2023.
Milei, who was previously a financial analyst, ran his campaign on radical ideas about reforming the Argentinian economy, according to CNN. These ideas included switching out the Argentine peso for the U.S. dollar, cutting government programs like welfare and ridding Argentina of its ministries of culture, which include ministries on gender and education, among others.
These proposals come at a time of major financial strife and public dissatisfaction with the Argentinian economy. According to BBC News, at the time of Milei’s election victory, annual inflation was at 143%, and 40% of Argentinians were “living in poverty.”
Some of Milei’s more conservative proposals, however, are what motivated SAFA. According to The New York Times, Milei has denied the existence of a pay gap between men and women and infamously minimized the actions of the violent authoritarian rule of Argentina between the years of 1976 and 1983, calling the atrocities “excesses.” This perspective, in combination with Milei’s promise to dismiss the ministries of race, gender and education, has landed him in hot water with Swift’s fans, The New York Times reported.
Not all fans of Swift, however, agree with the group’s tactics. Barbara Alcibiade, a 22-year-old Swift fan who recently attended a concert in Buenos Aires, told The New York Times that “the reality of the United States is a very different reality than the one that we are living here.” Alcibiade continued, saying that while “it’s true that a large percentage of fans may or may not follow certain ideals or the values that she represents, but that doesn’t mean that represents everyone.”
Swift, who performed three sold-out shows in Buenos Aires last month, has not commented on the election. Milei, however, did comment on SAFAs, claiming that he is “not the far right” and that “[the group] can express what they want,” according to The New York Times.
Former President of the United States Donald Trump has said that Milei will “Make Argentina Great Again,” while former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro declared that, with Milei’s recent election, “hope [will] shine in South America,” BBC News reported. Both of these conservative politicians are up for reelection in their respective nations in the next three years, according to The Guardian.