Beyond punishment: Victims, legitimacy, and the moral construction of their demands

This article analyzes the emergence of demands made by members of Víctimas por la Paz (Victims for Peace), an Argentine organization composed of individuals who, based on their personal experiences of violence, have created a distinctive space for struggle. Drawing on six in-depth interviews, it examines the notions and categories that these victims use to legitimize their claims and counter other victimizing narratives, exploring the tensions between these different perspectives. It analyzes how these social actors shape their moral worlds, generating specific forms of activism within a social space that is diverse in terms of degrees of institutional protection and visibility. I am interested in showing how that pain transformed into argument translates into social authority, enabling specific forms of public intervention.