Las Madres, Part 2

Last Thursday was an important day at Las Madres' office, the two year anniversary of the disappearance of Jorge Julio Lopez. Lopez was disappeared during the military regime back in the seventies but survived. Two years ago, just before Lopez was scheduled to testify as a key witness against an important military leader, he disappeared again. Argentina, for all its problems, is a relatively stable democracy now, so the fact that this happened only two years ago, under the same leadership, is really scary. It also highlights the relevance of Las Madres' refrain: "Nunca Más" (Never Again). Las Madres' main activities today involve memory and searching for the truth about what happened in the past. But this event shows how easy it would be to slip back into the situation of thirty years ago.

Incidentally, this possibility has been raised in political conversations at my house several times lately. Both Elvira and her daughter Kata worry that the looming financial crash - which, they believe, would hit Argentina and the rest of South America harder than the United States - will swing the currently left leaning continent back over to the right, as has happened in the past. The Economist also made a similar prediction, although they were far less gloomy about it, staunch capitalists that they are.

Getting back to Thursday, Carmen told us to leave the office for awhile to go watch the march, which would be in honor of Lopez that day and would accompany other special activities at la Plaza de Mayo. The dynamic of the march was really interesting. First of all, on first sight, it looked like nothing more than a tourist attraction, as there were probably more representatives of the latter group than the former. The madres marched slowly to allow all the tourists to kneel in front of them and get good pictures (I did this too, so I can't criticize). I think if I hadn't gotten to know the madres before coming, I would have considered the whole event a sad spectacle. But now that I've gotten to know the organization better, I see that this is a great situation for them. Now that they are getting older, they want to spread their message to as many people as possible. Although these marches spread only a shallow awareness to those who don't already know Las Madres' story, they're still a great way to keep their image alive and spread it to whatever countries these people came from. And for every crowd of people who snap a few pictures and leave, there has to be someone who looks them up, tells a friend about the experience, etc. Thursday was an especially great day for people to come watch, because the Lopez story (as far as I know) didn't make international news. But the madres all marched carrying signs with Lopez' picture on them that read "Aparición con vida, ya!" (Appearance with life, now! It makes more sense in Spanish). At the end of their march, one of them read something describing what had happened to Lopez and what Las Madres and other human rights groups are currently demanding.

The other interesting part of the march was the presence of the other line, Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo. I don't understand the original reasons for the division, but now the other line represents a much more radical wing of Las Madres. Given how warm and welcoming Las Madres have been to me, I was surprised to see such open hostility between the two groups. But then again, it shouldn't be too shocking that people with the gumption to fight a murderous dictatorship get angry and show it. Both branches of Las Madres marched in the same circle around the plaza, but in obviously distinct groups. While Línea Fundadora held up the Lopez signs, the other branch marched in support of Evo Morales and workers rights, carrying rainbow flags that symbolize indigenous people and other flags with pictures of Morales' face. While the madres from Línea Fundadora were still marching, the other group stopped to read from their own literature, chanting so loudly they drowned out Línea Fundadora's chants. They also left them with little space in which to march, forcing them to walk in a single file line for part of the time. When Línea Fundadora stopped to do their own reading and chanting, the other group was already done, but otherwise the same thing would have likely happened.

After watching the march, we went back to the office, where another group of American students from a different exchange program was visiting, and we watched Las Madres' presentation with them. Because a whole group of madres spoke, I got to hear different perspectives and stories from Carmen's for the first time, all of which were very interesting. The most upsetting part was the story of two different madres, both of whose kids were disappeared as punishment for their involvement in Catholic charity groups that gave food and medical care to children in the poorest parts of Argentina. While working on a different project today, I learned of a 6-month-old girl who was disappeared along with her mother. I also read about an entire family that was disappeared, all of whom, including the 8 and 10-year-old kids, listed as "subversive persons" in police files. It's stories like this that make me see the complete insanity of this regime (and the many others like it that have existed and continue to exist). It ostensibly carried out these acts to fight communism, which has never even been popular in Argentina, but stories like this invalidate any attempts at justification or even reasoning.

I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but working with las madres, as well as being in Argentina in general, has made me reconsider a lot of beliefs I previously held without thinking much about them (exactly the point of studying abroad, I guess). Specifically, I've been thinking a lot about what role governments should play in the world, what role they have historically played and about historical memory. Nothing concrete yet, but I'm sure I'll have thoughts to report in the weeks and months to come.