[“Macri is Revolution”: the PRO and the Challenges of Right-wing Activism at the University of Buenos Aires

Abstract

This article examines right-wing PRO militancy at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a traditionally progressive environment. Unlike previous interpretations suggesting a sociocultural distance as an obstacle, this study argues that PRO's main difficulty at UBA lies in the party leadership's disinterest towards its university branch. Through qualitative fieldwork (2015-2019), the configuration of PRO-Universities is analyzed, highlighting its autonomy from Jóvenes PRO and the ability of pure PRO members to generate resources and adapt PRO's repertoires to university culture, even perceiving UBA as key for the «cultural battle». The 2018 crisis and 2019 defeat, rather than sociocultural distance, were decisive in the cessation of their activity.