Author Archives: mshulin1

Going Home

Posted on by

  When leaving Buenos Aires and returning to Atlanta I felt very tired, not from lack of sleep but from information overload.  I learned a lot.  And, a lot of this was very depressing.  It will be good to get a good night’s sleep in my own bed.  Maybe tomorrow I will be better able to process the whole trip. 

The Argentines believe that since these bad things happened, they cannot just look the other way.  They need to acknowledge the wrong doing and keep it fresh in the memory so that it never happens again.  We also need to recognize that these bad things that happen elsewhere can happen here if we don’t acknowledge it and keep them fresh in our memory.  

 

Argentinian Life

Posted on by

Life in Argentina seems to be pretty normal.  The people that lived through the *Dirty War” are desperate to keep the memory alive so that it never happens again. The younger generation is more interested in their phones and other electronics.  The ones who are supposed to be teaching the younger generations may do it or may not.  We can only control ourselves so I think it is basically up to the parents to try to instill the horror of these human rights violations on their children.  I also thank and praise those who are running and working at the memory sites for doing their part in the attempt for “Nunca Mas”.

Madres y Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo

Posted on by

In “Children of the Dirty War:  Argentinas stolen orphans” F. Goldman tells how Maria Isabel Chorobik de Mariani went to some meetings of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and then started the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo to join with other grandmothers who were looking for their missing grandchildren.  Maria thinks she has found her grandchild but it took years to get the children to consent to be tested.  So, after believing or at least hoping for many years, she is disappointed to find that she is not related.  False hope can be very devastating.  I was very happy to learn about the database where people born during the years of those disappeared and those who lost a grandchild can register with their dna.  Hopefully many, many more will be found.

Reflections

Posted on by

This picture is not what it seems.  It is a picture of the room inside of D2 that contains all the photographs of the victims.  (See the faces on the door.) However, it is shot through the glass window which is reflecting the church across el Pasaje Santa Caterina.  The overpowering image of the church mimics the influence of the church in Argentina at the time.  How complicit was the Church?  Surely the clergy had to know about these atrocities since they were happening literally next door. Surely parishioners would have confided in them and asked for help.  Could they have done anything about it?  Did they help in the inquisition?  How do they deal with their guilt?

In E. Hammer’s Remembering the Disappeared:  Science Fiction Film in Post-Dictatorship Argentina the theme of institutional Catholicism’s complicity with the dictatorship is addressed in sci-fi movies Man Facing Southeast and K-Pax.  And, although Hammer’s article was about several science fiction films, it mentions that this theme is also present in La historia oficial which was not sci-fi.   (It also references an article that Fernando wrote in Latin American Literary Review on another subject).

One thing we can learn from this experience of abuse is that if you think something is wrong, you need to try to do something about it no matter what those who should be leading and protecting you are doing.  Do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.

 

Keeping the Memory Alive

Posted on by

A memorial needs to be visually impactful to get the visitors attention.  It doesn’t need to be colorful or pretty, a half opened door or other device can draw the viewer.  It needs to be informative.  The more you can say without words, the better.  It needs to be personal.  The color action shots of the victims doing every day activities made them seem more like you and ms, more deserving of being remembered. The memorials need to be frequent to keep the memory alive.  The memorials done by their friends at local businesses dramatically add to the state sponsored ones to keep the atrocities from being forgotten.

Rights Denied

Posted on by

The prologue of Nunca Mas lists some basic human rights – the right to life, the right to security of person, the right to a trial, the right not to suffer either inhuman conditions of detention, denial of justice , or summary execution.  Every day, we enjoy all of these rights.  The disappeared enjoyed none of them.

Another right that isn’t mentioned above is the right to property.  In Cortazar’s short story House taken over, two women move into smaller and smaller quarters in the house they love until they are finally forced out into the streets.  They never see their invaders, but they hear them coming and they fear for their safety.  The lose their property and they also lose their right to security of person.