Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

---

What an experience this week has been. Thursday afternoon we went to go watch the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo march in front of the Casa Rosada, the president’s house.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, they are a group of women who lost their children during the Dirty War during the 1970s. During this War, Argentina was under a military government, and many people who had contrarian political ideas were kidnapped secretly in the middle of the night by the government. These people were then detained, tortured, and killed, while their families were left with no information about their whereabouts. Even after the war, little was said about these disappeared persons, or “desaparecidos.” The Madres began marching to demand an end to the secrecy and silence the government maintained, and to get the honest answers about what happened to their children. They wear white headscarves, and many of the women march holding pictures of the children they lost.

From what I understand, there are now two groups of the Madres. One it appears has become more involved in political matters—they marched holding a sign that said “We work for agrarian reform.” The other, which had a sign saying “Foundational Line,” appears to be focused exclusively on the desaparecidos.

It seems the Madres draw mixed feelings among the people I know here. While all agree that what happened during the Dirty War was sad, some felt more moved by the demonstration than others, it seemed. Some people thought it was so sad seeing the mothers walking with pictures of their children. But others thought it was somehow cheapened. The Plaza was swarmed with tourists taking pictures and buying souvenir headscarves that the Madres were selling. Some even posed with the Madres afterward with big smiles (That seemed a little odd to me. Wasn’t this supposed to be a solemn event?)

I have also heard some locals say the Madres have become too political and touristy. They supported the Madres when they first began, but now believe it is a business (The Madres have their own university, their own books—it sounds like they’ve grown into an institution here) and a show of politics. It was especially interesting to get this perspective, since in my Spanish classes in the States I’ve only learned about the Dirty War and how the Madres started, not how things have changed, for better or for worse, over time. I’ve been exposed to a limited point of view that looks on the Plaza from thousands of miles away with a different mindset.

Personally, I had expected to feel more sadness and sympathy when I went. But the event was somehow cheapened with the hordes of people and souvenir selling. I can see how some people have the point of view that the march has become a business event. Then again, it’s easy when you learn about history (or anything for that matter) from afar to romanticize it in your head. But I suppose here, the Madres are a part of the fabric of everyday life. The routine of the march has become something regular, not entirely spectacular.

Even if for some the march lacks the profoundness it once had, you can’t deny the sadness these women have endured and the dedication they have to their cause. At the very least, these women are making sure, just by their presence, that no one will ever forget what happened.

---

Comments

[Federico]

Let me make an observation
Dear Amanda: Of course you are under no obligation to have proper knowledge of the so called "dirty war" as you are not an argentinean and just a turist. Most argentineans don´t really know what happened during those years and just repeat the official speech. So it´s understandeable that you do the same. The "dissapeared" were not only "people that thought differently" but real terrorists. There was a force of 30.000 guerrilla fighters trained in Cuba to overtake a democratic government and impose a dictatorial marxist regime (just as in Cuba). Luckily enough Argentina is not the same as Cuba and the people didn´t want a marxist revolution. The military took the government after 6 years of a chaotic situation where the terrorist commited 22.000 terrorist acts (bombing) and killed 2.000 people. In this situation, the society as a whole claimed for the military intervention. The mother of the disappeared are mothers of ruthless criminales. Period.