“Restless, the Mothers march every

Thursday, they meet every Tuesday

and the time is not enough”

This article is the continuation of myprevious column. Here a hypothesis will be presented on one of how historicalmemory can be structured from the case of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo duringthe last Argentine dictatorship, 1976-1983, headed by Jorge Rafael Videla,Emilio Eduardo Massera, and Orlando Ramon Agosti

Once people were taken from their homes,jobs, or public areas by military or police forces, family members -especiallymothers- presented themselves at police stations or detention centers askingabout their status; in many cases habeas corpus was filed without any effect.The mothers began to recognize each other since they were again and again indifferent places. In this way they grouped themselves little by little untilthey reached a group of approximately 30 women in the Stella Maris church ofthe navy, in Buenos Aires, where the bishop was aware of the situation; Thenthey decided to go to the Plaza de Mayo. A woman was in the baton: AzucenaVillaflor, the great founder. No type of response was given by the civilprotection organizations and, here is the first key moment: the visibility ofdenunciation.

The Plaza de Mayo, the place ofconcentration chosen by mothers to claim they disappeared, is located at a keypoint of the capital: in front of the Government House and surrounded by banks,where thousands of citizens circulate daily. At first, for convenience, theychose Saturday but discovered that since it was not a working day there was notenough flow of people to create the desired effect, so the day was changed toThursday at 3:30 p.m. For the declared State of Emergency, meetings of morethan 3 people were prohibited by law, as well as protests. For this reason, thewomen decided to make a public act in complete silence, they would meet toweave, to sit, but always at the same time on Thursdays, more and more tocreate that feeling of pressure. One of the mothers' comments in an Argentinedocumentary (See: thatit was thanks to the police that the mothers began to circulate couples throughthe Plaza. It was not possible to sit on benches weaving, and it was notpossible to stand waiting, so the order of the police was "circulate",which is why these women walked slowly around the Plaza for two hours eachweek. At several moments the demonstrations reached 300 women. Internationaljournalists began to be interested in this group and to seek to interview them,although the national media ignored the issue, and many branded thedenunciations as lies.

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The aim was to achieve various types ofjustice for the victims: first, psychological; then, historical, and, finally,social. At first, they asked: where are they? What have they done to mydaughter? But after several years, so many bodies had already been found thatthe question was not whether they were alive or not but, where are they. Nomatter if they were alive or not. The claim consisted in recognizing that thedisappeared had been snatched, tortured, and killed.

In Luján a religious festival wascelebrated and the Mothers made themselves heard with shouts. To identify themselves,the cloth diapers used by their children were put on their heads and thisbecame the great symbol we know today. Of course, this demonstration alsoappeared in international newspapers. Such was the pressure that this group ofunstoppable women inflicted on the country that, finally, Videla gave a hearingin 1977 to Azucena Villaflor, Beatriz Kety de Neuhaus, and María Rosario deCerruti. They met with the absolute cynicism of the army chief. "Many ofmy friends' children leave the country and do not say where they are going. Somegirls are practicing prostitution in Mexico. Can you believe it?" Said thedictator. It was an answer expected by the Mothers, but despite that, it didnot stop being painful. "The daughters of your friends will be in prostitution.Ours are missing" said Beatriz de Neuhaus. The absolute denial of therecognition of the crime is one of the primary causes of the impossibility ofhealing it.

The next step was the recognition of thenational and international community. At this moment the whole country -theClandestine Detention Centers were located all around the country (See CONADEP,2013. Nunca Más, Buenos Aires: Eudeba)- and the rest of the world knewthe terrible moment that civil society was going through Argentina thanks tothe reach of the press. Amnesty International sent a delegation in 1976condemning the Argentine State for committing serious crimes against humanityand for carrying out political persecution against the commission. Also, theInteramerican Commission on Human Rights visited the country in 1980, the yearin which the same thing was concluded. However, after years of revelations, weknow that the US government helped the coups in the Southern Cone during the1970s and 1980s; a reason why the great slogan of armed interventionism wouldnot apply in these cases (Klein, N. 2013. The doctrine of shock, Barcelona:Booket, Perkings, J. 2005. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. New York:Penguin Group). The recognition of international human rights defenders ofcrimes does not mean a cessation of such practices, but a denunciation beforethe international community. Different tactics of pressure can be applied tocommitted governments; however, declarations of war are extremely rare and are,historically, made mostly by the United States. However, a large window ofpossibilities opens up by making the case known.

Here the next step is presented, thepossibility of execution of the crimes committed. International recognition isnot enough, although it is a huge step because it opens many possibilities. Forexample, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights can make a State recognize andcompensate the victims for a crime committed by their bodies. However, this wasnot the Argentine case. The Board Government was weakened by social pressure:protests, and resistance. Finally, the democratic electoral call was made, anda non-Peronist president was elected: Raul Alfonsin. In 1985 the Trials of the Boardcarried out by Argentine magistrates and judges began, in which thoseresponsible for the crimes against humanity were condemned as torture, forceddisappearance, appropriation of children, and mass murders, among others. JorgeRafael Videla was condemned, pardoned, and condemned again after the fall ofthe dictatorship. He died in captivity in 2013.

Now, what was the objective?The Mothers wanted to show that there was no forgetting; that on the contrarythere was resistance: there was no abandonment and there was no fear; theaffirmation of social justice was sought through the recognition of people. Thepolice harassment did not give wait. Every time a woman joined the Thursdaymeeting, the agents intercepted her asking for her identity document tointimidate her, however, all the other women presented their documents at thesame time, which made the work interminable. When the demonstrations grew, theybegan to take prisoners. Once the phenomenon of the Mothers was heard worldwide12 of them were disappeared and killed, among them Azucena Villaflor. However,the list of the names of the missing children was published in the newspaperunder the name For a Christmas in Peace We Only Ask for the Truth. In addition,the case of the 2 missing French nuns arrested, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon,was announced by the international press. The Mothers continued to circulate, although many fewer of them becausethe machinery of the criminal State had reached its goal to some extent:establish terror. International journalists sought to interview the Mothers tomake them visible; At the same time, they talked to the military about the issueand received the two versions. In the 1978 football world cup, the Dutchtelevision media decided to broadcast the usual march on Thursdays instead of agame. The Mothers continued to circulate tirelessly. Over time, they becamegrandmothers and were recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (See:https://telefenoticias.com.ar/politica/las-abuelas-de-plaza-de-mayo-nominadas-al-prize-Nobel-of-peace/?fbclid=IwAR3kRxzL14HkL2ET60vFt4GiXIgVE4TgMGgJu_knyIgPBvM5gj0WrfzeQ2U). There are now several organizationsrelated to the search for grandchildren born in captivity who were abducted andassimilated by right-wing families such as the organizations H.I.J.O.S.; Familiares;

Then, the hypothesis is that, at leastin some cases, the creation of historical memory begins with the loss ofconfidence in state civil protection agencies, followed by the organization ofa collective that seeks visibility and denunciation. From the complaint, wehave 4 additional steps: the search for psychological, social, and historicaljustice for the victims; recognition by the national and internationalcommunity; the possibility of executing the crimes; and the non-forgetfulness,in which the resistance and the affirmation of social justice are contained.

Bibliography

Amnistía Internacional. 1976. Informede una Misión de Amnistía Internacional a la República Argentina. Barcelona:Imprenta Juvenil.

Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Historia de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo.

CONADEP. 2013. Nunca Más. BuenosAires: Eudeba

Klein, N. 2013. La doctrina delshock. Barcelona:Booket.

Perkings, J. 2005. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. New York: PenguinGroup

23 de mayo de 2018. Las Abuelas dePlaza de Mayo, nominadas al Premio Nobel de la Paz. Website

Bibliography

Amnistía Internacional. 1976. Informe de una Misión de Amnistía Internacional a la República Argentina. Barcelona: Imprenta Juvenil.

Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Historia de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo.

CONADEP. 2013. Nunca Más. Buenos Aires: Eudeba

Klein, N. 2013. La doctrina del shock. Barcelona: Booket.

Perkings, J. 2005. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. New York: Penguin Group

23 de mayo de 2018. Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, nominadas al Premio Nobel de la Paz. Website

Encuentro 2015. Madres de Plaza de Mayo La historia. Website