Argentina: Concern over future of Parque de la memoria

Worrying news from Argentina as question marks hang over the future of the Parque de la memoria (memory park) in Buenos Aires.

Staff there were recently told they would not receive a pay rise this year, which, given Argentina's inflation rate, is the equivalent of a substantial pay cut. In a blunt ultimatum, the staff were invited to resign if they had a problem with the decision. The employees of the park seem to have been singled out for this measure, which is not affecting other municipal employees.

This has given rise to fears that the move is a precursor to winding down the park. It is a symbol of the lack of commitment to the site by the BA government and the park's director herself has expressed concern that the park will end up "devoid of content".

This would be unfortunate; when I was there almost exactly 10 years ago, I observed that the park was a long way out of the city centre, rather bare and not well-used. However, in the intervening period, various new pieces of art have been added and activities have taken place. The Parque de la memoria seems to have become an established part of the capital's memory landscape (perhaps helped by the fact that the nearby ex-ESMA site is also an active place of memory). According to Pagina/12, the site was visited by over half a million people last year, so it is obviously being used. It would be a retrograde step to close it down.

Cara Levey and Francesca Lessa have written an excellent article for Al Jazeera on this issue, see below, and rightly call for the long-term securing of memorial sites.

Acusan a Macri de querer “convertir el Parque de la Memoria en una plaza vacía de contenido” (Telam)
Denuncian peligro de cierre de Parque de la Memoria de víctimas de dictadura argentina (El nuevo Herald)
Landscapes of Memory: Argentina's persistent struggles over the past (Al Jazeera)

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2014/01/04/1649024/denuncian-peligro-de-cierre-de.html#storylink=cpy

Open letter by academics protesting against the possible closure of the park (Facebook)

Peru: Route of peace and reconciliation

As we approach the 31st anniversary of the killings of journalists and their guide in Uchuraccay, the victims' families, journalists' organisations and some legislators want the way the men took to be named "Route of peace and reconciliation". The culture ministry is examining the proposal.

Relatives of four of the victims attended a press conference on the matter.

Each year, families and others walk the route to Uchuraccay and lay flowers at a memorial for the men who became one of the symbols of Peru's conflict.

Uchuraccay: piden nombrar ruta recorrida como “de la Paz y Reconciliación" (La Republica)

Places of memory in Chile: Memorial in Valparaíso

This is the monument for the detained-disappeared and persons executed for political reasons of the region of Valparaíso (Monumento a los Detenidos Desaparecidos y Ejecutados políticos de la Dictadura Militar de la Región de Valparaíso), Chile's second city and major port. And, as you can see here, it also acts as a convenient seat for students of the nearby university.

The memorial was designed by a team formed of sculptor Eliana Herrera, architect Hernán Bustamante and anthropologist Javiera Bustamante, who won a public competition. 

The stone base of the memorial contains the names of 177 victims of the dictatorship between 11 September 1973 and 10 March 1990.

The top part of the memoria resembles a wave and is formed of 86 iron sheets of varying heights. The designers said that it represented the sea as a source of life and symbolised a fragment of the history of Chile. The names of the men and women were "engraved there forever to defeat forgetting". 

Memorial por desaparecidos y ejecutados (El Mercurio de Valparaíso)
Emplazado en Avda. Brasil y Rodríguez:VALPARAÍSO INAUGURA MEMORIAL EN HOMENAJE A SUS 177 VÍCTIMAS DE DERECHOS HUMANOS (ddhh.gov.cl)

Places of memory in Santiago: Monument to the disappeared

Municipal workers in Chile were striking during my visit and there was a notice on the entrance to the main cemetery in Santiago saying that it was only open for funeral services, but the guards weren't stopping people going in, so I managed a quick visit to the monument to disappeared people and executed political prisoners.

Its full name is the Memorial del Detenido Desaparecido y del Ejecutado Político (memorial for detained-disappeared people and those executed for political reasons).

At the side of the monument itself are niches, some of them empty and some with victims' names and flowers.

The main monument itself is a large, stone wall with a list of victims carved into it. As with other such walls, the effect is largely due to the sheer number of names. In the very centre is president Salvador Allende.

The memorial is topped with a quotation from Chilean poet Raúl Zurita, who you can hear reading here.

 

I always really like seeing a memorial used, actually part of the fabric of life. In this case, at the bottom of the memorial are many notes, photos, little plaques, flowers, and so on. It's a sombre site but then, it is in a graveyard. The important thing is these victims did not previously have anywhere where their families could go to mourn them and to mark their lives, and now they do, and they are acknowledged in the chief cemetery of the capital city as being part of the country's history.

Peru: El ojo que llora

Image source

I was looking at the pictures of the Lima memorial El ojo que llora (the eye that cries)  and its role in the recent marking of the decade since the truth commission report in Peru. I'm really pleased to see this memorial space actually being used and acting as a focal point for commemorations.

I saw the memorial being constructed and I don't seem to have shared many of those images, so I thought I'd put that straight. These were taken at the end of 2005.

Argentina: Remembering the AMIA in images

The 19th anniversary of the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires has just passed, so I thought I'd mark it with an image post.

 (Credit: Nbelohlavek)

This banner makes a deliberate link between the Holocaust (approx. 6 million victims) and the victims of the Israeli embassy bombing (22) and AMIA attack (85).

(Credit: Pablo D. Flores)

The monument in Plaza Lavalle, Buenos Aires, uses the names of the victims.

(Credit: Roblespepe)

(Credit: wallyg)

El Salvador: Monumento a la Memoria y la Verdad

Thanks to Tim at Tim's El Salvador Blog for linking to this video from the Pro-Historic Memoric Commission in El Salvador, it's worth watching:

This led me to look for a little more information about the Monumento a la Memoria y la Verdad (Monument to truth and justice) in San Salvador. Wikipedia tells me it is located in the Parque Cuscatlán and is a wall 85 metres long, of black granite and engraved with over 25,000 victims' names - which puts me in mind of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The video above and this blog post tell us that it took private groups and fundraising to get the memorial built and that it was not initially recognised as a site of cultural patrimony.

Image by Jorge Montenegro from Wikicommons.

Argentina: Urban memorials

La Nación had a very interesting article about urban memorials this week. It's worth checking out for the pictures. Here's a translation of just the part dealing with the dictatorship:


Walking in the capital can turn into a journey back in time. On the pavements of Buenos Aires, hundreds of coloured tiles contrast with the boring grey of the city and interrupt the daily walks of pedestrians with a message which recalls the most recent dictatorship. 

"Here lived Roberto Fernando Lertora, abducted along with Adriana Mosso de Carlevaro, militants of the people, detained-disappeared on 27 March, 1977, in an act of State Terrorism", reads one of the mosaic plaques, which is almost a square metre large.

Photo: LA NACION / Sebastián Rodeiro

The project is the work of the local coordinator for memory and justice (Coordinadora de Barrios por Memoria y Justicia), a federation of local assemblies which started leaving traces of the disappeared on 2 December 2005, near the church of Santa Cruz in San Cristóbal.

Since then, they've never stopped. "There must be about 500 stones in the capital and other parts of the country," says Pablo Zalazar from the group.

"The idea of the tiles is that the 30,000 disappeared people won't be just a number, but a history of life," Zalazar explains. Before installing each mosaic, the coordinator investigates the person it is going to remember - who they were, where they lived, what they did, how and where they were abducted. 


Then, they record the data in a book edited by the space of memory institute (Instituto Espacio para la Memoria), which is currently working on the third edition.

Piecing together the history of the life of a disappeared person is a complex task. "Sometimes there were five or six of us. Not even the relatives got close," points out Esther Pastorino from the group. "But in other cases, there were families separated by the dictatorship who got back together because of the placing of a tile". 

Why do they do it? "It's a message that memory remains. For us, they're not tombstones, but a signpost for our fellow city-dwellers," reflects Zalazar, and brings up the point of the project: "We want young people to be aware of the issue, so it really will never happen again". 

The city's "Never Again"is also evoked by the memory park (parque de la memoria) next to the university campus, the memorial under the 25 de Mayo motorway, on the avenue Paseo Colón, and the 32 white headscarves of the Madres on the ground of the Plaza de Mayo. 


Painted 25 years ago by the Madres' support group (Frente de Apoyo a las Madres), the headscarves "represent life", Hebe de Bonafini told La Nación. "They don't bear any name because they represent all the 30,000 disappeared", the head of the Madres points out, adding "The headscarf has to do with the purity of the ideals of our children, whom we do not recognise as dead".

Argentina round-up

March is always the month of memory in Argentina, with the anniversary of the attack on the Israeli embassy on the 17th and the coup anniversary on the 24th. This year, with the 30th anniversary of the invasion of the Falklands/Malvinas coming up, the commemorative trend is particularly obvious and continuing into April.

Here's a selection of articles of interest from this week:

- On Monday, the memory commission of the province of Buenos Aires submitted an appeal to the Argentine supreme court requesting that the mistreatment of recuits during the Malvinas conflict amounted to crimes against humanity:
Piden a la Corte que se defina por las torturas en Malvinas (La Nacion)
Legal actions against Argentine officers who tortured conscripts during Malvinas war (Mercopress)

Not everyone in Argentina is convinced that the country has a right to the Falkland Islands. The BBC gives space to historian Luis Alberto Romero, who says,

"I'm not really bothered about the claim over the Malvinas. [...] What does worry me is the rise of a nationalistic feeling that can cause traumas in our society," he says, referring to public support for the country's military regime when it decided to invade the South Atlantic islands in 1982.

I'd agree with that.
Falkland Islands: Argentina's dissenters (BBC)

Oh, and incidentally, if you're a bit hazy about the exact dates of all the Falklands stuff, the BBC has sorted that with a handy timeline:
The Falklands War: Key dates (BBC)

And definitely check out The Atlantic's amazing images from the war:
30 Years Since the Falklands War (The Atlantic)
- One of the major human rights trials, dealing with the abduction of babies during the dictatorship, is drawing to a close. IPS particularly looks at the story of found grandchild Francisco Madariaga. However, on a broader front, "the aim of this trial is also to show that there was a systematic plan to steal children", according to Grandmothers' lawyer Alan Iud.
Argentine Baby Theft Trial Nears End (IPS)

The Grandmothers want a 50-year jail term for former dictator Jorge Videla for his role at the top architect of the baby stealing.
“La Justicia consolidará la democracia y el Nunca Más” (Pagina/12)

- This week also saw 35 years since the death of writer Rodolfo Walsh, murdered by the regime in 1977. A monument to him by artist Leon Ferrari was unveiled at the former ESMA site. Walsh is best known for his "Open letter from a writer to the Military Junta" and the entire text of it is reproduced on the 14 glass panels of the memorial.

Carta abierta por la memoria de Walsh (Pagina/12)
“Se quedó acá y lo mataron” (Pagina/12 - an interview with Ferrari)

Peru: Condemnation of Memorial Destruction

UPDATE 20/06/2010: Apparently the incident will be investigated and the memorial hopefully rebuilt, see here.

The National Coordinator of Human Rights (CNDDHH) has condemned the 'vandalism' of a memorial in Lima - on the orders of the local mayor.

The memorial in question was designed by Jaime Miranda for the Comité Cívico Para Que No Se Repita de Lima Sur (Civil Comittee 'So that it does not happen again' of Lima South) and was privately financed. It consisted of a dead eucalyptus tree suspended inbetween three columns representing the three districts of Villa María del Triunfo, San Juan de Miraflores and Villa El Salvador, all of which suffered greatly during the civil conflict, and the sculpture was located at the intersection of the three. It might sound odd from this bald description, but I just saw photos of the site for the first time, here, and I think it looks really impressive.

Anyway, sadly photographs are all that is left of the sculpture as it is supposed to be, because last week the mayor of Villa María del Triunfo, Juan José Castillo, ordered its removal - see image. The CNDDHH commented:

Destruir una obra de arte es ya un comportamiento bárbaro; destruir además un memorial que busca contribuir a la reconciliación y al recuerdo público de lo sufrido por los peruanos en el terrible periodo de violencia política, sólo puede ser considerado como una renovada forma de violencia.
Destroying a work of art is already a barbarous action; destroying a memorial which is supposed to contribute to reconciliation and public memory of what was suffered by Peruvians in the terrible period of political violence may only be considered a renewed form of that violence. (trans mine)

I had not heard of the memorial before today, but I do find its destruction pretty shocking and would be interested to hear the justification for it. Without a very good reason (and plans for relocation?) it seems like an act of vandalism against memory.

CNDDHH condena atentado vandálico contra la cultura y la memoria cometido por Alcalde de Villa María del Triunfo (CNDDHH)

Argentina: Ex-detention Centres Under Threat

Los ex centros clandestinos estan en riesgo (Critica) - trans mine

The Former Clandestine Centres are at Risk
They are buildings where torture took place during the dictatorship. The Buenos Aires government is supposed to maintain them, but it is not using its budget

Seven of the clandestine detention centres (CCD) which functioned in Buenos Aires city are spaces of memory today. In the majority of these, time and lack of maintenance is wearing away their structure on a daily basis and with it, their legal and historical value. In 2009, the Buenos Aires administration used just 6% of the budget intended for the conservation of the sites where thousands of people were tortured and disappeared. To guarantee their preservation, a bill is proposing to declare the structural conditions an emergency. "The maintenance work for the detention centres is really behind schedule, often because the necessary funds aren't available and in other cases because the local executive branch is using the budget earmarked for this end for other purposes," according to Social Equality deputy, Martín Hourest, who also warned that the Buenos Aires government may not avail themselves of these funds without prior authorisation from the legislature.

The Instituto Espacio para la Memoria (Memory Space Institute, IEM) is a decentralised organisation which is tasked with "ensuring the preservation, protection and valuing of the various sites where CCD functioned", such as Olimpo, Atlético, Automotores Orletti, ESMA y Virrey Cevallos. However, this often does not happen and the deterioration continues.

Hourest's proposal intends to provide the IEM with the necessary resources to attain the objective which is not expressed in concrete works, generally because the city authorities have not transferred to it the funds already approved by law. In some cases, also, a lack of staff has caused delays to the tendering process.

One of the most urgent cases for conservation is the site on which El Atlético was situated, at the intersection of Paseo Colón and Cochabamba. The demolition of the building to construct the motorway 25 de Mayo, which occurred during the dictatorship, meant that only the basements where the detained-disappeared prisoners were held could be saved. This space is open to the elements. Exactly two years ago, the space in front of it was inaugurated as a Memory Square, which remains closed until today due to lack of funds. It is essential that restauration takes place to save the remains which are already 33 years old. In the past year, inscriptions made by disappeared persons have been found on the walls of the Capuchita (Little Hood) in the ESMA. Even more than artefacts for memory, such marks and any object which can be identified in the detention centres becomes evidence in the trials of the murderers.

Brazil: Dealing with the Dictatorship Past

The following post is based on the points made in the article 'Vom Umgang mit der Diktaturvergangenheit' by Klaus Hart, from the supplement Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, 12/2010.

In the article mentioned, Hart posits that Brazil is far behind other countries in the hemisphere in the clarification of its dictatorship history.

In December 2009, President Lula signed a decree to create a truth commission to investigate the crimes of the military years. But, faced with threats of resignation from his Defense Minister and the heads of the armed forces, he partially backed down and softened the wording of the decree. This, despite the fact that the official figures for deaths during the dictatorship are suspiciously low - 376 killed by the armed forces, and 119 by the armed resistance movement.

Amnesty International representative Tim Cahill is cited as stating that, "Torture and extrajudicial executions carry on, conditions in jail are still terrible - and even death squads and slavery still exist. It just goes on like before - Brazil is the Latin American country to have made the least progress in the examination of its past. The biggest problem of the country today is that official discourse has nothing to do with political practice" [trans mine]. Officials active during the dictatorship also continue to enjoy political power.

The author also points to a generalised apathy in the population when it comes to looking back and to political commitment, which he attributes to a lack of education and widespread functional illiteracy.

Hart takes the case of Argentina as a contrast, noting the progress that this nation has made under the Kirchner administrations. This is true, although the situation is painted rather more rosily than it actually is; there is still a great deal of work to be done in Argentina, dangers remain for human rights activists, and the majority of the military perpetrators will probably die before they can be tried. Nevertheless, within the confines of the space afforded the article, the point stands that Argentina has made greater strides than Brazil in assessing its dictatorship legacy.

Photo credit: Blog Sao Paolo Urgente of the Memorial de Resistencia

Argentina: Another Anniversary Looms

This is the high season of memory in Argentina, where many events are based around the anniversary of the 1976 coup on 24th March (now a national day for memory, truth and justice).

One of them is the inauguration of the former Campo de la Ribera, in Córdoba, as an official site of memory. This site was used as a clandestine detention centre from 1975-79. Since the return to democracy in 1983, the space has functioned as various schools and educational establishments. This redeployment of torture camps is one of the more shocking aspects of Argentine redemocratisation. Can you imagine saying, "Hm, Auschwitz? Could we not make use of it, as a sports centre perhaps? How about putting a cinema in?" Yet Buenos Aires schoolchildren were expected to attend swimming competitions in the ESMA until about 2004.

Finally, this situation in La Ribera was resolved, and the space will now be officially devoted to photographic exhibitions, memory and human rights related events and so on.

Ex-CCD/La Ribera

Peru: Monument Controversy

Here's my translation of an article republished on the blog of the Peruvian human rights coordinator. For what it's worth, I agree with Vargas - this is a transparent attempt to undermine the Museum of Memory project and could herald the beginning of a series of 'competing' memorials, which makes me recall Marita Sturken's powerful piece on the controversy surrounding the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (PDF).

The construction of a monument in honour of the civilian and military victims of terrorism committed by Shining Path and the MRTA is responding to a spirit of opposition to the Museum of Memory, believes Germán Vargas, president of the Asociación Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope Association).

Vargas Farías gave his opinion on the CNR radio station about the project of the Asociación de Oficiales, Generales y Almirantes (Officers', Generals' and Admirals' Association) which announced the consturction of a monument in honour of the "defenders of democracy and victims of terrorism" in Jesús María [a district of Lima].

He indicated the existence of an intention to present a fragmented memory of what happened during the turbulent years of terrorism. "There is the intention to present a separate memory, of one sector of the population, in this case the military sector, which seems strange to me coming from a top functionary of the State such as the Minister (of Defence, Rafael) Rey," he stated.

Vargas said that it was contradictory for conflicting opinions to be coming from members of the government about the Museum of Memory, a space which has not
even been built yet but which has been the subject of substantial criticism.

"The attitude of Minister Rey, who always opposes anything which would show what really happened during those years, just demonstrates he is at the forefront of impunity. He questions the museum because it will show what really happened in the country. It's really a cheek," he claimed.

The monument planned by the Officers', Generals' and Admirals' Association will seek to honour the memory of all victims of terrorism and those who offered their lives in the struggle against terrorists from 1980 onwards, according to the president of the institution, Lieutenant General of the Peruvian air force (FAP), Arnaldo Velarde Ramírez.

He said that the initiative aimed to evoke the gratitude of the Peruvian people and that the building of the monument would be funded by donations. The project was approved in May by the Defense Commission of Congress, while the Mayor of Jesús María, Enrique Ocrospoma, has donated a large site in his district for this purpose.

Monumento en honor a militares presentaria memoria fragmentada del conflicto armado (CNDDHH)

Argentina/UK: Malvinas Memorial Service

For the past two Saturdays, the families of Argentine soldiers killed during the Falklands/Malvinas conflict have travelled to the Islands to witness the inauguration of a memorial there.

This weekend, the group brought with it a statue of the Virgin of Lujan, Argentina's patron saint, to form part of the memorial.

[The statue] completed the assembling of the cenotaph that stands as two stretched out arms made of blocks, embracing the 237 graves and crosses, and with engraved plaques with just the names (alphabetic order and no service or rank) of all 649 Argentines that went down during the South Atlantic conflict.

“Our Lady of Lujan, Mother of God will watch over the eternal repose of our brothers who fought the good fight for independence and national sovereignty” reads the inscription at the foot of the statue.

Memorial inauguration marks positive chapter in Falklands-Argentina relations (Mercopress)

Malvinas Families with statue of Virgin of Lujan leave for the Falklands (Mercopress)*

Malvinas victims' families hold ceremony in Darwin (Buenos Aires Herald)

* The image above is from this article and shows an exhibition of Malvinas crosses in the Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires.

Peru Resources

Muchas gracias to Amazilia @ Peru Apartheid for drawing my attention to the Biblioteca Virtual del Genocidio en Ayacucho (Virtual Library of the Genocide in Ayacucho), a work in progress which already contains over 250 photographs and a catalogue of works related to political violence in the region.

Other memory-related sites coming out of Peru include Para que no se repita - Spanish-speaking researchers, check out their 'Libros' page, where you can download entire books on violence and memory completely gratis.

Finally, I want to flag up the Spanish-language blog Espacio de memoria (memory space) and note how exciting I find it that there are people out there using the Internet to construct commemorative spaces and fight for justice. Browsing the sites linked above has given me ideas for at least two forthcoming posts - watch this space.

Argentina: Memorias en la ciudad

The fantastic Argentine organisation Memoria Abierta, which I visited in 2004, has produced a book called Memorias en la ciudad: Señales del terrorismo de Estado en Buenos Aires. It contains photographs and information about 38 illegal detention centres and 202 memorial sites in the Argentine capital.

The topography of cities is made up by layer upon layer of memories of the past. Although not always apparent in the hustle and bustle of city life, buildings, street corners, sidewalk tiles, and the nameplates of city squares and streets carry out their normal function while also revealing absences and sending messages from the past.

It's published by Eudeba and looks fascinating, doesn't look like it will be easy to source outside Argentina however.

Argentina: Malvinas Monument to be Inaugurated

Two groups of family members will travel to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands next month to inaugurate a memorial in the Darwin cemetery. The Argentine cenotaph has been ready since April 2004 but has not been officially inaugurated. The Argentines originally wanted to travel in one group, but this proved logistically difficult so now the ceremonies will take place on two consecutive Saturdays.

Malvinas Families will inaugurate Argentine Memorial next October (Mercopress)

This is a story which is genuinely relevant to this blog, but childishly, my favourite thing about it is the name of the Argentine official responsible for the organisation: Gabriel Fucks. Really.

Peru: Museum of Memory Update

Apparently, Peru's future Museum of Memory, which will be built to commemorate the political violence of the past decades, now has a definite site: the Campo de Marte in Lima. Living in Peru is reporting that it will be situated underground so as not to change significantly the outward appearance of the area.


This will make the district of Jesus Maria, and in particular the park Campo de Marte, something of a focal point for memory issues in Peru. The memorial El ojo que llora is also located there (it's marked by a cross in the image above), and several human rights organisations have their offices nearby. It's also within easy reach of central Lima. On the other hand, the park is also overshadowed by the military centre known as El pentagonito. I suspect that a legitimate concern about centralism will be raised when discussing the site. It's a fair point: the majority of victims of both Shining Path and the armed forces were not from Lima, but from Ayacucho, primarily, and the other poor, highland provinces. These areas need places for commemoration too. At the same time, I believe that the country needs a representative museum and I see little alternative to the capital city to maximise visitor numbers. Plus, Lima ignored what was happening in the countryside for long enough - I think it needs to keep its eyes open.

According to El Comercio, the museum could now be ready by 2011.

Speaking to El Pais, head of the museum commission Mario Vargas Llosa welcomed the news about the Campo de Marte and spoke of his inspirations, including the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda.

Peru's Museum of Memory to be Built under a Park in Lima (Living in Peru)
Museo de la memoria estara listo en el 2011 (El Comercio)
MVLl: Museo de la Memoria estara listo antes del 2011 (CNDDHH)
Peru consagra su memoria historica (El Pais)

Memory Politics on Facebook

Let me say straight off that while I have a Facebook account, I'm sceptical of its power to change the world. I get really irritated by online petitions - what are they supposed to do, anyway? And as for protest pages about extremist political parties - people, if you're not happy about politics, voting might be a good start. And how many dolphins can you really save by clicking on a "save the dolphins" link?? It's just a lazy option that allows you to feel like you've "done something" when the only thing you've done is show everyone on your feed how lazy you are. Hm.

Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by the memory politics on social networking sites such as FB. The widest possible variety of institutions and organisations are making use of it to recall past injustices, protest current ones, and put their views across. Let's take a look at just a few:

Old school colonial politics meets new school digital age in the Facebook page for WHINSEC (formerly School of the Americas).* Seriously, check it out. You can click to declare yourself a 'fan'. I refrained. Obviously, there are also a number of 'close down the SOA' pages.

The page commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the AMIA attack in Buenos Aires is well done with a good selection of images and videos.

The search for the disappeared children of Argentina also utilises social networking sites: for just a few of many examples, see here, here and here.

I bet when the Grandmothers started their consciousness-raising activities in the 1970s, they never imagined that one day, they would have a MySpace page. Their job would probably have been easier if that had been possible then. MySpace, Facebook, and blogs mean that anyone with an Internet connection** can communicate internationally, instantly, and for free - and they obviously make sense to reach out to the younger generation as well. Such websites do not just serve campaigning purposes but are also used as virtual memorials and archives of resources. So, while I still don't believe that clicking on a link will in itself get a bad law changed, there is still a wealth of reasons for human rights activists to exploit the digital age.

*Thanks (and hi!) to the hardworking Lee Rials, who scours the blogosphere for references to his institution, for mentioning the page on To the Roots and triggering this post in the first place.

**Obviously, the 'democratic' possibilities of the Internet are limited by people's ability to access it, and in many parts of Latin America, that is not yet possible for the majority. Nevertheless, urban inhabitants of most Latin American countries can use the very common Internet cafes which are priced at levels which exclude the poor, but are accessible for many. It's particularly evident that the Argentine organisations have the ability to make use of digital technologies, but even organisations from poorer and rural areas are making inroads on the web.